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 fatuous smile on his round face, and turning to Madame Despard, evidently asked for an introduction to Victoria. They both turned toward her and advanced hand in hand. The hostess, with a graceful drape of her shawl, giving herself the lines of an enlarged tanagra, stood before the divan.

"Miss Claudel, our dear, wonderful Herr Balder wishes to meet you. Let me introduce two affinities. Carl," she continued, dreamily, "your sweet sister Terpsichore has consented to do 'Narcissus' for us. She has just finished changing her costume. Your mother will play, and of course you will improvise, so I must tear you from the society of our new sister."

He leaned over her. "Herr Balder shall not alone have the honor of offering you his muse; I will improvise to you!"

Victoria controlled a laugh and looked as soulful as the circumstances seemed to require.

The poet turned to follow his hostess, and she encountered a valentine in each of Herr Balder's round eyes. The suppressed laugh broke out. 107