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 with which to crush the poetess, was annoyed at the enthusiasm of her companions, but as Mrs. Durham was a celebrity, and Victoria, as she had good cause to know, was an unerring picker of literary winners, she reluctantly pocketed the epigram, for use at some other time, and announced herself on fire to pay tribute to "that really remarkable talent."

The three ladies had risen, when a servant approached Philippa with a folded card.

"Wait for me one moment," she begged, "till I see what this is."

Two lines in pencil in Valdeck's hand. "Russian consul just come; must slip off. Join me in vestibule, please—undiscovered."

With a delighted sense of her importance and the romance of the situation, Philippa blushed with eagerness and excitement. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, hurriedly; "I must go at once. Do remember Thursday next; I'm coming to call before, of course. Good-bye, Mrs. Durham, I'm so glad to have met you; good-bye. Oh, Victoria, will you fasten this hook for me, like a dear?" She leaned forward, holding out the 123