herself to forget her former admirer. Arthur Weldon, for his part,
consoled himself by plunging into social distractions and devoting
himself to Diana Von Taer, whose strange personality for a time
fascinated him.

The business could not hold young Weldon's vacillant temperament for
long; neither could Diana. As a matter of fact his heart, more staunch
than he himself suspected, had never wavered much from Louise. Yet pride
forbade his attempting to renew their former relations. It was now some
months since he had seen the girl, and his eager exclamation was wrested
from him by surprise and a sudden awakening to the fact that his love
for her had merely slumbered.

Diana, worldly, cold and calculating as was her nature, had been
profoundly touched by Arthur's devotion to her. Usually young men were
soon repulsed by her unfortunate personality, which was not easily
understood. Therefore her intense nature responded freely to this
admirer's attentions, and if Diana could really love she loved Arthur
Weldon. He had never proposed to her or even intimated it was his
intention to do so, but she conceived a powerful desire to win him and
had never abandoned this motive when he grew cold and appeared to desert
her. Just now he was recently back from Italy, where he had passed
several months, and Diana's reception was his first reappearance in
society. The girl had planned to bring him to her side this evening and
intended to exert her strongest fascinations to lure him back to his
former allegiance; so her annoyance may be guessed when she found her
three _protégées_ seemingly more familiar with the young man than was
she herself.

At last the line ended and the introductions were complete. The