"Well, as you seem anxious, I will undertake it. We are going to the
Duchess of Hexham's ball tomorrow evening. Lady Amelie Lisle is sure to
be there--no grand ball is complete without her. She is so surrounded
now. I hardly like to interrupt her. Are you going to the Hexham ball?"

Now Basil had said no, he should certainly decline the invitation, but
he seemed to forget it.

"Certainly I shall go," he said.

"Ah, then we shall see her there," replied the colonel, and his long
mustache concealed the triumphant smile with which he listened to the
words.




CHAPTER VIII.

Lady Amelie at Home.


The poets of old must have been thinking of a woman like Lady Amelie
when they wrote of circes and sirens, and women whose beauty has proved
fatal to men. It is perhaps quite as well that they are very rare--the
power of a beautiful woman is great. If she be good, and use it for a
good purpose; the world is the better for it. If she be bad, and her
beauty is simply used as a lure, the world is the worse for it.

Either for good or evil, the power of Lady Amelie was great, for a more