looking for it to crop out somewhere. Her mother married happily--and
escaped the curse--but for several generations back the women of her
family have been of peculiar temperament and--they've usually gone wrong
sometime in their lives. It seems to be in the blood. They can't help
it. Mr. Ledoux told Amy all about it at the time of their marriage, and
that is the reason they have tried to keep Opal as secluded as possible
from the usual free-and-easy associations of American girls, and are so
anxious to marry her off wisely."

"And speedily," put in Alice--"the sooner the better!"

"Yes, yes--speedily!"

Lady Fletcher gave an uneasy glance in Opal's direction before she
continued.

"You are too young to have heard the story, Alice, but her
grandmother--a black-eyed Spanish lady of high rank--was made quite
unpleasantly notorious by her associations with a brother of Lady
Henrietta Verdayne. He was an unprincipled roué--this Lord Hubert
Aldringham--a libertine who openly boasted of the conquests he had made
abroad. Being appointed to many foreign posts in the diplomatic service,
he was naturally on intimate terms with people of rank and royalty. They
say he was very fascinating, with the devil's own eye, and ten times as
devilish a heart--"

"Why, Mamma!"

Alice was shocked.