Opal straightened up, put on what she called her "best dignity" and
comported herself in so very well-bred and amiable a manner that her
cousins quite forgave all her past delinquencies and smiled approval
upon the charming courtesy she extended to their guests. She could be
_such_ a lady when she would! No one could resist her! And yet they felt
themselves sitting upon the crater of a volcano liable to erupt at any
moment. One never felt quite safe with Opal.

But, much to their surprise and relief, everything went beautifully, and
the guests departed, delighted with Lady Alice's "charming American
cousin, so sweet, so dainty, so witty, so brilliant, and altogether
lovely--really quite a dear, you know!"

But for all that, Lady Alice Mordaunt and Lady Fletcher were far from
feeling easy over their guest, and ardently wished that the girl's
father would cut short his visit to France and return to take her back
with him to America. And while these two worthy ladies worried and
fretted, Opal Ledoux laughed and dreamed.

And in a big mansion over in Berkeley Square Monsieur Paul Zalenska
wondered--and listened.




CHAPTER IV


It was a whole two weeks after the Boy's experience at the theatre, and
though the echoes of that mysterious voice still rang through all his