felt her heart beat.

"Isn't he just too bright--your father, Mrs. Brown?" she said as they
left the restaurant to have their coffee in the hall. "You must let me
see quantities of you while we are all in Paris together. It is a lovely
city; don't you agree with me?"

And Theodora did.

Lord Bracondale was of the same breed as Captain Fitzgerald--that is,
they neither of them permitted themselves to be superseded by any other
man with the object of their wishes. When they wanted to talk to a woman
they did, if twenty French counts or Russian princes stood in the way!
Thus it was that for the rest of the evening Theodora found herself
seated upon a sofa in close proximity to the man who had interested her
at dinner, and Mrs. McBride and Captain Fitzgerald occupied two
arm-chairs equally well placed, while the rest of the party made general
conversation.

Hector Bracondale, among other attractions, had a charming voice; it was
deep and arresting, and he had a way of looking straight into the eyes
of the person he was talking to.

Theodora knew at once he belonged to the tribe whom Sarah had told her
could never be husbands.

She wondered vaguely why, all the time she was talking to him. Why had
husbands always to be bores and unattractive, and sometimes even simply
revolting, like hers? Was it because these beautiful creatures could not
be bound to any one woman? It seemed to her unsophisticated mind that