Cardinal, was announced. He entered with great suavity of manner,
and, after shaking hands with everybody, asking after their
relatives, and chucking the more delicate females under the chin
with a high-bred grace peculiar to his profession, he sat down,
saying, "And how do we all find ourselves this evening, my dears?"
in several different languages, which he spoke fluently.

Lothaw's heart was touched. His deeply religious convictions were
impressed. He instantly went up to this gifted being, confessed,
and received absolution. "To-morrow," he said to himself, "I will
partake of the communion, and endow the Church with my vast
estates. For the present I'll let the improved cottages go."


CHAPTER IV.


As Lothaw turned to leave the Cardinal, he was struck by a
beautiful face. It was that of a matron, slim but shapely as an
Ionic column. Her face was Grecian, with Corinthian temples;
Hellenic eyes that looked from jutting eyebrows, like dormer-
windows in an Attic forehead, completed her perfect Athenian
outline. She wore a black frock-coat tightly buttoned over her
bloomer trousers, and a standing collar.

"Your Lordship is struck by that face," said a social parasite.

"I am; who is she?"

"Her name is Mary Ann. She is married to an American, and has