his hand against everyone, yet always getting the best of it!
What freshness of humour, what courtesy to dames, what
triumphant ability to discomfit rivals, frock-coated and
moustached though they might be! And what a grand, self-
confident straddle of the legs! Who could desire a finer career
than to go through life thus gorgeously equipped! Success was
his key-note, adroitness his panoply, and the mellow music of
laughter his instant reward. Even Coralie's image wavered and
receded. I would come back to her in the evening, of course; but
I would be a clown all the working hours of the day.

The short interval was ended: the band, with long-drawn chords,
sounded a prelude touched with significance; and the programme,
in letters overtopping their fellows, proclaimed Zephyrine, the
Bride of the Desert, in her unequalled bareback equestrian
interlude. So sated was I already with beauty and with wit, that
I hardly dared hope for a fresh emotion. Yet her title was
tinged with romance, and Coralie's display had aroused in me
an interest in her sex which even herself had failed to satisfy
entirely.

Brayed in by trumpets, Zephyrine swung passionately into the
arena. With a bound she stood erect, one foot upon each of her
supple, plunging Arabs; and at once I knew that my fate was
sealed, my chapter closed, and the Bride of the Desert was the
one bride for me. Black was her raiment, great silver stars
shone through it, caught in the dusky twilight of her gauze;
black as her own hair were the two mighty steeds she bestrode.
In a tempest they thundered by, in a whirlwind, a scirocco of
tan; her cheeks bore the kiss of an Eastern sun, and the sand-