with the elite of Bath, as to which shall lure you to its most
frequented routs. ... There! there! you shall make a fortune for the
Paris poor ... and to prove to you that I mean every word I say, you
shall begin your triumphant career in my own salon to-morrow night.
His Royal Highness will be present. You shall sing your most
engaging songs ... and for your fee you must accept a hundred
guineas, which you shall send to the poorest workman's club in Paris
in the name of Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney."

"I thank your ladyship, but ..."

"You'll not refuse?"

"I'll accept gladly ... but ... you will understand ... I am not very old,"
said Candeille quaintly, "I ... I am only an actress ... but if a young
actress is unprotected ... then ..."

"I understand," replied Marguerite gently, "that you are far too pretty
to frequent the world all alone, and that you have a mother, a sister
or a friend ... which? ... whom you would wish to escort you to-
morrow. Is that it?"

"Nay," rejoined the actress, with marked bitterness, "I have neither
mother, nor sister, but our Revolutionary Government, with tardy
compassion for those it has so relentlessly driven out of France, has
deputed a representative of theirs in England to look after the
interests of French subjects over here1"

"Yes?"