into the trap and take the attentions all in earnest. Comte de
Souvary used to say that if you wished to find the wickedest men
in Europe you had only to cast your eyes in the direction of
Florence's mother; and she would be trotted off to church and
driven in automobiles and lunched in casinos by the most notorious
and unprincipled scapegraces of the Old World.

Florence, who, like all heiresses, had developed a positive
instinct for the men who meant her mischief, was always delighted
at the repeated captures of the old lady; and it was an endless
entertainment to her when her mother was induced to champion the
cause of some aristocratic ne'er-do-well.

"But, Mamma," she would say, "I hate to call your friends names,
but really he's a perfect scamp, and underneath all his fine
manners he is no better than a wolf ravening for rich young
lambs!"

"Oh, Florence, how can you be so uncharitable!" her mother would
retort. "If you could only hear the way he speaks of his mother
and his ruined life, and how he is trying to be a better man for
your sake--"

"Always the same old story," said Florence. "It's wonderful the
good I do just sailing around and radiating moral influence. The
count says I ought to get a medal from the government with my
profile on one side and a composite picture of my admirers on the
other! And if I do, Mamsey, I'll give it to you to keep!"

Frank Rignold was sometimes tempted to curse the day that had ever