to live over again the preceding night. At last, the strange motley
figures which she had seen at the masquerade flitted before her eyes, and
she sunk into an uneasy slumber.




CHAPTER III.

LADY DELACOUR'S HISTORY.


Miss Portman was awakened by the ringing of Lady Delacour's bedchamber
bell. She opened her eyes with the confused idea that something
disagreeable had happened; and before she had distinctly recollected
herself, Marriott came to her bedside, with a note from Lady Delacour: it
was written with a pencil.

"DELACOUR--_my_ lord!!!! is to have to-day what Garrick used to call a
_gander feast_--will you dine with me tete-a-tete, and I'll write an
_excuse_, alias a lie, to Lady Singleton, in the form of a charming
note--I pique myself _sur l'eloquence du billet_--then we shall have the
evening to ourselves. I have much to say, as people usually have when they
begin to talk of themselves.

"I have taken a double dose of opium, and am not so horribly out of
spirits as I was last night; so you need not be afraid of another _scene_.

"Let me see you in my dressing-room, dear Belinda, as soon as you have
adored