with her own white hands she shall detach that rose-bud and give it to me, and then I will close the curtain, and you must take the kiss for granted. Mark me, I do not mean to go in to her as Hippolite proposed-to raise an uproar, and be turned ignominiously out. It shall all be with her own free will: as a test of which, I will sit and converse with her for ten minutes after."

"This is too much presumption," said Hippolite. "I hold that wager."

Well, anything from a supper to a thousand louis."

"I hold it for a hundred louis.

gasconade should not be taxed at less."

Such a

"I have none of the blood of Gascony in me," sneered the Prince; ; "but you will observe, my dear Hippolite, that the success of my wager will not depend on the mere audacity of a highwayman snatching at a purse. I am going not to outrage, but to conquer.

you, Z

,

be umpire to the bet ?"

Will

"Oh willingly. The lady is to give you that rose, and you are to remain ten minutes next

her without being turned out; otherwise the wager is lost."

"Exactly."

"You are going to lose a hundred louis, and I to win them," said Hippolite; "but curse it, if for a hundred louis I would frighten the pretty bird, or make its jealous owner shut it up altogether."

"Oh!" replied the Prince, "you should have thought of that before."

"I will not take the whole sum as forfeit,

as I mean to give it to my valet."

"What if Blue Beard returns ?" said Z-—. "Then I must play Selim," replied the Prince. "But it is very unlikely. Did you not observe that she kept the curtain close so long as any one was with her. Depend upon it, she would have closed it again already, had he been yet expected back."

"Don't call upon me for help if I see her footman thrust you down the lobby," said

Z

Ꮓ

"Better pay forfeit and give up," said Hippolite.

Gentlemen, adieu! I will give you each a rose-leaf," replied the Prince, as he disappeared through the pit door.

Blanche Mortimer still sat alone. It was true that the last words of Mattheus as he left her had been: "Dearest, do not let yourself be seen, or we shall be again annoyed and followed." Blanche smiled a promise; but she belonged to the same sex as Eve, Pandora, and the wife of Lot. She was a thorough woman; that is to say, a compound of those latent qualities which make men heroes, mixed up with habitual weaknesses and waywardness, which prevent us from respecting, to incline us perhaps the more to love their possessor.

The door of her box opened, and a stranger stood before her; for an instant she mistook him for Mattheus. He was the same she had just before mistaken for him in the pit. But the resemblance was one of those general likenesses, of build or figure, which vanishes into the strongest antithesis on detailed examination.

The leaden eye, the sardonic smile, the decayed teeth of Prince Ivan, could not be, for longer than the subdivision of a second, mistaken for the blue eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, the open countenance, and the pearly teeth of Mattheus. "Sir!" she said hastily, but in a very sweet voice, “this is a private box."

"Not very private, Madam, considering that the eyes of the whole house are upon us." "Sir, you are in error," said Blanche. "Believe me not, Madam," replied the Prince, and he sat down. "You see beside you an unhappy wight, bewildered, intoxicated, maddened by your charms."

Blanche rose in terror, and was about to call for assistance; but the Prince snatched hold of her wrist, and kept her down upon her

chair.

"Your servant is removed; so also is the box keeper. Hear me for one instant, or you will occasion a scene before the whole house. One instant's patience, and I leave you!"

"Mattheus! dear Mattheus!" involuntarily

murmured Blanche, who sank into a chair, almost fainting with alarm at his violence and the energy of his language.

"Queen of Beauty!" said the Prince, “your dear Mattheus has left you alone, like Ariadne, and so will I in an instant if you continue to require it. But first hear me ! I am a desperate man. I have vowed either to commit suicide, or to bear away that rose whose hue and sweetness are shamed so near those lips."

"Oh, Sir! what have I done that you should thus insult me? Unhand me, or I will call out to the company!"

Madam, I am desperate! I will kiss those lips before all the audience if you do. Give me only that flower, and I depart."

66

Unhand me, Sir! You crush my wrist in

your grasp !"

The Prince let go.

Oh, heavens! I, who would die to save you a moment's pain! But remember my determination! Give me that flower to worship as a relic in the solitary hours of my despair!"