By Wit of Woman

recently decided to plunge into the maelstrom whose gloomy undercurrent depths con

yself at first hand the possibility of success, should I undert

shed such inquiries as I could. I had at first taken a small house, and as a

Kremnitz was the acknowledged head of the Slavs. Major Katona was now Colonel Katona, and lived a life of seclusion in a house in a suburb of the city. C

ery free with his name as that of a morose, dissipated libertine, whose notorious excesses had culminate

good as he was clever, "Gustav of the laughing eyes," as he was called, was a favourite with every one, men and women alike, f

f a girl of three and twenty; but the result of a bitter experience which I had better rela

erson;" and the cause is to be looked for, partly i

rp young eyes had seen that the two were on the worst of terms. His nature was that rare combination of dogged will and kind heart; and his wife perpetually crossed him in small matters and was a veritable shrew of shrews. He was "taking no more risks with fe

n way in everything; nothing was too good for me. In a word, I

s not wholly my own. I am afraid I had a very high opinion of myself. I did what I liked, had what I wished, went where I pleased, and thou

t with the elated conviction that I was going to make a sort of triumphal

r than I: a nobody with provincial mannerisms among heaps of somebodies with an air and manner whi

ad held a pretty cheap opinion of men in general, and especially of those with whom I had flirted. But I realized, all suddenly, the wrongfulness of flirting. T

Count. We both made the most of them, indeed; until I found-I was only eighteen, remember-that the world was all bri

s will readily understand-they made me his champion, and plunged me deeper than ever into love's wild, entrancing, ecstatic maze.

so intensely that, when he paid me attentions which made other girls tremble with anger and envy

iscipline for my silly child's pride: but to learn the lesson I had to pass through the or

t;" and the knowledge came to me as suddenly as the squall will strike a yach

or a ribbon or a flower, I had been child enough to let him see all my heart as I gave them to him. Love was in

crash came the dream

was changed; and my glad smile died away at his constrained formal g

, Miss von Dreschler," he said. "I

concealed. I gripped the pommel of the

?" I asked; my instinct being thus

esitating to use t

arranged for weeks. These thin

. But anger came to my relief, as I realized how he had intentionally played with me. I knew what a silly trusting fool I had been; and knew too that

am so sorry," he said. As if a lip apology were suf

ifting my head and looking him squarely i

he stammered, and s

barrassment helped me; and I added: "I think your going is the best thing for all concerned, Count, except perhap

No one saw any difference in me. My moods were as changeable, my manner as frivolous, my words as light and my smiles as frequent as before; and I was a

r me. I came in the end to be glad of the stern self-discipline which had made me a woman before my girlhood had fully o

earnest and real, to pit myself against men on equal terms; and for this I sought to qualify myself both physically and

good placid dame to chaperone me, I found occasion to quarrel with

's letters were to lay upon me; and when in Paris on that trip I

as escaping when I found crouching in one of the corridors, fear-stricken, helpless, and hysterical, a very beautiful woman whom I had seen at

he smoke; and she insisted upon showering much hysterical gratitude upon me; and then wished to make me her close friend. She was a Madame Constans; and, as I can be cau

ations that, if ever she could return the obligation, her life would willingly be at my dis

shment that when Madame d'Artelle was pointed out to me one day driv

igue round the young Count-the future Duke? Was she still a secret Government agent promoted to an in

the very few persons who had access to the jewels; he was admittedly a man of dissipated habits; and it was an easy deduction that she had instigated the robbery; more to test the extent of her power over him, perhaps, than because she coveted the jewels. There

nce as a possible means to the end I had in view; but the study of my father's papers had shown me tha

round Count Karl, I should have on my side the future Duke, the man with the power in his hands, an

I posed as the student and governess with my own way to make in the world; and the Frenchwoman, eager to buy my silence and wi

o General von Erlanger. Thus with one stroke I establ

, as I had not yet seen the man whom I planned to deliver from her hands, I looked forward with much curiosity and interest to meet

ad even anticipated; and my embarrassment and perplexity were at fir

ading-I kept up the pretence of studying-when Count

d. "I wish to prese

agreed, glad of the chan

ht my breath, my heart gave a great leap

he man whose treatment of me five years before in Ne

developme