She is young--thoughtless--foolish, if you will, but not depraved!" "You can delude yourself just as long as you like," returns she, shrugging her shoulders, "but, all the same, I warn you.

I----" She stops suddenly; voices and steps, coming nearer, check her words.

She draws a little away from Rylton, and, lifting her fan, waves it indolently to and fro.

The voice belongs to Minnie Hescott, who, with her partner, has come out to the balcony, and now moves down the steps to the lighted gardens below.

Mrs.Bethune would have been glad at the thought that Miss Hescott had not seen her; but there had been one moment when she knew the girl's eyes had penetrated through the dusk where she stood, and had known her.
Not that it mattered much.