In a private parlor of the most elegant hotel in Whithaven, Mademoiselle Zephyr, the famous young equestrienne, lay curled up in a deep fauteuil, with her cheek pressed, like a day lily, against the dull, soft blue of the chair.

She wore a trailing tea-gown of delicate faille, garnished with exquisite lace. Her little head was rough with a mass of gathered yellow curls that no pins seemed quite able to confine. She looked unspeakably Vol. XXV., No. 3-21.

fair and pensive, unspeakably childlike and innocentnot in the least like a woman who could throw vitriol or play the hypocrite. Against the wall near her leaned a man, with his hands buried in his pockets, and his eyes fixed attentively on the young rider.

"So you've broken your engagement, ma'm'zell ?" he said, quietly. "You're bound not to ride any more at present? What new whim is this?"

In the rich folds of her tea-gown nestled a tiny lap-dog,

"How can you ask, you stupid old Jasper? Did I not fall in the ring a few nights ago, and sustain injuries that were thought, at first, to be fatal? I am too ill to ride for weeks, perhaps months, to come. Do I not look ill, Jasper ?"

Jasper Hatton's shrewd eyes rested for a moment on the exquisite figure, on the dazzling face, in its halo of yellow hair, and he shrugged his square shoulders expressively.

"Not in the least, ma'm'zell."

"Well," she pouted, "let me then say that I do not want to leave Whithaven just now, Jasper; that I have particular business in this vicinity. Cannot you understand? I abandon my dear cirque; I drive the manager mad with disappointment; I throw money to the winds; I quarrel with everybody, and swear that I am disabled, dying, all for the privilege of remaining a few days longer in a horrid Yankee town where, under ordinary circumstances, life would be quite unendurable."

Mr. Hatton smiled grimly. He was still flashy in regard to pantaloons, and loud as to neckties. His eyes were still small and black and all alert, and his manners suggestive of the stable-yard.

"How do you know that I have been down to the island? Don't watch me too closely, Jasper, or I shall hate you, as I do the rest of your kind.”

"Somebody has got to watch you," he answered, sulkily; "God knows you need it and I am the man for the work. You may quarrel with me as much as you like-you cannot shake me off. I'm not like the others, as you ought to know."

"I went down to Tempest Island to see my child, Jasper-to take her away; but another woman foiled me the Ravenel girl. But for her, I should have succeeded. I carried a stiletto with me-I tried to use it, too; but she was was like a lioness-I fourd myself disarmed at once. Jasper, I swear to you that I must get possession of Bee-I must tear her from Basil Hawkstone, or die!"

Hatton whistled, softly.

"So the little kid just escaped the clutches of her fond mamma, eh? Lucky for her, say I! How long would you be bothered with a lame brat like that? The maternal instinct was never developed in you, Zephyr. Humph! What's the Ravenel girl like ?"

"An Eastern princess-a Cleopatra !" answered mademoiselle, with a short, mirthless laugh; "she is far handsomer than I am, Jasper. My white-and-gold prettiness is totally eclipsed by her rich Southern tints. I have just received news that Basil Hawkstone has given up all thought of going abroad again-that he has gone down to his island to stay indefinitely. I wonder if that girl's handsome face has anything to do with his sudden

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The jeweled hand that caressed the lap-dog trembled. Jasper, she said, sweetly, "you are dull, you are heavy, you are often exasperating; but I have always got on better with you than with other men, because you never thwart or worry me, you let me have my own way in all things-that is why we remain friends. Now tell me, am I still beautiful? Do you see any crows'-feet about my eyes, any gray in my hair? Am I fading? Have I lost, in the smallest degree, my power to charm ?"

And you mean to stay here in Whithaven and watch him?--you, who might be winning new laurels and new lovers in a score of new places ?"

"I want no more lovers," she answered, wearily. "There was a time when it was pleasure to pick up their hothonse bouquets, and find hidden therein the bracelet of diamonds, or the brooch of black pearls, or the necklace, which meant financial embarrassment to the foolish giver; but now I am sick of all that. Conquest has become flat, stale and unprofitable' to me. I want revenge, I tell you! I am the deadly foe of that Ravenel girl; I would stop at nothing to crush her: I am Hawkstone's deadly foe-in fact, Jasper, I would rather do mischief just now than win any number of fresh laurels."

"Your beauty, ma'm'zell, is as it always was-without a flaw; and it's good, I should say, for a professional wear and tear of ten more years, at least-women like you age slowly."

"Well, you see what I am, Jasper-you know how I have been adored in all lands. I cast myself at that man's feet-I implored him to love me again, and he repulsed me with scorn. Do you wonder that I tried to throw vitriol in the face that mocked me? Do you wonder that I vowed to be revenged, and that I mean to keep that vow at any cost?"

Mr. Hatton shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know how any man living could repulse you, Zephyr he must be something more than human. As for the vitriol business, my little lady, you look like a saint-a right down angel, minus the wings, but I always knew you had the very deuce of a temper. Did you go

at the name thereon, and started slightly.

"Show him up," she commanded, then turned to Jasper. "A visitor is coming," she said; "get under the sofa."

"My legs are too long!" answered Hatton, dryly. "Then go behind that curtain yonder. He must not see you here."

"Plague take your whimsies!" muttered Hatton; but he disappeared behind the curtain, and mademoiselle fell back in her chair, a vision of pale, languid beauty, just as the door opened again, and Vincent Hawkstone entered.

"I heard that you were ill at this hotel," he began, airily, "and I was seized with a burning desire to pay my respects to you, Mrs. Hawkstone- confound it! I mean Mademoiselle Zephyr !"

She looked at him suspiciously.

"Did your cousin send you here?" she asked.

"Certainly not. Prince Lucifer would never choose me for an ambassador. He doesn't like me well enough, you know."

She held out her hand with a dawning smile.

"I remember! Are you two as hostile to each other as of old ?"

child?" she said, turning upon

"Have you brought my him her large, melting eyes.

Pale, crestfallen, he leaned against a table by her side, and looked down into her maddening little face. "Forgive me!" he groaned; "our scheme failed, Vera. My sister-confound her !—met me last night at the Inlet,

"I see! There's a bond of sympathy between us! I may regard you as an ally, may I not ?"

"Regard me as a person anxious and ready to injure Prince Lucifer in any way possible."

"Ah," she meditated, gravely, "you hate him, Viucent, and you love that Southern beauty, Jetta Ravenel, the governess at Tempest Island! Unhappily, she does not love you, and Prince Lucifer has cruelly forbidden you to urge your suit further. Is it not so?" He colored.

"How did you learn all this? You have spies out, I perceive. Well, I too, can state a fact. You went over to Tempest recently, and played the gypsy with great success, you versatile creature; but you didn't get possession of Bee!"

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you are my friend ?"

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Your lover!" he corrected.

"Did you tell her, stupid?" she blazed. "No, she guessed the truth."

He was haggard with disappointment and chagrin. The beautiful circus-rider had never held in her toils a more helpless victim than this young Southerner with great expectations-this raven-haired Apollo, who, betrothed to one woman, was spending all his spare time and money in making love to another.

"It is plain that we shall receive no help, directly or indirectly, from Jetta," he muttered. She put on a grieved air.

"Ah," she sighed, "your sister always hated me-she now begrudges me your friendship, and I have so few friends, too!" clasping her little hands pathetically.

He pulled his red-gold mustaches.

"I am going to marry Miss Ravenel-how, I do not know; but I shall marry her, and to accomplish that purpose I would summon help, if I could, from the bottomless pit! I need you, mademoiselle; you have ends to gain at Tempest Island, and you also need me."

She arose from the fauteuil and stood before him, her faille gown and soft laces trailing, her yellow hair shining, her eyes brilliant with excitement.

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"To sigh for help from the bottomless pit in one breath, and appeal to me for it in another, is scarcely complimentary," she laughed, "but I forgive you, Vincent. Here is my hand-I think we can work together." "We can, and we will!" he said, and raised the white fingers to his lips, just as another rap echoed on the door. Again the waiter appeared, and again he carried a card in his hand.

Mademoiselle glanced at it and colored faintly. "You must go now," she said to Vincent; "to-morrow, at this same hour, you may come again."

Scarcely had the door closed upon him, when mademoiselle danced a few steps toward the curtain at the other end of the room, and then paused with finger on lip.

"Are you there, you dear dull old Jasper ?" she called, softly.

"I am here," growled Hatton, from behind the screening folds.

"Keep very quiet now, for a lover is coming to woo. You must quite erase yourself-above all, don't listen to the love passages, for those things make you absurdly angry."

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Zephyr," said Hatton, in a smothered voice, "how long will you try my patience?"

"For years and years, I dare say," she laughed. "Hush! He is here!" And she had just fallen back in the deep chair in a state of interesting collapse, when Gabriel Ravenel, handsome as a young Antinous, "stood before her.

"She will not help us, then ?-you cannot coax, persuade, or threaten her ?"

"No!" he groaned; "she is painfully loyal to the Hawkstones-deuce take her! Better not count on

Jetta!"

The ready tears began to roll softly down her face. "Fate is against me!" she sobbed. "All my plans go awry! Basil Hawkstone triumphs over me at every turn."

Her emotion was too much for Ravenel. Instantly he was on his knees before her, covering her hands with hot kisses.

"Do not weep!" he implored, wildly; "it kills me to see your tears! Have you no friends? Look at me; I would die for you gladly. If that silly Jetta dares to stand in your way I will crush her without mercy. What is a sister compared with you? I love you, Vera; I love you, and you know it, and yet you return no answer to the devotion I offer you. You prolong my suspense cruelly; you seem to reject even while you accept my service. Why do you hold me so long in abeyance ? Why are you so cold, so pitiless to me?"

She drew her little hands gently from his grasp. With her pale. tear-wet cheek and innocent eyes she looked, indeed, like a suffering angel.

"Gabriel," she answered, softly, "you must not talk like this to me till you bring my child. I will listen to no love-making till I hold my little one to my heart-till you prove your devotion by accomplishing the task to which I have set you. Your reward does not precede the service-it follows it. If you really love me, Gabriel, you will help me, first of all, to take vengeance on my foes."

Vengeance is an ugly word, but it slipped sweetly over her red lips, and Gabriel Ravenel's dark eyes flashed. Her touch, her look, her vague promises, sent the blood racing, like liquid fire, through his veins.

Verily, he was a willing tool in her hands! Like the wary little spider that she was, she glanced once toward the curtain, and finding everything quiet there, she bent forward till her yellow curls touched Ravenel's shoulder, and said:

"As surely as you tear my darling from Hawkstone, and bring her safely to me; as surely as you help me to torment, yes, and if possible, destroy, him, so surely will I accept your love and become your wife!"

There was certainly a movement behind the curtain now, but Ravenel did not hear it-the voice of the siren had drowned all other sounds in his ear.

"Vera, I am yours, body and soul. My darling, ob, my darling

"Hush!" she interrupted. "I cannot listen to you till your work is done, remember. You failed last night -you may fail again. I shall exact complete success before I make payment. And now you must go, Gabriel. I am ill to-day, my troubles have quite prostrated me I wish to rest."

"Go! I have but just come," he answered, reproachfully. "How cruel you are! Will you not permit me to remain a few moments at least ?"

"Do you mean to destroy that young idiot ?" he demanded, sternly. "Come, Zephyr, I tell you frankly, I don't like this!"

She laughed softly, defiantly.

"Yesterday, Jasper, that young idiot, as you truthfully call him, sent me a bracelet of emeralds, every stone as big as the eye of a sea-god. And the day previons, his offering at the shrine of my beauty was a fan of ostrich feathers, a half-yard long, mounted on sticks of solid amber, incrusted with diamonds. Ha! ha! I am a terrible creature, am I not, and you are dreadfully angry with me, eh?"

He looked at her from under bent brows.

"By my soul! I wish the simpleton knew you as well as I do, mademoiselle! whither are you leading him? You have the face of an angel, you carry all hearts by storm, and at bottom you are nothing more nor less than a little fiend !"

CHAPTER XIX.

DISHONORED.

"DEADLY dull day! Nobody on the avenues-life at a standstill! Hope to Heaven old Hypo won't persist in burying his household much longer at Newport. For my part, I find the place detestable."

Doris Rokewood opened a pair of fearless blue eyes. "Newport detestable ?— Newport dull? What has come over you, Gabriel, that you can say such things? You have a diseased mind, I am sure, that ought to be administered unto, and at once."

She was what is called a fine girl-tall, fair, with plenty of firm muscles and healthy white flesh. She had shot game in the Adirondacks, she could fence and ride and row; she loved yachting and lawn-tennis, and her

full of mischievous tricks. An heiress, too, was Miss Rokewood, adored by her guardian, feared by some young men, admired by others, and betrothed to George Sutton's handsome secretary and heir- presumptive,

The two were standing in the drawing-room of Sutton's Newport house-called a cottage, but, in point of fact, a palace. Outside, the rain fell vehemently. Bellevue and Ocean Avenues were deserted. The wilderness of costly plants on the deep piazza glistened with wet. Gabriel Ravenel, with a vexed and depressed countenance, stared out into the gloomy day without seeing it. One would suppose," said Miss Rokewood, as she toyed with some cream-white lilies in a red porcelain vase, "that you would find any place or any day delightful, Gabriel, so long as we two were together!" He bit his lip.

"Vera "—and his voice grew hoarse with passion—" if the day ever comes when I find that you have deceived me-when you dare to break your solemn promise-mark you, it will be time for one or both of us to die!"

She drew back, growing pale and uncomfortable. "How can you say such dreadful things?" she answered, petulantly. "I wish you were not such a firebrand! There! you may kiss my hand; and now farewell-I positively cannot endure you longer."

He pressed his lips to her jeweled fingers, to her dress, to one loose tress of her hair; then he went, and Jasper Hatton flung back the curtain, and stalked, grim as Fate, out of his hiding-place

turning knobs without human aid. The creature was one of the ugliest of its kind, tricked out in a little cap and jacket of scarlet silk, and a short skirt of spangled gauze. It saluted Ravenel and its mistress with ludicrous gravity, cut a pirouette, and bowed again to Gabriel-kept on bowing and bowing, in fact, with satirical deference.

"How can you tolerate that wretched little beast, Doris ?" cried Ravenel, in a disgusted tone; "and why, in Heaven's name, do you bedizen it in that abominable manner ?"

"Is it possible that you do not like Juno's costume ?" answered Doris Rokewood, innocently. "I fancied you would find it to your taste. I am fond of Juno because