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 Aejsirs OF BOOKS 
 
 14Q PACIFtc AVEiMUE
 
 THE 
 
 ALBATROSS NOVELS 
 
 By ALBERT ROSS 
 23 Volumes 
 
 May be had wherever books are sold, at the price you 
 paid for this volume 
 
 Black Adonis, A 
 Garston Bigamy, The 
 Her Husband s Friend 
 His Foster Sister 
 His Private Character 
 In Stella s Shadow 
 Love at Seventy 
 Love Gone Astray 
 Moulding a Maiden 
 Naked Truth, The 
 New Sensation, A 
 Original Sinner, An 
 Out of Wedlock 
 Speaking of Ellen 
 Stranger Than Fiction 
 Sugar Princess, A 
 That Gay Deceiver 
 Their Marriage Bond 
 Thou Shalt Not 
 Thy Neighbor s Wife 
 Why I m Single 
 Young Fawcett s Mabel 
 Young Miss Giddy 
 
 G. W. DILLINGHAM CO. 
 Publishers :: :: New York
 
 BY ALBERT Ross, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 ; *HER HUSBAND S FRIEND," " IN STELLA S SHADOW,* 
 
 * SPEAKING OF ELLEN," " THOU SHALT NOT," 
 
 * His PRIVATE CHARACTER," ETC. 
 
 " // will avail nothing to a girl 
 that she has health, beauty and in 
 telligence, if her character is not 
 moulded rightly. And no man, 
 though he were a saint, can properly 
 mould it "Page 185. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 tOPYRISHT, 1881, BY O. W. DILkHMHAMt 
 
 G* W. Dillingham Co., Publishers* 
 AURigMs Res*rv*k
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i. Max Vandenhoffs Will. . . 9 
 
 II. Examining the Baby. . . , sj 
 
 HI. * Paris is a wicked city." . . j 
 
 IV. A Never Ceasing Pressure. . . 48 
 
 V. A Study from the Nude. . .61 
 
 VI. The Great Story Book. . . .74 
 
 VII. " I do not want to say." . .85 
 
 VIII. Inside of Bohemia 97 
 
 IX. * A little like lying." . . . . in 
 
 X. " I never kiss gentlemen." . , . 124 
 
 XI. A Demoralizing Practice." . . 137 
 
 XII. Drawing from Mile, Susette. . . 151 
 
 XIII. " Oh, is that religion ?" 165 
 
 XIV. Lysle Comes Home Again. . . 180 
 XV. " Good-bye, little woman." . , 189 
 
 XVI. It is Different with a Girl . . . 199 
 
 XVII. Stanley at Heidelberg. . . . aio 
 
 XVIII. Don t call me a child !" . . fl 
 
 XIX. Indisputable Documents. . . . tag 
 
 XX. " You must go with me. * . . . 944 
 
 XXI. Death Enters the House. . . . t$4 
 
 r3 
 
 20619G7
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 XXII. Like a Sweet Delirium. . . . 67 
 
 XXIII. C est gaie, n est pas ?" . . . . 278 
 
 XXIV. Arthur Peck s Revenge. . . ,886 
 XXV. Confronting the Defaulter. . . 393 
 
 XXVI. In the Inspector s Power. ... 304 
 
 XXVII. * It surprises you does it ?". . . 317 
 
 XXVIII. Off for Buenos Ayres. .... 330 
 
 XXIX. " Here are two criminals." . , . 337 
 
 XXX. " Where are your jewels ?" . . . 346 
 
 XXXL Too Wonderful to be True, . . 35*
 
 TO MY READERS. 
 
 In introducing the sixth of the " Albatross Novels** 
 to the reader, I shall attempt neither apology nor 
 explanation, though I think no other novelist of the 
 present age has aroused so much unwarranted criti 
 cism. I have been accused of almost every fault. 
 Not only are my stories very " wicked," but they are 
 wholly uninteresting, if we are to believe the review 
 ers of some of the periodicals. There is only one 
 point which no one has cared to dispute more of 
 my books have been sold in the last thirty months 
 than of those written by any of my very excellent 
 and much lauded contemporaries. 
 
 But I must be careful. A critic whose article has 
 just fallen under my observation accuses me of 
 boastfulness, because I once before alluded to the 
 success of my ventures in the literary field. Let me 
 assure him that I did it rather in a spirit of grati 
 tude and appreciation than of undue pride. I have 
 not yet ceased to wonder that the American public 
 has chosen to purchase, in so short a time, nearly 
 half a million copies of my works. I am continually 
 surprised at the figures which my publisher gives me, 
 and at the statements of traveling friends that 
 hardly a book-stand from Bangor to the Pacific is 
 without these volumes. 
 
 Why this immense circulation ? " Because you 
 have dealt in forbidden subjects," says the chorus. 
 Is that really the reason ? Then why has * Her 
 
 Jvii]
 
 *> MY BEADEBft, 
 
 Husband s Friend/* which is admitted to be withta 
 the strictest bounds, surpassed in its sales, during 
 its first four months, even the figures of " Thou Shalt 
 Not," counting the same length of time ? Why have 
 the orders for the present book been larger than any 
 of those received before, in advance of its publica 
 tion ? Perhaps you have made a mistake, Mr. Critic 
 In spite of your opinion, there may be something 
 worth reading in these novels. 
 
 In an article which appeared in the Arena for 
 March, 1891, I fully explained my theory of what is 
 permissible in fiction. If I have done anything 
 reprehensible it is in not living closer to that theory. 
 One hates to walk the public streets with a legion of 
 curs barking at his heels, be his conscience ever so 
 clear. If enough mud be thrown with diligence at a 
 given object, says the proverb, some of it will stick. 
 I find myself affected by the hue and cry, senseless as 
 I know it to be. And I can the less excuse myself 
 when I find the number of my followers increasing 
 instead of falling away. 
 
 You, my dear patrons, are, after all, the only 
 judges for whose opinion I ought to care. Write 
 and tell me, as you have done before, what you 
 think of my work. What have you to say of Janet 
 Steiner ? Have I made Rosalie what she should be ? 
 Is Stanley Melrose impossibly precocious or Lysle 
 too virtuous for a student of the Latin Quarter ? 
 Tell me all about it, and though I may not answer 
 you, I shall treasure every word as though it came 
 from one whose voice and face I knew intimately. 
 
 ALBERT ROSS 
 ADDRESS : 
 
 Mo. S} West 236 Street 
 Mew York Ci. *
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 MAX VANDENHOFF S WILL* 
 
 M Well, I ll be hanged!" 
 
 " No doubt about that, I guess." 
 
 ** What an unnecessary statement !" 
 
 " Come, Lysle, tell as something we don t fcnow.** 
 
 Four of the students of Brooks Academy were 
 gathered in the room of one of their number, during 
 the part of the day devoted to recreation. The first 
 sentence above quoted was uttered, in a tone of the 
 greatest surprise, by the youngest of the party, and 
 the succeeding ones were merely the attempts of his 
 companions to show their wit. 
 
 Carlysle Melrose, or " Lysle," as everybody called 
 him, had just received a letter, and it was evidently 
 its contents that had drawn from him the exclama 
 tion referred to. 
 
 " The oddest thing has happened that you ever 
 heard of !" he said, looking up. " A relation of 
 mine has died in Europe 
 
 " And left you a fortune of a million pounds !"* 
 cried Arthur Peck. " My best wish is that you may 
 be unable to eat or sleep till you ve given us half.
 
 10 MOULDING A MAIDKS. 
 
 A million pounds ! What the dickens can you do 
 with all that money ? It is altogether too much for 
 you!" 
 
 Lysle was still too deeply absorbed in the letter he 
 had received to do more than stare at the rest of the 
 boys, without comprehending in the least what they 
 were saying. 
 
 "What are you going to do about that fortune?" 
 continued Peck, with an air of mock insistance. 
 "Come, we are entitled to know." 
 
 " My relation has not left me any large sum," said 
 Lysle, " but he has" 
 
 "You dog !" exclaimed Luke Woodstock, another 
 of the party, taking up the joke begun by Arthur 
 Peck. " Do you intend to swindle us out of our 
 share of the estate ? By the vane on yonder 
 Academy, I swear ." 
 
 " Oh, let him tell his story," interposed Dudley 
 Morgan. 
 
 Silence being restored, Lysle proceeded to reveal 
 the news that had caused him so much astonish 
 ment. 
 
 " It is the strangest thing in the world. I had a 
 cousin named Vandenhoff, whom I have never seen 
 to remember, as he has spent most of his later years 
 in Germany and France. He has recently died, 
 leaving an infant daughter, who is to inherit his 
 fortune when she comes of age. His wife is also 
 dead, it appears, and in his will he has named three 
 guardians for the little girl a cousin of his wife s, 
 named Janet Steiner, a maiden lady of twenty-five 
 years or so, Stanley Melrose and myself." 
 
 At the last word, all of Lysle s companions 
 burst into uncontrollable laughter. 
 
 * You !" cried the party in chorus. " You d make
 
 MAX VANDENHOFF S WHJU 11 
 
 a nice guardian for a young lady ! What was the 
 matter with the old gent crazy ?" 
 
 " I should think so," was the sober reply. ** And 
 yet he has always been supposed to be sane enough. 
 He was not an old gent, either. Not more than 
 thirty at the most. I m very sorry to hear he s dead, 
 upon my word !" 
 
 The boys seemed to realize, all at once, that there 
 was something besides fun in the affair, and they 
 looked at Lysle with a new interest. 
 
 " Here is the whole story," he said. " Max Vanden- 
 hoff inherited his money from his father, and has 
 spent most of his time since then abroad. He must 
 have married within a comparatively short time, as 
 I had never heard of him except as a bachelor. 
 His wife s cousin, Miss Steiner, who writes me this 
 letter, says she had been acting for some time as 
 a companion to Mrs. Vandenhoff, who died shortly 
 after the birth of this child. The father s death 
 occurred very unexpectedly, and he has left the 
 little girl to our care, because we are, as she says, 
 her sole relations." 
 
 Luke Woodstock said he wondered what the law 
 was in a case like this, 
 
 " Can you exercise such authority as is contem 
 plated in that will," he asked, " while you are your 
 self a minor? I should think you would have to 
 wait till you could control your own property before 
 you could handle that of other people." 
 
 Woodstock was a little older than the others, and 
 as he intended to be a rawyer, this hazard of an 
 opinion was received with due consideration. 
 
 " I don t know, I m sure," said Lysle, in reply. 
 "If your conjecture should prove correct it will leave 
 Miss Steiner in charge of her for a good while, as
 
 IS MOULDING A HAIDEtt, 
 
 Stanley Is only two years older than I am. But thort 
 can t be much that we can do, any way, while the 
 child is such an infant. I imagine that ail Vanden- 
 hofif intended was to provide for emergencies. Stan 
 ley and I were merely put in, I suppose, to act as 
 alternates in the event of her death/ 
 
 Luke then asked, with an eye to the main thing of 
 importance, what provision there was for recompense 
 to the guardians. 
 
 " We all get something," replied Lysle, referring 
 again to the letter whih he held in his hand. " Miss 
 Steiner gets twenty-five thousand dollars, Stanley fif 
 teen thousand dollars, and I five thousand dollars." 
 
 " What s the reason for the sliding scale ?" queried 
 young Peck. 
 
 ** I m sure I don t know. Perhaps Miss Steiner has 
 no other expectations." 
 
 But Luke took up the cudgel in great indigna 
 tion. 
 
 " Stanley has at least as much coming to him from 
 his father s estate as you have from yours, and yet 
 he is to get three times what you do, by this will. 
 Now, that is what I call downright meanness !" 
 
 Lysle Mel rose surveyed the speaker with his calm, 
 wondering eyes. 
 
 * I am sure it was Mr. Vandenhoff s money to do 
 as he pleased with," said he. " There was no obli 
 gation for him to leave me a cent, unless he wished. 
 It was very kind of him to remember me at all. It 
 would be unhandsome to find fault merely because 
 some one else gets more." 
 
 Upon this, Dudley Morgan, who had been pacing 
 up and down the room in silence, paused to inter 
 ject a remark. 
 
 * It isn t because he has left you such a little sum
 
 VAX VANDENHOFTS WILL. 18 
 
 thtt I care, Lysle, but because he has left Stanley so 
 much. He will never spend a cent of that fifteen 
 thousand dollars on anybody but himself. He is 
 the meanest, stingiest " 
 
 Lysle rose quickly, and caught hold of his com 
 panion s arm. 
 
 "Stop, Dud, unless you wish to offend me," he 
 said. "I cannot hear such remarks about my 
 cousin." 
 
 "It is true, though," put in Luke Woodstock, 
 impetuously, " and every boy at this academy will 
 say the same. * 
 
 "They won t say it to me, for I ll not listen," 
 replied Lysle, firmly, taking up his hat. He was not 
 in temper, but he had a grieved look that told its 
 own story. " When you fellows are ready to tall 
 about something that interests me, I shall be glad to 
 return," he added, taking a step toward the door, as 
 if to quit the room. 
 
 But Dudley had him by the sleeve, and on behalt 
 of the entire group of offenders promised to drop the 
 unpleasant discussion about Stanley if he would 
 remain. Lysle was a great favorite at Brooks, and 
 none ot its inmates were more attached to him than 
 was Morgan. 
 
 **I ve been studying it all out," remarked Wood- 
 Stock, when the party were seated once more. " Your 
 relation was a man of discretion, after all. He has 
 appointed Miss Steiner to this trust because he 
 wanted some one to look after the moral and relig 
 ious welfare of his child. He has named Stanley on 
 account of his financial tastes, to see that her fortune 
 is well invested, and made to earn a large dividend. 
 And he has added you, in the hope that, when she 
 grows older you will develop her artistic nature.
 
 lit MOULDING A MAIDS*. 
 
 With three such guardians, the young Jady Daght to 
 become a perfect paragon. If you take as good care 
 of her as you should, Lysle," he added, gayly, "I 
 think I shall postpone all thoughts of marriage till 
 she becomes of sufficient age, and then put in an 
 application for her hand," 
 
 This was considered amusing enough to draw 
 laugh from everybody in the room, and put all in the 
 best of feeling. 
 
 " How old do you say she is now ?" inquired 
 Morgan. 
 
 ** Nearly a year." 
 
 " And her fortune, how big is that ?** 
 
 ** Nearly two hundred thousand." 
 
 "It will be two millions by the time she is twenty- 
 one," said Morgan, " with Stanley to manipulate it. 
 Luke, accept my congratulations." 
 
 There was an implied reflection against Stanley in 
 this statement, but it was veiled with a compliment, 
 and Lysle could not very well object. 
 
 " Confound all your avaricious speculations ! * 
 burst fort Arthur Peck. " What color are her 
 eyes ? That s the question. Will she be tall, short 
 or medium ? Will she weigh just a hundred and fif 
 teen the charming weight for a woman or will she 
 tip the scales at one hundred and eighty ? Will she 
 be sweet and tender and clinging, or cold, formal 
 and dignified ? What size shoes will she wear on her 
 feet? What will be the number of her gloves ? Will 
 her upper lip have a delicious shortness, causing the 
 pearls beneath to drive men to distraction ? Will 
 her shoulders be shapely, but not too full, her arms 
 slender, but beautifully moulded, her slight bust the 
 promise of a not too grand fulfilment ? Will her ** 
 
 But at this juncture, young Melrose uttered an
 
 VANDENHOFF S WILL. 15 
 
 exclamation that stopped his companion short in the 
 midst of his rhapsody. 
 
 " What s the matter, Lysle ?" inquired the speaker. 
 
 ** You ve no business to talk in that style, Arthur," 
 was the reply, * and you know it." 
 
 " Not of a baby a year old ?" laughed Peck. 
 
 "No, not when she is to be my ward. Beside, 
 you were not speaking of the baby that is, but of 
 the woman that is to be." 
 
 Arthur seemed determined, however, to consider it 
 nothing more than a joke. 
 
 " Serious as ever !" he exclaimed, still laughing. 
 " I was only drawing an artistic picture for the eye 
 of an artist. You are going to be a great painter, 
 you must remember. These fellows " pointing to 
 Morgan and Woodstock " whose mission in life will 
 be the weaving of cloth and the drawing of deeds, 
 might misunderstand me, but you should not. You 
 are an artist, and you ought to look at things from 
 an artistic standpoint." 
 
 Still Lysle declined to be convinced, and it was 
 evident that the remarks he had heard had nettled 
 him more than he wished to show. 
 
 " Say what you may,* he answered, " I think no 
 one would care to hear the physical qualities of his 
 female relations debated with your remarkable free 
 dom. You may mean all right, but your language 
 &s very distasteful to me." 
 
 Peck grew angry at that. 
 
 " Oh, if you don t like it " he drawled, in that 
 exasperatingly slow tone which is often more insult 
 ing than a direct rebuff. 
 
 "I don t!" replied Lysle, sharply, "And what s 
 more, I won t have it !"
 
 M mrume A lunam. 
 
 " Won t r echoed Peck, in a rage. " If I chote to 
 go on, what would you do about it, I d like to know?* 
 
 It takes very little to precipitate a quarrel between 
 schoolmates. Blows would have followed in another 
 moment, had not Luke Woodstock, the coolest head 
 in the party, interposed, and told them both that 
 the one who struck first would have to fight him, 
 too. 
 
 " That isn t the question," said Peck, still smart- 
 ing under his fancied injuries. " Who was wrong, 
 that s the point ?" 
 
 " No matter about that," said Luke. * You fel 
 lows think the world of each other, and in a min 
 ute more you d have been pounding faces like two 
 ragamuffins of the street. Drop it, now, and never 
 even think of it again." 
 
 " But who was right ?" reiterated Peck. " If I 
 was wrong, I will apologize. If he was, let him do 
 the same." 
 
 Luke looked at both the boys. 
 
 * Do you want me to decide it ?" he asked Mel- 
 rose. 
 
 "Yes/ saidLysle. 
 
 44 Well, Arthur was wrong in the first place," he 
 said, " and you were wrong in the second. Besides 
 that, Dudley and I were wrong to listen without 
 protest when we could see so plainly that you were 
 being annoyed." 
 
 ** Shall I apologize r" demanded Arthur, 
 
 "No." 
 
 u Shall I ?" asked Lysle, with an effort. 
 
 ** No, but I want you to shake hands." 
 
 This was done with a fairly good grace on the 
 fart of both. 
 
 "Now, is there anything else you wish to tell
 
 VANDENHOFF S WILL. 17 
 
 n about your new ward ?** asked Woodstock, with 
 an idea that this would be a good way to get the 
 conversation back again into agreeable channels. 
 
 14 No,** replied Melrose, positively. * I do not 
 wish to say anything more about the matter." 
 
 Morgan began to whistle a popular tune, and 
 one by one the lads withdrew. As it was Lysle s 
 room in which the affair occurred, he soon found 
 himself alone. 
 
 " I must take better care of that temper of mine,"* 
 he mused, as he sat there. " It will get me into 
 trouble some day if I do not look out. In another 
 second I should have struck Arthur. But after all, 
 he was very aggravating. His comments were in 
 frightful taste. Perhaps he couldn t see how they 
 appeared to me, though. Was I too sensitive ? If I 
 had made the same remarks about a sister of his, 
 would he have liked it, I wonder? I ve half a 
 notion to apologize to him the first time we meet. 
 The only trouble is he might receive it badly. 
 No, on the whole, I think I won t say anything." 
 
 He took up one of his books and began to study, 
 but the unpleasantness of his recent altercation was 
 too fresh in his mind to be forgotten, and he made 
 little progress with his task. Presently he put the 
 volume away, and gave himself up to reverie. 
 
 Carlysle and Stanley Melrose were the sons of 
 two brothers, both of whom had died in youth, leav 
 ing their only children to the care of such guardians 
 as the court might appoint. The boys were, as the 
 reader may have already surmised, quite different in 
 their mental make-up and habits of thought. Stan 
 ley, who was now sixteen, had already developed a 
 tendency to careful expenditure of his allowance, 
 and was known to be saving up a good part of it.
 
 18 MOULDING A. MAIDEN. 
 
 some of which he loaned to his fellow pupils at 
 usurious rates. No occasion was important enough 
 in his eyes to justify a gift of money or other 
 thing of pecuniary value, and the occasional sub 
 scription papers that were passed about the 
 academy never bore his name. To the charge of 
 meanness he had the ever ready answer that if 
 others were as careful of what they possessed, there 
 would be no necessity for charity. He was a bright 
 scholar, seldom missing anything in his lessons, or 
 violating any of the rules of the school. His 
 intention was to be a lawyer. He never was known 
 to have trouble with either teachers or pupils, and 
 his habits were such that no fault could be found 
 with them. And yet not a scholar at Brooks 
 Academy was less liked than he. 
 
 Lysle s character can be easiest described by say 
 ing that he was almost everything that his cousin 
 was not. He was so careless with his expenses, 
 and so generous with his gifts, that he was always 
 in arrears financially, and very often heavily in debt 
 to his more prudent cousin. His good nature got 
 him into innumerable scrapes. Several times he 
 was on the point of being sent away in disgrace, 
 but the universal fondness for him stood him in 
 good stead. There was nothing really wicked about 
 the lad, and this his preceptors soon came to know. 
 The nearest he ever came to being expelled was 
 when he took upon himself the offence of one of the 
 other boys, a very grave one, which it was hard for 
 the authorities to overlook, and perhaps I cannot 
 introduce him better than by giving a short history 
 of that affair. 
 
 " Don t you say a word,** he had said to the real 
 culprit, when he found that the investigation that
 
 MAX TANDENHOFP > 8 WILL. 1* 
 
 had been set on foot would surely result in hit 
 detection unless some one confessed. " I know 5* 
 you are turned out of this academy you will Iiave to 
 go to work, and won t be allowed to finish your 
 education, while if I am expelled my guardian will 
 only send me to some other institution. Keep quiet, 
 and they will never suspect you." 
 
 The sinner protested that he should not allow 
 Lysle to do anything of the kind, but his fear at the 
 punishment in store was too great, and when the 
 boys were appealed to in the great hall to tell who had 
 perpetrated the mischief, young Melrose stood up in 
 his place. " Do you know the penalty ?" asked the 
 old professor, his voice shaking with emotion. 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Master Melrose," said the professor, " will remain 
 after the rest are dismissed." 
 
 The principal of the academy, Professor Wilson, 
 had had charge of boys for forty years, and he was 
 quick to notice things. The astonishment of the 
 other lads at Lysle s confession, the gasp that had 
 issued from the throat of the real culprit, and the 
 sad looks of the entire school as they marched out, 
 some with tears in their eyes, were not lost on him. 
 When he was alone with Lysle he did not immedi 
 ately speak. They sat regarding each other with 
 expressions of mingled regret and esteem. 
 
 "The penalty of t he offence which you have con 
 fessed is expulsion/ said the old professor, at last. 
 
 " I know it, sir," said Lysle, unflinchingly. 
 
 " Shall you not be sorry to leave this academy ?" 
 
 **Very sorry, sir." 
 
 ** What do you expect to do next ?" 
 
 " I hope t go to another one with the least posse 
 bfe delay/*
 
 V MOfTLDiiro A MAIDEW. 
 
 * If they knew your record here, do you think they 
 would care to receive you ?" asked the professor, 
 searchingly. 
 
 " Perhaps not, sir." 
 
 ** Supposing they asked you the cause of youf 
 leaving Brooks ?" 
 
 Lysle hesitated. 
 
 " You would not lie to them ?" said the professor, 
 altering the form of his question for greater effect. 
 
 "I do not think I would, sir. But I would not 
 need to tell everything." 
 
 * Lysle," said the professor, kindly, " would you 
 think it right to tell a lie a downright lie under 
 any circumstances ?" 
 
 The boy hesitated again. 
 
 ** I cannot answer you, sir.** 
 
 * Cannot answer me !" exclaimed his questioner, 
 in mock surprise. " If you had committed a breach 
 of the rules of this academy, for instance, would you 
 He to save yourself ? * 
 
 "Oh, no, sir." 
 
 " Or would you allow any one else to lie for you ?" 
 
 The boy was very ill at ease. For the first time 
 he could not look the professor in the face. 
 
 " I know a boy," continued Professor Wilson, " who 
 has allowed another boy to shoulder an offence that 
 belongs to him. What ought to be done to a boy 
 like that T 
 
 Lysle looked up and saw that he could no longer 
 conceal his secret. 
 
 "You do not need to punish two for the offence of 
 one," said he, with deep earnestness. " Expel the 
 boy who has confessed the guilt. The other may 
 have a mother at home who will feel his disgrace 
 very keenly. He may have a step-father who will be
 
 MAX VANDENHOFF S WILL. 21 
 
 enly too glad of an. excuse to take him from school 
 
 and put him at work. The punishment of expulsion 
 which to the one will be only a slight delay in his 
 education may mean endless torment to the other. 
 I know your kind heart, sir, and I am sure you can 
 not hesitate." 
 
 "Has Dudley Morgan a step-father?" asked the 
 professor, wiping his glasses. He had had a step 
 father himself. 
 
 Lysle did not answer. He was appalled at the 
 mention of the name, which he had not supposed 
 the professor knew. 
 
 " You have told me a falsehood " said the pro 
 fessor. 
 
 Still Lysle was silent. 
 
 * May I go now, sir ?" he asked, presently. 
 
 The professor was in a great quandary. He did 
 not wish to expel this lad, whom he had learned to 
 love almost with the affection of a father, and what 
 he had just learned of Morgan s home-life made 
 him hesitate in his case, also. After a moment s 
 thought he touched a bell, and when a servant 
 responded he said, " Send Master Morgan here." 
 
 The room was very still for a minutes after that. 
 When Morgan appeared he wore a look of deep dis 
 tress. 
 
 " Do you know anything, Morgan, about the mat 
 ter of which I asked my pupils this morning?" was 
 the professor s direct question. 
 
 "Why do you do this?" queried Lysle, quickly. 
 "I have confessed everything. I am ready to take 
 my expulsion. Excuse me, Professor Wilson, but 
 this is hardly fair." 
 
 The professor looked at Morgan. 
 
 * You heard my question ?" he said.
 
 22 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the trembling reply, " and I am 
 very glad you asked it, sir. I did the whole of the 
 mischief myself. I have been a coward to allow 
 Lysle to take the blame, but it is all over now. I 
 shall have to go to work in the mill, which I> hate, 
 but I couldn t have stayed here if he had been pun 
 ished in my place. He knew my situation, and he 
 persuaded me to let him take the blame, before I 
 had time to reflect. I am very glad it s over, sir, and 
 I hope you won t blame him too much." 
 
 The professor had to take off his glasses again 
 and wipe them. They had somehow grown so misty 
 that he could see nothing at all with them. 
 
 "Lying is a terrible vice," he said, finally, to 
 Melrose. " I shall forgive you this one offence, if 
 you show due regret. You are sorry for the false 
 hood, I have no doubt ?" 
 
 " No, I am not, sir," replied Lysle, firmly, 
 
 M W what !" was the astonished reply. 
 
 " No, sir. And I want to ask you now, sir, 
 whether you are going to expel Dudley. Because, 
 if you are," he spoke very slowly and distinctly 
 * I shall not stay." 
 
 " W what ? What s this ?" stammered the pro 
 fessor. 
 
 "His step-father is a mean old skinflint," pursued 
 Melrose, rapidly. " He has taken all the money his 
 own father left, and Dudley will never get a cent of 
 it, and now he would like mighty well to have him 
 turned out of school so as to give him an excuse to 
 set him to work. But I will stop that. I shall have 
 a good deal of money coming to me when I am 
 twenty-one, and I can get enough in some way to 
 keep him going. And if you turn him out of this 
 academy, why, he and I will go to a new one
 
 EXAMINING THE BABT. 25 
 
 together, and I shall pay the bills. You may as weU 
 understand that now !" 
 
 Morgan stood with his eyes very wide open, fof 
 this little plan of Lysle s was entirely new to him. 
 
 "You you will both go to your rooms," was the 
 professor s mandate, as soon as he could recover 
 sufficiently from his astonishment to say anything, 
 "I will decide both your cases later." 
 
 When they had gone, the professor walked up and 
 down the room for an hour with his hands behind 
 him in deep study. Every few minutes he took off 
 his glasses and wiped them. He was a great stickler 
 for forms, and he meant to do a good many things 
 when he began his walk. Order in the academy had 
 been seriously threatened. He felt that something 
 must be done to prevent a recurrence of the offenses. 
 
 Months had gone by, however, at the date this 
 story opens, and he had never quite made up his 
 mind what to do. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EXAMINING THE BABY. 
 
 One incident in the life of a boy may give as clear 
 an insight into his character as a long dissertation. 
 Carlvsle Melrose had his faults indeed, many of 
 them but he had not learned to do anything con 
 temptible up to the time he was fourteen years of 
 age. Boys often change after that, but the deepest 
 marks are usually indented before that age. There 
 are early signs in the child that show what we may 
 xpect of the man.
 
 8* MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 Half an hour after Lysle s quarrel with Arthur 
 Peck, detailed in the preceding chapter, his cousin 
 Stanley entered his room. He, too, had just learned 
 of the peculiar will of their relation, and he came to 
 talk about it. Stanley had not a very great idea of 
 Lyste s judgment in a matter of this kind, or any 
 other, for that matter, but he was the only person 
 available with whom there was any use of discussing 
 it and wanted to see what he had to say. 
 
 "You ve heard from Janet Steiner, haven t yon ?** 
 were his first words. 
 
 " Yes," was Lysle s reply. * I received a letter 
 about an hour ago." 
 
 " What do you think of it ?" 
 
 * I was sorry to hear that Vandenhoff was dead. 
 I supposed him a man in the best of health, who was 
 likely to outlive all the rest of us. It is quite a 
 shock to get news of that kind, when one has no 
 preparation." 
 
 Stanley assented quietly to this, but did not seem 
 particularly impressed. 
 
 " He has left you and me partial guardians of his 
 child, it seems. I wonder what the law is about our 
 rights while we are minors. I have some ideas of 
 my own about the bringing up of children," he added, 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "Ah !" said Carlysle, with a look of surprise. He 
 was used to hearing all sorts of remarkable things 
 from his cousin, but this struck him as stranger than 
 anything else he remembered, even from his lips. 
 
 " Yes, said Stanley. " I believe half the children 
 are spoiled by foolish parents. A child is for a long 
 time nothing more or less than a young animal. It 
 should be treated during its first few years with an 
 eye single to the developments of its physical need
 
 EXAMINING THE BABT. $ 
 
 As it grows older its impressions are of the greatest 
 
 importance. Yet who pays any attention to these 
 matters ? Usually it is petted and spoiled to begin 
 with, its health is broken before it is ten years old, 
 its knowledge of the world is gained at hap-hazard, 
 and the result is unpleasantly visible in the peculiar 
 people we see around us." 
 
 Lysle looked at his cousin with an air of awe. He 
 could not understand how any one could be as wise 
 at sixteen as Stanley was. 
 
 " I do not know what the law is," continued Stanley, 
 " but I am going to find out. If I am to be held par 
 tially responsible for the future of this child, I want 
 to put my theories in practice from the start. Miss 
 Steiner may be a very excellent woman, but an old 
 maid is constitutionally incompetent to bring up any 
 child, without assistance and advice from others." 
 
 He might have seen sixty years instead of sixteen, 
 judging by the way he spoke. 
 
 " I had an idea," said Carlysle, unconsciously 
 quoting Luke Woodstock, " that the intent of the 
 will might be to leave the what you would call the 
 bringing up of the little girl to Miss Steiner, 
 because well, because she is a woman and the 
 management of the property interests to us, because 
 because we are, or are going to be, men. It must 
 be divided up some such way as that, I should 
 think, to prevent any disagreement among the 
 guardians." 
 
 Stanley Melrose tried to conceal the contempt 
 that he felt for this proposition, not to say for its 
 author, behind a strange smile. 
 
 "Money is much less important to a young per- 
 son than character," he said. " It is comparatively 
 easy te keep a lot of cash productively invested, but
 
 36 MOULDING A 
 
 the developing of a young mind requires the deepest 
 thought and the most uncompromising firmness. 1 
 do not know of anything that would have given me 
 more pleasure than to learn of this trust. I only hope 
 I shall not be prevented entering upon its duties until 
 I am twenty-one. The first years of a child s life 
 especially of a girl s are everything. If I have to 
 wait till I am of age she will be six years old before 
 I can exert my authority." 
 
 " And eight before I can say a word," smiled Lysle. 
 * Quite a young lady." 
 
 "Miss Steiner is to arrive in America within a fort 
 night," continued Lysle. " We shall then know the 
 full text ot the will, and be able to tell what our 
 rights are. Mr. Vandenhoff was very kind to leave 
 us such handsome presents," he added, after a 
 momentary pause. 
 
 Stanley shrugged his shoulders slightly. 
 
 " You cannot call them presents," said he, " if, as 
 seems to be the case, the money is given in place of 
 fees for administering upon his estate and caring for 
 his daughter. I hope I have not the vice of ingrati. 
 tude to answer for, but it appears to me that he has 
 not been over-generous, considering what he asks in 
 return of me of us, I should say. Surely the sum 
 he gives you is beggarly enough. Though, perhaps/ 
 he suggested, guardedly, "he did not expect as much 
 of you as he did of me. You certainly ought not to 
 do as much for five thousand dollars as I for three 
 times that sum," he concluded. 
 
 A mischievous thought came at that moment into 
 the head of the other. 
 
 " On that basis Miss Steiner ought to do nearly 
 twice as much as you/ he said. " She will have her 
 bands well occupied."
 
 EXAMINING TBE BAB*. IT 
 
 Oh," replied Stanley, with a half sneer, *w 
 can t reckon her bequest on the same basis as ours. 
 You and I shall have something coming to us when 
 we are of age. She probably has nothing. She will 
 have to assume the nominal guardianship of the 
 child, of course, and we shall have to assent to every 
 thing, I suppose. I wonder if she is tractable," he 
 added. " She could make things very uncomfort 
 able, if she were inclined." 
 
 There did not seem to be much more to say on the 
 subject until more information was obtained, and 
 the conversation of the cousins drifted into other 
 channels. 
 
 " Do you still think you shall be a lawyer?" asked 
 Lysle, presently. 
 
 " Yes, there is nothing more profitable, if well man 
 aged, than a good attorney s practice. And you still 
 stick to your notion of being an artist, I suppose ?" 
 
 Lysle assented. 
 
 " I m fit for nothing else," said he. " I can draw, 
 and mix colors, and put them on, and there isn t 
 another thing in the world that I can do." 
 
 " Do artists make much money ?" asked Stanley, 
 musingly. 
 
 " I don t know. I hope I shall never have to sell a 
 picture. It seems as if it were in some way a degra 
 dation to art to exchange it for gold. How much 
 money will there be coming to me when I am of age, 
 do you think ? You have inquired, I have no doubt. * 
 
 Stanley calculated mentally for several minutes. 
 
 " If it is invested as carefully as it ought to be, 
 you will have three thousand dollars a year as long 
 as you live. Not a great deal, is it ?" 
 
 Lysle stopped to think. 
 
 " About sixty dollars a week ? I can live on that,
 
 IS MOULDING A MAIDBH. 
 
 I shall not want much nothing but a bed-room and 
 
 studio, a little canvas and my working materials If 
 I thought I cou!d always paint, and paint well, and 
 never have to part with any of my productions, I 
 should be happy." 
 
 His cousin stared at him for some time in silence. 
 
 " What is the use of painting, unless you sell your 
 work ?" he asked. " It would be like running a mill 
 and keeping all the goods you made." 
 
 " But pictures are not like cloth,* responded 
 Lysle. "They are the creations of the brain, the 
 children of the mind. I should feel almost like a 
 father who had to part with a child if I saw a paint 
 ing going out of my studio. No, Stanley, I shall 
 never sell one of my pictures unless I am driven to 
 it by necessity, and if I can have sixty dollars a week, 
 I shall get along very well." 
 
 The other shrugged his shoulders in doubt. 
 
 " But when you marry," he said, " the sum will 
 not seem so large. Women are expensive creatures, 
 you know." 
 
 u I shall never marry," replied Lysle, firmly. 
 
 Stanley smiled. 
 
 " You will marry," said he, " before you are twenty 
 two." 
 
 Lysle looked much interested. 
 
 "Why do you say that?" 
 
 " Because you are all sentiment. You do things 
 without due thought. You cannot tell this minute 
 what you will do in an hour from now. A boy who 
 would run the risk of being expelled, as you did in 
 that matter of Dudley Morgan s, would do any other 
 foolish thing." 
 
 Lysle flushed a little, but he was not offended at 
 bis cousin s words.
 
 I *m not sorry that I did that," he Mswtr*4 
 * It looks as If it had all blown over, doesn t it ? 
 You don t know the trouble it would have caused 
 Dudley had he been sent away in disgrace. But 
 that is quite different from marrying. I shall be so 
 attached to my art that I can think of nothing els*. 
 1 can hardly wait till the day comes when I am to 
 start for Europe/ 
 
 " How long shall you remain abroad ?" 
 
 " Four years or more. If I am as pleased as I 
 expect to be, I may reside there altogether. After 
 I have completed my studies at Paris I should like 
 to settle down in one of those sleepy old towns in 
 Italy that I have read of, and do nothing but paint 
 all the rest of my life." 
 
 " And what is to become of your interest in oar 
 ward, all this time ?" Stanley inquired, smiling. 
 
 " Oh, the Vandenhoff baby ? She must wait till 
 she is old enough to walk and talk before she calls 
 much on me. I shall leave her infantile days to 
 you and Miss Steiner. You have your theories, 
 you know, and I have none at all. When she is 
 larger, if I return, I will try and help out in her 
 training, I can see no other way, unless you two 
 are willing that she should be sent to Europe when 
 I go." 
 
 Stanley smiled again. He was much relieved to 
 hear this. He was glad to know that Lysle would 
 not be there to interfere with his plans in their 
 earlier stages. He was a boy of great force of mind, 
 and he knew it would be easier to influence Miss 
 Steiner if she were alone than if she had Lysle to 
 upport her objections, as very likely she would 
 JMTT if &* remained He had an idem tfeat Lyrit
 
 A KAIBHK 
 
 would side with a woman, merely beeatsse ibt was 
 one, whether ibe was right or not. 
 
 The next day after this, Stanley called again on hit 
 cousin, to tell him that he had been over to a law 
 library and read a good deal in relation to the duti 
 of guardians, and that he felt quite sure that, under 
 the will of Mr. Vandenhoff, Miss Steiner would bare 
 to consult with her colleagues on everything of 
 importance in relation to her charge, even though 
 they were under the legal age. 
 
 " You only want to stick to me, Lysle, and we will 
 have an understanding from the start, 1 said he. 
 
 To this Lysle good-naturedly assented, and when, 
 one day, news was brought that Miss Steiner was in 
 New York and would like to meet the Melrose 
 cousins, the two boys went to the place appointed, 
 under an implied agreement to stand by each other, 
 in case of any difference of opinion. This meant 
 nothing more nor less than a victory in advance for 
 Stanley, if Lysle had only been wise enough to 
 understand it 
 
 Miss Steiner welcomed them so cordially, and 
 with such an entire absence of formality, that all par 
 ties were placed immediately at their ease. They 
 found her a very quiet lady, of refined appearance, of 
 medium height, dark complexion and well rounded 
 form. The most noticeable thing about her was an 
 expression which denoted that the had passed 
 through severe suffering, and there was a marked 
 constraint visible in her manner, which Stanley 
 immediately accredited to her spinsterhood. She met 
 the cousins in a small private parlor of the St. 
 Nicholas Hotel, at which she was staying. 
 
 "You have both received my letters, doubtless*,** 
 tbt Mid after alluding in the briefest possible
 
 TUX iu.m SI 
 
 aer to the Ion they had sustained in the death of 
 their kinsman. 
 
 "Yes," replied Stanley, who naturally assumed 
 the position of spokesman. 
 
 44 Very likely you thought some of the provisions 
 f Mr. VandenhofT s will strange ones." 
 
 44 They are not of the usual kind/ said Stanley, 
 M but I see nothing unreasonable in them. He seems 
 to have intended to provide care for his child under 
 all probable contingencies. I think he made a very 
 wise will." 
 
 Miss Steiner looked at the lad with great interest 
 She had heard that he was far in advance of most 
 boys of his age, but she was hardly prepared for 
 this speech. 
 
 "You have thought very likely," she went on, 
 after a pause, " of some plans in relation to Rosalie.** 
 
 Rosalie ! So that was the child s name, was it? 
 Lysle was sure that he liked the selection. Stanley 
 was sure that he did not. 
 
 44 1 I have thought of some things," replied 
 Stanley, rousing himself from the reverie into which 
 the mention of the child s name had thrown him. 
 
 44 In the first place, it seems to us to Lysle and 
 me that we can all get along without the interven 
 tion of outsiders in this matter. We two are, of 
 course, under age, and legally have no rights to 
 assume a guardianship of this kind in the face of 
 opposition, should there be any. But, as between 
 ourselves, being relations and friends, we ought not 
 to have any disagreement. My idea and Lysle t 
 is that we ought to go on, just as if we were both 
 twenty-one, and assume the duties given to> ua. 
 Have you the original of the will with yo*. or 
 sopy?"
 
 MiM Steiner had a copy, which th produced 
 Stanley found nothing in it to altar the conclvstas 
 to which he had come. 
 
 " I am interested to hear what yon hare to say," 
 aid Miss Steiner, "and I agree with you in oae 
 thing, at least, the undesirability of having other 
 parties interfering in our affairs. If we can get along 
 together without frict : <*n, I shall be delighted to 
 escape any appeal to the taw, beyond what is neces 
 sary to give me the right to collect and pay moneys 
 on the estate subject to your approval, of course," 
 she added, noting the doubt that had at once mani 
 fested itself in Stanley s face. " Now, tell me frankly 
 just what you wish to do, and we shall soon see 
 whether there is any vital difference in our ideas." 
 
 Stanley paused a full minute before replying, dur 
 ing which Lysle arose and took a walk up and dows 
 the apartment 
 
 I cannot tell you off-hand," said the elder lad, at 
 last, M all I should wish. The child ought, of course, 
 to remain in your control, if you are willing te 
 assume that responsibility, until she is a good deal 
 older than she is now. You have an attendant for 
 her, I presume ?" 
 
 Miss Steiner bowed. 
 
 " There can be nothing about which we could clash 
 for the present," he said, thoughtfully. " As she 
 grows older but then, before that happens I shall 
 be of age to assume my full rights without question." 
 
 Miss Steiner looked at him in some alarm, as if 
 she felt apprehensive that these expressions would 
 prove the groundwork of something serious in the 
 dim future, but she controlled herself, and twraed 
 pleasantly to the other lad.
 
 THB BAMT. 91 
 
 "And you, Lysle? Have you any different 
 theories to advance ?" 
 
 44 No," he answered almost bashfully. " I do not 
 think I shall make you much trouble. But where is 
 the baby ? I think we ought to see our ward before 
 discussing her much longer. Perhaps/* he added, 
 with a bright smile, * she may have some ideas of 
 her own about the summary way she is being dis 
 posed of." 
 
 Miss Steiner called a maid, who soon brought in * 
 little bundle of dry goods, in the centre of which 
 was the cause of all this conclave. I am not going 
 to describe Miss Rosalie as she appeared on that 
 occasion, except to say that she looked much like 
 other happy and healthy babies approaching one 
 year of age. One thing I must note, however : 
 She won the heart of Master Carlysle Melrose on 
 the spot, and before any one knew what he meant to 
 do, he had taken her from the girl s arms into his 
 own. 
 
 Both the nurse and Miss Steiner viewed this act 
 with proper consternation, but Lysle assured them 
 that he would exercise great care and they were fain 
 to appear content. He was one of Rosalie s 
 guardians, and had a right to take her in his arms if 
 he liked. 
 
 " She is a well child, I should think," remarked 
 Stanley, wondering how his cousin could have the 
 depraved taste to wish to hold such a mite as 
 that. 
 
 ** Extremely so," was Miss Steiner s reply. " She 
 has three teeth " Lysle, who had just found them, 
 corroborated the report" and has hardly been ill a 
 day since ber bind."
 
 At MOULDING A. MAIDEN. 
 
 * How old was she when her mother died *** askec? 
 Stanley. 
 
 Miss Steiner started at the question. 
 " Only a a few days," she said, in a low voice. 
 ** Did her father expect to die soon, when he made 
 the will ?" 
 
 * No." 
 
 Miss Steiner s agitation was evident, and Lysla 
 wondered that Stanley should continue his ques 
 tions. 
 
 "That accounts for the odd provisions,** mused 
 the elder Melrose. " He doubtless believed we 
 would reach full age before we should have its 
 duties to perform." 
 
 " Yes, that is probably true," assented Miss 
 Steiner. 
 
 " Do you intend remaining in America ?" 
 
 44 For the present." 
 
 ** I should not like to have the child go away too 
 far," said Stanley, " speaking for myself." 
 
 For an instant she was on the point of making a 
 sharp reply to this statement, but she repressed her 
 self, as she had done before. She was very sure 
 now that she did not like the author of it, and she 
 feared she should like him less as the years rolled 
 on. 
 
 She turned to Lysle. 
 
 " You are both at school, I believe," she said to 
 him. 
 
 "Yes, but I shall finish at the end of this term. 
 I m going to be an artist, and I shall go to Paris to 
 Study." 
 
 44 What about your little ward, while you arc 
 away ?" she asked kindly. 
 
 * Oh, the baby >" he asked, looking up fron? the
 
 "FABI8 IS A. WICKED CUT/* 3ft 
 
 face upon which he had been inducing a succession 
 of smiles for the last five minutes. " I think I shall 
 be willing to trust her to you. She is a very sweet 
 child," he added, resigning her to the nurse, " and X 
 am proud of my new dignities." 
 
 After they had gone, Miss Steiner took Rosalie 
 from the nurse again and held her for a long time in 
 her lap. 
 
 " We shall have trouble with that Stanley Melrose 
 you and I," she said. "How different he is from 
 his cousin ! And Lysle is going to Paris Paris, 
 that wicked city, with no one to guide his young 
 steps. An artist ! I could have told it by his face. 
 What will they do in Paris, with that nice boy, 
 Rosalie ? Will they destroy all the goodness i* 
 him, as they did of ? Will they receive him with 
 a soul as pure as an angel s and send him back with 
 it blackened beyond recognition ? If we could keep 
 him with us, Rosalie, and never let him leave our 
 sight till he is strong enough to bear temptation I 
 Ah, Rosalie, if we could only do that !" 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 "PARIS is A wuKD cmr. 
 
 When the term at Brook* Academy was finished, 
 both of the Melrose boys left that institution of learn 
 ing, Stanley to enter Columbia College, and Lysle to 
 take his European course n the art schools. Stanley, 
 though barely seventeen years of age, was well 
 advanced and had no difficulty in passing the neces*
 
 ary examination prescribed by the college. Lysle 
 could not obtain the usual diploma of graduation, 
 bat cared little for it, as he did not mean to devote 
 himself much more to the mere book-studies. He 
 had drawn ever since he was big enough to hold a 
 pencil, and all of his dreams were in the direction of 
 painting. He could hardly wait for the day when 
 he should set sail across the Atlantic toward those 
 lands where the artist finds, and seems likely to find 
 for many generations yet to come, his best inspira 
 tion. 
 
 The leave-taking of the other students from the 
 cousins was of a widely different nature. Stanley 
 got no more than a formal good-bye from either 
 teachers or pupils. It was all that he wanted, so he 
 experienced no disappointment. But the parting 
 with Lysle was another affair entirely. He was a 
 general favorite, and all felt that his leaving would 
 be a genuine loss to the good-fellowship of the 
 school. From the old principal, Professor Wilson, 
 who had had the talk with him that day when he 
 told his lie for Morgan, down to the latest arrival, 
 there was gloom at the prospect of his departure. 
 Dudley felt as badly as any of them, for Lysle had 
 proved himself a friend to the unlucky boy on more 
 occasions than one, and he could conjure up nothing 
 but trouble when removed from his watchful care. 
 
 " You can give me just a week to stay here after 
 the next term begins," he said to Lysle, dolefully. 
 ** The professors are all down on me and only wait 
 ing to get a chance to expel me." 
 
 "But it all lies with you to prevent them, Dud*** 
 replied Lysle. * You mustn t give them the chance." 
 see," replied Morgan, shaking his head,
 
 "PABIS IS A WICKED OTTT. 8 * 8V 
 
 * I sha n t do anything at all, but they ll get on to me 
 
 just the same." 
 
 Lysle gave him all the encouragement he could* 
 and they agreed to correspond with each other. 
 
 " If you get into any trouble, which you mustn t, 
 you know, you will tell me all about it," said Lysle. 
 "You will never be without a friend while I live, 
 Dudley." 
 
 Luke Woodstock was sorry to have him go, too, 
 but Luke did not express his feelings as freely as 
 some boys. He contented himself with wishing the 
 lad good luck, and predicting that he would one day 
 see his name high up on the scroll of famous artists. 
 Arthur Peck said good-bye in a quiet way. He had 
 never acted quite as warmly toward Lysle since that 
 day when they had the little difference. It occurred 
 to Lysle several times to say that he hoped there 
 were no hard feelings, but there seemed no real 
 occasion for it. He did not wish to do injustice to 
 any one, and he did not think he had done so to 
 Arthur. These were the boys with whom he had had 
 the closest acquaintance in the academy, and the 
 parting with them was the only unpleasant thing to 
 his contemplated journey. He thought nothing of 
 leaving Stanley. They had never sustained intimate 
 relations. As cousins who were in charge of the 
 same guardian, they were frequently brought in con 
 tact with each other, but there was no close fellow- 
 ship. The will of Mr. Vandenhoff was the only thing 
 that made it likely they would meet much after 
 their school days at Brooks were over. 
 
 The cousins went to New York together. Both 
 had to see their guardian there, and they also had to 
 pay a visit to Miss Steiner and her charge. Mr. 
 Dennin, their trustee, was a pleasant old gentleman
 
 86 MOULDING A MAIDEN., 
 
 who had always let them do exactly as they pleased. 
 "When Lysle told him that he wished to be an artist 
 and go to Paris he assented quite as a matter of 
 course. When Stanley made known his preference 
 for Columbia, stating that he meant to be a lawyer, 
 h* approved of the proposition without a word. 
 Had the boy decided to become a horse jockey, Mr. 
 Dennin would probably have been quite as well sat 
 isfied. But when the lads confided to him the con 
 tents of their cousin Vandenhoff s will, he was 
 obliged to laugh outright, the first and only time, it 
 is believed, in his entire life. 
 
 " And so you are to have the bringing up of a 
 baby ?" he said, to Stanley ; and he seemed to find 
 the idea vastly amusing. 
 
 " Yes, sir," responded Stanley, with due dignity 
 He could see nothing to laugh at, and he meant to 
 impress Mr. Dennin with that fact. "That is, Miss 
 Steiner, Lysle and I together will have it to do. 
 But as Lysle is to go away for some years, and as 
 Miss Steiner is a a woman the responsibility will 
 devolve very largely upon me." 
 
 " The lady is the only one of the party who is of 
 legal age," suggested Mr. Dennin, " She is entirely 
 willing, is she, to accept your suggestions ?" 
 
 " It seems so," replied Stanley, " The only alter 
 native would be to turn everything over to some 
 body like you until I am twenty-one. And that 
 would be of no advantage, you know." 
 
 He was delighted at the chance to give his guardian 
 a rap in exchange for the one he had inadvertently 
 received, so long as he could accomplish it in this 
 guarded manner. 
 
 " Exactly," said Mr. Dennin, growing entirely 
 aober. "You will get along famously, I have no
 
 FABIS is A WICKED mr.* 19 
 
 tfcrobt. It is a great responsibility, though, this 
 bringing up of a girl. I no, I don t think anything 
 would make me accept such a trust." 
 
 Stanley looked wiser than ever. 
 
 a It is a common error," said he, " to consider the 
 training of a girl as such a different thing from that 
 of a boy. There are a great many silly notions pre 
 vailing about the radical difference of the sexes. 
 NoC?, my idea is that they are for all practical pur 
 poses identical." 
 
 "Bless my soul !" exclaimed Mr. Dennin, thrown 
 momentarily off his guard. 
 
 Lysle looked and listened, thinking what a very 
 wise man his cousin would become at the rate he 
 was going on. 
 
 " Children, be they boys or girls," pursued Stanley, 
 44 should be brought up exactly alike. They should 
 have plenty of physical training. We should be 
 sure that their bodies are sound before we try to 
 cram their heads full of learning. The way that girls 
 are handicapped, under the system generally in 
 vogue, unfits them for their place in life. They are 
 petted, made to act unnatural, given a surfeit of 
 bonbons and taught superfluities before they have 
 any idea of essentials. For their first ten years they 
 are nothing whatever but little animals, and should 
 be treated accordingly." 
 
 Lysle was thinking of the dainty bundle of linen 
 and lace that he had taken in his arms at Miss 
 Steiner s. He was not quite sure that he liked to 
 hear Stanley speak of Rosalie as a " little animal." 
 
 " You refer to the place of a girl in life," said Mr. 
 Dennin, wonderingly. " What is her place ? Per- 
 haps you have new ideas on that subject, too." 
 
 " It should be her place to be of use,** was the
 
 instant reply. * It should not be her place t act the 
 
 part of a doil. Nature has made her with legs she 
 ought to be able to walk miles without fatigue by 
 the time she is five. She has been given arms she 
 ought to strengthen them as boys do, and not keep 
 them for exhibition in some parlor or opera box. 
 Look at the fashionable girls of to-day, and tell me 
 what they are good for. Their gentlemen escorts 
 carry their smallest parcels to and from the carriages 
 in which they languidly recline when out of their 
 houses. A maid dresses and undresses them. Upon 
 the slightest exertion they are overcome with 
 fatigue. I maintain that girls are naturally as 
 strong as boys, that they can, in fact, bear greater 
 hardships than their brothers if properly trained. 
 Give me the first ten years of this child we are talk 
 ing about, let me direct her as I desire, and I will 
 show you a contrast to what you will find in any 
 other house with which you are acquainted." 
 
 Mr. Dennin wanted to say that he did not doubt 
 that, but he did not wish to offend his ward. 
 Stanley was the kind of fellow that it was as well to 
 keep on good terms wth. 
 
 " If you stay in Europe ten years, Lysle,** con 
 tinued Stanley, turning to his cousin, " I will show 
 you a paragon of strength and muscle when you 
 return. She shall then match her strength with any 
 boy of her age and come off victorious. She shall 
 be able not only to ride a horse, but to catch and 
 mount him. / could do it when / was ten. She 
 shall be able to hit a bull s-eye at forty paces with a 
 revolver, /could. And when she is eighteen, if a 
 man speaks insultingly to her she will neither faint, 
 scream nor run away. She will give him one blow 
 between the eyes that will make him food for the
 
 "FAEIS m A WIOKBD omr. 1 * 1 
 
 imbalance wagon, /can do at; why shonldt 
 tktr 
 
 Lysle was obliged to admit to himself that Stanley 
 said this very well, and he had no doubt that the 
 theory was a correct one, for he knew Stanley to be 
 a very wise boy, But it puzzled him some to imagine 
 all these things of the baby he had seen laughing up 
 at him in Miss Steiner s parlor. 
 
 "What are the women of to-day good forr* 
 demanded the young reformer. " Can you tell rae r** 
 
 "No I am sure that is I really don t know," 
 stammered Mr. Dennin, who was a bachelor. 
 
 " I have heard of them being utilized as wives, 
 put in Lysle, who thought he ought to come to the 
 rescue in some way. 
 
 M Wives !" sneered Stanley. " Yes, they are wives* 
 and look at them ! Did you ever examine any of 
 them critically ?" 
 
 Lysle hastened to say that he had not. 
 
 " Nine-tenths of them are invalids, in one form or 
 other," said his cousin. " Thirty per cent, either die 
 or are broken in health for life with their first child. 
 The way they are raised, their lack of physical train* 
 ing, and their bad diet, is responsibly and in a few 
 years the world will come to realize it. Then, if the 
 race is not too far gone for repair, there will be a 
 reaction and we shall have an era of healthy wives 
 and mothers. I am going to begin with this girl now." 
 
 Neither Lysle nor Mr. Dennin had any thought of 
 answering these statements. The extent of Stanley s 
 knowledge paralyzed both of them. 
 
 After finishing their business at their guardian s* 
 which did not take very long, the boys [sought Miss 
 Steiner again. She was still staying at the hole* 
 where they had first seen her the St Nicholas,
 
 48 MOULDING A MAIDED 
 
 Three months had passed and the baby was able to 
 creep about the floors and to utter certain sounds 
 which were supposed to have definite meanings. 
 Lysle stayed only long enough for a formal leave- 
 taking, as it was settled that he should start without 
 delay for France. Miss Steiner evinced unmistaka 
 ble regret at the news of his early departure, but he 
 promised to write often, she in turn agreeing to 
 inform him of the progress which -his young ward 
 made, from month to month. She wanted to say a 
 good deal more to him, but she was embarrassed 
 by Stanley s presence. She wished in her heart that 
 he was not going, for she liked him extremely well, 
 but there was no help for it and she did not think it 
 wise to reveal her thoughts. 
 
 Stanley remained that day after Lysle departed, 
 and set about conveying some of his ideas to his 
 co-guardian. 
 
 " Miss Rosalie will have a good deal of money s 
 will she not ?" was his first question. 
 
 "Quite a fortune," responded Miss Steiner. "It 
 is all in first-class securities, and foots up nearly 
 two hundred thousand dollars in American money/ 
 
 He asked to see the list of assets and she went at 
 once and brought it to him. She had deposited the 
 securities with a trust company and showed him the 
 receipt. He looked them over with the eye of a 
 connoisseur, and asked in relation to the present 
 value of some of those of foreign issue. 
 
 " They will hardly average over four per cent./* 
 was his closing comment. "That is too little as 
 things go here. I should advise that these German 
 and English stocks be sold, and the proceeds rein- 
 Vested in American concerns." 
 
 Miss Steiner ventured to remark that Mr. Van*
 
 *PAJU O A WICKED COT. il 
 
 denhoff bad always consulted absolute safety rather 
 thao the highest income. But to this Stanley replied 
 that a higher return than four per cent, was possible 
 with securities that were entirely gilt-edged. He 
 said it was the duty of a trustee to take the best 
 care of the property entrusted to him, and that it 
 would be criminal to allow it to earn less than the 
 highest amount that care and diligence could secure. 
 The lady was astonished at his apparent knowledge 
 on these subjects, and not over-pleased at his 
 patronizing way of imparting his information, but 
 she had determined to avoid any open rupture if 
 possible, and she told him that if he would make out 
 a list of the changes in the investments that he pro 
 posed she would take time to decide about accept 
 ing them. He had no greater desire than she that 
 there should be any falling out, and though it con 
 tinually occurred to him that she was "only a 
 woman," he let it go as she suggested. 
 
 His notions about the physical training of young 
 girls were not touched upon at this interview. He 
 realized instinctively that this was a matter which 
 he would have to approach guardedly, as Miss 
 Steiner would very likely claim that it was an 
 invasion of a field which should be entirely her own. 
 He saw that the mite of humanity that was creep 
 ing about the floor, and pulling herself up by the 
 Chairs and ottomans, seemed in a fairly healthy con 
 dition. But her clothing was not what he wanted it 
 to be there were too many encumbrances about 
 her feet, and she wore what he considered too great 
 a weight of goods for the hardening process he 
 believed it was not too soon to begin. Then it dis 
 tressed him to see the little German nurse come and 
 natch the child up and cover her tiny mouth with
 
 M maruxsQ A 
 
 kisses. Didn t the young idiot know that aothtag 
 was more unhealthy for babies than to kiss them on 
 the mouth ? He did not dare ask yet where th 
 child slept, but he thought it as likely as not that 
 she occupied the same bed as either her foster- 
 mother or nurse, and he fairly shivered He was 
 going to remain in New York now most of the time, 
 and would see Miss Steiner often. These things 
 honld be regulated in time. 
 
 " It must be rather dear, living at the hotel, for 
 three of you," he suggested. " What part of the 
 expense do you think it right to charge to the 
 child ?" 
 
 It was very ill advised to broach the subject in 
 that manner, but Stanley could not at all under* 
 stand that. Things financial seemed proper to him 
 at all times and under all circumstances. 
 
 Miss Steiner flushed violently, and her indigna 
 tion got the best of her for a moment. 
 
 ** What part ? All of it !" she answered, with an 
 air that strongly resembled defiance. " Rosalie has 
 an income of at least $8,000. She has been left in 
 my charge, and I do not intend to desert her. AH 
 the expense here is properly a part of her legitimate 
 needs. It will come a good deal under her income, 
 and I think any competent authority will admit that 
 it is right she should pay it." 
 
 He hastened to mollify her. 
 
 a I did not say it was not, Miss Steiner. I only 
 inquired, as I supposed I was at liberty to do." 
 
 She saw that he had the advantage and hastened 
 to assure him that she had meant nothing by her 
 words. 
 
 M thought," she said, "that you intended te 
 insinuate **
 
 "PARIS 98 A WICKED cnrr. 1 * 4ft 
 
 **I never insinuate,** he interrupted. "When f 
 have a statement to make I always do so openly, 
 There will be questions that I shall feel it my duty 
 to ask you, from time to time. There will be things 
 I shall consider it my prerogative to suggest. I 
 trust they will always be received in good part, as 
 they will certainly be offered. We have but one 
 desire, I hope, and that is to bring up our charge so 
 that she shall be a credit to us. When we differ upon 
 methods, or upon matters of administration, we 
 ought not to allow ourselves to become angry." 
 
 She had entirely recovered her equanimity, and 
 aid she was not angry, which Stanley said he fully 
 believed. But there did not seem to be anything 
 more to talk about at the time, and the conference 
 Ciime to a rather sudden close, 
 
 * 1 can feel," said Miss Steiner to herself, after he 
 had gone, " that we are going to have a hard time 
 &f it before we are through. When I found that 
 Max had left Rosalie in the care of those two boys 
 and myself I thought I should have her practically 
 under my own care for the first five or six years. I 
 almost wish that I had appealed at once to the courts 
 &nd had an older person appointed, but perhaps that 
 would have been no better. Stanley would have 
 been indignant at it, and when he did come of age 
 he would have managed in some way to get his 
 revenge. There is a quiet, cold relentlessness about 
 him, that makes one fee! as if he could turn the 
 handle of a vise without mercy if once he got an 
 enemy s finger caught in it. And how totally differ 
 ent is his cousin. I must manage to see him before 
 he sails, even if it is only for a few moments.** 
 
 Lysle had told her that he was going aboard t*Mt 
 that sight, as it was expected to start at *
 
 46 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 very early hour on the following morning. Sfcc 
 waited till after nine o clock, and then was driven in 
 a hired carriage to the dock. A messenger reported 
 that Mr. Melrose was in the cabin, chatting with 
 some of the officers, and she asked that he be told at 
 her presence. 
 
 " I was out driving," she said, with slight prevari 
 cation, when he appeared, " and thought I might get 
 a moment for another good-bye with you." 
 
 " You are very kind," he responded, heartily. 
 "Won t you come aboard a few minutes ? I should 
 like to show you how nicely I am quartered." 
 
 She consented, after a slight demur, and went 
 with him to his state-room. The next few minutes 
 were taken up with directions in case of sea-sickness 
 and advice as from one who had crossed the ocean 
 several times. But, while listening with due atten 
 tion to all she said, Lysle was fully aware that it 
 was not to tell him these things that she had come 
 down to the steamer. 
 
 " How soon do you expect to be in Paris ?" she 
 asked, finally. 
 
 * Within a month. I go to Liverpool first, then to 
 London, stopping at a few places on the way, and 
 then to France." 
 
 "Your arrangements in relation to your new home 
 are all made, I think you told me ?" 
 
 " Not exactly that. The master of whom I shall 
 take my first lessons will guide me to a pension. I 
 shall begin the study of the language at once, and 
 being in a house where they speak nothing else will 
 Help me a great deal. I shall have to rely on 
 jnyself, though, in case of an emergency." 
 
 She regaided him with newly born affection
 
 "PABI8 18 A WICKED CITY.* 47 
 
 And you will have no relation there, no mothtr, 
 no sister ?" she mused, sadly. 
 
 " Oh, as for that," he answered, cheerfufly," I have 
 none here, either." 
 
 Miss Steiner spoke with much feeling. 
 
 " It seems terrible that you are going to Paris with 
 no restraining influences about you. I do not sec 
 what Mr. Dennin is thinking of." 
 
 Lysle did not intend to have her sadness communi 
 cate itself to him. 
 
 " Mr. Dennin !" he echoed. " He has let me do as 
 I pleased ever since he took charge of my father s 
 estate. Probably," he added, smiling, " my good 
 conduct thus far has encouraged him to trust me 
 still farther." 
 
 She put a hand on his shoulder and spoke impres 
 sively. 
 
 " Paris is a wicked city, Lysle. Its temptations arc 
 a hundred times greater than you would encounter 
 here. Be careful, won t you ? You know what 
 wrong is, young as you are. I cannot talk to you as 
 a should like, but you understand me. Live an 
 upright life. It may be years before I shall see you 
 again. Do nothing that you would be unwilling I 
 should know." 
 
 She had become very earnest, and the tears stood 
 full in her eyes. The light-hearted boy felt all that 
 she meant him to feel, and when she stopped sud 
 denly and imprinted a kiss upon his cheek, it 
 impressed him as nothing had ever done before. He 
 did not answer her directly in words, but he had an 
 att tude of attention that satisfied her. 
 
 " Good-bye," she said, fearing to trust herself to 
 ay more.
 
 WWLDIWO A MA1DBV. 
 
 * Good-bye," be answered, brightly. " Take footl 
 
 care of Rosalie." 
 
 She smiled at that, wiping away the tears lest i 
 one in the cabin should notice vhem. 
 
 "You are fifteen," she said. 
 
 ** Yes, and Stanley is seventeen.** 
 
 She winced at the word " Stanley.** 
 
 "You need not write to him that I came to 
 you here." 
 
 *! won t," he answered, and she was gone 
 quickly as she came. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A NEVER CEASING PRE8BUBB. 
 
 Skmly and ingeniously Stanley Melrose carried 
 bis points with Miss Janet Steiner, in relation to the 
 manner in which the little Rosalie should be dressed, 
 exercised and fed. He brought books on physical 
 culture, on dit and on anatomical development, 
 which she felt compelled to read. He took her to 
 lectures on the same subjects, which seemed to have 
 a basis of good sense. But what won the day was 
 neither the books nor the lectures. It was the steady 
 persistency of the young fellow, a never ceasing pres 
 sure of the kind that causes the roots of the elm to 
 lift a heavy wall out of its place and topple down a 
 building. 
 
 There may be readers of this story who will cavil 
 at the picture of a lad of seventeen exercising this 
 influence over the mind of a woman of twenty-five
 
 A NEVES CEASING FRES8UBB. 4$ 
 
 There is a great difference, however, between ladsot 
 seventeen. Young Melrose was no ordinary boy 
 His father had made him a companion up to the 
 time of his death, which had occurred but four years 
 previous to that of Mr. Vandenhoff. A good deal of 
 his infancy had been passed on the plains, where the 
 elder Melrose was engaged in the capacity of Indian 
 agent. There he had learned the athletic habits of 
 the Redmen and the frontiersmen, and when,|at the 
 age of ten, he had left that life to assume that of a 
 student in one of the Eastern schools, he surprised 
 every one by the facility with which he imbibed the 
 lore of books. In less than seven years from the 
 day when he first entered school, with hardly any 
 knowledge of the things taught there except reading 
 and writing, he was ready for college. His brain and 
 body were both powerful. He had no sick days to 
 put him back ; no struggling with exhausted ener 
 gies. He knew but one method in life in dealing 
 with obstacles, and that was to overcome them. It 
 might be done in some cases by force, in others 
 diplomacy was better, but it must always be done. 
 
 Janet Steiner had been left, like the other princi 
 pal characters in this tale, an orphan at an early age. 
 She had gone through boarding-school life in some 
 what straightened circumstances, and upon her 
 graduation had taught children in the homes of 
 wealthy people, who knew very well that she was 
 forced to be dependent, and treated her with patron 
 izing kindness. Her soul rebelled in those days 
 against the uncongeniality of her surroundings, and 
 it was with positive pleasure that she accepted an 
 invitation to take charge of two girls who were to 
 spend several years in Europe, acquiring the modern 
 languages and other accomplishments. When this
 
 50 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 engagement came to an end, and the prospect of 
 
 another term in some one s aristocratic home loomed 
 disagreeably before her, the opportunity was given 
 her to become a part of the family of Mr. Vanden* 
 hoff. 
 
 She worshiped the little Rosalie. Nothing that 
 she believed injurious to the child in any sense 
 would have been permitted. Stanley gained his 
 points by convincing her that what he favored was 
 best, and as the infant continued to manifest most 
 remarkable progress, Miss Steiner soon came to 
 follow his advice without protest or evasion. 
 
 In three months after Lysle sailed for Europe, 
 Stanley had succeeded in making her almost as 
 much horrified as himself when Gretchen kissed the 
 baby on the mouth or tossed her up in the air to 
 make her throw out her little arms and crow with 
 delight. He had rightly guessed that she occupied 
 the same bed with her nurse, and he saw that this 
 was stopped. A little crib expressly for her was 
 provided, not cramped at all in its area, and yet not 
 large enough for any one else to get into it under 
 any circumstances whatever. A number of changes 
 were also made in her clothing, which, while they 
 certainly did not add to the attractiveness of her 
 appearance, gave greater freedom to her limbs and 
 more room for the expansion of her chest. 
 
 When his college term opened Stanley engaged a 
 room at the St. Nicholas for himself, and took up 
 his home there. The room was one on the top floor, 
 selected partly on account of greater economy, 
 though, as he said, it was also the best part of the 
 bouse for study. He was thus enabled to drop in at 
 the Steiner apartments at almost any part of the day 
 to make sure that his directions were being carried out.
 
 A NEVER CEASING PRES3UBB. 51 
 
 Miss Steiner was much disturbed when she first 
 learned that he was quartered in the hotel, for he 
 had said nothing to her of his intention until it was 
 accomplished. It seemed as if it would put her 
 under a sort of surveillance that would not be 
 agreeable. But Stanley was wise enough to be very 
 circumspect in his movements at first. He never 
 presumed to imply that he had any special rights in 
 the care of Rosalie, and prefixed each suggestion 
 with, "Don t you think it would be a good idea ?" or 
 * Has it ever occurred to you ?" 
 
 He had a great deal of studying to do, as he had 
 determined if possible to take the four years course 
 at Columbia in three, but his methodical habits and 
 the splendid condition of his health enabled him to 
 accomplish all that he wished, and yet find abundant 
 leisure to attend to the training of his little ward. 
 His hab : t was to rise at six o clock in the morning, 
 take a walk of an hour before breakfast, arrange his 
 day by the most systematic movements, and to retire 
 at precisely half-past eleven. As sleep came to him 
 within five minutes of the time he touched the pil 
 low, and as he never woke once until the hour for 
 rising, he had all the rest he wanted, and his health 
 was superb. 
 
 One of the first things he began to teach the child 
 was the Indian virtue of stoicism. As soon as she 
 was old enough to understand him he set about 
 inculcating into her youthful mind the lesson that 
 nothing is to be gained by tears or bewailing. She 
 had learned to walk at this period, but was still 
 unsteady on her feet, and had as frequent falls as 
 other children, with resultant bumps and bruises. 
 On such occasions it was the habit of Miss Steiner 
 or Gretchen, in their ignorance of the " true
 
 53 MOULDING A MAIDES. 
 
 to run and pick her up, joining their lamentations 
 
 in pretended earnestness to hers. He had watched 
 this process several times before he felt it the part 
 of wisdom to put in his protest. 
 
 " Would you allow me to suggest, Miss Steiner, 1 * 
 he said, one day when they were alone, " that 
 Rosalie would soon learn not to fret over her small 
 injuries if you and the nurse did not act as though 
 you thought them great ones ? She fell twice on 
 the soft rugs this afternoon and one of you ran with 
 all speed to pick her up and sympathize with her. 
 She cried each time much longer and louder than 
 the extent of her hurt would have warranted. I 
 think, hereafter, if you could bring yourself to let 
 her entirely alone, acting as if you saw nothing 
 worthy of notice in the affair, she would soon learn 
 to pick herself up and go about her business. I am 
 also inclined to the belief that it would ultimately 
 reduce the number of her falls." 
 
 Miss Steiner listened with womanly sympathy 
 arrayed in protest against the ** heartless proposal," 
 for so she viewed it. 
 
 " One of those times that Rosalie fell to-day," she 
 answered, " I had to put vinegar and brown paper 
 on the spot where she bruised herself. I should 
 have thought it wrong not to mind a fall like that." 
 
 He smiled incredulously. 
 
 " I do not like to differ from you," said he, ** but I 
 am quite sure she would have been just as well off 
 to-morrow morning if you had put on nothing at alL 
 Every child is bound to have just about so many of 
 these little bumps. It is a saying in the country 
 that a child who does not fall out of bed before it is 
 a year old will never amount to much in the world.
 
 A HAYEK CEASING PBESSUB& 63 
 
 Has Rosalie ever fallen out of bed ?" he asked, with 
 
 a trace of humor in the question. 
 
 "Once," she admitted, "on the steamer. It was 
 very stormy night." 
 
 Then that danger is disposed of," replied Stanley. 
 "Of course you don t imagine that I take any of 
 these old fables seriously. There are women who 
 declare that a child who looks in a mirror before it 
 is three will die before the end of the year, and they 
 can bring instances where children have looked in 
 mirrors and have died. But let me urge you to try 
 my plan the next time she falls. Just pay no atten 
 tion to her, and watch the result. 
 
 Miss Steiner did not seem to favor the notion. 
 
 " She might break a bone, for all we could tell," 
 she said. 
 
 * And so you intend to examine her all over each 
 time she trips up?" he suggested, good-naturedly. 
 "You will have your hands full, and besides she will 
 never learn that self-reliance which is one of the 
 most valuable things that a child can be taught. 
 Think it over, Miss Steiner, think it over." 
 
 A few days after this, Stanley happened to be in 
 the room when an accident occurred. Rosalie was 
 toddling about from chair to chair, and in passing a 
 small table caught at its cloth cover to steady her 
 self. Losing her balance, but clinging still to the 
 cover, she fell to the floor, bringing down upon hef 
 all of the contents of the table, including a vase, 
 which was shivered with a loud crash. Misi 
 Steiner, who was at the opposite end of the room, 
 sprang up instinctively and was about to rush to 
 the rescue, while Gretchen ran in from the next 
 room with the same intention ; but Stanley no-**- 
 iessiy placed himself between them and the child
 
 64 MOULDING * MAIDRKT. 
 
 - 1 saw it all," he said, in a whisper. M She is only 
 frightened. The vase did not touch her. It is bet- 
 ier not to notice." 
 
 Miss Steiner controlled herself with an effort. AH 
 her instincts would have led her to catch up the 
 child and soothe its sorrows against her breast. 
 Perhaps she thought Stanley was right. She 
 motioned to Gretchen to leave the room, and slowly- 
 resumed her seat, though the loud cries of the little 
 one smote heavily on her heart. 
 
 Stanley had also become seated again and the 
 room was in an apparent state of quietness except 
 for the noisy babe, when Miss Rosalie found it 
 dawning on her small brain that something unusual 
 had happened. It was the first time in her brief 
 recollection that she had fallen without being picked 
 up and sympathized with, and when she got this 
 fact clearly through her mental organism she 
 evinced undoubted astonishment. Getting upon 
 her feet with a celerity that proved that none of the 
 leg bones, at least, were broken, she made her way 
 to Stanley s chair, and proceeded to call his atten 
 tion to the effects of the late catastrophe. He 
 pretended to be so busily engaged in reading a 
 newspaper that he could not listen to her, but when 
 she persisted he put the journal down and gave her 
 his attention. 
 
 " Baby fell," said Rosalie, or at least she gave 
 utterance to sounds which, with the accompanying 
 pantomime, conveyed that impression. 
 
 " Ah !" replied Stanley, as if it was of no special 
 consequence ; and he proceeded to resume his 
 reading. 
 
 44 Baby hurt," was the next statement, couched ia 
 aimilar phrase.
 
 A XEVKE CEASING PBESStJML fiff 
 
 ** AK right," said Stanley, just as if she had called 
 his attention to a new present. 
 
 This did not meet with the child s ideas at all, and 
 to convince him that she needed sympathy she began 
 to cry again. At this he put down the paper and 
 looked at her as if she had done something that 
 excited his curiosity. 
 
 Thus the game went on. Rosalie told him, in her 
 baby way, that she had pulled the cloth off the 
 table, and that she had been hurt in the process. 
 And he told her that he saw that she had pulled off 
 the cloth, and that it was not of the slightest inter 
 est to him or any one else in the world but herself. 
 She could not speak a single intelligible English 
 word, and she could hardly understand one, either, 
 but he knew what she was saying to him, and she 
 perfectly understood all his responses. 
 
 Failing to make the impression she desired in that 
 quarter she went over to Miss Steiner, but before 
 she could get there Stanley had called attention to 
 the success of his plan and begged the woman not 
 to spoil the experiment. And so the child found 
 another newspaper reader who did not seem to feel 
 as great an interest in the recent accident as Rosalie 
 thought she ought. The result was that the little 
 one soon went about her play, as if nothing had hap 
 pened, to the great delight of Stanley, who exultantly 
 called the attention of Miss Steiner to his success. 
 
 Another thing that he insisted upon, in his quiet 
 way, was that Rosalie should have an abundance of 
 fresh air. Whether the day was fair or foul he 
 wanted her to pass a good deal of it out of doors. 
 When winter came and mercury in the thermometer 
 dropped down into the vicinity of the zero mark, ho 
 had hard work to convince Miss Steiner that it was
 
 MOULDING A MAIDBB. 
 
 safe to allow her little charge to face the element*, 
 bat he had his way as usual, and the daily journeys 
 were taken. Once, when the child caught a severe 
 cold, he said it was the result, not of the exposure, 
 but of the previous lack of it, and here also another 
 f his whims came to the surface. 
 
 He would not consent that she should hare a 
 physician. 
 
 44 Doctors should only be summoned in the most 
 desperate cases," he said, oracularly. " To take a 
 lot of drugs at such a time as this, and especially at 
 such an age as this, would be to invite disease to 
 become a frequent visitor. There is no way so easy 
 to undermine the system of a little child as to put 
 drugs into its system. That is all the doctor will 
 do, if we call him. If he comes and we do not use 
 his medicine, what will have been the object of send 
 ing for him ? If we do use it, we shall always be 
 sorry." 
 
 44 But if anything should happen,* said Miss 
 Steiner, with alarm, 44 1 should never forgive my 
 self." 
 
 44 Nothing will happen," he replied, * 4 that would 
 not happen equally with a doctor here. Follow my 
 advice and we shall come out all right. 5 
 
 He thereupon with his own hands loosened Rosa 
 lie s clothing, applied water compresses, gave her 
 a draught ot hot mixture and sent her off early 
 to sleep That night he would not leave Misi 
 Steiner s rooms, but watched the patient as carefully 
 as a hired nurse or a loving mother. In the morning 
 the child was better, and to the horror of the women 
 be insisted that she should go out for her airing. 
 
 44 Wrap her up more than you usually do," he said, 
 **and do not keep her out as long. Open the windows
 
 A NEVER CEASING PRESSURE. if 
 
 C your apartment so that it will get a thorough fill 
 ing with fresh air while she is gone. It s ali right, 
 I tell you. Half the people who die of colds do so 
 because they stifle themselves up in the house when 
 they are or should be on the road to recovery." 
 
 She went out, and was as well as ever in a few 
 days, and Stanley s star rose to its chiefest ascen 
 dancy. What made it doubly apparent that he was 
 right was the sad death of another child living at the 
 hotel, about the same time, who had been attacked 
 with the same symptoms as Rosalie, and had been 
 kept indoors. 
 
 From that day there was little interference with 
 Stanley s plans. - As soon as spring opened he 
 engaged a place for the child and her wardens up 
 the Hudson, and later in the season exchanged it 
 for another on the seashore of New Jersey. Before 
 the close of his school term he went to see them 
 several times a week, and during the vacation he 
 made his h~Tie with them. At this time he devoted 
 a good deal of attention to the little one, staying 
 out of doors with her nearly the whole of the day ; 
 and under his care she continued to grow healthy and 
 ruddy and strong. 
 
 While they were at the shore he had a little bath 
 ing suit made for her and used to let her paddle in 
 the water at the usual bathing hour. When he 
 went in himself he would sometimes take her out 
 where it was deep enough to float, and so thoroughly 
 had she learned to conquer alarm that she seemed 
 to enjoy even this strange amusement. He would 
 hold her by the waist-band, and make her strike out 
 with her little arms and legs until she was almost a 
 swimmer, though only two years and a half old. 
 
 He did not in the least encourage her in her efforts
 
 1 MOULDING A MJLIDEK. 
 
 to talk, as most fond parents and guardians think it 
 their duty to do. She understood by this time all 
 that he felt it necessary to say to her, and she could 
 answer " yes " and " no," which was quite sufficient; 
 As he had said to Mr. Dennin, he regarded her at 
 present as nothing whatever but a little animal, and 
 one that was not kept, either, for purposes of exhibi 
 tion. Miss Steiner and Gretchen may have talked 
 "baby language " to her when in the solitude of 
 their own chambers, but it seemed to make no 
 impression on her mind. Stanley s mentality domin 
 ated the child as it did her elders. She soon learned 
 to prefer him to any of them, probably because of 
 the natural path into which he led her. 
 
 Thus passed away the first year, and the second, 
 and the third. When Rosalie had reached the age of 
 four years no handsomer child could have been found 
 within a thousand miles, judged by the truest of all 
 standards health, form and complexion. 
 
 Stanley was now twenty years of age. He was a 
 tall, athletic fellow, full of subdued fire, ready to 
 conquer the rest of the lions in his way as he had those 
 already met. At commencement day he received the 
 parchment which proclaimed him an alumnus of 
 Columbia, and he also had special mention for the 
 thorough manner in which he had passed his exam 
 inations in a year less than the ordinary time. 
 
 ** I am going West now for a few months," he 
 said to Miss Steiner, "and I want to take Rosalie 
 with me." 
 
 She was used to odd ideas of his with reference 
 to the child, but this one staggered her for tha 
 Moment. 
 
 ** I do not see how I can go, just now," she began. 
 
 M It will not be necessary/ he responded, abruptly.
 
 A JTBTES CEASING PRESSURE. SB 
 
 *I can get along with Gretchen. I wish to see th 
 frontier again, where I lived with my father for so 
 long. It will do Rosalie good to breathe the air of 
 the prairies and to see a little of the wild life there." 
 
 She breathed a sigh. 
 
 " Oh, well, I will go," she answered. "I could not 
 think of permitting her to take that journey in the 
 charge of a nurse alone." 
 
 " You seem to forget," he said, loftily, " that / am 
 going." 
 
 " But you are a man, and Rosalie is a girl.** 
 
 " I am a man at last !" he answered, drawing a 
 deep breath. " Rosalie is a child feminine, it is true, 
 but still a child nothing else. There is not a thing 
 that you can do for her that a nursemaid could not, 
 but if you wish to undertake the hardships, I cer 
 tainly have no objection." 
 
 Within a year he would be twenty-one, and pos 
 sessed under the law of equal power with her. She 
 did not like to PX> to the frontier did not like the 
 idea of Rosalie s going but she thought it was best 
 to accede. It used to come over the woman with 
 awful force sometimes that after he had attained his 
 majority she would sink into a mere cypher in th 
 account, and that he would then have his way with, 
 out even taking the pains to consult her. Rosalie 
 would grow older, and by-and-by it would become 
 unbearable. 
 
 There was only one bright ray of hope in this dark 
 sky, and that was Lysle. He was within two years 
 as old as his cousin, and in case things grew desper 
 ate she could call upon him to help her. She used to 
 figure out the ages, showing how Rosalie would b 
 eight when Lysle was twenty-one and Stanley twenty- 
 thrc. And she trembled at the long jean that
 
 60 MOULDING A XAIDES. 
 
 would still elapse between that time and the day 
 when Rosalie would reach her own majority, and 
 come into undisputed possession of her property and 
 herself. 
 
 Lysle wrote to her occasionally not often from 
 Paris, where he still remained. He did not answer 
 the questions that were uppermost in her mind, or 
 give any hint by which she could guess them. But 
 he told of his studies, and of the progress he was 
 making, and said he was more certain than ever that 
 he had chosen the profession calculated to give him 
 the greatest happiness. She wrote in reply that 
 Rosalie was growing big and strong, and never 
 hinted that there was any trouble brewing between 
 her and Stanley. It would be time enough to tell 
 him those things when he was old enough to be of 
 some use to her. 
 
 The three western bound travelers crossed the con* 
 tinent by easy stages, stopping a few days on the way 
 at Saratoga, Niagara, Chicago and Omaha. At last 
 they found themselves quartered in a little hotel on 
 the edge of the Indian territory, where the accommo 
 dations were simply vile and the surroundings almost 
 unbearable to a lady just from the comforts of life in 
 the metropolis. 
 
 " How Rosalie and I shall enjoy this !" said Stan 
 ley, with enthusiasm, as he gazed up the ravine, on 
 the morning after their arrival. "It all brings back 
 to me the happiest period of my life, when I was 
 under my father s care, and had no more to trouble 
 me than the pigeons or the yellow-birds. Rosalie 
 and I shall like it," he repeated, " but it will not be 
 nice for you, Miss Steiner, as I told you before w 
 left New York. I hope you will feel at full liberty 
 to return whenever you weary of it,"
 
 A. STUDY FROM THE NUDE, O 
 
 His words were not unkind, nor was his manner 4i 
 uttering them, but they made her feel more wretched 
 than she had felt for years. 
 
 * Come, Rosalie," he called to the little girl, who 
 flew to meet him. " I am now going to show you 
 the Indians and horses, and everything that is wild 
 and free." 
 
 And together they left the woman, the hand of the 
 child in his. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A STUDY FROM THE NUDE. 
 
 What was Lysle doing, all this time, in Paris ? 
 
 He was drawing and painting, and learning the 
 French language, and making many friends, as he 
 was sure to do wherever he was located. He was 
 growing a little taller and heavier, though it was 
 evident that he would never possess the wonderful 
 physique of his cousin Stanley. He was now eigh 
 teen years old, slender, slightly pale, with the face 
 of a poet and that half-abstracted air that only the 
 true artist owns. 
 
 He could speak French so well that many of his 
 acquaintances supposed him a native of one of the 
 departments. He had studied other things, too, 
 beside the use of the brush, the mixing of colors, 
 and the shading of lines. He had tied himself down 
 for a certain number of hours each day, under the 
 care of a private tutor, and he had done well. Hu 
 painting master, M. Jouanneau, was enthusiastic 
 about him. and predicted & c&reer.
 
 69 MOULDING A. MAIDKB. 
 
 With all these things to occupy his time, Lysle 
 still found opportunity to walk on the boulevards, 
 and to take little dinners with parties of students and 
 others, the latter mostly in the Latin Quarter^ in the 
 neighborhood of which he resided. These affairs 
 were usually attended by a number of grisettes 
 attached by more or less strong bonds to their 
 masculine escorts, and some of the proceedings 
 weie of a nature that had best not be recorded, 
 Lysle s handsome face appealed to many of the sus 
 ceptible young women whom he met at these places, 
 but it soon came to be recogni/ed that they could 
 expect no more of him than a pleasant word or a bit 
 of conversation. He never lectured them, never 
 criticised their mode of life, but there were bounds 
 to the freedom which he permitted, and they learned 
 to know and respect them. He walked amidst the 
 gay life of Paris like the Hebrew children in the 
 fiery furnace, without the smell of the flames so 
 much as touching his garments. 
 
 There were many young men in the set to 
 which he belonged who held masculine virtue as a. 
 thing for gibes, but they made an exception of Lysle 
 in everything. There were girls there who would 
 have considered any other lad of his years a dunce 
 for a constant refusal of their caresses, but they did 
 not mind it in Lysle ; indeed they liked him the 
 better for it. If he had lectured them, or acted as 
 if he despised them for their mode of life that 
 would have been a very different affair. But he 
 used to sit at the table with the rest, or in a box 
 with a party at the theatre, or in a Sunday carriage 
 in the Bois, joining in the merriment as long as U 
 was of an innocent nature, and refraining from com*
 
 A STUDY FKOM THE NTTDS* 3 
 
 meat when it passed the bounds of his ideas of 
 decorum. 
 
 Had he been ill any of them would have tended 
 him as though she were his sister. Had he fallen on 
 times of financial hardship, not one would have 
 refused to share her narrow means with him till he 
 was out of need. When he came into a room where 
 a parcel of them were gathered it was a contest 
 which should get him nearest to her. 
 
 " Here is your seat, Lysle !" a dozen of them 
 would call, in chorus. 
 
 Knowing him and his habits so well, none of the 
 men felt the least jealousy of him, and he grew a 
 stronger favorite as the years went by. 
 
 Sometimes a new comer to the always changing 
 circle tried to rally him on his " goodness." They 
 were delighted when a letter fell from his pocket 
 addressed to " Miss Janet Steiner, St. Nicholas 
 Hotel, New York," and a shout arose that Lysle had 
 a sweetheart in America, about whom he was so 
 reticent, and that this accounted for his oblivious- 
 ness to the charms of the fair habitu6s of the 
 Quartier Latin. Upon this, Lysle told them in sim 
 ple language the story of his cousin Vandenhoff s 
 will, and of his being one of the guardians of the 
 infant Rosalie. And, though some of them found it 
 vastly amusing, most of the girls thought it very 
 lovely, and asked many questions as to what the 
 child was like, and what he intended to do with her 
 when she grew older. When he said he hoped his 
 ward would after a while be brought to Paris for 
 her education, several of the girls cried out in 
 earnest protest. 
 
 " No, no !" they exclaimed. " Keep the little one 
 out of this wicked city f We know how It It
 
 64 MOULDING A MAIDEM. 
 
 here. Let her stay in America, where the wotnta 
 are virtuous. They are all virtuous there, are they 
 ot, Lysle ?" 
 
 And Lysle blushed, and said he hoped so, but 
 in such a gentle way that no offence was possible. 
 
 Arthur Peck, formerly of the Brooks Academy, 
 came to Paris in that year, when Lysle was eighteen, 
 and ran across him one evening at a little res 
 taurant in the Boulevard San Michel. They had 
 parted warm friends, it will be remembered, but 
 Arthur was so glad to see an acquaintance that 
 he forgot the disagreement and came over to 
 where Lysle sat and greeted him with great 
 cordiality. Lysle, on his part, pleased that Arthur 
 seemed to have resumed his old warmth towards 
 him, rose to take his hand, made a place for him 
 at the board and introduced him to the circle by 
 whom he was surrounded. Arthur could not speak 
 a hundred words of French, but what he had seen 
 of Paris delighted him beyond measure. It was 
 that part of Paris, by-the-way, that Young America 
 seems destined to know long before he can find her 
 art galleries or monuments, and Arthur thought the 
 party that Lysle had presented him to one of the 
 brightest he had yet encountered. 
 
 M y aimeles amertcains" said one of the girls to him, 
 In that soft dialect of the grisette that does not need 
 translation. Her last lover had gone home at the 
 nd of his college term, and she was seeking for a 
 new one. In an hour she led the boy away a will 
 ing captive, and the next day he came to the address 
 that Lysle had given him, wildly enthusiastic in her 
 praise. 
 
 M I never can thank you enough," he exclaimed, M for
 
 < STUDY FROM THE NUBR. 61 
 
 that introduction, She is a perfect darling. I bafft 
 made arrangements " 
 
 " I beg you," responded Lysle, flushing at the 
 thought that he had unconsciously acted as a 
 go-between, * not to give me any further particulars. 
 I had no idea when I presented you to my friends 
 that anything else would follow, and I must insist 
 in knowing nothing at all about it." 
 
 * You don t mean to say," began Arthur, " that 
 after being three years in this paradise, you have 
 escaped " 
 
 * I don t mean to say anything about it/* was the 
 quiet reply. " Tell me when you left home, and 
 what your plans are." 
 
 The young man thought this leaving a very inter 
 esting subject to take up a very dull one, but he 
 remembered the Lysle of former days, and knew 
 there was no use in getting into an argument with 
 him. 
 
 " Well," he replied, ** I stayed at Brooks a year 
 after you did, and then went to Yale. Somehow 
 Yale didn t agree with me and my father took me 
 out. We agreed that all the Greek and Latin that 
 could be got into me wasn t worth the trouble, and 
 after drifting around Baltimore for awhile, I made a 
 suggestion that quite met his views. You know the 
 old man is interested in electricity. He is engaged 
 in telegraph schemes and has several inventions that 
 have brought him a pretty pile of cash. But he 
 isn t contented to sit down and enjoy what he has 
 earned. He must keep on with his experiments, 
 and they will eat up the whole of his fortune yet, I 
 am afraid. He has got two of the craziest ideas 
 .iow that you ever could dream of. One of them is, 
 that people are going to be able to talk into a tube,
 
 68 BOBUHBG A MAIDEN. 
 
 which win reproduce the sounds when carried to a 
 distance ; and the other is that street cars and 
 small machinery can be propelled by an electric 
 current faster and cheaper than by horses or steam. 
 When an inventor gets an idea into his head nothing 
 will shake it out, and all I had to do was to see il 
 there was any chance for me before the last dollar 
 went. I read in one of his magazines that electrical 
 science was making great strides in France, and I 
 suggested to the governor that it would be a great 
 scheme to send me over here to study with these 
 Frenchmen, and see if I could not get on to their 
 plans. He bit at it like a shark and here I am.** 
 
 Lysle was not over pleased with this story, as it 
 indicated an unfilial disposition that he was far from 
 admiring. He said he hoped Arthur had succeeded 
 in finding the place he sought. 
 
 " Oh, yes," laughed the other. " I found it last 
 night, in the Rue Champolion.** Then seeing a 
 frown gathering on Lysle s face, he added, " I don t 
 intend to hurt myself with hard work or study, you 
 can make your mind up to that. I am just going to 
 work the old gent for all I can, and have the best 
 time of my life. It is only a week since I came here, 
 and I never saw a plaoe that pleased me so well. 
 That Madeleine whom I met with you is entrancing. 
 I am going to live at her hotel, and by her aid 1 
 shall learn the language fast enough, if nothing else. 
 I never saw * 
 
 Lysle was trying hard not to get impatient, but 
 Arthur s persistency annoyed him exceedingly, 
 
 " Once for all, I won t hear anything more about 
 it !" he said, firmly. 
 
 Arthur reddened and kept bi t*mp^ <**!| 
 flculty
 
 A STUDY FROM THE NODE. (>f 
 
 "Ah, well, never mind/* he responded. "You 
 tave done me too good a turn for me to quarrel 
 with you. I must be going." And he was off. 
 
 Lysle was sorry. It seemed as if he was 
 destined to make an enemy of Arthur. He went 
 back to his studies with an abstracted air that did 
 not escape the attention of his kind old master. 
 
 * I am very happy to-day," said M. Jouanneau to 
 him. "I have secured for my life class one of th 
 finest young models ever seen in Paris." 
 
 " Ah, that is good !" exclaimed the young artist, 
 all his gloom disappearing. "Who is she?" 
 
 * Her name is Mile. Clothilde Jouet. She recently 
 came to Paris from the neighborhood of Albi." 
 
 " Her age ?" asked Lysle. 
 
 * About fifteen, I should say. But her form, mon 
 dicu / Old painter as I am, it is enough to set me 
 raving. No Venus was ever more perfect. You 
 shall tell me this afternoon if I am wrong. * 
 
 Lysle looked at M. Jouanneau in a dreamy way. 
 He was seeing the girl in the vision of his mind. 
 
 " How did you secure her ?" he asked, presently. 
 
 " Her mother came to me. She told the usual 
 story. They are very poor and came to Paris in the 
 hope that they could better themselves. Their 
 little stock of money is gone, and nothing appeared 
 to confront them but the workhouse. The mother 
 happened to read in a bit of paper that came 
 wrapped around some kindling that good prices 
 were paid for models, and some one directed her to 
 e." 
 
 The young man waited a moment, 
 
 * She has never posed before, tbto I"
 
 68 MOULDING A M AIDES. 
 
 " That is bad. She will probably make a fuss 
 about undressing." 
 
 " Possibly she will, a little, for a day or two. But 
 her mother will come and go with her, and you 
 know the odd feeling wears off very soon." 
 
 "Shall you pose her nude to begin with ? * 
 
 "Undoubtedly. It is by far the best way. * 
 
 Lysle took his pencils and went to work, dismissing 
 the new model from his mind. It was not a rare 
 occurrence to see new models in the studio of M. 
 Jouanneau. There was a large class, and the subjects 
 treated embraced a wide range. When noon came 
 he went out to get his breakfast in a neighboring 
 restaurant, and when he returned he found a woman 
 of about forty years of age, accompanied by a young 
 girl, waiting in the studio. M. Jouanneau had also 
 gone to breakfast, and the concierge had showed 
 the couple in, according to directions left with him. 
 
 "Mile. Clothilde and her mother, I presume," said 
 Lysle, pleasantly. 
 
 "Yes, monsieur," responded *he woman, 
 ** Madame Jouet, at your service." 
 
 M Make yourself at home," said Lysle, in an off 
 hand manner. "The master and his students will 
 soon be here." Then, noticing that there was a look 
 of alarm in the eyes of the girl, he added, kindly, 
 " You will be a little confused at first, mademoiselle, 
 but it will wear away rapidly. In a week you will 
 think nothing of it. M. Jouanneau is rery consider 
 ate. He will not allow you to tire yourself." 
 
 Clothilde whispered to her mother, as Lyile 
 Crossed to another part of the room, and the woman 
 poke again. 
 
 * I hope the gentlemen will not expect my daughter 
 to expose herself very much on the first day. Sbt
 
 4 STUDY FBOM THE NTT0S. 9? 
 
 it a good girl, monsieur, and she has never oeeo i 
 such a situation before. * 
 
 Lysle turned and looked at the girl, who blushed 
 scarlet. He hoped she was not going to be silly. 
 
 " I assure you," he said, " that entire nudity is 
 best. There will be seances later where we shall 
 want but a part of her form. But at the beginning 
 the whole is required. M. Jouanneau told me this 
 an hour ago, and I trust you will make no objections 
 before him. He would not like it, and possibly he 
 would get impatient." 
 
 The girl clung around the neck of her mother and 
 whispered to her again. They had a conference that 
 lasted for some minutes. 
 
 " You will have to submit," said the mother, in a 
 low voice, which was not low enough, however, to 
 have the words escape Lysle. And the girl 
 answered, with a sob, " Oh, I cannot !" 
 
 The young man, with well meaning good nature, 
 went over to them and tried to give her courage. 
 
 ** It is nothing absolutely nothing at all," he said. 
 " You will be on that little platform there, and not 
 one of us will come within ten feet of you. Your 
 mother will sit within call. Every model has these 
 feelings to some extent at first, but in a few days 
 they laugh at them. You could not earn five francs 
 an hour more easily. Why, you have nothing to do 
 but assume a position. We poor fellows have all the 
 real work, and we get nothing for it, either," he con 
 cluded, with an idea that a little humor would 
 brighten her up. 
 
 All this did not satisfy the girl, and when M. 
 Jouanneau arrived, the mother made an appeal to 
 him to allow the first pose to b* in partial drapery
 
 70 MOULDING A. MAH2BV, 
 
 Clothllde, though she did not speak, made the tame 
 request with her frightened eyes. 
 
 " Tut, tut !" cried the old man. I talked all this 
 over with you yesterday, when you brought your 
 daughter here. You will get ten francs for two hours, 
 and probably thirty or forty francs a week for a long 
 time. It is not wise to be squeamish, mademoiselle," 
 he added, turning to the girl. " Let me tell you that 
 we do not pay money here for nothing. You must 
 have a little bravery for once or twice and it will be 
 over. I have seen them so often !" 
 
 " But she is a virtuous girl, monsieur !* said the 
 mother, in a last effort to move him. 
 
 ** So were all the rest, I suppose," he answered, 
 roughly. " One must have been good some time, I 
 should think. Well ! Is she going to pose or not ? 
 The students are already arriving." 
 
 Another whispered consultation, a repressal on 
 the part of the girl of a tendency to burst into tears, 
 and then the mother and daughter disappeared 
 behind the curtain that served for a dressing-room. 
 The class took their places, discussing among them 
 selves the latest news of the studios and galleries. 
 The clock on a bracket in a corner ticked off the 
 seconds, and M. Jouanneau became impatient. 
 
 " M. Melrose," he called, at last, " will you see how 
 Soon she will be ready ?" 
 
 Lysle went to the curtain and propounded the 
 question. The mother answered that the girl had 
 disrobed and was only waiting for the requisite 
 Courage to present herself. 
 
 * Pshaw !" he replied. " She will never appear if 
 She waits for that. She exhibited herself before M. 
 Jouanneau yesterday, did she not ? It is quite the 
 same thing."
 
 A snnnr FROM TOB BUD& ft 
 
 Then, for the first time, the voice of the girt 
 
 beard. 
 
 44 But he is such an old man ; and all the rest of 
 
 you are young !" 
 
 Lysle laughed in spite of himself. 
 
 * If you are ready, I will tell him to come and pose 
 you," he said. 
 
 M. Jouanneau, upon being informed that Mile. 
 Clothilde awaited him, pushed his way without cere 
 mony behind the curtain, and in a few minutes had 
 placed the girl in the position which he wanted 
 that of a maiden asleep on the seashore with the 
 necessary scenery about her to represent the sands 
 and the waves, 
 
 " Don t be a dunce, now,** was his adjuration, 
 " when I draw the curtain. Your eyes will be shut, 
 and you will not know whether anyone is looking at 
 you or not." 
 
 A murmur of admiration arose when the curtain 
 was drawn, for a class of artists could not help being 
 moved by the exquisite beauty of the girl. M. 
 Jouanneau had posed her in the natural attitude of 
 easy slumber, with one of her legs drawn under the 
 other and her cheek resting on her rounded arm. 
 Her hair, which was of unusual length, was floating 
 across her like a mantle, concealing nothing, and yet 
 appearing to be, in a sense, a shield for her young 
 charms from the attack meditated by the boisterous 
 waves that were just beyond reach. The charcoal 
 pencils were soon busy, and the room was almost as 
 still as a tomb except for the scratching sounds that 
 they made. 
 
 M. Jouanneau had to go to his model two or three 
 times and whisper to her : 
 
 ** Try to assume a little more ease," he said. * You
 
 71 MWJLDWG J, XATOSV* 
 
 draw yotmelf into aa unnatural position by that 
 excessive shrinking. Is there anything I can do for 
 you to make you more comfortable ? " 
 
 * Ah, monsieur,** she answered, faintly, " f yo 
 would only give me a blanket P 
 
 He smiled and returned to his class. After the 
 first half hour she became evidently easier, and the 
 master silently called the attention of his pupils to 
 the fact, directing them to remedy the stilted lines 
 which she had compelled them to draw. 
 
 ** Let me compliment you, mademoiselle," said the 
 old man, in a low tone, going to her side. " You 
 have taken a magnificent position. Do not change 
 U for the next hour, and I will give you two francs 
 extra." 
 
 Mile. Clothilde did not reply, and he gave her a 
 Closer inspection. The warm air of the place and 
 the relict from the extreme strain, a restless night 
 and the fright of her first moments, had done its 
 work. Her rosy mouth was partly open, displaying 
 a ravishing row of pearls. Her position was indeed 
 magnificent, but the reason was quite apparent. 
 
 The girl was sound asleep ! 
 
 Those of my readers who have seen the painting 
 of the " Sleeping Girl," now know the secret of its 
 delightful naturalness. 
 
 When the lesson of the day was ended the model 
 still slept As M. Jouanneau had an engage 
 ment that compelled him to leave, he told Lysle to 
 give Madame Jouet twelve francs and ask her to 
 bring her daughter on the following Thursday. All 
 the other students had left the studio, glad to get 
 again into the fresh air, when Lysle went to perform 
 this errand. M. Jouanneau had closed the curtain 
 before the model at the end of the seance, and in his
 
 haste had forgotten to apprise Madame Jouet that 
 the affair was ended. Lysle found the girl stilt 
 asleep, and as he gazed on her warm beauty he felt 
 a thrill that was not wholly that of the artist. He 
 knelt by her side for some seconds before he awoke 
 her. Then he touched her very gently on the face 
 with his hands. 
 
 "The stance is ended, mademoiselle," he said. 
 ** You are at liberty to go." 
 
 Clothilde opened her eyes and stared at him for a 
 moment in wonder. Then her memory returned 
 and she was plunged into the most intense confusion. 
 She tried in vain to conceal herself, and was unable 
 to utter a single word. 
 
 44 You have been sleeping," he said, gently. " I 
 will speak to your mother." 
 
 Madame Jouet received his message with satisfac 
 tion and went to her child s assistance. When they 
 were both ready for the street he gave the mother 
 the twelve francs and with it a compliment for the 
 jirl s pose. 
 
 " It has pleased M. Jouanneau much," he said. 
 ** He will give your daughter a good deal to do, and 
 after he is through with her he can doubtless secure 
 her other engagements. Do you wish to see the 
 drawing I have made ? It was a splendid thing that 
 she fell asleep." 
 
 " Come, Clothilde," responded the mother, "let us 
 look at it. The young goitleman is very kind." 
 
 The gir. hung back nowever. Her cheeks were 
 fiery red. She wanted nothing so much as to get 
 away from the pltce. The mother spoke to her 
 sharply. 
 
 M Yu art not podte, Clothilde ! They have give*
 
 MOULDING A. MATDCT. 
 
 OS twelve francs, when the bargain was for tea oaly, 
 
 You must look at the picture." 
 
 Lysle saw the frightened look reappear in the girl s 
 face. 
 
 " It is not necessary," he hastened to say. 
 * Another time will do, when the colors are in iL 
 You must not mind this so much, mademoiselle," he 
 added, kindly. " You will think nothing of it after a 
 few times." 
 
 She thauked him with one look of her eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 A GREAT STORY BOOK. 
 
 Stanley Melrose was so pleased to be again on the 
 
 frontier that he prolonged his stay into the autumn, 
 in spite of the frequent suggestions of Miss Steiner 
 that it was time they moved eastward. Rosalie was 
 as happy to be there as he. The wild life that he 
 led her into charmed the child. Young as she was, 
 she learned to ride the Indian ponies, galloping up 
 and down the prairie fearlessly on their bare backs, 
 dinging to the reins and the animals manes without 
 the least alarm. She baited her hooks and caught 
 the little fish in the streams. She had foot races 
 with the children of the aborigines, and sometimes 
 out-ran them. Her face took on the color of the 
 wind and the sun. She carried herself even more 
 erectly than before. She was indeed becoming a 
 superb " little animal/ as Stanley had designed that 
 she should
 
 A OKRAT 8TORT *OGK. W 
 
 All this pleased the young guardian, but the train* 
 
 ing was carried to an extent not wholly agreeable to 
 the elder one. She did not object to having Rosalie 
 developed in her muscles and lungs, but she begatt 
 to fear that the child would form a love for a wild 
 life that nothing could eradicate. 
 
 ** You will make an Indian squaw of her at the rate 
 you are going on," she remarked to him one day. 
 
 " 1 would rather make an Indian chief of her* 
 was his reply. 
 
 * But I cannot allow it," said Miss Steiner, rally 
 ing her mental forces for the conflict that she knew 
 was inevitable. 
 
 M Ah, you cannot ?" he answered, eievating his 
 eyebrows. 
 
 " No," she insisted. " Rosalie is a girl, and there 
 are limits to the training of a girl that you do not 
 seem to recognize. When she grows up she will be 
 an heiress and a lady. You are in danger of making 
 a tomboy of her and I fear she will never be able to 
 eradicate that tendency from her nature if the life 
 she is leading goes on much longer." 
 
 He could never wholly conceal the contempt that 
 he felt for women who professed to have opinions. 
 
 " An heiress and a lady, " he repeated, quoting 
 her words. " I hope she will not also be a fool, and 
 she shall not be, if I can help it." 
 
 Miss Steiner wondered whether there was a covert 
 allusion to herself in this statement, but she waf 
 too earnest in the matter she had in hand to mind 
 trifles. 
 
 " You will admit, I think," she said, " that it would 
 not be becoming in a young lady to do all the thingt 
 Rosalie has been taught ?" 
 
 " What things ?" he asked, laconically,
 
 f : 
 
 * Hiding hones bareback, for instance.* 
 
 *No," he assented. "It would be better for 8 
 young lady to use a saddle. But let me teh jr on 
 that a superb seat is gained by beginning in the 
 way Rosalie has, and that when her time comes to 
 ride in Central Park, or the Bois de Boulogne, she 
 will have no rivals. How many American women 
 know how to ride ? How many of them even know 
 bow to walk ? Rosalie is keeping all of her joints 
 Supple. You can see for yonrself the state of health 
 she is in. Compare her with the first puny product 
 that you meet of the Fifth Avenue hot-house style of 
 raising children, and you will be compelled to admit 
 her superiority in every respect." 
 
 She felt a certain truth in what he said, but it did 
 not alter her opinion that he was going to an 
 unnecessary length. 
 
 44 Where are you going to stop that is what I 
 wish to know," she said, 
 
 " I am not going to stop at all. I am only going 
 to alter my course, as she matures, so gradually that 
 She will not know when the change begins. I rely a 
 great deal upon the child s common sense, which is 
 being developed with the rest. I am now giving her 
 a physique that will stand by her through life. 
 There is really nothing else that you can give a child 
 of her age with advantage, except the qualities of 
 endurance and courage that naturally come with it. 
 Do not imagine, merely because she has inherited 
 money, that she is different from children who have 
 no expectations. She has as good a right to take the 
 fresh air deep into her lungs as any little savage OR 
 the reservation yonder. The dollars that are wait 
 ing will be no equivalent for the bodily strength 
 would deny her. She can already lift more thar
 
 A GREAT STORY BOOK. Tf 
 
 her weight with ease. As her muscles harden she 
 shall learn to increase her capacity in that direction 
 till she can carry four times as much. She can swim 
 like a duck, an accomplishment that may save her own 
 life or those of others, one of these days. It is now 
 * unladylike,* I know, to be able to do anything of 
 use in the world, either for herself or her friends, 
 but there is soon coming a reaction. The girl of 
 the future will not be ashamed of appearing like a 
 sensible creature." 
 
 He could always talk so glibly, and there seemed 
 nothing ever gained by arguing with him. 
 
 " She will have many other things to learn," ven 
 tured Miss Steiner. " When I was her age I could 
 read ordinary story books. She does not even know 
 one letter of the alphabet from another." 
 
 " I am glad of that," replied Stanley, rather 
 ungraciously. " I was afraid either you or Gretchen 
 might have taught her. The Great Story Book that 
 she is reading here in the West is better illustrated 
 than any to be bought at the shops. She has 
 learned one thing of value in your parlors, the 
 facility with which she speaks German. I should 
 like her to acquire French in the same way, with no 
 grammar or exercise book to tire her little brain. A 
 well educated French maid is one of the things I 
 mean to get as soon as we reach New York.** 
 
 " Then we are soon to return ?" she asked, in a 
 pleased tone. 
 
 ** Oh, yes, I suppose we must. If I had only Rosa- 
 lie to consider, though, I should say stay till spring. 
 It would be good for her to experience a Western 
 winter. I have talked to her about it and she is 
 wild to remain, but we shall have to postpone it tifc 
 some other year."
 
 71 MOULDING A MAIDSN. 
 
 "What would become of your Jaw studies in that 
 
 Case ?" she asked. 
 
 " In case I stay here ? I should go on reading the 
 books I brought, four or five hours each day, as I 
 have already done, and take the lectures next year 
 I have no fear of being refused admission to the 
 bar when it is time for me to apply." 
 
 Miss Rosalie rode up to the window where this 
 conversation was being held, and at a signal from 
 Stanley, reined in her pony so suddenly as almost to 
 throw him on his haunches. Slipping to the ground 
 with a celerity that sent a thrill of alarm through 
 Miss Steiner, she ran laughing into the house, her 
 face aglow with the excitement of the exercise. 
 
 ** A band of Indians have just brought in six deer !** 
 the cried, as soon as she opened the door. " They 
 are going out to-morrow to find another herd. 1 
 wish you would let me go with them, Stanley !" 
 
 She always called him by his given name. When 
 Miss Steiner had remonstrated, long ago, he had 
 said that he preferred it, and that settled the matter. 
 
 " What would you do on a deer hunt ?" he asked* 
 ** You couldn t shoot a deer.* 
 
 ** I could see the others." 
 
 * You cannot go." 
 
 The child had been taught never to show the feast 
 disappointment at any refusal or rebuff. 
 
 " We were talking of you," said Stanley. " Miss 
 Steiner thinks it nearly time we return to New York, 
 I suppose you would rather remain here." 
 
 "Yes," said Rosalie, simply. 
 
 ** But we shall have to go in a few days." 
 
 ** Very well," 
 
 ** That is all. You can go out to play again now." 
 
 When the child had disappeared. Miss Steinef
 
 A GREAT STORY BOOK. 79 
 
 could not help saying that the willingness af Rosalie 
 to do whatever she was bid seemed almost unnatural. 
 
 " When I was her age," said she, " I probably 
 should have cried my eyes out at such a disappoint 
 ment." 
 
 " Very likely," he answered, with cynicism. " But 
 let me ask you if children who are thus reared are 
 any happier than others who are taught as she has 
 been ? What is the best preparation for a lifetime 
 that is sure to be full of trials ?" 
 
 " It is hard to think," she replied, " that a life like 
 that of Rosalie need be full of trials. The fortune 
 that she will inherit ought to free her from most of 
 the troubles of the world." 
 
 Stanley Melrose liked controversy, and it pleased 
 him to be able to answer her as completely as he felt 
 able to do, 
 
 44 Let me tell you again," he said, " that there is no 
 greater folly than to consider that certain people 
 are born with less need than others to develop all the 
 strength, mental and physical, that is in them. If 
 they are rich enough to ride in a carriage, that is no 
 reason they should not learn to walk. If they can 
 hire a servant to cut their food and place it in their 
 mouths, it is not wise, nevertheless, for them to neglect 
 to learn the use of their hands. Though they may 
 inherit millions, there will always be some ungratified 
 wish, unless they are taught in infancy to limit their 
 desires to things attainable. Rosalie has been made 
 to resign every thought not in consonance with her 
 reasonable environment. You see what my system 
 has done for her physical health. Help me to give 
 it equal effect on her mental qualities." 
 
 Miss Steiner could never argue long with him, but 
 there was always an unsatisfied feeling, when she
 
 60 HOULMHO A IUID8K. 
 
 acquiesced in hit views. She had the womanly toft 
 
 for infants as infants, and she found that there 
 Was nothing left of the baby nature in Rosalie. 
 Sometimes at night an irrepressible desire came over 
 her to take the child in her arms, and undress her, 
 rocking her to sleep afterwards with one of those 
 lullaby songs of the German tongue that she knew 
 so well. But Rosalie showed an invincible repug 
 nance to " coddling " of any sort. She could undress 
 herself, and when she had placed her head upon her 
 pillow there were not ten seconds left before she had 
 relapsed into the satisfying oblivion that comes with 
 a healthy body and mind. Miss Steiner was obliged, 
 therefore, to be content with sitting by the little 
 bedside and watching the quiet face. Even attempts 
 to pass her hand gently over the child s curls were 
 not successful, as the slightest motion made her stir 
 like a cat, and her blue eyes would open and stare 
 at the intruder on the calm peace of her slumbers. 
 Seeing who was there, she would immediately relapse 
 into deep sleep again ; but not liking to disturb her, 
 the hand of the watcher would be kept away. 
 
 Rosalie was the best child that ever lived in all 
 things that depended on obedience and good nature. 
 The indefinable characteristics of infancy were want 
 ing, however, and Miss Steiner had many a lonely 
 hour in consequence. 
 
 She had brought a baby from Europe, and allowed 
 this man to take it from her by slow degrees. Had 
 fce given her something better in its place ? She 
 tried to think he had. If it were not better for her, 
 it might be for Rosalie. It was her duty as a 
 guardian to think of the child s best good instead 
 of her own. 
 
 They packed up and bade farewell to the Indian
 
 4 OBBAT 8TOKY BOOK, 81 
 
 country Stanley and the child with heartfelt 
 regrets, the woman with devout thanksgiving. It 
 did not seem as if she could have endured the iis- 
 comforts of a winter there. She was more than 
 pleased when she saw the inside of her rooms in the 
 St. Nicholas again, and when Gretchen s broad 
 German countenance looked in upon her. The girl 
 had spent the summer with relations that she had 
 discovered in Pennsylvania, and was very glad to 
 get back to her former mistress. Stanley noticed 
 with satisfaction that the child submitted with evi 
 dent discontent, though she endeavored to conceal 
 it, to the embraces of her nurse. He had made her 
 what he meant to do, a strong young animal who 
 did not need petting. 
 
 If Miss Steiner expected to have much more of 
 Rosalie to herself, on coming to the city, she soon 
 discovered her mistake. Stanley studied late at 
 night and attended his law school lectures, but he 
 found time, so active was his capacity for work, to 
 be a great deal of the day with his little ward, and to 
 take her out with him for many hours. It mattered 
 Jittle what was the state of the mercury in the ther 
 mometer to these famous pedestrians. When it was 
 very cold Rosalie wore slightly heavier clothing, and 
 when the snow or slush made the streets less smooth 
 she put on stronger boots and leggins. It was one 
 of his theories that a healthy child ought to be able 
 to walk almost as much in a day as a grown person, 
 and his experience with Rosalie certainly went far 
 to prove it. Before the winter was ended there were 
 occasions when he came home tired and found her 
 still willing and anxious to continue the walk. The 
 two figures came to be very well known on Broad* 
 way and in the Park, and many ladies turned to
 
 82 KOULDEBTG A HAIDER. 
 
 look at the rosy-faced child and utter an inward wish 
 that their puny darlings at home had such a com. 
 plection. 
 
 "Isn t it too cold for you on a day like this? * 
 asked a kind lady once, as they paused to look into 
 the great windows of a store in which was a hand 
 some display of pictures. 
 
 Rosalie looked up at her in wonder. 
 
 " There never was a day too cold for me,* she 
 responded. 
 
 "Good gracious!" exclaimed the lady. "I have 
 a little girl at home who would not go out on such 
 a day as this for anything." 
 
 "Then she must be ill, "said Rosalie, thoughtfully. 
 
 "Ill ! No, she is not. She is as well as any one. 
 But it is very cold. The thermometer registers ten 
 degrees above zero at this moment." 
 
 " 1 think it is lovely," was the child s response. 
 And as she resumed her way with her guardian, the 
 strangeness of the new idea struck her forcibly. 
 
 " Too cold, Stanley !" she said. " How could it 
 ever be too cold ?" 
 
 He smiled down upon her approvingly. Her 
 replies to the lady had pleased him. 
 
 " Some people pay a great deal of attention to the 
 weather," he said. " It is always either too cold or 
 too hot for them." 
 
 " It is never for me," she answered. " Sometimes 
 the air in our rooms at the hotel is too close it 
 seems as if the life was taken out of it, and I find it 
 hard to breathe but I never mind the weather out of 
 doors. I would have liked to stay with the Indians 
 all winter, and have slept in one of their tepees. 
 There would always be plenty of air there, and the 
 smoke from the fire in the centre would look so
 
 A GREAT 8TOKY BOOK. 85 
 
 on a frosty day, curling up through the open 
 ing at the top !" 
 
 He made a mental note that he would speak to 
 Miss Steiner about the atmosphere that Rosalie was 
 compelled to breathe, vitiated as it was by the 
 requirements of a false notion of comfort. Perhaps 
 the child slept in a room which had its windows 
 fastened. He wondered that he had been so long 
 neglectful of such an important thing. What a pity 
 it was that Mr. Vandenhoff had put a woman in his 
 list at all ! Stanley was quite certain that he could 
 have done much better by the child if he had had 
 her solely in his own control. Then he remembered 
 that he was still under age, a reflection that always 
 annoyed him. 
 
 " Next year," he said to himself, " that trouble will 
 be over." 
 
 One day, when there was a terrible storm, and 
 the streets were really impassable, he had a long 
 talk with the child in his own rooms at the top of 
 the house, where she considered it a great treat to 
 be allowed to go. She asked him a great many 
 questions about the books that were piled on his 
 shelves, and learned for the first time that the earth 
 was round and that it turned on its axis every day. 
 He had a large globe there, with the countrief 
 marked off on them. 
 
 " Can you show me the place where my cousin 
 Lysle lives ?" 
 
 He had never heard her mention Lysle s nam 
 before. 
 
 " What do you know about Lysle ?" he inquired, 
 with curiosity. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Steiner talks of him often," responded
 
 &* MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 ;ne little one. "She told me he was in France 
 Will you show me France on these maps ?" 
 
 A strange jealousy of his cousin came over him, 
 but he pointed out the place to her, and also the 
 city of Paris. 
 
 * He is coming here some time, is he not?" was 
 her next statement. 
 
 " Who says that ?" 
 
 "Miss Steiner. She says he is coming whenever 
 she wants him perhaps next year. Stanley, do 
 you know what I would like very much to do ?" 
 
 He shook his head. He was thinking very hard. 
 
 * To learn to read. I am sure there is a great 
 deal in books. I have to ask so many questions 
 now, and if I could read I could find out for 
 myself." 
 
 He did not answer immediately. His thoughts 
 were on Paris. He knew that Lysle and Miss 
 Steiner were correspondents. They were arranging, 
 perhaps, to dethrone him. He had never been fond 
 of his cousin, but at this moment he liked him less 
 than ever. 
 
 " It will be a good while before you learn to read," 
 he said, at last, recalling what she had said. " You 
 will have to learn to speak French first, and to do 
 other things. I am going to get you a teacher very 
 soon who will teach you French, and you must apply 
 yourself very diligently to the study of it." 
 
 "Yes, Stanley," she responded, cheerfully. "And, 
 after that, I shall learn to read books ?" 
 
 * After that," he repeated absently, " you will 
 learn to read." 
 
 He was still thinking of his cousin and Miss 
 Steiner. They might plan and plan, but he would 
 outwit them J
 
 **1 DO HOT WANT TO SAT. 1 * 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "I DO NOT WANT TO SAY." 
 
 The next year had no event of greater Importance 
 to Stanley Melrose than the fact that it made him 
 twenty-one years of age, and relieved him of that 
 period of under-guardianship that he so much 
 detested. It is true he had suffered little from the 
 restrictions of Mr. Dennin, and had been permitted to 
 do about as he pleased in all respects by that indul 
 gent gentleman. It is equally true that, owing to the 
 yielding nature of Miss Steiner, he had had control of 
 Rosalie to the fullest extent. But Stanley was a 
 young man who chafed under the slightest restraint, 
 even though it were only imaginary. The happiest 
 day he had ever seen was that spring morning 
 when he awoke and said to himself 
 
 "Stanley Melrose, you are no longer an infant. 
 You are a Man, and no one hereafter can say to you 
 that they have the right to control your actions or 
 your property." 
 
 Stanley knew, long before that day, exactly what 
 estate his father had left him, and in what it was 
 invested. It gave him a new delight, however, when 
 the documents were placed in his hands, and he 
 became their permanent custodian. He was not rich 
 as riches are reckoned in these days, but he had a 
 goodly sum of his own, and he loved money. He 
 hat! planned time after time how he would increase 
 the sum, and how little it would be necessary to 
 tpend before his coming practice should bring bim
 
 8 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 in a handsome income. It was one of his ambitions 
 
 to become one of the rich men of New York. He 
 wanted also to be one of its most noted lawyers, and it 
 was his pleasure to think that the two objects could 
 be attained together. He knew that the income of an 
 eminent member of the bar was a very large one, 
 and he determined to lay aside all other thoughts 
 until success was achieved. It was not hard for him 
 to make this resolve. Quite the opposite in disposi 
 tion from his cousin Lysle, he had no sentimental 
 notions to strangle. He cared nothing whatever 
 for luxury, and women never troubled him. All he 
 wanted was Money, and Fame in his profession. 
 
 One of the first things he did was to get the 
 whole of Rosalie s fortune " into better shape," as 
 he expressed it. It had largely been reinvested 
 under his advice, several years before, but Miss 
 Steiner had kept a restraining hand on the young 
 man, and the changes were all such as the most 
 prudent could have approved. Now that he had as 
 good a right as she to decide, and the greater 
 natural opportunity to judge, being interested in 
 the market as an investor of his own funds, the 
 lady offered little opposition to his plans. He 
 could show her that the alterations in the invest 
 ments that had been made before by his suggestion 
 had resulted in a large increase of income, and she 
 had no reason to doubt that his judgment was gain 
 ing with his years. It was not on a question of this 
 kind that Miss Steiner had fears of Stanley. 
 
 The proverb that " Nothing succeeds like success,* 
 is one of the truest. Men who learned that Melrose 
 had enginered a deal in Harlem lands that had 
 doubled the money of all who went into it with him, 
 went home and made wills naming him as execute?
 
 "l DO HOT WAHT TO fiAY.* 87 
 
 and trustee of their estates. Managers of mstitu* 
 tions which had funds drawing small rates of 
 interest came to him and asked that he take charge 
 of them. He was elected a director of two banks 
 within six months and placed on several commis 
 sions usually given to much older men. Business 
 people who watched his methods said he was not a 
 speculator or a plunger. He never went into any 
 thing unless it was a sure thing. 
 
 " Will you take some of this stock ?" one merchant 
 would say to another. " No, I am afraid of touch 
 ing anything outside of my legitimate business,"* 
 would be the answer. " But young Melrose is at the 
 head of the company." " Ah, that alters the case. 
 How much can I get of it ?" 
 
 The business world was glad to notice that Mel- 
 rose had none of the fast habits that seem to come 
 naturally with success to many men. He smoked 
 one cigar a day, after dinner. He drank only a lit 
 tle wine, a glass of claret with his meals, or of cham 
 pagne, if invited, at a directors meeting. His head 
 was always cool and his hand steady, just the sort of 
 a fellow that you would like to trust your interests to. 
 He lived at a good hotel he thought it wise to do 
 that and wore good clothes, never extravagant 
 ones. His garments were usually black, which gave 
 him an air of earnestness, and his heavy watch chain 
 helped to strengthen the impression that he was in 
 no sense a trifler. 
 
 When he rose to speak at a business gathering, all 
 conversation ceased. His words were few and to 
 the point. When he took the chair, as he soon was 
 frequently elected to do, there was no delay in the 
 transaction of the matter that had called the party 
 together. The meeting was to be, let us say, at fov
 
 S8 aOOXJHNG A MAttJES. 
 
 o clock. Upon the stroke of the hour he rapped for 
 order. Everything was settled, perhaps, at half* 
 past four. If so, at 4:31 Mr. Melrose had left the 
 room. His associates whispered to each other that 
 he was a very busy man, had large estates to man 
 age, and no time to waste. AH of which was ulti 
 mately of great advantage to him and brought hi m 
 much business, out of which he reaped handsome 
 profits. 
 
 Stanley studied hard at his law books, and never 
 missed passing the highest examination point. He 
 drank in the subtleties of legal provision and stored 
 his mind with statute, decision and exceptional case. 
 He had only one recreation, as he said to himself 
 one day, and that was the care of Rosalie. 
 
 The little girl was now nearly six years old, as 
 strong and healthy as ever, and subjected to the 
 same training in physical things as she had been 
 from the first. No other child in New York, outside 
 of a museum, at least, could run as fast, jump as far, 
 lift as many pounds as she. Her young muscles 
 were almost like iron. She was a perfect stranger 
 to fatigue. She did not know the feeling of an ache 
 or pain. Her skin was bronzed by exposure in all 
 seasons to the weather. Her eyes were bright, her 
 body slender, her form straight as an arrow. Hav 
 ing been taught never to indulge in repinings, she 
 did not lament for the things she could not have, 
 and no one had seen a tear escape her eyes since her 
 babyhood. 
 
 Stoical as the Indians from whom her guardian 
 had modelled her, she yet had a kindness of heart 
 that made her willing to sacrifice any wish or any 
 pleasure for those she loved. Without the coyness 
 that we have learned to consider inseparable from
 
 ** HOT WAMT ID *." 49 
 
 childhood, there was a straightforward honesty that 
 
 won friends. Rosalie did not know how to wheedle. 
 She had as yet no idea of the construction of a false* 
 hood. Her principal offences were thoughtless bits 
 of mischief, of the turpitude of which she was not 
 fully aware. Stanley had his own way of dealing 
 With such lapses. It was part of his theory that no 
 one should ever speak angrily to a child, or even in 
 its presence, and as fo; blows, they were not to be 
 thought of. 
 
 An instance of his manner of dealing with her may 
 be worth recording. The child came up to his room 
 one day when he was absent, supposing that he was 
 there. The open grate was filled with a collection 
 of rubbish, principally papers that he intended to 
 destroy. Rosalie thought it would be good fun to 
 set these on fire and watch the flames rising up the 
 chimney. She lit a match and applied it to the 
 heap. When Stanley entered the room, he saw her 
 Standing so near the burning mass that it was a 
 wonder her dress did not ignite. Perhaps in a 
 moment more it would have ^one so. She was so 
 enrapt in the sight before her that she did not hear 
 his step, a remarkable thing in a child whose senses 
 were always on the alert. He saw the delight that 
 she was experiencing, her bright face testifying of 
 the mental sensation that was possessing her. 
 
 * Rosalie," he said, in his ordinary tone, when he 
 had taken a chair, " come here a minute." 
 
 She turned and saw him, and at that moment it 
 came into her head for the first time that there 
 might be something wrong she did not know what 
 in the liberty she had taken. She walked orer to 
 where he stood, and the rosy hue in her face 
 *flit wholly that of the fire she had left
 
 39 MOULDING A MATT) KB. 
 
 "What do you think I am going to say P" be 
 
 asked. 
 
 There was nothing in his voice or his manner to 
 indicate whether he was or was not pleased. It was 
 his way to leave that as far as possible to her own 
 perception. 
 
 " I think there is something not right about the 
 fire I have kindled," she answered, looking him fear 
 lessly, but a little regretfully, in the face. She was 
 not like a child who anticipates a blow, either mental 
 or physical. 
 
 44 You are right," said he, gravely. ** Now, what 
 is it?" 
 
 She turned and looked at the ashes in the grate 
 and the bits of paper that were still undergoing the 
 process of consumption. 
 
 **I hope," she said, "that there was nothing of 
 value there. I think you would not put any papers 
 in that place that you wanted to preserve." 
 
 The language may appear stilted, to the reader, 
 coming from a child of six, but Rosalie had never 
 played with other Caucasian children, and her 
 speech was that <*f her elders. 
 
 "You are right so far," he said. "The papers 
 were of no use and I intended to destroy them with 
 fire, as you have done." 
 
 She seemed much relieved, for she would not have 
 liked to injure anything that was his. 
 
 ** It could not hurt the grate nor the chimney," 
 she repeated, slowly, " for the grate was built to hold 
 fire and the chimney to hold smoke. Perhaps 
 perhaps it made the room too warm on such a day 
 as this r 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 M Can you think of nothing else r** he inquired.
 
 *I DO HOT WAKT TO AtlT." H 
 
 * No, Stanley." 
 
 " Let me show you, H he said, rising. 
 
 He found another lot of papers similar to the first, 
 and when the grate had cooled sufficiently he stuffed 
 it full of them. Then he took a match in his hand. 
 
 ** Let me take your pinafore." 
 
 She took it off and gave it to him without a word. 
 
 ** Now," he said, " stand and watch." 
 
 He applied the match to the paper, and when the 
 flames had reached their fullest heignt, he permitted 
 them to touch the pinafore, which was immediately 
 in a blaze. It burned so rapidly that he was com 
 pelled in a moment to throw it upon the pile and 
 let it be destroyed with the rest. 
 
 " Now do you see ?" he asked. 
 
 ** Yes," said Rosalie, soberly. " I might have set 
 fire to my pinafore, and then to my dress, and 
 then" 
 
 She shuddered a little, stoic as she was. 
 
 " And then," he repeated, " to your body. You 
 were very near to the fire when I came in/* 
 
 He sat down after that and talked to her for a 
 long time about fire, its dangers and its uses ; the 
 best servant of man, and his most terrible master, 
 when once if, is allowed to get the upper hand. He 
 told her ot the varying combustibility of the pro 
 ducts of nature, which enables us to place this ele 
 ment in some of them with perfect safety, while if 
 it comes in contact with others the greatest harm 
 may ensue. She listened to every word, grateful 
 for the pains ha took to teach these things to her. 
 
 44 1 think I am much to blame for lighting the fire," 
 she said, when he paused. 
 
 "You would be if you did it again," he said. 
 "There has been no way in which you would be likely
 
 t* OCrUKHQ A MAIDS* 
 
 to learn what 1 have ju&t told you until aow. The 
 rooms in this hotel below this floor are heated by 
 steam pipes and the fires are in the basement. But 
 there is another thing that this may teach you, and 
 that is not to try experiments. It would be better to 
 Inquire about things than to go ahead and find out 
 for yourself. Now, we will say no more on this 
 subject. Tell me how you are getting on with your 
 French governess." 
 
 Stanley was delighted, when Rosalie had gone, as 
 he reflected on the nature of his experiment. Nine 
 people out of ten, he was sure, would have thought 
 it necessary to assail the child s ears with loud and 
 violent language, even if they did not strike her. 
 It was a case where desperate remedies would be 
 likely to be considered a kindness. He had accom 
 plished the same results with a few gentle words 
 and an appeal to her intelligence. She would never 
 light a fire again, he was sure, knowing the danger 
 of standing too near it. 
 
 When she came down and Miss Steiner asked her 
 what had become of her pinafore, Rosalie related 
 how and why Stanley had burned it 
 
 " And he did not scold you at all ?" said th 
 woman. 
 
 " Stanley never scolds me !" was the quick reply. 
 
 There came an anxious thought, one that ma do 
 the woman propound a question that she dreaded to 
 have answered. 
 
 * Oh, Rosalie, do you love him better than you do 
 
 The child stopped to consider, for she was emin 
 ently truthful. 
 
 " I do not want to say," she replied. " It seems to 
 MM that he is the wiser Would it have done an?
 
 "I 30 MOT WANT TO SAT." W 
 
 good for htm to have scolded me Could I have 
 
 understood better ? He knew that I would not have 
 lit the fire if I had thought there was wrong in it. 
 Stanley is a very wise man, Miss Steiner a very 
 wise man, indeed." 
 
 Yes he has taken her baby from her and given 
 her back this prematurely aged girl. It might be 
 the best thing for the child, but she missed the 
 clinging arms and the infantile confidences that she 
 had dreamed of. Was it possible that he was right 
 and that all the rest of the civilized world had beea 
 wrong from the beginning ? 
 
 " What makes you think that Stanley is wiser than 
 I ?" asked Miss Stetner, keeping up the conversation 
 in spite of her judgment to the contrary. 
 
 "Because he knows so much," was the answer. 
 * He told me the other day that the world is round, 
 and that it goes flying through the air like a great 
 bird." 
 
 "Anybody could have told you that." 
 
 ** Yes, but no one except Stanley could hay made 
 me believe it !" 
 
 The strangeness of this reply was enough t* 
 ensure silence for the next few minutes. 
 
 44 Your cousin Lysle is also very wise," said 
 Miss Steiner, when she was ready to resume. " And 
 he is very handsome." 
 
 Rosalie had noticed that Stanley did not seem to 
 think much of Lysle when she mentioned his name 
 that morning, and this was enough to give her the 
 cue. But she did not think that he would like to 
 have her communicate her suspicions to Ifiaa 
 Steiner. 
 
 44 What can he do that \% woaderfaJir ah* 
 ta^ aired, incredalotuly,
 
 ft MOULDING A 
 
 * Re can paint beautiful pictures." 
 
 ** That is nothing," was the disdainful answer. * J 
 have seen ordinary looking women doing that in th 
 galleries. Could he break a wild young stallion, at 
 Stanley did, when we were in the West ? Could ho 
 swim across Lake Koonoola ? I would not like ft 
 man who spends his time painting pictures." 
 
 The woman was getting deeper and deeper into 
 the things she meant to avoid. 
 
 " Stanley spends most of his time now studying 
 law books. Is that better than painting the lovely 
 things of nature?" 
 
 44 When one studies," responded the child, * one 
 learns things. It is necessary for a lawyer to know 
 all the laws, if he intends to talk to the big judges. 
 But it is not necessary to paint pictures." 
 
 There was no reply to this. Miss Steiner felt the 
 bitterness of her position. She had become a cypher 
 long before Rosalie was old enough to array herself 
 with Stanley against her. Even her hopes in Lysle 
 received a severe shock as she realized that the girl 
 herself preferred Stanley and his methods to her. 
 Technically the law gave them equal authority over 
 the child, but his was now really the supreme, if not 
 the sole one. To attempt any other disposition of 
 the guardianship meant a collision, and she was not 
 yet willing to brave that. 
 
 Early every morning the man and child went for 
 a long walk. When he had to leave for his business 
 and t aw school work he arranged it so that Rosalie 
 Should go directly to her French teacher, with whom 
 she remained practically all the time till he came 
 Slack for Ms early dinner. 
 
 Rosalie spoke German to Miss Steiner, English to 
 the people about the hotel, and French to her new
 
 **1 DO HOT WAHT TO SAT.* ti 
 
 jf99 Ci ness. It was remarkable how rapidly slM 
 
 acquired the latter tongue. She mastered nouns* 
 verbs and idioms with a facility that was astonishing, 
 At dinner she spoke all three languages indiscrimio 
 ately, and Stanley encouraged her to talk with tht 
 utmost freedom at that meal, when most children of 
 her age are either excluded from the table, or made 
 to preserve perfect quiet. After dinner she would 
 take another short stroll with him, and return to 
 retire early. Miss Steiner soon felt as if she bad 
 lost her altogether. 
 
 In the summer Stanley took Rosalie to the shore 
 again, his rapidly increasing business not making it 
 Convenient to go back to the frontier, as he had 
 intended. He tested her swimming capacity in the 
 breakers, to the consternation of half the onlookers 
 and the admiration of the other half, who saw that 
 she rode as safely on the waves as any expert among 
 them. He taught her to pull an oar, to catch all the 
 kinds of fish that were to be had there, and to climb 
 the mast of a small yacht and stand on the round- 
 tree. She had practiced on ordinary tree-climbing 
 for a long time, and thought this exercise delightful 
 Declaring that the rooms of the hotel where he 
 stayed were too stuffy and hot for human beings, he 
 slung hammocks for Rosalie and himself on one end 
 of an upper veranda and they slept there out of 
 doors in all weathers, having only an awning at 
 shelter from the rain. 
 
 People newly arrived used to say 
 
 " I hope he won t kill that child with his toughen 
 ing process !" 
 
 There seemed no danger of this, however, judging 
 t>y the rosy cheeks and rounded form of the little 
 fifi, who preserved intact the perfe*^ oaaltb she had
 
 t WQCLDOM A 
 
 brought to America. When autumn came, Stasis* 
 till objected to having her learn to read. It would 
 always be easy, he said, for her to acquire that 
 art. He wanted her to speak French and German 
 perfectly before she touched bocks. Although this 
 idea was very novel to Miss Steiner she raised no 
 formal objection. If she had, it would have made 
 co difference. 
 
 The next autumn passed, and the following winter, 
 with no changes of moment. Miss Rosalie and he 
 two oddly matched guardians stayed still at the St 
 Nicholas, pursuing the tenor of their respective wayt 
 much as they began. By spring the child spoke 
 French quite as freely as she did her own tongue, 
 and in German she conversed like a native. Stanley 
 had been admitted to the bar, and hung out his 
 sign with great satisfaction from one of the big 
 down-town buildings. His reputation as a saga 
 cious investor continued to grow apace. Business 
 flowed in upon him until he was obliged to hire 
 several assistants. Partnerships in some of the 
 oldest firms in the city were thrown in his way, but 
 he declined them all. He preferred to make his 
 money alone and to keep iL 
 
 When still another year had passed, his voice had 
 been heard more than once in the law courts, always 
 in civil cases, and where large sums or great 
 Interests were involved. His luck held to him and 
 early every verdict was in his favor. Still less 
 than twenty-three years of age, he held a position 
 that a man twice as old might have envied. 
 
 The first unpleasant news that he had heard in 
 months was when Mr. Dennin dropped in on him 
 day to say that Lysle was coming home. 
 Hft it twenty-die now, and wil! have charge of
 
 INSIDE OF BOHEMIA. 97 
 
 his fortune,** said Mr. Dennin. M If he takes ray 
 advice, he will give it to you to invest. Mr. Melrose, 
 
 you are a wonder." 
 
 Stanley did not hear him. 
 
 He was thinking of his cousin with a mind akin 
 co that with which men regard a rival in an affair of 
 Love! 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 INSIDE OP BOHEMIA. 
 
 Lysie Melrose had passed these years quietly in 
 Paris, the south of France, Italy, and in excursions 
 into other parts of Europe at vacation time. He had 
 learned to do good work, such as not only his mas 
 ter, M. Jouanneau, but critics generally applauded. 
 Several of his efforts had received honorable men 
 tion at the salons. He had a delicacy of touch that 
 some said was the foundation of a new school. 
 
 Still the companion of the bohemian men and 
 women of the gay capital, he was still unspoiled by 
 them. Disposed to be serious, he might have 
 become misanthropic, had it not been for the 
 society of those who went to the opposite extreme. 
 He was inclined to be introspective, and the 
 laughter, the jests and the general buoyancy of 
 spirits that he met with relieved his mind. As to 
 the private characters of his associates, what were 
 they to him ? These boys and girls were not inher 
 ently wicked. They violated every rule of propriety, 
 as laid down by the canons of social law, but they 
 M not obtrude themselves into the society whose
 
 ft MOULDING* A MAIDBW. 
 
 rules they broke. They were a separate order of 
 
 civilization, and at least much less tiresome than the 
 other orders which looked down upon them with such 
 a severe frown, and which might be, after all. if the 
 whole truth were known, very little better themselves. 
 
 Lysle had been obliged to attend some of the 
 receptions given by the," upper circles" of Paris to 
 the artistic world, and he was obliged to confess 
 that they bored him extremely. He could see, also, 
 that a patronizing vein ran through these affairs, as 
 if the wealthy givers of them wished their artist 
 guests to understand fully that they were really of 
 quite another station, permitted to come near the 
 priests of the god Mammon because of his momen 
 tary condescension, and not from any merit of their 
 own. To turn from a formal night in some rich 
 fool s parlor to one passed in a restaurant of the 
 commonest description in the Quartier Latin was a 
 relief and a joy. 
 
 Few among his friends in Bohemia were as well 
 off in the goods of this world as was Lysle. Most 
 of them were in semi-straightened circumstances, 
 depending for to-morrow s breakfast on a delayed 
 remittance from home or the chance sale of a 
 picture that might bring fifty francs or so. The 
 women of the party were nearly all grisettes, though 
 occasionally there was present some feminine artist 
 whose struggles for a place in the temple of fame 
 had brought her upon a common battle-ground with 
 her brothers of the brush and pallette. 
 
 The grisettes were of the typical kind, attached 
 followers of the fortunes of their temporary lovers, 
 willing to share their failures or successes, and 
 expecting to bid them farewell one day as a mother 
 bids farewell to the child over whose coffin theeartb
 
 INSIDE OF BOHEMIA. 
 
 is thrown. But few of them seemed to think of 
 such a thing as the morrow, as they sat about the 
 tables each evening, and ate their soup and drank 
 their wine. If Lysle had more silver than the rest, 
 its only sign was in the generosity with which he 
 allowed himself to be mulcted by his more needy 
 acquaintances. He never showed it in the superior 
 quality of the viands he. ordered, and he was carefui 
 not to attract attention, either, by being better 
 dressed than the others. Of all the funds that he 
 drew, fully half went in charity, disguised usually as 
 " loans. * Probably he was sometimes imposed 
 Upon, but generally he knew full well that the sum 
 he was asked for was sorely needed. Often he gave 
 without even a request to some poor girl whose 
 bien-aim6 had gone his way and left her penni 
 less. 
 
 " Come to see me," they would say to him, some 
 times. ** You must be lonely in Paris, with no 
 Sweetheart to keep you company/* 
 
 Then, when he declined with a darkened brow, 
 they would add, gayly : 
 
 " I am afraid, Monsieur Lysle, you will never see 
 your silver, then." 
 
 One girl was so importunate, after accepting 
 money from him, that he was missed more than a 
 week from his customary place of dining. He did 
 not care what these people did, he only wanted them 
 to refrain from directing it at him. 
 
 When he came back, he found her there with the 
 rest, eating a plate of soup and a piece of bread, 
 that constituted her only meal. Some one whis 
 pered him that Suzette was still in trouble, and that 
 she would be turned out of her room the next day 
 nless she had ten francs for the landlord. He took
 
 MOULDING A MAIDKff 
 
 pains to intercept her In a side street, on her way 
 back to her home, and offer her a louis. 
 
 " I will not take it, * she said, with flashing eyes 
 ** You treat me as if I was a beggar !" 
 
 ** But you surely need it !" he answered, gently. 
 
 " Listen," she said, defiantly. " To-morrow, unless 
 I have ten francs, I shall be turned out of doors, but 
 I will not touch your money, because you think 
 yourself above me." 
 
 He hastened to assure her that she did him an 
 injustice, 
 
 "I know better," said she. "You knew that ! 
 lived with Andre". You knew that I loved him. He 
 has gone to his people. That is all right. We know 
 that when the time comes they all go. He had not 
 much to give me. I do not blame him. He thought, 
 I suppose, that I would soon get another lover. I 
 am not ugly. Now, I have not had enough to eat 
 for two weeks, and shall be turned out to-morrow 
 unless I have ten francs. But I will not be a beg 
 gar I will not take money unless I can repay it in 
 some way." 
 
 44 You had best take it," he said, still holding it 
 cut to her. 
 
 " I will not r 
 
 "And you will let them turn you out on the 
 ttreet ?" 
 
 * No," she answered, recklessly. 
 
 She had a lovely face, of the brunette pattern, and 
 he thought, as she looked at him, what a model it 
 would make for a picture that he had long desired 
 to paint. All the sentiments wanted were portrayed 
 there- pride, indignation, desperate resolution. He 
 knew what she meant to do, and he dreaded her 
 It is almost as terrible to the real Parisian
 
 fNSIDE OF BOHEMIA. 71 
 
 grisette to walk the boulevards in quest of prey as it 
 
 would be for the average wife. 
 
 " I am an artist," he said at length, " and I have a 
 friend who would pay you well to let him draw your 
 face. Come to my studio to-morrow, and I will 
 introduce him to you. You must not do silly things. 
 You will be sorry as long as you Jive if you carry 
 out the ideas you are forming." 
 
 She found the idea of having her face transferred 
 to canvas very amusing, and she laughed lightly. 
 
 " What does he want a witch ?" she asked. " Or 
 does he intend to paint a starving girl ? I have 
 eaten hardly anything for eight days. If I go on he 
 might use me as a model for a skeleton." 
 
 Lysle felt her manner grating on him. 
 
 " He wants you, just as you are," said he. " Only 
 it would be better for you to come with a good 
 breakfast in your stomach, as the sittings are weary 
 ing. Take this louis, as I tell you. You can pay it 
 back to me in a week, if you wish. I will not refus* 
 to take it, if you have earned it honestly. He only 
 wishes to draw your face, and he will certainly give 
 you four francs an hour." 
 
 The girl paused to think. 
 
 " Only my face ?" she repeated. " But I had 
 handsome arms, too, when I had plenty to eat" 
 
 " Then begin eating again," he said, smiling, and 
 perhaps he may want to use them, also." 
 
 The strange idea that she could be utilized as a 
 model had driven the anger from Suzette s mind, 
 and before he left her she was persuaded to accept 
 the louis as a loan, and to promise to come the next 
 morning to his studio. 
 
 When she arrived there, she found him with hit 
 pencil ready. To her request for the friend he hai
 
 103 JOUJJ)INfi A HAIDKN. 
 
 spoken of, he replied pleasantly that he himself was 
 the artist who wanted her. He attempted to explain 
 the motive of the picture that he desired, but her 
 anger broke forth again, and she overwhelmed him 
 with reproaches, at the same time dashing on his 
 floor the silver remaining from the louis that he had 
 given her. 
 
 " You are one who tells lies !" she cried. **I ought 
 to have known better than to believe you ! All you 
 have called me here for is to get an excuse for mak 
 ing of me a beggar last night ! I will get your mis 
 erable gold for you again before I sleep !" 
 
 And thus she went on, without a pause, for many 
 minutes. 
 
 For a long while Lysle did not seem to hear her. 
 He had taken a stool and was busily at work on his 
 canvas. Occasionally he looked up and took a quick 
 glance at her face, but he made no reply to her rav 
 ings. He only worked on, apparently oblivious of 
 all the exasperating things she was saying, lost in 
 the ardor of his labor. For some time she did not 
 seem to know or care whether he listened or not, 
 but when she had freed her mind of its store of 
 venom, it dawned upon her that his attitude was 
 indicative of contempt, if not of ridicule. At this 
 she flew into a more violent rage than before, and 
 catching up a paint knife that she found handy she 
 sprang toward him like an insane person. 
 
 He was just in time to avoid the onslaught, and to 
 Catch her by the wrist. 
 
 " Oh, why did you do that ?" he exclaimed, 
 reproachfully, " I am afraid it will spoil every- 
 thing!" 
 
 She followed his eyes and they rested on his can-
 
 IHBIDE 07 BOHEMIA. 
 
 vas, Her face was drawn there, in all its fury and 
 tcorn. 
 
 ** It is splendid ! * he said, releasing her. ** If you 
 had only kept that pose for ten minutes more ! I 
 fear you can never go back to it again." 
 
 Her astonishment overpowered every other feel 
 ing. 
 
 " You were drawing a picture of me /** 
 
 " Undoubtedly," he answered, with mingled regard 
 and pride. " I would gladly have paid five louis to 
 have completed it. I shall get a medal at least if I 
 can make it what I wanted. Why did you touch that 
 miserable knife ? The minute your hand rested on 
 it, every feature in your face changed." 
 
 " You are a coward," she hissed, " to insult a 
 woman ! You are a cur, that is what you are, and if 
 I had a lover I would make you fight him !" 
 
 " My poor girl !" he exclaimed, stricken with 
 remorse. Then he gazed again at his canvas and the 
 artist s enthusiasm overcame every other feeling. He 
 stretched out his hands to her, but she drew indig 
 nantly away. She was not to be placated. " Let me 
 persuade you to listen to reason," he said. " It is 
 quite an honorable profession, that of a model. It is 
 a fine thing to have your picture hung in a good 
 place in the Salon. Many a titled lady would be 
 glad to have that distinction. It is not charity. I 
 could get much more than I should pay you for the 
 work when it is done, but I never sell anything. I 
 only paint for the love of it, and for the Fame that I 
 hope to get when I am older. You are a superb 
 model, Suzette. Say you will engage yourself to 
 me." 
 
 The girl did not intend to be mollified so easily. 
 
 * After you have insulted me ? Never f"
 
 19* KOCLDDTO A MAIDM* 
 
 * It was necessary," he replied. u I did BOt meas 
 anything I said, why, of course not. There is no 
 reason why you should hate me just because it k 
 my business to paint pictures. You are a foolish 
 girl if you go out of here in a state of anger. I will 
 gladly give you a good salary for weeks if you will 
 do as I bid you. What do you care, so long as you 
 get an honest living ?" 
 
 She looked at him with a strp.nge expression. 
 
 " I am not a model," she said coldly, ** I am only 
 a grisette." 
 
 " But," he replied, " I will soon make you one. 
 You have a type of beauty that is rare to find. 
 When your face is lighted up with any emotion it is 
 positively entrancing. You do not understand, but 
 when I have finished your picture you will see 
 why it is worth money to me. Come, have sense ! 
 How much did Andre allow you ?" 
 
 She hesitated some time between her resentment 
 and her inclination to forgive him, and said at last 
 that she used to have fifty francs a week, which 
 included the rent of the room they both occupied 
 and their breakfasts. 
 
 " It is not too much," said Lysle. " I will pay you 
 the same. All you will have to do will be to give 
 me sittings four times a week, for an hour or two. 
 Is it a bargain ?" 
 
 There was a very long pause. 
 
 "I will come because I am starving, you under 
 stand," she said. " But I do not like it. I am a 
 grisette, and I want the life of my class. What 
 shall I do in the evening, or on Sundays ? I cannot 
 go to places alone. I will sit for you because I do 
 not like hunger, but as soon as I can do better, you 
 will lose me, I <*o not fancy going on the boule*
 
 INSIDE OF BOHEMIA. 
 
 rards alone, I am afraid I could not do it. I will 
 come to you. Only, I hope it will not last long." 
 
 Lysle was content. He worked hard every day 
 on his new painting, hiding it from all of his com 
 panion artists, and even from his dear friend and 
 master, M. Jouanneau. He still attended the life 
 classes of his instructor, which drew from the nude 
 each Tuesday and Friday afternoons. And at one 
 of these he saw a new student who was not unknown 
 to him. It was Arthur Peck. 
 
 He had not seen Arthur for a long time, and he 
 was much surprised to find him here, in the r6l of 
 an artist. He had no reason to believe that the 
 young man had any talent or experience that should 
 lead him in his direction, and he was not long in 
 making up his mind that the novelty of the sight he 
 was to witness, and not any love of art, had drawn 
 him there. Worshiping his profession most ardently, 
 Lysle felt that the presence of a mere inspector on 
 such an occasion was an insult, and hastened to 
 make his protest to M. Jouanneau, who was still in 
 his own private studio. 
 
 M. Jouanneau told him that he knew nothing about 
 Mr. Peck, except that he had applied the day before 
 to join the class, and had paid the fee demanded, 
 If it were true that he was no artist, and had come 
 merely as an idle spectator, he would return him 
 his money and ask him to leave. 
 
 Peck was awaiting the opening of the seance with 
 some satisfaction when the old professor came to 
 him and asked how long he had been attending art 
 schools. Instantly it flashed upon the youth that 
 Lysle was to blame for this interference," and he 
 grew pale with anger. His only reply was that he 
 had paid his money for a certain number of lessens
 
 106 MOULDING A MAIHE9T. 
 
 and that he proposed to have them. After that, if 
 
 the professor did not wish him to continue, he could 
 say so. This confirmed the suspicions that had been 
 formed. M. Jouanneau tendered him his money 
 and requested him to depart. But this Peck flatly 
 refused to da Seeing that there was a disturbance 
 brewing, many of the other students gathered 
 around them. 
 
 " I have as good a right to stay as any one else 
 who has paid his money," said Peck, defiantly. 
 " And as for that Mr. Melrose, who has made all this 
 trouble, I would thank him to attend to his own 
 business !" 
 
 Lysle had purposely kept out of the crowd that 
 surrounded the disputants, but when he heard his 
 name mentioned he walked over to the others. 
 
 " You are no artist," he said, " and have no right 
 here. This is not the place to witness a spectacle. 
 I have told M. Jouanneau so, and I think we shall 
 all agree upon the matter." 
 
 The students, with one voice, acceded to this pro 
 position. Some further time was spent in useless 
 argument with the young man, who would not con 
 sent either to accept his money or to leave the room. 
 One or two of the students proposed audibly to put 
 him out, but this M. Jouanneau would not permit. 
 He was a very gentle man, and was not quite sure 
 whether the law was wholly on his side. On one 
 thing he was, however, quite determined. The 
 stance should not proceed with this outsider there. 
 
 " Young gentlemen," he said, after exhausting all 
 his patience, " there will be no lessons to-day. I 
 will send you word when they will be resumed." 
 
 Peck saw that he was out-generalled, and he left 
 the place, uttering imprecations and casting the
 
 INSIDE OF BOHEMIA. 10? 
 
 blackest looks at Lysle. He was thoroughly 
 
 enraged, and determined to have revenge for what 
 he considered his unwarrantable interference. 
 
 It happened that he repaired, that same evening, to 
 the Restaurant de la Republique. He did not think 
 anything about seeing Lysle, as he had often been 
 there in former times without meeting him. And, as 
 a matter of fact, Ivysle was not visiting this restaurant 
 on this particular week, for the reason that he did 
 not like to meet Suzette. He had his model in his 
 mind s eye in a very different pose from the one she 
 was in the habit of assuming around that gay board, 
 and he did not wish to spoil his illusions. Suzette 
 was there, however, and some of the others whom 
 Arthur had known in the former time, and he was 
 welcomed with a certain politeness, though he had 
 never been a favorite. He soon learned that Suzette 
 was alone, and as she was the only grisette there of 
 whom this was true, he was not long in finding his 
 way to her side. When she left the restaurant he 
 accompanied her and she told him her story all 
 about Andre s leaving for home, and how she was 
 now supporting herself as a model for a painter. 
 
 " A model a nude model ?" he asked, surveying 
 her with sharpened curiosity. 
 
 When she explained to him as well as she could the 
 kind of model she had become, his disappointment 
 was plainly evident. 
 
 " 1 want to join some class where they draw from 
 the nude," he said. " Do you know of any ? * 
 
 * 1 think they have one at the studio of the master 
 of M. Melrose," she answered. " I will ask him, if 
 you desire." 
 
 He started in surprise. 
 
 M You know M. Melrose, then ?*
 
 108 wacisxm A UAODBBL 
 
 " Perfectly," she responded. a It is for him that t 
 am posing. He says the picture he is at work upon 
 will be one of the finest in the next Salon. I do not 
 like the work that posing it is very dull. But one 
 must have bread, and there is no other way just 
 now." 
 
 An opportunity had come, most unexpectedly, for 
 a revenge upon his enemy. Arthur decided then and 
 there, to take the protection of this girl upon himself, 
 in the hope that thereby he might spoil Lysle s pic 
 ture. She was only too glad to exchange her dull 
 days for the gayeties to which he was ready to intro 
 duce her, and when the time came for her next sitting 
 she wrote a letter at her new lover s dictation, stating 
 that she did not care to pose any more. As Arthur 
 expected, the young artist came the next day to 
 Suzette s rooms, to demand an explanation ; and it 
 gave him the keenest pleasure to be able to meet him 
 there and to hear him told that mademoiselle would 
 be otherwise engaged and unable on any account to 
 accommodate him. 
 
 Suzette, with the fickleness of her sex, thought it 
 only good amusement to assist Arthur in his 
 triumph. He talked it all over with her in advance, 
 and when Lysle came they were there together to 
 receive him. 
 
 " M. Melrose, this is my friend, M. Peck,* was 
 Suzette s introduction, as Lysle stood, astounded, on 
 the threshold of her apartment. He recovered him 
 self in a moment, and said that he wished a few 
 minutes of private conversation. 
 
 "You can say anything before M. Peck," replied 
 Suzette, lighting a cigarette and offering Lysle 
 ^Bother, which he declined. " It is quite the same 
 new. We are one, you understand."
 
 4NSIDE OF BOHEMIA. 109 
 
 Arthur had walked to a window and was looking 
 out on a court-yard, with pretended nonchalance 
 But one glance convinced Lysle that he was at the 
 bottom of the whole affair, and he felt an almost 
 irresistible inclination to kick him. 
 
 " You have written to me declining to sit again as 
 my model," he said, recovering. " Was it not under 
 stood that you were to come until the picture was 
 finished ?" 
 
 " Not at all," she answered, laughing. " You will 
 recollect that I said I would only come till I could 
 do better. And that" she indicated Peck by a 
 motion of her head " I have succeeded in doing." 
 
 " But/ he said, desperately, " you have been paid 
 for nearly a week in advance." 
 
 She smiled again. 
 
 "That is true." She turned to Arthrsr. "Win 
 you have the kindness to give me the fifty francs 
 which I owe monsieur ?" 
 
 Peck turned away from the window and tock <mt 
 his purse. 
 
 ** I decline to take the money back," said Lysie, 
 warmly, " You have received it for certain work 
 and you are obliged to perform it." 
 
 A very broad laugh was on the face of Mr. Arthur 
 Peck as Suzette appealed to him to know if this was 
 the law. 
 
 "I understand that it is not," he said, grimly. **! 
 paid for twelve lessons of an artist myself, the other 
 day, and he declined to give them to me, offering 
 me back my money. He said it was the only thing 
 I could claim." 
 
 The young artist saw easily enough that he wa 
 being ridiculed, and fearing that in the state of hi* 
 temper bs might da something rash, he turned witb*
 
 110 MOULDING A MAIDEH. 
 
 out another word and left the place, the sound oi 
 loud laughter following him down the stairs. 
 
 He went back to his studio, and surveyed his 
 great effort with a saddened look. It would have 
 taken only three or four more sittings to make it 
 perfect. Could he finish it without his model ? 
 It was a great risk. The deep regret that he felt at 
 his loss counterbalanced his anger at the man who 
 was responsible for it. It was evident that he must 
 finish the picture without her. He took up his 
 brush and tried to go on with the work, but his hand 
 was too unsteady. He could not trust himself to do 
 it then. 
 
 The next day he tried again, but the risk 
 frightened him. The day after it was the same, and 
 at last he put the picture regretfully away and 
 resumed his ordinary work. A fortnight later he 
 came suddenly upon Suzette in the street. He 
 Would not have addressed her, but she stopped him. 
 
 " I am sorry for you I am, really," she said, as if 
 She meant it. " I was angry that day but I had for 
 given ) r ou. If I could have come to let you finish 
 the picture I would have done so. You see, it is as 
 I told you. I am not a model, I am a grisette. My 
 lover has a right to command me, and he says I am 
 not to go. He does not like you, there has been 
 trouble somewhere between you, has there not ? We 
 have moved to new rooms in a much better street, 
 the Rue Marbeuf. I do not care for that. I really 
 liked the old ones better, for I knew every one in the 
 neighborhood* He has given me many pretty things, 
 but I would rather have Andr6 and a crust. I hope 
 you will never have any words with him. He seems 
 to me like a man who would kill, if be was
 
 *A LITTLE LIKE LYIHOp* 111 
 
 Good-by, monsieur. I hope you will not blame ra 
 for what I could not help." 
 
 Lysle was too dispirited to answer her, and he 
 knew all he could say would count for nothing. It 
 was only a little while after these occurrences that 
 his twenty-first birthday came, and he set sail for 
 America, after nearly six years absence from his 
 native shores. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 " A LITTLE LIKE LYING." 
 
 Stanley Melrose had been very thoughtful ever 
 since he learned that his cousin was about to visit 
 America. His large business interests, his extensive 
 law practice, all the trusts with which he had become 
 possessed, seemed to take a secondary place in his 
 mind. He could think of nothing but Lysle and 
 Rosalie and Miss Steiner, and the problem that 
 would soon confront him in relation to them. He 
 had Rosalie on his side ; of that he felt no doubt. 
 Miss Steiner would certainly turn against him if she 
 found an ally strong enough to make it a safe thing 
 to do ; of that he felt no doubt, either. In a 
 guardianship that comprised three persons it was 
 easy to see that two constituted a clear majority. 
 If Miss Steiner and Lysle should decide, up and 
 down, that they would be the controllers of Rosalie s 
 future, it would not be an easy thing to deprive 
 them of that right. 
 
 He decided to meet Lysle in the most affable man 
 ner and to fight with all his diplomacy to prevent a
 
 MOULDING A MAIDES, 
 
 complete union of the opposition forces. He and 
 Lysle corresponded but little, while Miss Steiner had 
 had, he knew, a good many letters from the young 
 man. It was to be his task to outwit them both, and 
 in the strength of his determination to do this he 
 rested. 
 
 One of his first ideas was to go to the wharf and 
 meet his cousin when he landed. But Stanley never 
 decided upon anything of importance without due 
 deliberation, and after thinking it over he concluded 
 that such a course would have too transparent a 
 reason. Although he and Lysle had never quarreled, 
 they had not been, even when at school, intimates. 
 He would let Miss Steiner meet him, if she chose, 
 and give her all the chance she needed to gain his 
 ear. He knew that he should be sure to see him 
 within a few hours of his arrival, as he dined with 
 Miss Steiner and Rosalie, and it would be natural 
 for Lysle to be invited to join them. 
 
 Several days before the young man was due in 
 port, Stanley assumed a brighter aspect than usual. 
 
 ** Lysle s steamer ought to arrive either Monday 
 or Tuesday," said he, at table. " It seems so long 
 since he went away ! What a change he will find 
 in me from a schoolboy to a man in business ! 
 And he has done well, I am told. I learn from a 
 client, who is a dealer in art goods, that his name is 
 already familiar to painters here, and that the 
 greatest things are expected of him. I suppose he 
 has grown so we shall hardly know him. I hope he 
 will not hurry back to Europe. There ought to be 
 inspiration for an artist in such a country as we 
 have here. He will not find finer views anywhere, I 
 will wager, than some of those in the interior of this 
 continent"*
 
 "A LITTLE LIKE LYING." 113 
 
 Miss Steiner wondered what was behind all this, 
 for she never thought of taking it at its apparent 
 value, but she said nothing to indicate what was in 
 her mind. As he had spoken of Lysle as a land- 
 scape artist, she ventured the remark that what he 
 most excelled in, as she understood it, was in paint 
 ing human faces and figures. 
 
 "Well, let him take a few studies from our Rosa 
 lie," he answered, almost gayly. " He would have 
 to search far to find a better specimen of bright and 
 happy childhood. What do you say, little one? 
 Would you not like to have your picture painted by 
 our cousin, when he comes home ?" 
 
 Rosalie did not care anything about pictures, 
 either of herself or of other things, but she saw that 
 Stanley wanted her to assent, and that was enough 
 for her. She answered accordingly, that if Stanley 
 wanted Lysle to paint her picture she should be 
 very glad to sit for him. 
 
 " And how shall he paint you ? Sitting on the 
 rocks at Newport, with one stockingless foot pad 
 dling in the water, or riding one of those ponies in 
 the Park ?" 
 
 * Those ponies are very slow beasts," responded 
 the child. " I wish I had one of the mustangs that 
 you taught me to ride out in the West. I would 
 stick some of the eagle feathers in my hair, as I did 
 then, and cling without any saddle to the back of 
 the animal, and that would make something worth 
 paJ-iang." 
 
 He glanced across the table at Miss Steiner, with a 
 Vook that was intended to assume that they were on 
 an intimate footing. 
 
 " But you are to be a young lady soon," he said. 
 " 1 think, on the whole, we will ask Lysle to paint
 
 MOULDING A. MAIDEN. 
 
 you in your best dress, sitting in an arm-chair, in the 
 correct attitude. Then you can keep it to study 
 by." 
 
 Rosalie did not reply to this. She half believed 
 that he was joking, but she did not like to proceed 
 on this supposition when Miss Steiner was present. 
 She realized that a change had suddenly taken place 
 in his manner, and she did not know exactly how to 
 answer him. 
 
 When Lysle came at last, Miss Steiner had more 
 than an hour s conversation with him before Stanley 
 arrived. She had given him hints in her recent let 
 ters that she might need his help, but when he was 
 actually at her side, and she was asked for specifica 
 tions, she hardly knew how to state her case. He 
 was given an opportunity to see Rosalie, and his 
 admiration for the healthy beauty of the child was 
 most pronounced. It seemed a hard thing to ask 
 his aid in opposition to a guardian whose " methods " 
 had produced this splendid specimen. 
 
 " I never saw a more perfect child !" h 
 exclaimed, when Rosalie had left the room. 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Steiner, confusedly, and not 
 without a pardonable pride in the enthusiasm of his 
 tone. " Physically, she is perfect. But her mina, 
 Lysle, that is the point. She has had none of the 
 mental training of the ordinary child. She has not 
 even been treated as a child at all. Her thoughts 
 are in channels much too advanced for her years. I 
 fear that when we try to mould her intellect there 
 will be a great deal of trouble." 
 
 Lysle listened to her with some surprise. 
 
 ** I do not understand why you have neglected 
 these things," he said. 
 
 * He Stanley had other ideas," she replied.
 
 M A LITTLE LIKE LYING." Hi 
 
 He could not comprehend. 
 
 " But you had the entire control of her until two 
 years ago until he reached his majority." 
 
 It distressed her to tell him the truth, it hurt her 
 pride, but she knew no other way. 
 
 " No, he has managed everything from the day 
 you sailed for France." 
 
 "And he was only seventeen, then ! Why?" 
 
 She looked at him appealingly, as if craving sym 
 pathy in her confession. 
 
 "Stanley was older at seventeen than most boys. 
 You know that. I did not like to risk a conflict 
 with him, and things went on from one to another 
 before I realized what was being done." 
 
 Still it all seemed very strange to him. 
 
 " Tell me exactly what you complain of," he 
 said. 
 
 When she tried to do this, she succeeded badly. 
 It was no special thing, but everything together. 
 He had taken all her rights and duties upon him 
 self. Rosalie looked to him for instruction in every 
 act of her life. 
 
 "I am hardly as mueh to her as her French 
 governess," she said, in conclusion. " Mr. 
 Vandenhoffs will gave me equal power over her 
 with you and Stanley, and yet I am treated as if I 
 was nobody." 
 
 " He shall treat you respectfully. I will see to 
 that," said Lysle. 
 
 Her confusion increased. 
 
 " Oh, he does that, of course. I do not know how 
 to explain it to you. If you stay here long enough 
 you will understand it. I have borne it patiently, 
 feeling- that it would have to end when you came. 
 Watch the child when he is present, and you will
 
 116 MOULDING A MAIDEK. 
 
 see how little influence any one else is likely to have 
 on her life. It is not for to-day that I am uneasy, it 
 is for the years that are coming." 
 
 He could not help feeling that she worried unnec 
 essarily, and he thought the best way for him was to 
 quietly take in the situation. When Stanley came, 
 at lunch time, having walked all the way up from 
 his office, Lysle had to admire the tall, athletic fel 
 low, whose full beard made him look at least five 
 years older than he was. Stanley had improved 
 with time, that was evident. A gentleman on the 
 steamer had happened to ask Lysle whether he was 
 any relation to the rising young lawyer and real 
 estate operator, and had told him what a prominent 
 figure Stanley was making in the metropolis. He 
 expected to feel a slight sensation of awe at this 
 "prominent citizen," whom, even in boyhood days, 
 he had thought one of the wisest persons that he 
 knew. The breezy atmosphere that his cousin 
 brought in from his walk and the hearty grasp of 
 the hand that he gave him, dispelled these reflec 
 tions, however, and they welcomed each other more 
 like brothers than relations of a less near tie. 
 
 Miss Steiner noticed the impression that Stanley 
 made, and her heart sank. 
 
 " You are taller, and yet not as much so as I antici 
 pated," said Stanley, looking his cousin over. " I 
 don t think you are any handsomer, but that was not 
 to be expected. There must be limits to that sort of 
 thing, where men are concerned. You are older, 
 but not quite enough for the years you claim. I am 
 afraid, my boy, that you have staid too many hours 
 ach day in your studio, and too few in the open 
 air." 
 
 Lysle responded to this that he had never cared
 
 A LITTLE LIKE LYING." 
 
 much for outdoor exercise, and that he could not 
 hope to rival his cousin, if he tried it ever so long. 
 
 " Here is a specimen of what nature can do !** 
 cried Stanley, taking the little Rosalie by the hand, 
 as she entered the room. " Feel of that for flesh," 
 he added, drawing the child forward, and playfully 
 pinching her arms to show their hardness. " She is 
 as strong as most children of twice her age. We 
 will go up in the country and down to the shore, 
 by-and-by, and let you see her at her best. There 
 isn t a horse that can throw her, and she can find a 
 ten cent piece in the bottom of a mill-pond." 
 
 Lunch being served, they all sat down to it, and 
 the conversation drifted naturally on things Ameri 
 can and European. There was enough to talk about, 
 as may readily be imagined, but Stanley managed 
 to get much more information than he imparted. 
 He professed himself quite in love with Lysle s 
 descriptions of Paris, and said he must certainly go 
 there, if his business ever gave him time. 
 
 " Ah, you artists," he exclaimed, " who see noth 
 ing but the beautiful side of life, how you must pity 
 us poor business men who have to keep the world 
 going. With me it is a steady grind from one end 
 of the year to another, and all the recreation I can 
 take is a stroll with Rosalie, or a Sunday in the 
 country with her and Miss Steiner Our walks in 
 the city are mostly in the very early morning, and 
 it would tire you to keep up with us, I am afraid.** 
 
 Lysle remarked that he could not understand why 
 a man of Stanley s property should burden himself 
 with such a rush of work so early in life. 
 
 " It would have been more sensible, it seem* to 
 me," he said, " to have taken a year or two for 
 travel, at the start. Now that you have got all
 
 118 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 tangled up in affairs you will never extricate your 
 self, if you are not careful." 
 
 **I did not plan it," was the reply, and the speaker 
 drew a rather long breath as he did so. * I found 
 myself at twenty-one with my own property sud 
 denly put into my hands, and what was of much 
 more importance, all of all of another person s." 
 He silently indicated Rosalie. "I found that both 
 these fortunes were invested in much less remunera 
 tive ways than was possible, and in changing the 
 investments I made several successful deals that 
 attracted the attention of other people, who came to 
 me, asking that I do as much for them. Then, when 
 I was admitted to the bar, clients came much faster 
 than I deserved ; and take it altogether, I am a 
 rather busier man than I ought to be. But I shall 
 take my vacation yet, and when I do you will see me 
 on your side of the ocean." 
 
 Both his auditors noticed that he had uncon 
 sciously taken it for granted that Lysle intended to 
 return to France. 
 
 ** I suppose," said Lysle, wisely, " that I shall have 
 to examine those accounts of yours that I am inter 
 ested in, and see that they are satisfactory. It wilt 
 be a perfunctory thing, of course, but it is my legal 
 duty." 
 
 " I shall be only too glad to render an account to 
 you," was the reply, " and the sooner yo-i come the 
 better. This afternoon, if you wish." 
 
 Lysle laughed. 
 
 " Not quite so soon as that," said he. " I have my 
 private affairs to attend to first, with Mr. Dennin. 
 But I shall call on you," he Added, with another 
 langh, " I shall be strict in my investigations, too. 
 I/ you have anything wrong to be discovered, you
 
 "A LITTLE LIKE LYING." 119 
 
 will have just about time enough to get orer the line 
 into Canada." 
 
 This seemed sufficiently amusing to brighten up 
 everybody, and the subject wandered for a time into 
 other channels. 
 
 " How much do you think Mr. Dennin has ready 
 for you ?" asked Stanley, after a pause. 
 
 " Something like sixty-five thousand dollars, he 
 says," replied Lysle. " It is all in paper, and I could 
 carry it away in a small bag. You had much more, 
 I believe. Your father had more of the business 
 instinct in him than mine, as you have more than I. 
 It is certain that I shall never increase my pile, while 
 yours will reach, there is no knowiug what dimen 
 sions." 
 
 Stanley bowed silently. He made no secret of his 
 intention to become a very rich man. 
 
 " You could get a good deal of money for your 
 pictures, though," he said, presently. " I have been 
 told that you are doing most remarkable work." 
 
 " Have you ?" said Lysle. It pleased htm 
 immensely to think that his reputation had already 
 crossed the Atlantic. " But I am doing as I once 
 told you I should. I am keeping everything I 
 paint." 
 
 " That is a good idea, too," said Stanley, shrewdly, 
 " for by-and-by, when you are the most famous 
 painter in the world, you can name your own prices. 
 And another advantage will be gained," he contin 
 ued. " Your earlier work, that must necessarily 
 exhibit some crudeness, will not be in the market to 
 your injury." 
 
 Lysle hastened to say that he had no avaricious 
 intentions in the matter at ail. He only felt that he 
 did not wish to paint for money, and that the highest
 
 130 MOULDING A MAIDEN., 
 
 incentive In art should not be the amount of gold 
 that a piece of canvas would bring. 
 
 " You will make the money of the family, Stanley," 
 said he, " and I shall make the fame. Is it not a faif 
 division ?" 
 
 " But there is fame to be gained at the bar, also, 
 replied the other, slightly piqued. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Lysle ; but he did not speak as if 
 he thoroughly appreciated the fact. 
 
 Neither of the cousins seemed to realize that Miss 
 Steiner had no part in this conversation, except the 
 one of listener. 
 
 It was Rosalie s habit to say nothing unless 
 addressed, when others were present, and she grew 
 quite jealous of Lysle, before the long meal was 
 over. After lunch Lysle went to Mr. Dennin s office, 
 and passed the rest of the afternoon there, while 
 Stanley went to his own place of business. The 
 child walked out with her French governess, but she 
 found the day very dreary. Something had come 
 between her and her natural companion, and she did 
 not like the change. 
 
 At dinner they were all together again, though 
 Lysle had taken up his residence at an [adjacent 
 hotel, and when it was ended Stanley was struck for 
 the first time with the sad look on the child s coun 
 tenance. Divining its cause, he told her he had no 
 intention of missing their usual evening walk, and 
 she joyfully went for her hat. Lysle and Miss Steiner 
 were asked to excuse them, and neither made any 
 objection to doing so. Stanley wanted to show the 
 woman that he had no fear of leaving her and Lysle 
 alone. She was more depressed than ever, when 
 he and Rosalie had sauntered forth, and got along 
 very slowly in her endeavors to make Lysle under-
 
 **A LITTLE LIKE LYINO." 121 
 
 Stand the points of difference between her and thtir 
 cousin. 
 
 Although it was rather later than Stanley and 
 Rosalie were in the habit of starting, both of them 
 were so glad to be alone together that the hour had 
 no significance. When they arrived at Madison 
 square they turned in to Madison avenue and walked 
 all the way to Forty-second street before he proposed 
 that they set upon their return. They had talked of 
 nothing in particular until this moment, but as they 
 turned to retrace their steps, Rosalie suddenly 
 astonished him by a strange inquiry : 
 
 " Is it right to tell lies, Stanley ever ?" 
 
 It was his way to draw out her full meaning 
 before he answered her, and he tried to do it in this 
 *ase. 
 
 * Give me an example," he said. 
 
 " You do not like Lysle, and yet you pretend to 
 him that you do. Is not that a sort of lying ? And 
 is it right ?" 
 
 As mature as he had found the young mind grow 
 ing under his manipulations, he was surprised at the 
 keenness of her perception. 
 
 "I never told you I did not like Lysle/* he 
 answered, evasively. 
 
 44 Oh, no, you did not need to tell me." 
 
 * There is something that we call courtesy,** he 
 continued, slowly, " which makes us treat well even 
 people for whom we have no particular affection, 
 especially if they are our relations." 
 
 She looked thoughtful. 
 
 " Relations are cousins, brothers, and people 
 that ?
 
 188 MOULDING A MA1DES. 
 
 "What relations have I, Stanley ? Not many, i 
 think." 
 
 " No. You have no father or mother, brother of 
 sister ; not even an uncle or aunt. The only rela 
 tions that you have who are near enough even to be 
 called cousins are Miss Steiner, Lysle and I." 
 
 She was revolving the question in her mind. 
 
 " Then I ought to love all of you very much, ought 
 I not ?" 
 
 "We are more than your relations, in this case, * 
 he said, with an effort. " We are also your guardians, 
 and you are bound to respect us as you would your 
 parents, if they were still living. * 
 
 She had heard something like this before, but not 
 having seen Lysle till so recently, the idea had not 
 thoroughly taken possession of her mind. 
 
 "You three are my guardians one just as much 
 as the other ?" 
 
 He gulped down something that stuck In his 
 throat at the unpleasant fact that she thus baldly 
 stated. 
 
 "One just as much as the other," he admitted. 
 
 They walked several blocks before she spoke 
 again, and he did not think it wise to disturb her 
 train of thought. 
 
 "Supposing, sometime, Stanley," she said, looking 
 up at last, "that one of you should want me to do 
 one thing and another should want me to do some 
 thing different ?" 
 
 " That is hardly likely to happen," he answered. 
 
 "Yes, it is," she replied. "It will happen some 
 time, I am sure ; and I want to know beforehand 
 what I am to do." 
 
 They were such companions, used to these con 
 fidences for the past four years or more, and yet
 
 *A LITTLE LIKE LYING.* 193 
 
 she had never said anything that affected him as 
 much as this. 
 
 " What would you like to do, in a case like that ?* 
 he asked. 
 
 "I should like to obey you" 
 
 His pleasure at this naive confession was so great 
 that he stooped down and put his arm around the 
 child, a thing he was not in the habit of doing. 
 She realized as much as he that this action was 
 caused by sudden and violent emotion, and it 
 affected her intensely. 
 
 " We must see to it," he said, presently, " that no 
 question comes up on which your guardians need to 
 differ. We all desire only what is best for you, I am 
 sure. If you feel any difference between us, you 
 must be careful and not show it. That will be one 
 way to prevent trouble." 
 
 " But it will be a kind of lying, won t it, Stanley Y* 
 she asked, reverting 10 the former inquiry. 
 
 " Hardly," he said. " It is your duty to treat us 
 all with respect, and you need not consider it false 
 hood if you only do that. Miss Steiner and I have 
 had no trouble in agreeing about you, and Lysle 
 ought not to want anything that is unreasonable." 
 
 She clasped tightly the hand that she had taken a 
 few minutes before. 
 
 " But he will, Stanley. I am sure of it. He will 
 propose things that you will not like. And I want 
 very much to know what we are to do when that 
 time comes." 
 
 For several minutes he was silent. Then he said : 
 
 " If he proposed anything that I thought very much 
 against your interests so much that I could not 
 possibly agree with him, and if Miss Steiner was on 
 his side, I should have to go to the judges and get
 
 136 MOPLD1HQ A 1UOOOL 
 
 them to settle it. If it was an ordinary thing, I 
 
 should try and let him have his way. But, pshaw ! 
 Nothing like that will happen. You must be at 
 friendly with him as you are with me, so that be 
 will have no cause for complaint on that score. If 
 he wants you to walk with him, or give up any part 
 of your time to him, you must do it as if you were 
 quite willing. I shall depend on you, Rosalie, to 
 help me a great deal in that way. And, really, he is 
 a pleasant fellow, you know, and can be of use to you, 
 beside, in your French. He has lived in Paris until 
 he talks like a native." 
 
 She look up at him again, for he had taught her 
 always to be most punctilious in all matters of con 
 science. 
 
 a There will be a difference, only I must not let 
 him know it. Is that what you mean, Stanley ?" 
 
 " That is it, exactly." 
 
 " It is a little like lying, isn t it ?" 
 
 He did not say anything to this, for it seemed to 
 him that the child was right in her estimate of the 
 transaction to which he had advised her. But look 
 which way he might, he could not see any other way 
 out of the dilemma that confronted them, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 *1 NEVER KISS GENTLEMEN !** 
 
 When the height of the summer season came, Mi*s 
 Steiner and Lysle, with Rosalie, of course, went to 
 Cape May. Stanley knew that they would have to 
 go somewhere, and when the place was to be decided
 
 ft l NEVER KISS GENTLEMEN f 136 
 
 upon he selected Cape May as the best of those named 
 on account of its accessibility from the city, whenever 
 he should find himself able to run down there. His 
 business had now grown to such proportions that he 
 did not like to neglect it, and yet he wanted to see 
 his ward quite often. Cape May was a good place. 
 There was excellent bathing there, and the resort 
 was considered very healthy. 
 
 Rosalie astonished Lysle, the first time he went in 
 bathing with her, at the capacity she showed as a 
 swimmer. She was still but eight years of age, and 
 he supposed that he would have to take the same 
 care of her as is usually given to young children 
 when in the water. Probably he had a dim idea that 
 she would scream when the waves touched her limbs, 
 and have to be encouraged to go out as far as it 
 would be necessary for the water to reach her chin, 
 while he held to her clothing and repeated assurances 
 that he would protect her. But the lithe figure 
 darted from him at the water s edge, and with a joy 
 ous rush the child threw herself into the brine, going 
 under like an expert, and reappearing again some 
 seconds later fifteen feet further away. Lysle had a 
 momentary fright as he saw her disappear, and made 
 his way as rapidly as possible toward the place where 
 she had gone down. When he saw her come up 
 again he swam toward her in the belief that she was 
 being swept out to sea by some kind of undertow. 
 At which Rosalie, who saw him coming, dared him 
 to a race, and took such bold strokes away from 
 the land that he was greatly alarmed, and called 
 to her to return at once, 
 
 " Have you a cramp, or anything ?" she asked, 
 anxiously, as she swam to where he was, evidently 
 under the impression that he required assistance.
 
 196 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 As she spoke she poised herself in the water as 
 comfortably as a duck, seemingly without the slight 
 est effort. 
 
 " I am all right," he answered, slightly out of 
 breath, for his anxiety had contributed to wind 
 him. " I was afraid you were in danger. I do not 
 think it is wise for you to go out beyond your 
 depth." 
 
 " Why not ?" she asked, astonished at the idea. 
 " I could swim an hour without being tired. Stan 
 ley used to take me out half a mile. It is not much 
 fun swimming in the dirty water along the shore. I 
 wish you would go with me. I think I could race 
 you back and make you rather tired." 
 
 He was tired already, not being anything of an 
 expert in the art of natation, and slowly paddled 
 nearer the land, where he could find a resting place 
 for his feet. Rosalie followed him, not seeming to 
 like it, however. 
 
 " I did not know you were such a swimmer," he 
 said, when she joined him. " I have only had a 
 little experience in the swimming schools of the 
 Seine, and at Ostend and Boulogne." 
 
 Miss Steiner, who was waiting among the specta* 
 tors on the shore, came to speak to them. 
 
 " He does not like to have me go out," said the 
 child, rather sorrowfully, to her. " You know hovtf 
 well I can swim. I am as safe in the water as any 
 where. Do you not think so?" 
 
 " Perhaps," said Miss Steiner. " But it is different 
 when Stanley is not here. If anything should 
 happen to you when you were out there alone, what 
 could we do ? I do not wish you to take any risks." 
 
 " Very well," said Rosalie. She had been taught 
 to obey without serious argument.
 
 "l NEVKR KISS GENTLBMENP 
 
 A crowd had gathered on the border of the beach, 
 
 omposed both of bathers and of the ordinary non- 
 bathing spectators. Rosalie had passed a week or 
 two there in the previous season, and some of them 
 remembered her feats and related them to the others. 
 Sensations were very scarce, and there was general 
 disappointment when the child left the water and 
 went with Miss Steiner to her bath-house. Lysle 
 fancied that there was a species of contempt in the 
 glances that pursued him as he followed, and it did 
 not add to his ease. 
 
 "Confound them!" he thought, with anger. "I 
 can paint a picture that will be hung in a place of 
 honor in the Paris Salon, but to these fools I 
 am nobody because I am not a great swimmer I 
 Stanley, who could not draw the picture of a tree, 
 will come here and excite their admiration, because 
 he has learned to propel himself through the waves 
 like a dolphin ! What different standards of intelli 
 gence people have !" 
 
 Rosalie had never had the least idea of comparing 
 Lysle with Stanley, but he had certainly fallen more 
 than ever in her mind on account of this event. She 
 had been disappointed in her swim, for one thing ; 
 she had missed the chance of exercising her feminine 
 privilege of conquest by showing the guests at Cape 
 May what a fine natator she was. But, more than 
 this, she had to blush at the poor talents of her pro 
 tector. Her only comfort was in the knowledge 
 that Stanley would come in a few days. 
 
 Lysle got her all to himself that afternoon for an 
 hour, and had a long talk with her. He drew out 
 all her life on the frontier, and saw the kindling of 
 the eye with which she narrated her rides on horse 
 back with the Indian and half-breed children, her
 
 128 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 catching of fish in the little brooks, her sitting about 
 the fires in the evening, when the howling of wolves 
 could be heard plainly in the distance. It was in a 
 lake there that Stanley had taught her to swim, and 
 before the season was over she used to dive with 
 the young aborigines for pieces of money thrown 
 into the clear water. She was not apt to show 
 great enthusiasm, having been taught to repress her 
 sentiments, but the awakened recollections were too 
 strong. 
 
 " You like the frontier better than New York, I 
 judge," he said, after listening to her. 
 
 " Oh, yes," she said quickly. " I should have 
 been willing to stay there all my life, if Stanley had 
 wished it." 
 
 It struck him powerfully that she would have gone 
 to the Frozen Sea, or to Terra del Fuego, " if Stan 
 ley had wished it." 
 
 "You would not have had the opportunity to 
 learn things there that you have in the East," he 
 suggested. 
 
 " Not the same things," she admitted. " But Stan 
 ley tells me that all the things worth knowing are 
 not in books. I shall soon be nine years old, and I 
 do not yet know how to read." 
 
 He was much disappointed at this, and said so 
 without reserve. 
 
 "You must learn at once," said he. " I do not see 
 what Miss Steiner is thinking of to make you wait 
 30 long." 
 
 She felt it an imputation upon her acquirements. 
 
 "lean speak three languages, and that is some 
 thing. And I can make myself understood in the 
 Sioux tongue. And I am very strong, and " she
 
 "1 JHEVBa KIM OTUrnJBOn f 190 
 
 hesitated, doubtful whether it would be too impolite 
 to say it-" and I can swim and ride," 
 
 He winced a little at the thrust 
 
 M But reading is so necessary," he said. "Nearly 
 nine years old i Why at nine I had read half of the 
 great English authors and many of the poets. I 
 shall certainly speak to Miss Steiner." 
 
 She noticed that he persisted in speaking of Miss 
 Steiner as if that lady was the natural arbiter of her 
 destiny, and it made the child more determined than 
 ever to direct all her allusions to Stanley. 
 
 M I wish you would speak to me always in 
 French," she said. " Stanley said you would be of 
 great advantage to me in my accent." 
 
 He was well pleased at this, and promised to try 
 to remember it. And, as a beginning, he turned the 
 conversation at once into that language. 
 
 ** You must learn to read," he repeated. " If you 
 wait much longer you will be behind the other 
 young ladies when you grow up." 
 
 " I think I learn things rapidly," she responded. 
 ** You shall see how fast I will acquire reading. If 
 it pleases you, I should like to learn to read in 
 French first. I think English will come easier after 
 that." 
 
 She had never deceived any one before in her life, 
 and had had no cause to. How did the art come so 
 easily with what she regarded as the necessity for 
 it? Il was the immediate outgrowth of Stanley s 
 attitude toward his cousin, which she realized so 
 quickly was not a thoroughly truthful one. Rosalie 
 knew that Stanley wanted her to learn to read 
 French before she did English. She knew, also, that 
 Lysle would not be prejudiced in favor of the plan 
 *vf she told him it was of his cousin s origination.
 
 180 MOCLDOVO A MAIDESL 
 
 So she said, " / think,** and he accepted the idea at 
 once, as a compliment to himself. 
 
 " I will talk to Miss Steiner," he said, again, * and 
 if she is willing, you may begin at once. Your 
 governess has nothing else to do here, and you 
 would be willing, I suppose, to devote two or three 
 hours each day to it, even this summer?" 
 
 She entered on her new study with delight. She 
 knew that Stanley would be pleased at her finesse, 
 when she told him of it, and the result confirmed 
 her opinion. He said nothing, but his manner 
 showed that he was gratified. He came, as she had 
 expected he would, on the first Saturday night after 
 her arrival, and remained over till Monday morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Rosalie had always been taught to repress all 
 manifestations of great joy or sorrow, and Lysle 
 could not justly estimate the pleasure that she felt 
 to see Stanley again by its mere outward expression. 
 After dinner she and her eldest guardian went off 
 for a walk alone on the beach, where for an hour 
 they exchanged confidences. 
 
 Something had been troubling Miss Steiner for 3 
 long time, and she thought this a good opportunU| 
 to broach it to Lysle. 
 
 "Rosalie has had hardly any religious training,** 
 she said, as they sat together in a corner of :>ne of 
 the piazzas. 
 
 " Ah !" was his only comment. 
 
 " A child a a girl," she continued. " needs relig 
 ious instruction. Don t you think so ?" 
 
 To tell the truth, he had never thought much 
 about it. For himself, he had never entered a place 
 of worship except as a sight-seer since he left Brooks 
 Academy, where he found it a regulation part of the
 
 *f NETEK KISS aiSTTLEMElf. 1 * 181 
 
 course he was pursuing. He had no definite rellg* 
 ious opinions. He called himself a Protestant as so 
 many others do, merely to signify that he was not a 
 Roman Catholic. Lysle was not an atheist, but he 
 went no further than that. Still he did have an idea 
 that a certain amount of religion was a good thing 
 for women, and he assented mildly to Miss Steiner s 
 proposition. 
 
 " Stanley has managed everything so entirely his 
 own way," she went on, gratified at his concurrence, 
 **that I have not made the stand I ought in reference 
 to this matter. But Rosalie is growing older, and it 
 is time something was done. Now, to-morrow 
 morning the first thing he will want will be to take 
 her into the water. I don t think that is a good 
 idea." 
 
 Lysie looked at her rather blankly. He could not 
 quite understand the connection between religion 
 and bathing. A notion that she had some thought 
 of the significance of baptism entered his head, but 
 was immediately dismissed. 
 
 " I do not quite understand," he said. 
 
 " I know," she replied, with a disappointed expres 
 sion, " that you have lived in Paris, where such 
 things are looked upon differently than they are 
 here. Rosalie is, however, an American girl, and 
 must be treated as such. And I cannot help think 
 ing that it sets a bad example." 
 
 He was as much in the dark as ever, 
 
 " Is bathing so wrong, then ?" he asked, trying to 
 reconcile her attitude with that she had taken on 
 the day when he had gone into the water with the 
 child, having her apparent assent. 
 
 * It is not considered, I think, by refined 
 here, the best way to spend the Sabbath."
 
 138 MOULDIKCr A MAIDEN, 
 
 "The Sabbath !* He could dimly remember hv. 
 ing heard that title applied to Sunday, by some 
 Clergyman of his boyhood. So that was the trouble. 
 
 a I cannot see what harm an hour in the water 
 would do, he answered, thoughtfully. "Your 
 places of amusement are all closed, I believe. You 
 have no theatres, or gardens or circuses open on 
 that day ?" 
 
 Miss Steiner looked properly shocked. 
 
 "Well, I should hope not!" she said. "Those 
 customs of Continental Europe have not yet gained 
 a foothold in the Eastern part of America." 
 
 ** What are people permitted to do ?" 
 
 " They go to church, for one thing," was the reply, 
 ** Then walking, driving and and reading are per 
 missible." 
 
 He had become so gallicized that he was genu 
 inely puzzled at her distinctions. 
 
 "Is bathing more wicked than driving ?" he asked. 
 And if so, why ?" 
 
 " It is certainly more like like play," she an 
 swered lamely. 
 
 " Oh, there is a rule against playing, is there ? * he 
 said, smiling. " You must excuse me, cousin. J 
 have been so long away that I really had forgotten 
 some of the ways of my native country. If nobody 
 bathes on Sunday, perhaps Stanley will not care to 
 be the only exception." 
 
 She found it so much more difficult to make her 
 views plain to him than she had expected, that she 
 grew quite discouraged every time she tried it. 
 
 " A good many do bathe," she admitted, " but not 
 the the best people. Respect for customs is 
 almost a necessity if one would move in the upper 
 circles. A thing which might be harmless in itself
 
 "I SEVER KISS GENTLEMEW.** 
 
 becomes a crime when it runs counter to the opin 
 ions of those who rule society." 
 
 He laughed inwardly at this, for he hated society 
 with a cordial hatred. He had seen some of it in 
 France, and found it a dreadful bore. He loved 
 Bohemia better, but perhaps there might be some 
 thing different for a young American heiress. 
 Besides this, when he came to think it over, he was 
 not anxious that Stanley should have too early an 
 opportunity to show the people of Cape May how 
 much better swimmer he was than his cousin. Ht 
 recollected uneasily the exhibition he had made of 
 his own weakness that other morning, when the 
 child shamed him before a thousand of them. It 
 was not a creditable thing to influence his mind, 
 but we are all human, and the remembrance had its 
 effect as a make-weight. 
 
 ** If, when the morning comes, Stanley proposes to 
 take her," he said, * you can advance your objection 
 and I will give you my moral support. Only, it 
 must not be elevated into anything like a test case. 
 If he insists on taking her in, having done so 
 often before, I shall not cast my vote positively 
 against him. You can tell him what you have 
 told me, and we will hear what he has to say." 
 
 This was far from contenting the woman, but it 
 was evidently the best she could do. It would 
 not answer to attempt to coerce Lysle. She was 
 obliged to take exactly as much as he would give 
 her, and it would be folly to try to press him beyond 
 his judgment. She began to wonder whether she 
 had not merely exchanged one autocrat for two. 
 This was not what she had dreamed of for six 
 years.
 
 186 MOULDING A JU.XDEK 
 
 Stanley and Rosalie returned shortly, and found 
 them still on the piazza. 
 
 " It will be splendid bathing in the morning, I 
 think," were Stanley s first words. " The wind has 
 freshened and the surf will be tremendous. We 
 will go away out, Rosalie, into the white-caps." 
 
 Miss Steiner glanced involuntarily at Lysle, who 
 smilingly signalled her to proceed. She found it 
 fearder than she had anticipated, however. 
 
 " I think the best people here do not bathe Sunday 
 tow," she ventured. 
 
 Stanley was a man who thought quickly. He 
 had no doubt that these words of hers were part of 
 a pre-arranged plan, and he wondered how firm the 
 Alliance was between his cousins. 
 
 "The fewer there are in, the better I shall like it," 
 ke replied. " I would not miss that surf to-morrow, 
 *f it is what it seems likely to be, for a Supreme 
 Court decision. You know, Lysle," he added, turn- 
 tog to that young man, " that I have not been in the 
 iwater yet this season. I think there is no other 
 Amusement of which I am so passionately fond. 
 There will be plenty of bathers, unless the style has 
 touch changed within a year. If the best people 
 H>se the fun, so much the worse for them." 
 
 At this he abruptly turned the conversation into 
 Another channel, as though he considered that one 
 Exhausted. He began to tell Lysle of a real estate 
 <ieal in which he had just embarked, which was 
 morally certain to pay large profits, and offered to 
 *dmit him to a share. He said, with a smile, that he 
 knew well how little he cared for money, but after 
 *11 he must invest what he had inherited in some 
 thing, and why not in a place where it would double 
 ia five years as well as in another where it would
 
 *I NXTXIB KISS GENTLEMEN," tSi 
 
 take fifteen to accomplish that result ? They talked 
 
 the matter over for a long time, leaving Miss Steiner 
 stranded high and dry, metaphorically, on the shore ; 
 and feeling piqued, she withdrew at last and left 
 them there with Rosalie. 
 
 It was nearly ten o clock when Stanley noticed 
 that the child was standing at his elbow, evidently 
 waiting to speak to him. 
 
 "It is time I was abed," she said, as he turned to 
 her. 
 
 " Why, yes, it is late for you," he answered, con 
 sulting his watch. " You should have gone before. * 
 
 " I did not like to interrupt you," she replied, 
 "and neither did I like to go without saying good 
 night." 
 
 He took the hand that she held out to him. 
 
 "Good-night, Rosalie," he said. "Sleep well, and 
 in the morning I will call for you very early." 
 
 She took Lysle s hand in the same way. He had 
 an idea that this leave-taking was too formal for such 
 a child and he thoughtlessly asked her if she would 
 not also give him a kiss. 
 
 She drew sharply away from him at the proposi 
 tion. 
 
 " I never kiss gentlemen !" she said, coldly. 
 
 " But I am your cousin your guardian," he 
 answered, half jocosely. Then he added, smilingly : 
 v You surely have kissed Stanley." 
 
 The little figure shrank together, as if it had 
 received a blow. 
 
 " Never ! Never, in my life !" she exclaimed. 
 
 There was something about her manner that made 
 Lysle very uncomfortable. A feeling possessed him 
 US if he had unintentionally insulted a woman a
 
 186 azoraofXB A MAIDRW, 
 
 grown woman which nothing in the world would 
 have made him do wittingly. 
 
 * I do not think kissing is healthy for children, " 
 Stanley explained. ** It is not only that I hare 
 refrained myself, but I have instructed the maids 
 and governesses she has had to follow the same 
 practice. I think many parents go to absurd lengths 
 in that sort of thing. She has treated you as well as 
 she does the rest of us, Lysle," he added, lightly. 
 
 " Good-night, Stanley," said the child again. Her 
 voice had grown suddenly harsh. 
 
 * Good-night," he answered, cheerily. Then he 
 Started up. " If you will excuse me a minute, Lysle, 
 I will go as far as her room with her. We are not 
 at home, you know, and I shall feel safer/* 
 
 As he crossed the large hall and began to ascend 
 the stairs, Rosalie put her hand in his, and looked 
 up into his face with such a strange look that he 
 stopped short. No one was near them. She seemed 
 about to burst into tears, but with her extraordinary 
 self-restraint she kept them back. 
 
 "Well, my child ?" he whispered. 
 
 ** He had no right to ask me to kiss him !" she 
 exclaimed, while her frame shook with the suppressed 
 emotion. 
 
 " Hush !" he responded, gently. " He meant 
 nothing by it. It is the custom in France, and in 
 many places in America, to kiss a child when she 
 retires." 
 
 ** It !s a bad custom !* she cried. ** I would not 
 have permitted him. No, Stanley, I would not !" 
 
 He smiled down at her, glad beyond expression. 
 
 fou will see, when you think of it, that these 
 words do not sound prettily/ said he, gently.
 
 4. DEMORALIZING PRACTICE 181 
 
 * However, we will say no more about it Good* 
 night." 
 
 He left her at her door and went back to bis 
 cousin, ill at ease in spite of himself. Their conver 
 sation languished after that and soon they separated 
 for the night. 
 
 The first sound that Lysle heard in the morning 
 was the voice of Rosalie talking with animation 
 about the swim she had had with Stanley in the 
 breakers. They had gone out for their bath at five 
 clock. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 4 DEMORALIZING PRACTICE. 
 
 Lysle Melrose had little conception of the extent 
 to which he had injured the feelings of his ward. 
 He knew that his proposition to kiss her had aroused 
 her indignation, but he considered it nothing more 
 than the fancy of a child who had been brought up 
 in a very peculiar way. It gave him a momentary 
 uneasiness, but he did not remember it long. The 
 sound of Rosalie s voice, the next morning, after her 
 return from her plunge in the breakers with Stanley, 
 was joyous enough to convince him that there was 
 nothing weighing very heavily on her heart. But 
 she had received an impression that was not to be 
 easily effaced. She had not been fond of Lysle 
 before, and now she had a distinct aversion to him. 
 
 Stanley had told her, however, to do everything as 
 his cousin directed, so far as was possible, and her 
 life was in consequence soon filled with those " little
 
 188 MOULDING A MA1DKK. 
 
 falsehoods " which she had only lately come to know. 
 She made great progress in her reading, and Lysle 
 took an hour or more each day to supplement the 
 labors of the French governess in teaching that 
 written language to mademoiselle. He talked to her 
 invariably in French, and as there was no one else 
 among his friends who used that tongue, it gave him 
 much pleasure to return to it. English had come to 
 seem, after six years in Paris, almost like a foreign 
 speech. 
 
 As Stanley s time was so taken up with his city 
 business, Lysle found the child a great deal with 
 him. Stanley acceded gracefully to Lysle s propo 
 sition that the party make frequent changes in their 
 stopping-places, so that he could try his hand on 
 American inland pictures. Miss Steiner, Rosalie, 
 and Lysle therefore wandered over a good deal of 
 country during the warm season, and sometimes 
 Stanley did not see them for a fortnight at a time. 
 
 Beside a few landscape scenes that he sketched, 
 Lysle often drew the rustic people at their labors, 
 and obtained in this way some very valuable ideas. 
 He also made numerous drawings of his ward, who 
 furnished the most beautiful natural poses, which he 
 was glad to catch. Stanley was pleased with these 
 sketches, and begged his cousin to finish one of them 
 for him, that he might hang it in his library ; but 
 Lysle said he had made a rule that he could not 
 vary from, even to oblige him, never to part with the 
 smallest piece of his work. 
 
 " I shall paint much better some day," he 
 explained, "and then I should be sorry to think that 
 this amateurish stuff was floating around where it 
 could be credited to me." 
 
 "I do not call it amateurish," responded Stanley,
 
 4. DEMORALIZING PRACTICE. 136 
 
 kindly, though he was disappointed. "And as I 
 should never have let it go out of my possession, 
 your fame would not have been injured. But I do 
 not wish you to cha*ge your plan, of course, for I 
 think there is wisdom in it." 
 
 " Don t consider me ungenerous, "continued Lysle, 
 half disposed to relent. "I would give it to you 
 more quickly than to any one else. Rosalie is a 
 beautiful study. I shall try to get one of my 
 pictures of her hung in the Salon next year." 
 
 Stanley wished he wouldn t, but he did not know 
 how to give a reason for it, and had to hold his 
 peace. 
 
 " I had a splendid study last winter, that would 
 have given me a medal, at least. When it was just 
 at the critical point, my model left me. It was most 
 aggravating. You remember Arthur Peck, of course, 
 who was at school with us at Brooks. It was his 
 doing." 
 
 And then Lysle told him all about the trouble he 
 had had with Arthur, and the result. Stanley grew 
 much interested in the story. 
 
 " I have heard that you artists also draw from 
 nude models," he said, when his cousin finished. 
 " It seems to me that it must be a very demoraliz 
 ing practice." 
 
 " In what way ?" 
 
 " Why, to the women, in the first place. And to 
 the students, afterwards." 
 
 The young artist smiled. 
 
 " It is so strange to me to hear such a thought," he 
 said, "that I have to laugh a little. How could we 
 make a copy of the human form if we had no 
 models to draw by ?" 
 
 * You could draw from other pictures," replied
 
 2*0 MOULDING A M1IMSH. 
 
 Stanley. * There is no need of each new class ! 
 
 Students having a living model." 
 
 Lysle laughed again. 
 
 "We should make poor work of it," said he. 
 ** There would be no new conceptions if we all had 
 to follow an old one, having, perhaps, errors of its 
 own." 
 
 ** But I have heard," persisted Stanley, " that the 
 old masters, as you call them, did better work than 
 any of the artists of this day. Why could you not 
 copy their nudes instead of originating from life? 
 It must be demoralizing. There is no escape from 
 that. Your models are not the best class of women, 
 of course." 
 
 Lysle looked thoughtful. 
 
 M Not always, I am afraid," he replied, u though I 
 am sure some of them are good enough. This 
 Suzette I told you of was only an accidental model. 
 She is a grisette, and glories in it." 
 
 Then he had to tell Stanley a great deal about the 
 grisettes, and the lives they lead among their student 
 friends. 
 
 "Nearly every student has his mistress, I sup 
 pose ?" said Stanley, interrogatively. 
 
 44 Very many of them, at least." 
 
 " Art students, and all ?" 
 
 ** Oh, it is just the same." 
 
 Stanley shook his head, as if the thoughts that 
 this state of affairs suggested were two deep for 
 words, and Lysle was glad of an opportunity to 
 change his subject. 
 
 " Have you met any of the boys who used to be at 
 Brooks ?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes. Woodstock has an office here in town 
 somewhere, and appears to be prospering, I have
 
 A DEMORALIZING PSACTIGB* 
 
 heard that the old gentleman Peck has made a lot 
 of money at last in electricity. The young fellow is 
 a bad one, I guess." 
 
 " And Morgan, have you heard of him ?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " I have," said Lysle. " He has written to me 
 several times. He is doing something in Buffalo. I 
 have promised to go and see him before I leave the 
 country." 
 
 If there was one thing more than another that 
 Stanley wanted to know it was the date on which 
 Lysle intended to " leave the country." It was the 
 hardest question in the world to ask, however, 
 
 ** You were always helping Morgan out of scrapes,* 
 he said. "I ll wager that he has asked you for 
 money since he left school." 
 
 " Poor Dudley !" replied Lysle, suiting the expres 
 sion of his face to the words. " He is such a good- 
 hearted fellow, and life seems to be always so hard 
 on him ! I wish I could aid him to some good 
 position. He has natural capabilities, but he never 
 has been given a chance." 
 
 For a minute Stanley said nothing. He was 
 revolving something in his mind. 
 
 " Do you think Morgan would like to be an 
 attorney s clerk ?" he asked, finally. 
 
 " He would be delighted !" exclaimed the other, 
 
 " And perhaps a lawyer, after awhile ?" 
 
 "Ah, but who would try him ?" 
 
 "I will," said Stanley, "if it will please you very 
 much. He shall have a position in my office." 
 
 Lysle s breath was taken away for the moment* 
 A kindness to his friend affected him much more 
 than on& to himself.
 
 142 MOULDING A MA1DKH 
 
 M Stanley, you are too good " he said, wit* 
 
 fervor. 
 
 Within a week the position had been offered to 
 Morgan, and accepted. The poor fellow was trying 
 to content himself in a dry-goods store at Buffalo, 
 and thought a place in the office of a New York 
 lawyer a wonderful stroke of luck. He was delighted 
 to see Lysle again, and in response to the good 
 advice which he gave him he returned the most abso 
 lute promises of faithfulness to his employer. 
 
 " I ll do everything he tells me," said Morgan. * I 
 am determined to rise in the world, and I don t 
 know a man in my list of acquaintances who is 
 better able to point out the way than your cousin. 
 How long do you stay here, Lysle ?" 
 
 " Oh, I am going back to France in a month or 
 so. But now I have learned the way, I shall come 
 here oftener." 
 
 After this the tourists settled at Saratoga, where 
 Miss Steiner thought the waters were of benefit to 
 her. They did not stay at any of the large hotels, 
 but at a private house in the residence quarter, which 
 suited them all much better. Lysle worked hard on 
 his pictures of Rosalie, and Miss Steiner got very 
 little chance to talk to him on the subject nearest 
 her heart. All of his spare time was devoted to the 
 child, with whom he took long walks and rides, 
 flattering himself that he was pleasing her in this 
 way as well as Stanley would have done. Her dig 
 nity and demureness seldom left her, and he gradu 
 ally fell into her serious way of conversation. She 
 interested him immensely, and he wished he could 
 think of some reasonable plan by which she could be 
 taken to Paris or its environs, where he could see 
 bcr often. A mere suggestion of this idea, however,
 
 A MnfORJLLizora PRACTICE. 143 
 
 to Miss Steiner, showed him that in this case, at 
 least, he would find both she and Stanley arrayed 
 against him. 
 
 " Paris is a beautiful city," she admitted, " but it 
 is also very wicked. Ah, how wicked it is ! I can 
 think of no place so bad to take a young girl to." 
 
 He felt a sense of personal injury at this assault 
 on his beloved home, and replied that he did not 
 know that Paris was any worse than other places, 
 New York for instance. 
 
 " The French are not as hypocritical as the English 
 and Americans," he told her, " but they may be as 
 good, for all that. In this country everything is hid 
 den ; there it is allowed to see the light of day. A 
 young person is guarded very carefully in France." 
 
 " Oh, I know all about it," she answered. " I 
 have lived ":here." 
 
 He did not pursue the subject any farther. He 
 was by no means sure that it would be wise to take 
 Rosalie at that time across the sea, and he had con 
 sulted nothing but his desires in advancing the propo 
 sition. 
 
 A conversation that Miss Steiner had had with 
 Stanley, the last time he came to Saratoga, still rang 
 in that lady s mind, and would have added to her dis 
 trust of Paris had she not already been sufficiently 
 prejudiced. He had told her of Arthur Peck s con 
 temptible conduct in relation to the painting, mak 
 ing it a text for a general disquisition on the 
 immorality of student life in the gay capital. 
 
 " I hope our dear Lysle has escaped the contagion 
 that is around him," he said, with a serious mien. 
 ** He seems so good that I cannot imagine him any 
 thing else, but it must be a place full of sore tempta 
 tion to the young who have not fixed principles.
 
 144 MOOUHVO A 
 
 However, as his heart is so set on that particular 
 piece of work, I trust he will find the girl again. He 
 says it is much the best thing he has attempted.* 
 
 Miss Steiner, who never thought of the word 
 * model " in any connection except with nudity, 
 shook her head sadly. She had had great faith in 
 Lysle s coming unscathed out of the fire of Parisian 
 life, but from that time she was glad he was so soon 
 going away from Rosalie. It would be better to 
 risk the child to the tender mercies of Stanley s 
 "methods" than to one who might be a profligate 
 and a rou6. Lysle noticed the difference in the 
 way that she treated him, and wondered what he 
 had done to deserve it. 
 
 He had a little farewell dinner with Dudley 
 Morgan, whose gratitude knew no bounds. He paid 
 a visit to Luke Woodstock, said good-bye to Mr. 
 Dennin, and was then ready to bid his adieux to his 
 own immediate circle at the St. Nicholas, to which 
 the party had returned. 
 
 He had a long talk with Stanley, one of the last 
 things he did, about Rosalie. 
 
 ** I hope you are satisfied with her appearance, as 
 regards health and intelligence," said Stanley. " You 
 are equally her guardian with the rest of us, you 
 know." 
 
 Lysle could not answer otherwise than in the 
 affirmative. 
 
 She is a beautiful girl," he said, " and remark 
 able in many respects. I know that Miss Steiner 
 feels that you have robbed her of her childhood, by 
 giving her the experiences of older people, but I can 
 see that it has its advantages. She is /earning to 
 read French with wonderful rapidity., I do not 
 blieve she will be behind other children of her age
 
 A DEMORALIZING FR4CTXGB> 
 
 "ja Che ordinary studies, when she is twelve, if yo 
 let her go on now. Her brain is so strong that she 
 seems to have no mental wear. There is only one 
 thing that I would suggest, and that is that she 
 .leeds polishing a little, in view of the rough child* 
 hood she has had. She is a girl who will have to 
 live with people of some fashion when she grows 
 up, and it will not do to let her get so grounded in 
 her natural ways that she can never outgrow them." 
 
 To this Stanley responded that he was most grati 
 fied to find that his cousin was so well pleased with 
 "he efiorts he had made, and said that he should 
 bear in mind his suggestions. 
 
 "I have seen so many puny children," he said, 
 44 that I wanted to give her a body, to begin with. 
 It will not be as hard as you might imagine to 
 polish her, as you call it. When she grows older, 
 she will be anxious to make a good impression, and 
 the ordinary child is an imitative creature. Rosalie 
 has all the best personal habits already, and she has 
 also the virtues of obedience and politeness. There 
 will be no trouble in making her fit for society, 
 by the time she wants it. I shall do everything for 
 the best, as I understand it, while you are away, but 
 you will return before long, I hope. * 
 
 Lysle answered that he could not tell when he 
 should come to America again. He preferred the 
 life of Europe io that of his native country. Per 
 aaps, he said, Miss Steiner and Stanley would after 
 awhile take a crip across the ocean with Rosalie. It 
 would be a good thing for the child, and not a bad 
 one for them. 
 
 * ! hope we may do so," replied Stanley, thinking 
 it the easiest way to agree with him, though he had 
 20 idea the thing proposed would soon come to pass
 
 M6 MOULDED A MAIDEN . 
 
 "There is one thing, though, thut you have not done 
 that is in a sense your duty. You have not examined 
 the investments that I have made of Rosalie s for* 
 Mine." 
 
 Lysle laughed. 
 
 " I think I will risk them," he said. " You ar 
 reputed to be one of the best judges of values in 
 New York, and I am certainly one of the poorest." 
 
 "Well, "said Stanley, " they are open to you at 
 any time. I think I have done pretty well for her. 
 She is not spending half of her income. There will 
 be a large sum by the time she is old enough to 
 receive it." 
 
 They went in together to consult with Miss Steiner, 
 and so well was everything managed by Stanley, 
 who directed the conversation, that she appeared to 
 bave nothing at all to complain of. She felt herself 
 crushed between these men, one of whom she dis. 
 liked and the other of whom she had begun to dis 
 trust. Lysle advanced his proposition that his 
 co-guardians should visit him the next time in Paris, 
 saying that Stanley had given his partial assent, but 
 Miss Steiner aroused herself for once and put in an 
 imperative negative. 
 
 "I should never consent to take the child to that 
 city," she said, with animation. "It is not the right 
 place for a young girl." 
 
 " Pshaw !" responded Lysle, impatiently. " Paris 
 is all right for a girl, if she is well guarded, and that 
 is all you can say of any other place. But if you 
 have a prejudice against the city of my adoption, 
 wn y, go to Germany. I will come to Heidelberg to 
 meet you the town where you used to live." 
 
 At these words, Miss Steiner grew unaccountably 
 white about the lips. Stanley, seeing that, for some
 
 A DEMORALIZING MUCTICB. 147 
 
 mysterious reason, she was as averse to this sugges 
 tion as to the other, and thinking it the part of wis 
 dom to side with Lysle, warmly commended the 
 plan. 
 
 " Rosalie could see her birthplace, then," he said, 
 " and she would have the best of opportunities to fix 
 her German accent. Heidelberg is the place, by all 
 means. Her father is buried there, I believe ?" 
 
 Miss Steiner responded to the latter question by a 
 simple nod. Something was affecting her deeply. 
 
 " And her mother, also ?" asked Lysle. 
 
 "No that is, yes," replied Miss Steiner, much 
 Agitated. 
 
 Lysle began to be sorry that he had alluded to a 
 subject that was evidently so painful. 
 
 " I crave your pardon," he said, in a low voice. 
 44 1 did not mean to arouse sad memories. They 
 were very dear to you, of course. I was thought- 
 less." 
 
 Stanley eyed the woman sharply. He thought 
 her sudden shock very strange indeed. 
 
 " We must all die," he said, coldly, " but that is no 
 reason why we should never visit a place where OUF 
 friends breathed their last. If we come to Europe, 
 Lysle, I shall certainly take Rosalie to see the graves 
 of her parents. And it seems to me that I could be 
 trusted to give her a view of Paris, also, if Miss Steiner 
 does not wish to risk a personal visit to that dreadful 
 city. Rosalie is not being brought up like other 
 children. She will have sense enough to know good 
 from evil when she is of an age to require it. 1 hate 
 to think of a young person as one who has to be shut 
 up in a cage for fear she will go astray. Rosalie 
 ought to include travel in her education. I mean to 
 find leisure enough to go with her, within a few
 
 Jlf VOULDtHQ A HAIDES. 
 
 ytart. *ind if she should see Europe, she certainly 
 most not miss Paris. Nor nor Heidelberg, either," 
 he added, pointedly, with his tyes full on the shrink* 
 ing form of Miss Steiner. 
 
 After Lysle had gone, Miss Steiner found herself 
 more under the control of the elder Melrose than she 
 had ever been. He was free from the fear of any 
 immediate combination between her and Lysle, and 
 he did as he pleased in everything that related to 
 Rosalie, without hardly asking her opinion. The 
 child grew in stature and beauty, and her progress 
 in her studies was simply marvellous. When she 
 had acquired the art of reading French with reason 
 able fluency, he changed her governess for one who 
 could also teach German, and she plunged into the 
 books of that tongue. English she may almost be 
 said to have learned to read by herself, as she fre 
 quently buried her little head in the volumes around 
 her and studied out the things that she found there. 
 
 Stanley still took her on the longest walks, both 
 winter and summer, and during the open season he 
 sent her into the hills and to the beaches, where she 
 imbibed the clear atmosphere and let the sun pour 
 its virtues into her blood through the natural chan 
 nels of the skin. He bought her a sturdy pony, of 
 great endurance, upon which she rode many miles 
 each day, often at break-neck speed, especially if he 
 was with her. Stanley was a splendid rider himself, 
 jmd the pair attracted general attention wherever 
 they went, by the perfect ease with which they rode 
 their beasts, and by their obliviousness to every one 
 around them when engaged in this exercise. When 
 they were far from town, in one of the secluded dis 
 tricts of the country, they were more like two com- 
 pacioiis of even age than guardian and ward. Them
 
 A BEMOKAJJZING PKACTH3B. 
 
 was no tree so tall that either of them could not climb 
 it, no river so wide or so swift that they could not 
 
 swim to the other side. 
 
 Galloping across the fields they " took " fences hi 
 a way that would have aroused the envy of an Eng 
 lish fox hunter. Rosalie had a revolver when she 
 was ten, and was able in a short time to hit a large 
 copper cent at fifteen paces. The next year she had 
 a small rifle, and she astonished a farmer near the 
 hotel where she was spending part of the summer by 
 bringing him the dead body of a large-sized hawk 
 which had been playing sad havoc with his poultry. 
 
 Miss Steiner had become quite hopeless of the 
 advent of that happy time when the process of mak 
 ing Rosalie into a " young lady " was to be begun, 
 She followed Stanley and her ward on their trips, but 
 she was of little account in their eyes. Her letters 
 from Lysle were few and far between. 
 
 There was nothing to do but wait. 
 
 Even in the winter, when staying at the St. Nicho 
 las, Stanley did not neglect the physical development 
 of the young girl. He made her attend three times 
 each week a gymnasium for ladies, where she 
 developed a muscle that put her at the head of the 
 entire class. She was very strong before, but the 
 careful training of her teacher added greatly to her 
 capacity for lifting weights and for using her arms 
 and limbs in many ways. There is a familiar story 
 of a woman who carried a calf up-stairs when it was- 
 very young, and continued to carry it each day until 
 it became a full-sized ox. The effect of a gradual 
 increase of work upon the muscular powers is 
 undoubtedly great. Prepared by the whole course 
 of her life for the extraordinary exertions she was 
 IpHsd upon to make, Rosalie distanced all of har
 
 16C MOULDING A 
 
 fivais at the gymnasium, and became the pupil whtf 
 was referred to whenever the remarkable possibilities 
 of the school were to be talked of to applicants. 
 
 It must not be inferred that the child was on all 
 occasions a " tomboy," however. She had a natural 
 grace that never forsook her. Her manners in a 
 hotel parlor, or at table, were perfect. She had 
 never lived with inferior people, and had had no 
 opportunity to learn their ways. The only thing 
 that Miss Steiner objected to was her lack of those 
 Conventionalities which are lumped under the head 
 of " style," in the lexicon of fashion. She would not 
 Consent that her hair should be touched with a curling 
 iron, and she rejected the first pair of high-heeled 
 boots offered her, on the ridiculous ground that they 
 were uncomfortable. She picked out her own hats 
 from the double standpoint of adaptability to her 
 face and capacity to endure the weather, regardless 
 of changing shapes. People always paused as she 
 passed them to say, " What a beautiful girl !" but 
 they often added if they were women " What a 
 pity it is that some one does not show her how to 
 dress I" 
 
 But Rosalie cared nothing for their opinion. She 
 could ride better than any of them, walk her four 
 miles an hour, and Stanley was satisfied with her. 
 Miss Steiner did not count, and as for Lysie, she had 
 almost forgotten him
 
 ,wiw F-Roar ULLB. tuzBxn. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 DRAWING FROM MLLE. SUZETTK. 
 
 One of the first things that Mr. Carlysle Melroat 
 did, after he returned to Paris, was to make another 
 effort to get the girl, Suzette, to sit as model 
 for the picture he had been compelled to leave 
 unfinished. He felt all the ardor of a student who 
 has been on a vacation, and knew that he was 
 exactly in the mood to do the best kind of work, 
 if he could only get the materials. He would not 
 go, himself, to the girl s rooms, as he did not like to 
 risk encountering Arthur Peck there, but he sent 
 one of his artist friends on the errand. The report 
 he received was that Peck had gone to America on 
 business, but had left the girl well provided for, and 
 had conjured her, with his last words, not to allow 
 Lysle to persuade her to go to his studio under any 
 circumstances. 
 
 ** He was most particular about it," she had said to 
 the messenger, "and, had I not given him a positive 
 promise, he would have insisted on taking me to 
 America to make sure. He said I might go where I 
 liked, do what I liked, and get what I liked, during 
 his absence, so that I did not give a sitting to the 
 American monsieur." 
 
 Lysle s friend asked her if she was so deeply in 
 iove with Peck that she could not be influenced by 
 a large present of money. 
 
 " Oh, he is nothing at all to me, so far as lov 
 goes," she responded, shrugging her shoulders.
 
 158 MOULDHW A MAIDS*, 
 
 "But lie has left me five humdred franct a 
 and he says I shall always have as much. I had a 
 real lover once Monsieur Lysle knew him whom I 
 loved very dearly, but five hundred francs is not so 
 bad. Besides, I should really be afraid of him if he 
 came back and found I had disobeyed. He is not 
 nice when he is angry. Ugh !" 
 
 The girl expressed in pantomine the appearance 
 of Mr, Peck s features when he was out of temper, 
 and the messenger, seeing that there was nothing 
 more to be said, withdrew. 
 
 Lysle swallowed the disappointment as well as he 
 could, but it was a bitter one. He went on with 
 other work, and sent one of his studies of Rosalie to 
 the Salon, where it brought him a medal. Frequent 
 requests for the price of his works began to come to 
 him, and the portrait of his ward especially seemed 
 to strike the fancy of collectors. Some of those who 
 wished to purchase could not understand his state 
 ment that he would not sell, and seemed to take it 
 merely as a shrewd plan to put up the price. 
 
 ** Oh, come, now, that is not reasonable," said one 
 dealer, who had been told by a customer to buy the 
 ** Rosalie " at any price. " You have a right to ask 
 a good sura for the canvas, but you ought to put a 
 figure on it. I will give you ten thousand francs, 
 and say no more about it." 
 
 The artist looked at the man contemptuously. 
 
 * It is the picture of a relation," he said. " I tell 
 you that no sum you could name would buy it." 
 
 ** A relation ? Ah, that alters the case. I will 
 give you let me see yes, fifteen thousand/ replied 
 the persistent dealer. 
 
 Lysle disdained to answer the proposition. 
 
 "I suppose you would like to get twenty-five
 
 DKAWING FSOM MLLE. SUZETTE. 153 
 
 thousand, 14 continued the man, who would have paid 
 that sum gladly. " It is a great deal of money for a 
 little thing like that. You are too high in your 
 ideas. However " 
 
 " Will you never understand ? * exclaimed Lysle, 
 becoming nettled. " I tell you it is not for sale. 
 No, not if you offered a hundred thousand francs. 
 I will not part with it !" 
 
 The dealer seemed to comprehend at last. 
 
 ** Have you anything that you will sell ?** he 
 inquired, humbly. 
 
 " Nothing. Nothing whatever. I never have 
 sold a picture and never shall." 
 
 Muttering his disappointment, the art dealer went 
 his way. It was lucky for him, he thought, that all 
 painters were not like M. Melrose. Most of them 
 were glad enough to pocket the price of their 
 work as soon as it could be got on the market. 
 But he was an American, and that accounted for it. 
 There was nothing like an American. Every one of 
 them had an immense fortune and there was no need 
 of their selling anything unless they chose. 
 
 Several letters were received from Stanley, breath 
 ing good wishes. One came from Miss Steiner, in 
 quite a different vein from those that she used to 
 send him. He knew that he had fallen from her 
 good graces in some way, but could not guess how, 
 and he did not care enough about the matter to let 
 it trouble him. He had not increased his esteem for 
 that lady on his recent trip. She seemed to him 
 notional, and not as good a judge as Stanley of what 
 was best, for their ward. His estimate of the latter 
 was increased to a great extent, several months after 
 his return to Paris, by a letter, part of which ran in 
 wise *
 
 184 MOULDING A IfAIDBK. 
 
 * I have been able to do a service for you, which I 
 am sure you will appreciate, and of which it gives 
 me the greatest pleasure to inform you. In the 
 course of my law business I have lately been brought 
 in contact with Mr. Carlos Peck, the electrical 
 inventor, whose son you know so well, or I ought to 
 say, perhaps, so badly. I was placed in a position 
 where he had to ask favors of me, and I made it the 
 basis of a demand from his son Arthur, that he should 
 write to the girl Suzette, bidding her go at once to 
 your studio, and place herself under your orders. 
 The father did not know the story, of course, but he 
 understood that his son s consent to something that 
 I asked was necessary to obtain what he wished. 
 Arthur held back a long time, but finally said he 
 would write to her, and he will do so, I am confident 
 So if she comes to you, you will know why, and 
 hasten to take advantage of the opportunity." 
 
 To say that this delighted Lysle feebly expresses 
 its effect. He wrote his cousin a warm letter of 
 thanks for the pains he had taken, and awaited the 
 coming of his model with anxiety. In a few days 
 she knocked at his studio door, in a state of high 
 excitement. She held in her hand two letters, one 
 written to herself, in French, the other to Lysle, in 
 English. She began at once to upbraid her absent 
 lover, in a high key, but Lysle was too much occu 
 pied in reading the note addressed to him to under 
 stand her. This was Peck s English letter : 
 
 ** Do not think, because I am compelled to send 
 this girl to you, that I like you any better. You may 
 thank your cousin Stanley for it, not me. I have 
 agreed with him to help you in this matter, and I
 
 DRAWING FKOM MLLE. SUZETTB. 1M 
 
 hare written Suzette a note that will, if I am not 
 much mistaken, put her exactly in the mood for your 
 purpose. Use your paints while the pretty anger is 
 on, for I shall come back to Paris within a month 
 and reclaim her. Write to Stanley that I have kept 
 my word with him in full. If Suzette looks as I 
 have seen her on certain occasions, you will make 
 your everlasting fame by this one picture alone." 
 
 Lysle looked up after reading it and saw Suzette 
 Standing in a great rage, by his side, uttering with 
 rapidity and venom the most frightful diatribes 
 against the author. 
 
 " What does he mean, this dog ?" she asked. " He 
 writes that you will tell me. He intimates that some 
 one has written to him that I have been unfaithful, I 
 who have hardly been outside my door since he went 
 away ! Ah ! what a beast it is ! He wants to escape 
 paying me my five hundred francs a month, and he 
 is not honest enough to tell the simple truth !" 
 
 Thus she went on, and Lysle, too much an artist 
 not to profit by the opportunity, as he had been 
 advised, quietly placed his unfinished picture on his 
 easel, and worked away on it, with bounding pulses, 
 pausing only to interject a word now and then to 
 keep her at the fever heat which she had assumed at 
 the beginning. She had the very expression of face 
 that he wanted, and he made rapid progress. Deem 
 ing it wise not to let her suspect what he was doing, 
 as she had on the previous occasion, he kept the 
 picture with its back to her, and at the end put it 
 aside and began to express sympathy. 
 
 "I will look into that matter," said he, "and see 
 whether there is not some way that you can compel 
 him to send you the money. The American laws are
 
 156 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 not the same as those of France. If yon wilt call 
 here again, say the day after to-morrow, I will try 
 to tell you all about it.* 
 
 She thought he was very kind, and by-and-by she 
 calmed down enough to promise what he wished. 
 He felt heartily ashamed when she was gone, at the 
 deception he had practiced for the second time, and 
 also at having become, in a certain sense, a partner 
 of Peck, whom he thoroughly disliked and despised. 
 He read the latter s note over again, and smiled 
 scornfully. Then he turned back to his picture, and 
 found compensation for everything in the progress 
 he had made. 
 
 The painting was in a critical stage, but three or 
 four more such " posings " as he had had to-day 
 would complete it. Surely it would be a great 
 work when it was done, and worthy to take a place 
 with anything of the contemporaneous school. He 
 sat there for hours absorbed in the delighted con 
 templation, and went out upon the street at last with 
 a light heart and a quick step, to join his compan 
 ions in one of the restaurants for dinner. 
 
 As he drew near to the place, he met the girl 
 Clothilde, who had served for a short time as a 
 model at M. Jouanneau s, mention of which was 
 made in a preceding chapter. The suffering of the 
 child for so he called her during the nude seances, 
 seemed not to decrease with any number of them, 
 and his sympathies were aroused when he found 
 her each night shedding bitter tears, in spite of the 
 harsh injunctions of her mother not to make a dunce 
 of herself. One day, when she came alone, she had 
 confided to him that the woman was only her step 
 mother, and that since they had been prospered 
 financially, she had done little beside drink, taking
 
 DSAWING FROM MLLB. SD2ETTB. II? 
 
 all the money that the girl brought home and hardly 
 allowing her enough to buy necessary food and 
 
 clothing. 
 
 " Oh, monsieur," she cried, in heartfelt anguish, 
 " if you knew how distasteful this profession is to 
 me ! I think some day, when I have to come here, I 
 shall throw myself into the Seine ! If there were 
 anything else that I could do, even though the pay 
 was very little ! * 
 
 This made a deep impression upon Lysle, and 
 when, a few days later, Clothilde told him that her 
 Step-mother had been sent to prison for theft, he 
 exerted himself, through some friends, and secured 
 a position for the girl in the Magazin du Louvre. 
 For awhile he saw her quite frequently, but after 
 that, as there seemed no need of his assistance,, 
 Clothilde forebore to visit his studio except upon 
 some holiday or similar special occasion. 
 
 " I hate to say anything to you," said the girl, in 
 a low tone. * for I have already made you too much 
 trouble." 
 
 " Not at all," he replied. " I have told you to 
 come to me always when there is any way in which 
 I can help you. What has happened ?" 
 
 " Weli, it is all because of Madame Jouet. She 
 happened in at the store one day, and saw me behind 
 the counter ; and that night she waited for me and 
 followed me home. She does nothing now but 
 steal, and she told me that I had the best chance in 
 the world to make a good deal of money by taking 
 things from the magazin, and letting her sell them. 
 She annoyed me so much that I changed my room, 
 but she came straight to the magazin and found me t 
 to that did no good. When I refused to have any 
 thing more to do with her, she told all the girls who
 
 158 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 were on my counter that I was her daughter, and 
 that I had been an artist s model ; and from that 
 time I have had no end of trouble. She came in 
 often, and the managers said I must stop it. I tried 
 to explain it to them, but they would not listen, 
 and finally they gave me my discharge." 
 
 The young artist was very sorry for the girl, and 
 he gave her some money on the spot, agreeing to 
 call at her room the next day and have a long talk 
 about what it was best to do. She had the greatest 
 faith in him, as well as a complete reliance upon his 
 judgment, and she accepted the silver and left him 
 with a merci. He studied her case a good deal that 
 evening, and tried to think where he might find 
 another situation for her, but none presented itself 
 to his mind. He felt that he was in a measure 
 responsible for her, as she had left her profession of 
 model on his advice, and had looked to him so long 
 as a protector. 
 
 He ate dinner with his friends, quite preoccupied 
 with these thoughts, and the next day he went to 
 see her, as he had promised. The result of their 
 conference was a decision that she should leave her 
 name at several agencies for the employment of 
 house servants, and await the result. 
 
 "You must come to me for money whenever you 
 need it," he said, "until you are employed again." 
 
 He was so wrapped up in his great painting that 
 he could hardly think of anything else till that was 
 completed. Many hours each day he stood over it, 
 measuring its lines with his eyes and instruments, 
 calculating the effect of a bit more color here and a 
 trifle deeper shading there. Suzette came to learn 
 what be had found about the American laws which 
 govern the relations of young men and their sweet-
 
 DRAWING FROM MIJ.E. fCZBim 
 
 hearts, and by saying what he chose he obtained tht 
 emotion on her countenance that he needed. Before 
 the painting was completed he had worked her into 
 such a frenzy about Arthur Peck that she would 
 probably have tried to kill him had he chanced to 
 enter the studio. 
 
 But at last it was finished. The necessity for 
 deception was ended. And then he told her that he 
 had learned that her lover had tired of his own 
 accord of his absence, and was about to return to 
 the arms he loved best on earth. 
 
 Peck was bound to keep to the literal agreement 
 he had made with Stanley, but he did not intend 
 to exceed it by the breadth of a hair. Lysle had 
 completed his picture just in time. Suzette called 
 within a few days to show a letter that she had 
 received, announcing that he would be in Paris 
 immediately, and that he should fly to her side 
 with all speed. He had tried living without her, 
 he wrote, and could not endure it, with much 
 more to the same ingenious effect. The mercurial 
 girl, as delighted as she had been indignant, danced 
 about the studio. 
 
 "I did not think you cared so much for him,"* 
 Lysle told her, as she executed a fas seul that would 
 have done credit to one of the dancers in the 
 Mabille. 
 
 " For him /" she screamed. " For him t For his 
 five hundred francs, you mean ! I like to ride in the 
 Bois, in a fine carriage, and to dine in the great res* 
 taurants on the boulevards. For him I care as 
 much as for this shoe ; he keeps my feet from 
 touching the dirt, that s all !" 
 
 He could not help being sorry for her, for hcknew 
 be had once had better ideals*
 
 160 MOULDING A 1CA1DES. 
 
 "Did you ever hear from AndreT he asked, 
 
 gently. 
 
 She sobered very suddenly. 
 
 " Yes, once, by a newspaper. He is married to the 
 daughter of a rich man near Lyons. It was all right. 
 He did all he agreed to for me. I knew he would 
 have to go. But, man dicu, how I loved him !** 
 
 It was quite awhile before Clothilde found any 
 situation that she thought she could fill, where the 
 advertisers were of the same opinion with her on 
 that point. She came to tell Lysle one day that she 
 had a place in the Rue Marbeuf. 
 
 "It is a queer menage," she told him. "The 
 man is an American, and the woman of course she 
 is not his wife is a French girl who would pass for 
 a grisette were it not for her good clothes. I have 
 the rooms to keep in order, and their affairs are 
 nothing to me. I should not speak of them to any 
 one but you. The gentleman has just returned 
 from a visit to America, and they have nice quar 
 rels sometimes. He has tried already to kiss me, 
 but madame has her eyes on him. I do not like the 
 way he acts, but I must bear it, I suppose. I could 
 not depend forever on your bounty, and really, there 
 is no danger." 
 
 Lysle had been staring at her in a startled way. 
 He instantly suspected who this American was. 
 
 * What is his name ?" he inquired. 
 
 " It is an odd name," said she. " Something like 
 Villamsen." 
 
 Williamson r 
 
 Yes, that is it. H 
 
 He felt convinced that the name was assumed. 
 He rose abruptly and went to get his new painting 
 It on M easel, be called Clothilda.
 
 DRAWING FBOM MLLE. SUZETTS, 161 
 
 * I am going to show you something I have jus* 
 Inlshed. You are not to talk about it, for it ! 
 secret yet. What do you think of that ?" 
 
 It was now Clothilde s turn to start. 
 
 " It is she !" she gasped. 
 
 "She? Who?" 
 
 " Madame Villemsen ! The lady I am working 
 for!" 
 
 44 What makes you think that ? * 
 
 The girl rubbed her eyes. 
 
 44 1 am sure ! Where did you get it ?** 
 
 ** I made it myself." 
 
 44 You made it ! She has been here ?" 
 
 44 Well, yes," he admitted, laughing at her earn* 
 estness. 
 
 The startled look did not leave her face. 
 
 44 Then it was you that they were talking about 
 last night," she went on. " He spoke about her 
 having been to see some artist, and insinuated that 
 she had fallen in love with him. This she denied, 
 and their words got very high. Then he told her 
 that she did not look pretty when she was in a 
 rage, and that the artist had made a copy of her face 
 in a passion and was going to exhibit it in the great 
 gallery at the Palais de 1 Industrie. I heard him 
 say it was the second time the same artist had fooled 
 her. He seemed to take great delight in making 
 her angry. They were three hours quarreling 
 before they fell asleep. But it is not my affair. 
 She is to give me twelve francs a week and every 
 thing found." 
 
 Lysle had food for a good deal of thought in 
 these things. He cautioned Clothilde not to men 
 tion in any way that she knew him, and for the next
 
 162 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 month he exercised more care than usual In his 
 movements. 
 
 One day Clothilde came to him with a serious 
 story. Monsieur Williamson had persecuted her 
 with his unwelcome attentions until she could bear 
 it no longer. That morning, while madame was out 
 on the street shopping, he had attempted to embrace 
 her, and she had had a desperate struggle with him. 
 She did not dare continue in the situation, and yet 
 she dreaded placing herself again under the bounty 
 of M. Lysle. It seemed that Peck had recognized 
 her as the original of a painting that M. Jouanneau 
 had placed on exhibition, no other, in fact, than the 
 sleeping beauty on the sands, and brutally told her 
 that squeamishness was wholly out of place in a 
 model who had posed in that position. 
 
 " That dreadful picture will keep me from ever 
 getting a respectable place in Paris," she said, tear, 
 fully. " No one will believe I am in earnest in wish 
 ing to lead a good life." 
 
 " Asses !" was his angry comment. " I do not see 
 but one thing for you to do, then. You will have to 
 overcome your scruples and take up your old pro 
 fession." 
 
 " Impossible !" she cried. " Besides, I am older 
 now, and it would be more disagreeable than ever, 
 I would rather starve !" 
 
 He relapsed into deep thought for several 
 moments. 
 
 " I am going to paint a new picture, myself," he 
 said, when he raised his eyes. " You would not 
 aind sitting to me." 
 
 H Nude?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 **I would rather sit to any other man in Paris,**
 
 DBA WING FKOM MLLE. SUZETTE. 163 
 
 His astonishment was written in his eyes. 
 
 " What do you mean ?" 
 
 She did not answer, and the expression of hef face 
 troubled him a good deal. He was sorry he had made 
 the suggestion. After a little while he told her that 
 she would have to apply once more at the agencies 
 and come to him once a week for money, as she 
 used, until she found something to do. 
 
 " I can never come to you for money again," she 
 replied, her voice trembling. " You have offered me 
 a chance to earn it and I have refused. I know you 
 think me silly, if not ungrateful. I will do the best 
 I can, but I shall not come back to you." 
 
 He rose, and walking to where she sat, put hi* 
 hand in a paternal fashion on her head. 
 
 " My little girl is disposed to be naughty," he said. 
 " She ought to know that it will give me the greatest 
 pleasure to assist her, and that it would distress mf 
 beyond measure to think that she kept any of hef 
 troubles from me. I am guardian for another girl, 
 too, did you know that ? A tittle American who may 
 be coming here by-and-by, and whom I would like to 
 have know you. They tell me in America that 
 Parisians are wicked, but I know of one with whom 
 I would trust my little Rosalie." 
 
 She caught eagerly at the idea. 
 
 " Send for her," she said, " and let me be her ser 
 vant. I will wait on her faithfully. And could you 
 not " she glanced around his rooms " could you 
 not let me stay here somewhere till she comes ? I 
 could take care of your clothes, and keep your rooms 
 in order, and cook your coffee in the morning. [ 
 should not need any wages, hardly, and I would eat 
 very little. Oh, M. Lysle, try me! You would 
 never be sorry."
 
 Hi MOULDING A MAIDEMV 
 
 The idea did not commend itself favorably to him, 
 but she pleaded so hard that he said at last he would 
 ask the concierge whether she did not require an 
 assistant. 
 
 The woman, who knew the easy road to Lysle s 
 pocket-book, which was frequently opened for her 
 on numerous pretences, smiled wisely when he told 
 her the story, and said she could accommodate mad 
 emoiselle, if it was any object to monsieur. 
 
 " You will only have to give her food and a bed,** 
 said he, never dreaming what was in the woman s 
 mind. " I will furnish the ten francs a week that you 
 will agree to pay her. She is an honest girl, I am 
 sure, and will do everything you tell her." 
 
 The concierge courtesied. She had her own 
 notions about the matter, but she thought it wiser 
 to please monsieur. She knew a girl could save her 
 a good many steps, and it would be a cheap way to 
 get an assistant. If monsieur had other ideas, what 
 was it to her? She had always found him generous, 
 and she had no fear but he would continue to be so. 
 
 Clothilde brought her small belongings the next 
 day, and installed herself in the hotel where Lysle 
 now had both his studio and living apartments. She 
 did the work required of her, and was quite happy. 
 Sometimes she gave a sitting to her benefactor, that 
 he might sketch her face, which he found more 
 worthy of his pencil than he had originally thought. 
 When she had nothing else to do she liked nothing 
 better than to curl up on a sofa in his studio, and 
 watch him at work, hours and hours together.
 
 K THAT 
 
 CHAPTER X1H. 
 
 *OH, IS THAT RELIGION f 
 
 Thirteen years old ! Yes, Miss Rosalie had 
 reached that important mile-post in Che life of a 
 young person. 
 
 Miss Steiner had been chafing more than ever of 
 late at her total lack of ability to influence the educa 
 tion of the child. Stanley Melrose had become more 
 and more arbitrary as the years rolled away. 
 
 To be sure, he had thus far treated her always 
 with external politeness. To be sure, Rosalie had 
 never given her a word that could be considered in 
 itself objectionable. But Stanley managed as he 
 pleased, and the girl was a valiant ally to him in 
 everything. 
 
 At thirteen Rosalie had a figure that would have 
 enabled her to pass for fifteen at least. She was 
 quite tall and well developed enough for the latter 
 age, as straight as an arrow, well poised, with 
 rounded limbs, on which no superfluous flesh could 
 be found. She had grown handsomer each year, 
 though her sunburned beauty might have caused a 
 Fifth avenue belle to shrug her shoulders at the 
 appellation. The rich, healthful blood that coursed 
 through her veins could be seen in the glorious 
 color that mantled her cheek, and her eyes were as 
 bright as gems of the first water. 
 
 In her studies she had made the most rapid pro* 
 gress. She could now read fluently in each of the 
 languages that she bad acquired,, and
 
 lit MOULDING A HAIDER 
 
 Converse to a considerable extent im Spanish and 
 Italian also. She had devoured the ordinary 
 * English branches " in a quarter of the time usually 
 taken for that purpose. It was not necessary to 
 drill her after the parrot method. When she had 
 read anything once, she knew it as well as though 
 she had been over it a dozen times. History she 
 absorbed as a plant does water. She learned 
 geography and astronomy, physiology and philosophy 
 with a facility that astounded her teachers. 
 
 Stanley was very proud of her, and proud also of 
 his " method," which he believed was largely entitled 
 to the credit of all this success. 
 
 Miss Steiner had the nominal charge of Rosalie s 
 wardrobe, though the girl wore nothing but what 
 Stanley approved of. He did not believe in the 
 healthfulness of the * knee-skirts " that young girls 
 Usually use, and for a long time Rosalie had had 
 dresses that reached very nearly to the tops of her 
 boots. He would have liked to dress her on a wholly 
 reformed model, as he despised the entire fabric of 
 feminine attire, but he did not like to attract as 
 much attention to her as this would have done, in a 
 city like New York. As she was compelled to wear 
 dresses, and as fashion gave her thin stockings, he 
 had insisted that her skirts should be long enough to 
 ensure warmth for the lower limbs, believing that the 
 extremities were in as much need of protection, at 
 least, as the parts of the human frame nearer the 
 heart. But when he returned, on her thirteenth 
 birthday, from a trip of two weeks into another part 
 of the country where his law business had called 
 him he found her arrayed in new garments, three 
 or four inches longer than the old ones. 
 
 As an artist can entirely alter a picture by
 
 OH, IS THAT RILHHOST?* 16? 
 
 ark of bis pencil, so Miss Steiner had made another 
 creature of Rosalie by this slight addition to the 
 length of her skirts. 
 
 Stanley did not like it. He thought such a pro 
 nounced change ought not to have been made with- 
 ou f a formal consultation with him. But this was 
 not his strongest feeling, as he gazed on the trans 
 formation. He knew in a moment that the child had 
 gone, and forever. It was a young woman who stood 
 before him and he had an almost irresistible inclina- 
 ation to address her as " Miss." 
 
 Rosalie comprehended a little of what was passing 
 in his mind, and waited shyly before saying much to 
 him. The change had been rather agreeable to her, 
 as it seemed to give her a new importance to make 
 her a person of more consequence. She had stood 
 before the mirror longer on the day she first donned 
 those clothes than in any previous week of her life. 
 She was not looking at her face, either, but at her 
 form, heightened, it seemed, by the change in her 
 dress. The first doubt she had felt about the matter 
 was when she saw the odd look in Stanley s counte 
 nance. 
 
 " You don t like it," she said, softly, as soon as she 
 could speak to him alone. " I will put these dresses 
 away and get my others out.* 
 
 * I I am not sure whether I like it or not," he 
 answered, slowly. ** It is a great change and my 
 eyes have not had time to get used to it. It seems 
 to please you, though," he added. 
 
 " Not unless it does you," was the immediate 
 reply. 
 
 * We will let it go for the present, and that will 
 jive us time to decide," he said, * 4 Whose idea was 
 it, Miss Steiner s or yours?*
 
 168 MOULDER* A MAIDSK. 
 
 " Her ?. I bad to have some new clothes, tad ifct 
 aid to the dressmaker : * Don t you think they 
 ought to be a little longer, now that she is so nearly 
 thirteen ? And the dressmaker agreed with her. 
 And I did not see any harm in it." 
 
 He had known that she would be a woman some 
 day, if she lived. He had thought of it very, very 
 often. But he had not foreseen that she might lose 
 her childhood in one moment, as she seemed to have 
 done. He had anticipated a very slow and gradual 
 change that would be presaged for a long time, like 
 the rising of the sun. He had never thought that 
 she could bound into womanhood like this, without 
 the least warning ! 
 
 ** And so you are thirteen ?" he said, musingly. 
 
 Yes to-day." 
 
 It was a stupendous fact, and it staggered him, 
 For a minute he was afraid of her. Yesterday, before 
 those dresses were let down, he could have taken her 
 on his knee. 
 
 ** What shall I get you for your birthday ?* he 
 inquired, constrainedly. 
 
 * I do not wish for anything, Stanley, unless it be 
 some little keepsake. It is enough to have you home 
 again." 
 
 How strangely this sounded, from that young 
 lady It would have come naturally enough from 
 the little Rosalie he had left two weeks ago ; but 
 from this one with the long skirts ! It was not at all 
 the same. 
 
 She knew that the change had separated him from 
 her by a great distance, and it sobered her much to 
 realize it. There was no one in the world for her 
 like Stanley. She had been very lonely while he wa*
 
 * OB, IS THAT RELIGION f 
 
 Stanley tore himself from her as soon as he could, 
 nd went to his own room. He was half inclined to 
 be angry at the woman who was the cause of the 
 change. 
 
 He could think of nothing but this : Rosalie 
 was a child yesterday, and she could never be one 
 again ! 
 
 That night he cut their usual walk much shorter 
 than common. The girl noticed it, and it hurt her. 
 She felt as she might if she had committed some fault 
 that entitled her to his just displeasure. It was the 
 dress the miserable long skirts that she had 
 thought so nice that morning, as she stood, like a 
 little peacock, in front of her mirror ! How she hated 
 them ! 
 
 " Let me cnange back to the other dresses, Stanley," 
 she said, as they walked slowly down Broadway, 
 after five minutes in which neither of them bad 
 spoken. 
 
 He started, 
 
 " What put that into your head ?** he asked. 
 
 " I know you do not like the new ones. I do not 
 like them myself. I would much rather change back. 
 The dressmaker can put in another hem, so they will 
 be the same length as the old." 
 
 There was a very strong element of entreaty in her 
 tones, something he had tried to teach her never to 
 indulge in. 
 
 " Rosalie," he said, and stopped. It seemed as It 
 he should have addressed her as "Miss Vanden* 
 hoff." 
 
 She looked up at him. 
 
 "I have been thinking about it and have come te 
 jhe conclusion that Miss Steiner and the 
 were right, You you are thirteen,"
 
 170 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 She bore an expression which plainly meant,*! 
 am very sorry, and I hope you will try to forgive 
 me." But she waited for him to go on. 
 
 44 You are thirteen," he repeated, drawing a long 
 breath. " According to the usages of fashion you 
 would have had to do it soon, any way. It is of no 
 use to go back to the old style now.** 
 
 She was too distressed to reply. 
 
 **I knew of course I knew," he went on, "that 
 you would be a young lady sometime, but I was not 
 prepared for it so suddenly. It it is all right. 
 Even if you went back now, you would only have it 
 to do over again later." 
 
 She realized that this was true, and she heartily 
 wished that it were not. She would have preferred 
 to be a child all her life, so long as it was evident 
 that Stanley would be better pleased that way. 
 Still, she was not ready to adopt the title he had just 
 given her. 
 
 u I do not think I am exactly a young lady, yet,** 
 she said. " I am sure 1 feel just the same as I did 
 yesterday, when I was only twelve." 
 
 He stole a glance at her, and was again impressed 
 by the maturity that her new garments had given 
 her. 
 
 ** Yes, you are a young lady," he replied. " You 
 are no longer a little girl, and there is nothing in 
 between. You are certainly a young hufy." 
 
 She looked up at him again, with a shy glance a 
 ihyness, he thought, bitterly, that had come to her 
 with those cursed clothes. 
 
 "I do not want to be a young lady, if I can help 
 ft," said Rosalie, as they walked along. " It seems 
 *o dignified. I shall always want to romp and 
 net ride horses and jump fences.
 
 *&, Jl THAI RELIGION?" 171 
 
 ** Shall you ?" be said, much gratified. It was likf 
 a little of the lost child coining back to him. 
 
 * Yes, * she cried, gayly. " And we shall go iat* 
 the country, just the same, shall we not ? And we 
 will go to the beaches and swim out in the breakers 
 and you have promised me, as soon as I can shoot 
 well enough, to take me into the Adirondacks, on a 
 deer hunt !" 
 
 He looked askance at the skirts again. 
 
 "You could not get through the woods with those 
 things dragging around you," he said. " They 
 would catch on every bush we passed." 
 
 ** I would take them off," she responded, quickly 
 44 When we are in the woods we will not care fot 
 looks. I will put on my old ones, then or a boy s 
 suit ! Oh, a boy s suit that would be lovely !" 
 
 He let her delight at the prospect warm him into 
 equal pleasure for a moment, but the new condition 
 of things came back. 
 
 " I am not sure that I could go hunting with you 
 at all, now," he said, dejectedly. "Your being 
 thirteen will make many differences." 
 
 She comprehended a little of his meaning, and the 
 least trace of a blush came into her face, the first 
 one of her life. 
 
 14 We can bathe, at least," she said, not willing to 
 let go of everything at once. " Everybody bathes, 
 no matter how old they are. And we can ride 
 horseback, and take long walks." 
 
 * Y-e-s," he answered. But he was not quite sure 
 cf it. He was not sure that he would have any 
 right ever to be alone with her after this. 
 
 He determined to sound Miss Steiner on the 
 question, and the next day, when Rosalie was at her 
 studies, he called on that lady. He had not a very
 
 Ill 
 
 high idea of her opinion on most things, bat be 
 thought she might reasonably be supposed to know 
 something about the one that just now interested 
 him so much. He said to himself before he went 
 that he should do as he pleased after the conference, 
 but stili he wanted to hear what she had to 
 cay. 
 
 " I notice that you have considerably lengthened 
 Miss Rosalie s dresses," said he, by way of begin 
 ning. 
 
 He had never spoken of the girl to her with 
 that title before, and she noticed it with a sort of 
 gratification. He had tried not to do it, but he 
 had to make some concessions to her new appear 
 ance. 
 
 " She has grown so much in the last year that I 
 thought it necessary," replied Miss Steiner. ** Do 
 you think they are too long ?" 
 
 ** No, I do not know that they are," he responded, 
 thoughtfully. "Other girls of her age wear 
 them the same length, I suppose. She she is 
 thirteen." 
 
 They seemed to be getting along so well that 
 Miss Steiner was much encouraged. 
 
 M Yes," she assented, " and while it is true she is 
 only thirteen, she has the height and the weight of 
 many girls of fifteen. I have felt for a long time 
 that her skirts should be longer." 
 
 "She has a fine physical development," he said. 
 You know I take some credit for the treatment to 
 Which her frame has been subjected." 
 
 She did not like to admit too much. 
 
 * Her father was a large man. It is natura! that 
 fee should take after him in that respect.**
 
 *OB, m TOAT BELIGION?" Iff 
 
 He did not fancy the word M largt * applied t* 
 kosalie. 
 
 *She will not be very large, I think, * said bt. 
 "She will be tali yes, taller than the average; bat 
 sine will never be stout. She has very firm flesh, but 
 he is not inclined to adiposity. And so her father 
 was a large man ?" he added, finding that an interest* 
 ing theme. He had never heard much about Van* 
 denhoS, 
 
 " He was larger than most men," said Miss Steiner, 
 showing instantly that she wished to avoid further 
 reference to the subject. But he persisted. 
 
 ** And her mother was she large, also ?" 
 
 M Nonot verythat is, she was about the ast&al 
 height," responded Miss Steiner, in undoubted con 
 fusion. 
 
 He had often noticed that she never alluded tft 
 Rosalie s mother without exhibiting trepidation, and 
 with his legal bent of mind he had tried many tlmefi 
 to assign a reason, but could not. 
 
 "You have no picture of Mr. Vandeakofi, I 
 believe ?" he said. 
 
 " No, nothing at all" 
 
 M Nor of her ?" 
 
 Again he marked the uneasiness with wMcfe abe 
 suet the question. 
 
 " Nothing," she answered, huskily. 
 
 He mused a moment and then remarked &<wr 
 strange it was, in this age, that a gentleman and his 
 wife should have left no portraits whatever b<s&tad 
 them. 
 
 M Did they never have any taken ? h asked, 
 
 ** Yes," she stammered. " There were several brat 
 "-they were all destroyed. A A fire -brokt out
 
 !T4 MOULDING A itubm 
 
 He eyed her narrowly, with the gaze of a !awy 
 who knows what it is to cross-question a shrinking 
 witness. 
 
 "A fire?" he repeated. **I had never heard of 
 that." 
 
 "It was a long time ago," she said, breathing 
 heavily. 
 
 " Was was anything else lost in that fire ?" he 
 asked, leaning forward. 
 
 She lifted her eyes to his, and her face was very 
 white. 
 
 ** What do you mean ?" she asked, hardly above a 
 whisper. 
 
 14 Were the pictures all that was burned ?" 
 
 The question was innocent enough, and there 
 seemed no hidden meaning behind it, but she trem 
 bled visibly. 
 
 * Everything was destroyed everything in the 
 house," she responded. 
 
 A thought struck him and he put it into words. 
 
 " Was any one hurt ?" 
 
 She shrank as if he had struck her, but answered 
 instantly - 
 
 " No one," 
 
 There was evidently something about the occur 
 rence that distressed her greatly, but there seemed 
 no need of prolonging her agony, merely for his 
 entertainment, and Stanley changed the subject back 
 to its original form. 
 
 ** Miss Rosalie is a very intelligent girl," he said. 
 
 Miss Steiner assented. 
 
 " 3he is as far advanced in her studies, I think, as 
 most girls of of thirteen, " 
 
 " Oh, yes." 
 
 * I* there is there anything you would suggest
 
 OH, H THAT RELIGION?" ITS 
 
 that the should be taught, more than she is already 
 studying ?" 
 
 It was so marvelous that he should propound such 
 a query as this to her, after all these years in which 
 he had ignored her suggestions, that Miss Steiner 
 paused to recover her breath. 
 
 ** There is only one thing that I deem important,** 
 she said, after a little. " I cannot help feeling that 
 a young girl needs religious training." 
 
 u How much ?" he asked, in a business like tone. 
 " And how would you suggest it ought to be 
 given ? * 
 
 " Rosalie has had none at all, you know," she said, 
 and it sounded like an accusation against him. 
 
 * She says her prayers every night." 
 
 "Yes, but you will excuse me for saying it she 
 knows that you do not think the act of very great 
 importance." 
 
 ** I never told her so,* said he. " On tke contrary, 
 when she has spoken to me about it, on several occa 
 sions, I have said it was a very good thing for her 
 to do." 
 
 Miss Steiner thought she would never have a 
 better chance than this to free her mind on this 
 point. 
 
 * I know you told her that, * said she. u But you 
 also told her that you never did it. And that has 
 had its effect." 
 
 "What could I do?" he asked, testily. "Should 
 I have lied to her ?" 
 
 " No," she answered, soberly. " You should have 
 ftaid them, and then you could have told her the 
 Iruth." 
 
 He did not wish to get into a discussion about the
 
 Mi moouxm* A MAIDS*. 
 
 seeds of his own soul, and he remained silent vndtf 
 this thrust. 
 M I think that a girl, as I have told you before, Mr 
 
 Melrose," continued Miss Steiner, " should be under 
 the care of conscientious Christian teachers. She 
 will have temptations enough when she becomes a 
 woman to require all the faith in God that she can 
 imbibe." 
 
 " It s cant, most of it !" he exclaimed, warmly. **I 
 know a lot of these church people in a business way, 
 and I would not trust one of them if my back was 
 turned. I have tried to have her grow up with com 
 mon sense in her head, and I think she has it. A cer 
 tain amount of religion may be good for a girl I am 
 not going to say it isn t but I don t think it necessary 
 to pour it into her by the cartload, until it is the only 
 thing she knows." 
 
 Miss Steiner listened with gratification, for he had 
 at least shown a willingness to debate the subject, a 
 thing he had never done before. 
 
 " You are taking a great responsibility," she said, 
 impressively. "If anything should ever go wrong 
 with Rosalie, you would be alone to blame." 
 
 He fidgeted in his chair. It was now he who had 
 been made uncomfortable. 
 
 * How am I any more responsible for her than 
 you ?" 
 
 44 What is the use of trying to deceive yourself ? 
 Rosalie listens to everything you tell her as to a 
 god. She thinks that whatever you believe must be 
 right. Do you know what she is to-day, speaking 
 from a religious standpoint ? She is a skeptic !" 
 
 Miss Steiner spoke the word as if it described some 
 terrible disease, the very touch of which would
 
 "OB, IS THAT BEUG10NP fit 
 
 Cotton the unhappy person on whom it fastened 
 itself. 
 
 " I don t see why you saddle this all off on to me,* 
 he said, as if the evil had already come to pass, 
 and he was trying to evade his share of it. " You 
 have had the charge of her as long as I have much 
 tonger, in fact. I have never forbidden her to read 
 religious books or to hear sermons. I didn t think 
 they were good for her, and I don t now, for that 
 matter but I am willing to make a partial conces 
 sion if you really think it important." 
 
 He heard the girl coming from her school-room, 
 and broke off the discussion to go to meet her. She 
 hastened her steps as she saw him coming, and upon 
 his invitation gladly accompanied him to his library, 
 
 " What do you know about religion, Rosalie ?" 
 he asked her, when they were seated. It appeared 
 to him that a direct way was always better than cir 
 cumlocution. 
 
 " Nothing," she answered with a surprised look. 
 
 " You must know something about it," he replied, 
 with slight impatience. " You know, of course, who 
 made the world ?" 
 
 Her face brightened at that. 
 
 " Oh, is that religion ?" she asked. u I know. It 
 was God." 
 
 " And you know that he made you also ?" said 
 Stanley. 
 
 " Did he ?" she asked, with greater interest. " No, 
 Stanley, I did not know that." 
 
 He felt that they were getting into deep water 
 vnd he tried to steer the subject nearer to the shore. 
 
 " Why, certainly," he said, with an air of wisdom, 
 * God made everything." 
 
 She accepted the statement, because it came from
 
 ITS MOULDING A MAIDEN, 
 
 him, and was prepared thenceforth to defend it 
 against all comers. 
 
 "You pray every night, do you not?" he asked 
 her next. 
 
 44 Yes, I pray to God and to Jesus. 1 was taught 
 to do so by my German governess. Who is Jesus, 
 Stanley ?" 
 
 He began to wish that he had left this matter to 
 some one else. 
 
 " Why, Jesus " He paused for half a minute in 
 a vain hope that something appropriate would occur 
 to him, and then gave it up. 
 
 "I have got to run down to my office/* he said, 
 taking out his watch, and looking at its face abstract 
 edly. " Send your French governess here. She is a 
 Protestant, I suppose ?" 
 
 Rosalie answered, abashed at her own ignorance, 
 that she did not know. The girl had no more idea 
 what a Protestant was than a Hindoo would have 
 had. 
 
 She went to fino! her, and when the woman came, 
 Stanley signed to Rosalie to withdraw. 
 
 44 You are a Protestant, are you not ?" was his first 
 question to the governess. 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir !" replied the maid, quite in a flut 
 ter at the thought that he should have imagined hei 
 anything else. 
 
 " Then you know all about God, of course ?** 
 
 4)4 Oh, yes, sir !" came the reply, in the same tone. 
 
 " And Jesus you know all about him, too T 
 
 " Everything, sir." 
 
 He paused. 
 
 44 1 want you to teach Miss Rosalie all about them. 
 She is thirteen now, and it is time that she had some 
 religious instruction. You feel quite competent, da
 
 "OB, 18 THAT BKUGKUf P 170 
 
 you y he asked, looking the Frenchwoman full io 
 the face. 
 
 " Indeed I do, sir," was her confident reply. 
 
 " All right. It will add, say half an hour a day, to 
 your duties. I shall of course allow you extra com 
 pensation for it. How much, should you say ? It is 
 better to have these things agreed on in advance." 
 
 The woman paused to sum up mentally. 
 
 " Would two dollars a week be too much ?" she 
 asked, after making the calculation. 
 
 " No," he replied, at once, and she was immedi 
 ately stricken with grief that she had not asked 
 three. 
 
 "Shall I tell her about Jonah, too?" she asked, 
 rising. 
 
 " And the whale ?" he asked, proud of having 
 found a theme at last that he was familiar with. 
 ** Well, no, not at first. It is not necessary, is it ?" 
 
 " Not absolutely," she responded. " And what 
 about the Hebrew children ?" 
 
 She was going beyond his knowledge of Scripture 
 again. 
 
 " Let me see," he said, absently. "What did 
 they do ?" 
 
 "They were put in a fiery furnace, you remem 
 ber." 
 
 " Oh, yes !" he exclaimed, though he did not 
 remember at all. " No, I think I would let those 
 things go until later. You you can consult me from 
 time to time." 
 
 " I shall need a new Bible," said the governess. 
 
 * Certainly," he responded, handing her a five 
 dollar bill. " You can get one for that, can t you ?* 
 
 She responded that she could, and departed ft*
 
 ISO MOULDING A MAIDEN- 
 
 purchase one for a dollar, putting the change in her 
 
 pocket, like the honest girl she was. 
 
 Stanley forgot all about his errand at his office, but 
 sat there in his room until dinner was ready, amazed 
 at the changes that had come in such a brief time. 
 
 " Everything will have to be different," he said, 
 dolefully, as the result of his long deliberations. 
 " She is certainly thirteen. I never realized before 
 what an unlucky number that is !" 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LYSLE COMES HOME AGAIN. 
 
 Lysle Melrose had been away nearly five years, 
 and it was nothing surprising that he Wrote to his 
 co-guardians that they might expect a visit from 
 him at any time now. He was twenty-six and had 
 made a reputation with his brush that most artists 
 would envy at fifty. His work had attracted atten 
 tion all over Europe, and it was admitted by some of 
 the best judges that he had certainly founded a new 
 school. Lysle was not in the least affected by all 
 the praise that was showered on him, though he knew 
 as well as the critics that he had accomplished a great 
 success. He had nothing to sell, and consequently 
 cared little for the opinion of that class who distin 
 guished themselves mostly as buyers ; but it was grati 
 fying to him, after all, in a certain sense, that agents 
 of millionaires came often to his studio and tried 
 to induce him to part with something he bad done,
 
 LYSLE COMBS BOMB AOAIN. 
 
 be it ever so insignificant, at whatever prict he chose 
 to set. 
 
 He was still the slender, poetic-faced boy of old 
 Time did not seem to have anything to do with him. 
 When he was pointed out in a company of artists as 
 ** Melrose, the great painter," there always came the 
 astonished exclamation, " What, that lad !" He had 
 gone his way, painting when he had the inspiration, 
 Strolling on the boulevards when he did not feel like 
 work, and dining with that company of bohemians 
 and bohemiennes with whose morality he had so 
 little in common, exactly as he did when he first 
 came to Paris, unknown and without a friend in the 
 city. 
 
 Neither of his cousins knew on what steamer he 
 would arrive, and thus it happened that he reached 
 the hotel during that part of the day when Stanley 
 was absent at his business, and had his first interview 
 with Miss Steiner. This was quite satisfactory to 
 him, and he felt a curiosity to hear what she had to 
 say after the long interim in which she had written 
 him so little. 
 
 He found her much older, aged far beyond what 
 the lapse of years would have induced him to expect. 
 Stanley, who had seen her every day, had not noticed 
 what struck Lysle. She received him with a quiet 
 dignity, more constrained, he thought, if anything, 
 than her manner the last time he saw her. He could 
 account for it now no more than then, and dismissed 
 the subject with the thought that it must be due to 
 physical ailments, of which he could not know and 
 about which he must not inquire. 
 
 * And where is our little ward ?" he asked, when 
 the ordinary greetings had been exchanged and tb* 
 feeual inquiries made and answered.
 
 16S MOULDING A. MAIDEN. 
 
 ** She is out with her governess, * was the reply 
 * I think they are making some purchases in the way 
 of clothing." 
 
 She spoke oddly, he thought ; just as if they had 
 secrets that she could only guess at, and which might 
 not be at all what she imagined. 
 
 You surely select her clothing," he said. 
 
 " No," she answered, despondently. " I select 
 nothing. I am of no more account in her life than I 
 was the last time you were here." 
 
 He felt that this was an injustice, and wan tec her 
 to know that he thought so. 
 
 * I can see no reason for this state of things,** he 
 said. " You have only to assert your rights to gain 
 them. Stanley is a man of great wisdom, it seems to 
 me, in many things, but the dressing of a girl ought 
 to come naturally to you. I do not understand why 
 you leave it to a governess to select her things.* 
 
 She shook her head plaintively. 
 
 " I have let it go too long, Lysle I beg your par 
 don I should have said Mr. Melrose." 
 
 " I would much rather you called me Lysle," he 
 remarked. " You can save the more formal title for 
 my cousin." 
 
 " Very well," she continued. " When I first came in 
 contact with Mr. Melrose with Mr. Stanley I was 
 suffering from a great grief and a great shock. He 
 had a will stronger than mine and from the first I 
 yielded to every suggestion that he made. Now I 
 cannot reassert my rights. What I am most alarmed 
 about is that I do not feel the necessity of doing so 
 much as I know I ought. I am in a position of a 
 person who has been hypnotized." 
 
 He smiled in spite of himself at this, for he had
 
 LT8LB OOMEfl BOMS AftAIN. 
 
 fceard a good deal of mesmerism in France and con 
 sidered it a very silly delusion. 
 
 ** I asked you to write to me whenever you thought 
 there was anything that I could do," he said, politely. 
 "As you did not call on me, I supposed, naturally, 
 that everything was going on to your satisfaction." 
 
 It was a sort of question, although not put in 
 the interrogative form, and she attempted to 
 answer it. 
 
 " There was nothing that you could do, that I 
 know of. When you were last here, you seemed to 
 side with him in everything." 
 
 There was an implied accusation here that he did 
 not relish. 
 
 " In anything that was wrong, do you mean T he 
 asked, his brow darkening. 
 
 " Oh, I mean nothing special. But it is not the 
 best thing for Rosalie that Stanley that any one, 
 indeed should have her so completely under his 
 influence. You have not noticed it as I have. Watch 
 her and you will see. If he told her that the sun 
 rose in the west she would accept it against the evi 
 dence of her eyes." 
 
 Lysle thought, as he had five years before, that the 
 woman was unreasonable. 
 
 " But does he tell her that ?" he asked, pointedly. 
 " Does he not, on the contrary, tell her that it rises 
 in the east, and show her how its rising and setting 
 are governed ? It is not enough to accuse him of 
 influencing the child you must show that his influ 
 ence is pernicious." 
 
 Miss Steiner s face grew longer than before. 
 
 " Rosalie is thirteen now," she said, " and it is time 
 that her training was given to some woman of judg 
 ment You ought to see that the period when a girt
 
 184 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 is just budding into womanhood is not the one when 
 she should find her only confidant a man." 
 
 She had managed to say it, though it came hard. 
 She wanted to see if there was any aid for her in this 
 third party to the guardianship. 
 
 Lysle did not know what to say to this. He had a 
 sensation that she was theoretically right, but he had, 
 on the other hand, a very high opinion of Stanley, 
 and he did not like to assume the attitude of taking 
 sides between them. 
 
 " I must repeat," he said, after a pause, " that you 
 seem to me to have been derelict in permitting her 
 to wander so far away from you as your words 
 imply. Her father had no such thought when he 
 made his will, I am sure. He meant you to retain 
 the actual charge of his child, and expected Stanley 
 and I to supplement your efforts, mainly in a financial 
 way. When you came over here from Germany, 
 Stanley was a boy of less than seventeen. Rosalie 
 was five years old when he became of age. How did 
 he get such a control of her, when you had such a 
 long start of him ?" 
 
 Miss Steiner bridled a little at the implication. 
 
 " You came here th last time," she replied, " with 
 an idea in your head that you were going to do some 
 thing, and ended by agreeing to everything that he 
 suggested. I have done no more than that." 
 
 "But, I must repeat, Stanley suggested only those 
 things of which I could approve," he said, blushing 
 slightly. " There was nothing to differ about. I 
 found the child strong, healthy, intelligent, tracta 
 ble, courteous what could I do but approve of that 
 result ?" 
 
 " And do you think, now, that she ought to bo 
 under the dominating influence of Mr. Melrose, dur-
 
 LYSLJ5 OOMXt HOME AOAIK. 
 
 8ag the next six or seven years ?* she asked, showing 
 more earnestness. " Ought a girl to be under the 
 absolute control of any man at an age when her 
 character is subject to the most critical tests ?" 
 
 He looked at the carpet for a minute and thea 
 replied that he did not know. 
 
 " This is new business to me," said he. " I had 
 hoped and expected that you and Stanley would 
 arrange everything between you to your mutual sat 
 isfaction. If you are to clash on this point, I must 
 think it over." 
 
 It struck her that he was treating the subject 
 lightly, and she hastened to tell him that she 
 regarded it as a most important one. She had 
 gained the courage to say so much that she thought 
 she ought to finish this part of it now. 
 
 " I have allowed him to do about as he pleased 
 with [Rosalie thus far," she said, " because I could 
 not absolutely say that he was wrong in any essen 
 tial detail. But the time is near at hand when I 
 must act. It will avail nothing to a girl that she has 
 health, beauty and intelligence if her character is not 
 moulded rightly." 
 
 " Certainly not," he admitted. " Character is 
 everything in woman." 
 
 * And no man, though he were a saint, can properly 
 mould it," continued Miss Steiner. " The only one 
 who can do that is a person of her own sex." 
 
 " You want to regain the opportunities you threw 
 away ?" he said. 
 
 " Yes," she admitted. ** I want the real guardian 
 ship over her that her father s will, as you hava 
 justly said, intended I should have. Now, I cannot 
 get this without your aid, and the question is, will 
 you 2f;ve it to me?"
 
 196 MOULDING A MAIDBN. 
 
 He felt that he ought not to make any promises 
 without a consultation with Stanley, and he asked 
 her not to press him for an answer at that time. 
 
 " I think there is something of reason in the posi 
 tion that you take," he said, " and I will talk to you 
 later. No especial harm is being done at present, I 
 suppose. I will see you again in a few days in rela 
 tion to it." 
 
 Stanley smiled when Lysle broached the subject to 
 him, the next day, as they sat in the law office of the 
 attorney, on Broadway. He smiled because he had 
 anticipated that the conversation would have to take 
 place some time, in some form, and he had long ago 
 decided to smile whenever it came. 
 
 * I do not know what to make of Cousin Janet," he 
 said, calling her for the first time in Lysle s recollec 
 tion by her Christian name. " I have consulted her 
 repeatedly in relation to the smallest things about 
 Rosalie as well as the more important and I have 
 had an impression all the time that she regards me as 
 an interloper, who is interfering with her private 
 business. Now, according to Mr. Vandenhoff s will, 
 I have certain duties to perform, and I intend to per 
 form them in a way that satisfies my ideas of right. 
 I take some pride in the showing I am able to make 
 regarding our ward, for she has been, it is true, very 
 much under my care. Occasionally Cousin Janet has 
 hinted that things were not to her liking, but when 
 I have mildly asked in what respect she was dissatis 
 fied, she has always evaded the question, with one 
 exception. Very recently she spoke about the slight 
 knowledge of religious things that Rosalie had, and 
 I gave instructions at once that she should have an 
 hour a day devoted to that department of her educa 
 tion. It is the only time she has been definite in kef
 
 LT8LE OOMB3 HOME AOAOT. 
 
 requests, and I did not lose a minute in acceding to 
 her desires. And now she has evidently been com* 
 plaining to you." 
 
 Stanley smiled again as he finished his statement, 
 the same preconcerted smile as before. 
 
 * I should not call it a complaint," said Lysle, 
 affably. " I asked her whether everything was going 
 to her liking, and she spoke of the fact that Rosalie 
 had become thirteen years of age, and asked me if 
 such a girl ought not to be more under the care of a 
 person of her own sex. That was about all there 
 was to it." 
 
 Stanley smiled his third smile, but there was a look 
 of discouragement mixed with it, that was intended 
 to gain sympathy. 
 
 It is rather hard to know how to take such a sug 
 gestion," he said, " when one looks at the facts in this 
 case. With the exception of perhaps three hours a 
 day very seldom more, often less Rosalie is 
 entirely under the care and in the society of women. 
 I take a short walk with her early in the morning, 
 believing it beneficial both for her and myself. 
 Sometimes she comes to my library and I talk to her 
 of her studies for a little while after lunch. At night, 
 when dinner is over, we usually stroll up to the Park 
 and back. That is all. They have her all the rest 
 of the time. Now, if I have not a right to that much 
 of her I should like some one to tell me why." 
 
 He seemed to have made out his case, as he always 
 did, and Lysle saw no flaw in it, on the surface at 
 least. 
 
 " Her idea is, as I gather it," said he, " that the 
 child has become so attached to you has, I might 
 ay, acquired such faith in you that she is 
 influenced by your slightest word more than by the
 
 lift MOULDING A MAIOBX. 
 
 labored arguments of any one else. And she 
 not think that a young girl a growing girl, of her 
 age should be under that sort of influence from any 
 person of the opposite sex, even though, to use her 
 own words, he were a saint." 
 
 Stanley could not help a feeling of gratification at 
 this statement of the attitude of Rosalie s mind, 
 which he fully believed to be the true one. But it 
 would not do to show this too strongly. 
 
 "If I have gained her confidence I may hope that 
 I have deserved it," he said. " Children are famous 
 judges of their elders. Not to appear egotistical, I 
 will say that little people are not apt to bestow con 
 fidence in the wrong quarter. But there shall be no 
 serious difference between Miss Steiner and me if I 
 can prevent it. I shall be quite willing to leave the 
 matter to you, my dear Lysle, to decide, if she is 
 content with that. I shall not consent to any unrea 
 sonable abridgment of my rights, nor to anything 
 that will injure the growing mind of my ward, and I 
 know that you would propose none. We shall have 
 to agree among ourselves, or else we must go to the 
 surrogate and let him decide for us." 
 
 The fourth smile followed this suggestion, and 
 Lysle supplemented it this time with one of his 
 OWL
 
 "GOOD-BYE, UTTLX WOMAK." 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " GOOD-BYE, LITTLE WOMAM." 
 
 That evening, while on his walk with Rosalie, Stan 
 ley had a talk with her in relation to the matter that 
 had formed the basis of his conversation with Lysle, 
 above outlined. He had become quite used to her 
 longer skirts, and while she was and always would 
 be a changed girl to him, they still had their confi 
 dences. In fact, the feeling that she was older and 
 more capable of forming judgments made him dis 
 cuss many things with her that he would not have 
 thought of doing a few months previously. 
 
 " Did you know that I was thinking of taking a 
 short trip to Europe ?" he asked, suddenly. 
 
 " To Europe ?" she repeated, startled. " How long 
 shall you be away ?" 
 
 " Not more than two months. I have some busi 
 ness there that I ought to see to in person, and I 
 think of going very soon." 
 
 She was so much overcome at the novel idea that 
 he could go anywhere away from her for two months 
 that she did not knovr how to reply. The longest 
 time she had ever been from him was two weeks, and 
 that seemed an age. 
 
 " You do not say anything," he said, presently. 
 
 ** I do not know what to say," she answered, in a 
 depressed tone. " I cannot think of it well enough 
 to form any sentences. I suppose you would not let 
 me go with you, or you would have said so ia the 
 irst place."
 
 190 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 He saw that she was much affected, and that it waf 
 with difficulty that she subdued her emotion. 
 
 "/would let you go fast enough," he said, think- 
 ing it a good time to score a point, " if I could do 
 exactly as I pleased about it. But there are Miss 
 Steiner and Lysle. They would think it very fool* 
 ish, I am sure." 
 
 " Why ?" she asked, looking up. A ray of hope 
 had come into her heart with the suggestion. " Miss 
 Steiner has always said I should travel some day. 
 This would be a good time to make a beginning." 
 
 * Perhaps she might not be ready to go at pres 
 ent," said he. " I must start very soon if I am to 
 go this year." 
 
 She thought that a queer point to raise. 
 
 * Why, Stanley, there is no need of her going." 
 
 " And as for Lysle," he went on, as if he had not 
 understood her, "he has only just come from there, 
 and will certainly not care to return so soon." 
 
 She did not comprehend this point any better than 
 the other. 
 
 " I don t see," she said, with a puzzled air, " why 
 we need either of them. I am big enough to take 
 every care of myself, with you to guide me. What 
 use would a lot of other people be to us ?" 
 
 It gave him a thrill of delight to know that she 
 felt this way that she was willing to put herself in 
 his hands, to cross the sea with him and it angered 
 him to remember that he was tied by such bonds to 
 inferior people who could control his actions and hers 
 on a thing like this. 
 
 " Your father," he said, speaking with great delib 
 eration, " left a will in which he arranged that three 
 of us should have charge of you. One cannot do as 
 fee pleases if the others object."
 
 * OOOD-BYJE, LITTLE WO1CAK," 191 
 
 She had heard of the will before and of her three 
 guardians and their powers, but never till this 
 moment had Stanley used the word " father " to her. 
 It set her to thinking very deeply. She had often 
 wanted to hear more about that relation, and now 
 the first time that Stanley alluded to him it was to 
 show that his most important act had been an 
 unpleasant one in his consequences to her. 
 
 " Tell me about my father, Stanley," she said. 
 
 " I know very little of him. When I was a small 
 boy he came to our house, but I have no clear 
 impression of him. Miss Steiner says he was tall and 
 quite large, and I have an idea that he was inclined 
 to a blond cast." 
 
 She listened with bowed head and waited some 
 time before she put the next query. 
 
 " And my my mother ?" 
 
 " I know nothing about her whatever. He married 
 abroad and they both died there. At least, that is 
 what I understand," he added, with the cautiousness 
 of his profession. 
 
 " They are buried in Europe ?" 
 
 " Yes, at Heidelberg." 
 
 They walked several blocks before either of them 
 spoke again. 
 
 " Why do people die, Stanley ?" she asked, at last. 
 " I mean people who are not old. I used to think 
 how wise it was that they grew old and ugly, for 
 that must make them quite willing to die. But 
 when they are young, as my parents were, what is it 
 that makes them die then ?" 
 
 He told her that there were various diseases that 
 vrere apt to prove fatal, and reminded her of several 
 persons whom she had known who had succumbed 
 to illnesses.
 
 193 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 " Yes, I know they do die," she replied, " but I do 
 ot understand why. Was it intended by God, when 
 he made the earth, that people should die before 
 they are old ? It seems dreadful for the young to 
 die. I I should not like to die, Stanley." 
 
 He had never seen her look so sad as when she 
 uttered these words, and it moved him deeply. 
 
 " We must all take care of our health in the best 
 way we can," he replied. " You have never known 
 what sickness is, and I ascribe it much to the exer 
 cise you have taken, and the efforts to give your 
 lungs plenty of fresh air." 
 
 She looked at him gratefully. 
 
 " You did that," she said. " You always took m 
 out of doors, did you not, and saw that the windows 
 of my sleeping room were open at the top ? Why 
 did you take such pains with me ?" 
 
 " It was my duty," he responded. " You were left 
 to some extent in my charge, and I had to think of 
 these things." 
 
 "But," she said, thoughtfully, " there were Lysle 
 and Miss Steiner. I do not believe either of them 
 would have done half as much." 
 
 " Lysle has been away," said he, * and Miss 
 Steiner is a a woman." 
 
 She was quick to notice the disparaging manner 
 in which he alluded to the sex of her feminine 
 guardian. 
 
 " You do not have a high opinion of women, Stan 
 ley," she replied. " I have noticed it often and yet 
 I shall be a woman some day." 
 
 He tried to explain that there was a difterencfe m 
 women, and went as far as he thought advisable into 
 his theories on that subject. He showed her why 
 the methods pursued in the dress and education of
 
 * OOD-BYE, L1TTLK WOMA*.* Iff 
 
 modei ri women had made them the inferiors of men. 
 He dwelt on the general helplessness and weakness* 
 both physical and mental, of many of her sex, and, 
 related briefly the things he had done in Rosalie s 
 infancy to rescue her from their condition. And with 
 every word that he spoke she grew more and more 
 grateful. 
 
 "I did not mean to say anything against Miss 
 Steiner, in particular," he explained. " She would 
 probably have done with you what ninety-nine in a 
 hundred other women would under the same cir 
 cumstances kept you in such leading-strings that 
 you would have had to have a servant at your heels 
 every minute of your life. It is considered the right 
 way to bring up girls, by a great many excellent 
 people, and I have laid myself open to criticism for 
 the departures that I have dared to make." 
 
 She inhaled a long breath of the pure air that rose 
 from the earth. 
 
 " I am so glad that you did it !" she said, earnestly. 
 " I shall live much longer on account of it, shall I 
 not? I should almost crave death if I had to stay 
 tied up in the house every time the weather is a little 
 cold or damp, like so many ladies who are at the 
 hotel. They often say to me that I am reckless to 
 venture out when it is not warm and sunny. I tell 
 them the only danger is in venturing in. The air 
 out of doors always seems better to me than that in 
 the rooms." 
 
 Her rosy cheeks and bright eyes told her story as 
 eloquently as her language, and he enjoyed the testi 
 mony of all of them. 
 
 "And now, about this European trip of mine," he 
 said, and a cloud came, in spite of all her efforts, 
 across the happy face of a moment before. " I must
 
 MOULDING A. MAIDEN. 
 
 go, ana you cannot go with me. That I regard a* 
 settled. But there is a great deal more that you 
 will have to think of. You are growing older every 
 day. Your other guardians Miss Steiner and Lysle 
 both think that you are too old now to be with me 
 as much as you have been. And when I come home 
 we shall have to turn over a new leaf." 
 
 She had not the least idea what he meant, but she 
 saw that it presaged a more complete separation for 
 them, and it gave her poignant distress. 
 
 " Is it any any fault of mine ?" she managed to 
 articulate. 
 
 " No. Nor of mine, either. I am a man, and you, 
 until very lately, have been a child. We have acted 
 together like two boys, for, though rested with 
 authority, I have seldom used it over you. We have 
 been comrades. But now you are going to be & 
 woman, and women and men are not comrades." 
 
 It was a lame explanation, and it is no wonder 
 that she did not understand it very well. She knew 
 that Stanley had not told her this without givingthe 
 matter full thought, however, and that she would 
 have to accept it as final. He was going away for 
 a. time, and upon his return he and she were to be no 
 more the close friends they had been ever since she 
 could remember. She understood that, and it was 
 enough to lower her spirits perceptibly. 
 
 " I do net want to be a woman," she said, presently,, 
 in a low tc Tie, " if it is to take me away from you.** 
 
 " Why, riy little girl," he answered, with an assump 
 tion of gayety, " you are almost crying. I hava 
 taught you never to let any sorrow or disappointment 
 affect you, when you know it cannot be helped. Havt 
 you forgotten all yoor instructions ?"
 
 m 
 
 "Ah, but I never had a sorrow like this!" she 
 replied, with feeling. 
 
 He tried to answer her, but there rose in his throat 
 a choking that made utterance too difficult, and they 
 finished their walk in silence. 
 
 When he told Miss Steiner that he had business 
 that would call him to London, and that he might 
 be gone several months, he was exasperated to see 
 the pleasure that she was unable to conceal. He had 
 long felt that there was a mystery about the Van- 
 denhoffs that he ought to try to probe, and he could 
 not resist throwing out a grappling-hook at that 
 moment to see whether it would fasten to anything. 
 
 " I shall probably run over to Germany, also," he 
 said, watching her narrowly. " Is there any errand 
 I can do for you at Heidelberg ?" 
 
 The ghostly hue that her face assumed would have 
 induced suspicion in a less astute mind than that of 
 the shrewd lawyer. 
 
 " Heidelberg !" she repeated. " What can you 
 have to do there ?" 
 
 " I think there may be a good deal," he responded, 
 meaningly. " If you have any suggestions to make 
 about my visit to that place I should like to hear 
 them." 
 
 If white can grow whiter yet, her pale face paled 
 as he spoke. 
 
 "Suggestions!" she said. "//" 
 
 What was it, he wondered, that made the very 
 name of Heidelberg frighten her like this ? He had 
 marked its effect before. As a lawyer he knew but 
 one thing that could put that look on a face Crime. 
 But in this instance, what kind of crime ? 
 
 " You know best what, if anything, yea have to 
 tell rae," he said. " I am going in a very few days
 
 If6 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 If there is any time between now and then that you 
 wish to see me, I sha J always be at your disposal. I 
 shall, of course, have to leave Rosalie with you and 
 Lysle. I have never been long away from her, and 
 I hope you will take every care of her during my 
 absence." 
 
 She struggled with her words for some time before 
 she could utter them. 
 
 " Do you doubt that my interest in her is as great 
 as yours ?" 
 
 " It may be greater. I only wished to remind you 
 of your responsibility." 
 
 She tried again to answer him, but her emotions, 
 whatever their cause, were too strong, and after a 
 moment longer he took his leave, much puzzled. 
 
 Lysle congratulated Stanley warmly on his pro 
 posed trip, and said he was only sorry it could not 
 be taken at a time when he could accompany him. 
 
 " You must visit Paris," he said, " if it is only for 
 a few days, just to see the best kept city in the world 
 and come home forever disgusted with the streets of 
 your own New York. I will give you letters to 
 friends there, and a note to the concierge of my 
 hotel, who will admit you to my studio, where you 
 can see what I have been wasting my time on for the 
 past four years. My chef d 1 xuvre is there the one I 
 made from that model that Arthur Peck took away, 
 and which you were so kind as to get back for me. 
 Then there are three or four studies of Rosalie, that 
 I finished up after I returned the last time. I kept 
 the detail to finish at my leisure, you know, and I 
 think the complete pictures are worth seeing. Stay 
 as long as you like ; we will take good care of the 
 little one." 
 
 Rosalie had said so much to him that Stanley felt
 
 *OD-liYE, LITTL1 WOMAK.* 
 
 o more the old jealousy of Lysle that he had onot 
 dreaded. On the other hand, he had acquired a new 
 doubt in relation to Miss Steiner, amounting to almost 
 a dislike that his ward should be much in her oom- 
 pany. 
 
 " You do not intend to go anywhere away from 
 New York ?" he asked Lysle. 
 
 " Oh, no." 
 
 " I am glad of that. I wish you would be with 
 Rosalie all you can. She is used to long walks with 
 me, and she will miss them, unless you consent to 
 take my place. Cousin Janet could never do it, and 
 the others have their hands full now. * 
 
 Lysle smiled. 
 
 "I do not think that our young lady is very fond 
 of me," he said. " She may prefer to choose her own 
 company." 
 
 Stanley thought it a good time to make an impres 
 sion. 
 
 " You are her guardian," said he. " You have only 
 to direct her, and my word for it, she will obey you. 
 She has not been brought up to argue over a com 
 mand." 
 
 Lysle looked quite startled at this proposition. 
 
 " I shall not go as far as that," he said. " You 
 had better speak to her about it, so that we can have 
 it fully understood before you go." 
 
 * Very well," was the reply. " And there are other 
 things that I wish you would keep your eye on. 
 Don t let them fill her head with nonsense." 
 
 " Of what kind ?" 
 
 " Of any kind. Keep an oversight of her studies. 
 They have begun to teach her religion, and I know 
 by what she says to me that they are telling hat 
 some queer things. I am net sure that religion is
 
 MOULDING A MAU>E1f. 
 
 good for her, any way. I yielded to Janet without 
 due thought, I fear. You seemed to side with her. 
 Now is a good time to see that they do not make it 
 too strong for a mind like Rosalie s. In short, you 
 must act the part that belongs to you, as the only 
 guardian left here of the masculine persuasion." 
 
 The young- artist had no idea what might be 
 included in those duties, but he wanted to set his 
 cousin s mind at ease, before he departed on his voy 
 age, and he said to himself that Miss Steiner would 
 be able to explain it to him, if there was anything of 
 which he found himself ignorant. So he consented 
 to all that was suggested, and Stanley seemed much 
 pleased. 
 
 The voyager was to go aboard of his steamer at 
 midnight, and he had to say good-bye to Rosalie 
 when she returned with him from their last evening 
 walk. He wondered whether there was not some 
 thing beyond the usual words that he ought to 
 indulge in, but he could not think of anything that 
 seemed appropriate. He knew that the child s heart 
 was full of grief, and he feared lest he should say 
 something to make it overflow at the eyelids. 
 
 "Good-bye, little woman," he said. " I sail in the 
 morning before you rise. You are to write to me 
 very often, remember, and not to forget me while I 
 am away." 
 
 " Good-bye," she replied, and turned toward the 
 door. 
 
 " You might at least shake hands with me," he 
 said, in a faint effort to be jocose. 
 
 " No," she replied, without turning her head, and 
 her voice trembled. " I cannot I cannot, indeed.** 
 
 He thought for a second that he ought to call after 
 few and bid her, with the authority that he possessed.
 
 IT IS MXrXBENT WITH A MBL. Iff 
 
 v& obey him. Then he found that he was stand* 
 
 ing there alone, and shivering, and he went to Miss 
 Steiner s parlor, just to say that he was going directly 
 .to his boat. He saw no need of waiting longer oa 
 shore. 
 
 " You are going to to Heidelberg/ she said, her 
 face as pale as he had noticed it before. " If you find 
 things there that you do not understand, do not act 
 precipitously. You may put a wrong construction 
 on what you discover. But you will be better off 
 we shall all be better off if you keep away from 
 there." 
 
 * I shall go/ was his only answer. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IT IS DIFFERENT WITH A GIRL. 
 
 None of the sentiments that had affected Stanley 
 Melrose because of the increasing age of his ward, 
 had any influence upon Lysle. She was still to him 
 a child, and a year more or less in her age, or an inch 
 more or less in the length of her garments did not 
 signify in the least. He knew that she was not an 
 ordinary child. He realized that she could not be 
 treated as other children of her age could be. He 
 also knew that, although she had seen but thirteen 
 years, she had a body and mind fit for a much older 
 girl. But she was only thirteen, after all, and he did 
 not consider a girl of that age a very important per 
 sonage. 
 
 Lysle thought ft would be a rather interesting
 
 89 MOPLDMO A MAIDEN. 
 
 thing to take Stanley s place, as her companion, ai 
 he had been asked to do for the little time he was to 
 be away. Stanley had spoken to her about it, and 
 had reported to him that she fully understood the 
 part he was to play. On the very first evening after 
 his cousin sailed he omitted it in the morning quite 
 from forgetfulness he came to her at the close of 
 dinner and asked whether she were ready for her 
 usual walk. When she rose obediently, and went to 
 get her cloak and hat, he had a sense of proprietor 
 ship that was novel and not by any means displeas 
 ing. 
 
 "Where have you been in the habit of walking ?" 
 be asked, as they gained the sidewalk. 
 
 ** Wherever Stanley pleased," was her quiet 
 answer. 
 
 ** Have you any choice ?" 
 
 No." 
 
 He had hoped she had, as it would relieve him of 
 making the selection, but as she had no preference, 
 he thought it a good plan to stroll down town, where 
 the crush of all-day travel had given way to the 
 peace and quietness that comes at dark to the busi 
 ness quarter. 
 
 "I suppose Stanley is out of sight of land." he 
 began, not knowing anything of more interest to 
 talk about. " If he is sitting on the deck at this 
 moment he can probably discern nothing but the 
 vast blue sea. And it will be eight days before the 
 prospect changes. How would you like to go to 
 sea, Rosalie ? * 
 
 She started from the reverie into which she had 
 already fallen, to say that she thought she should 
 like it very much. She was thinking, when he spoke, 
 toow much rather she would be on the ocean with
 
 IT DIFFERENT WITH A QIEU 901 
 
 Stanley than on the shore with any one else In the 
 world. 
 
 " You will have opportunity, by-and-by," he said. 
 " It is part of your guardians plan that you should 
 see Europe within a few years. You will enjoy it 
 greatly, I have no doubt. Then, if I am in Paris 
 you will visit me, and you will also go to see your 
 old home, your birthplace, in Heidelberg." 
 
 This set her to thinking again of her parents. 
 
 " Did you ever see my father, Lysle ?" 
 
 " Not that I remember." 
 
 " Nor my mother ?" 
 
 "No. Miss Steiner can tell you all about her. 
 They were companions for a long time, I under* 
 stand." 
 
 " There is something strange about that," mused 
 the girl. " I have asked Miss Steiner about my 
 mother, and she seems to avoid the subject. Stanley 
 has asked her, too, and he gets no better satisfaction. 
 He is going to Heidelberg before he returns, and 
 find out all he can for me. He says it is mysterious 
 that there should be nt a single picture of either of 
 my parents." 
 
 Lysle admitted that it was strange, and said, if 
 there were photographs, as very likely there were, 
 duplicates could be obtained, if the name of the 
 photographer could be learned. 
 
 She seemed much more at ease with him, and 
 more confidential than he had anticipated, and he 
 was glad to note this. They were soon talking as 
 unconstrainedly as if they had taken these walks 
 together all their lives. 
 
 * It wif. be a long time before we get the fin*; 
 letter," she said, a few minutes later. 
 
 " Yes, Nearly three weeks,"
 
 202 MOOLWWO A MAIDEH. 
 
 "He said we ought to get it in a little over two,* 
 she answered. 
 
 " Between two and three." 
 
 " And, in all that time, we could not know, if his 
 ship went to the bottom of the ocean ?** 
 
 The question revealed how deeply her thoughts 
 were fixed on the absent one. 
 
 * Ocean steamers very rarely sink," he replied. **I 
 consider him just as safe there as we are on land." 
 
 She was silent after that for a little while, and 
 then she astonished him by asking, suddenly : 
 
 ** Lysle, what do you think about God ?" 
 
 "They say," she continued, before he could decide 
 what to reply, " that he is very good. They say 
 that he loves us, and is like a father to us. Do you 
 believe a father a kind father would take away 
 the ones we like best, and then think we ought to be 
 grateful to him for doing it ?" 
 
 " I am afraid I cannot give you much information 
 on that subject," he replied, smiling. "Religion is 
 a thing that I have never thought about." 
 
 She looked very wise. 
 
 "I am studying it now, every day, for half an hour. 
 I have read the whole of the New Testament, and 
 am to begin on the Old very soon. I do not under 
 stand all I read, but Lisa says that it is not necessary 
 that nobody does. It seems to me strange that 
 such an important study, as they say it is, should 
 not have some one who can master it. I did not 
 know anything about God till this year. And now 
 I think about him more than anything else, and the 
 more I think of the things he does, the harder it is 
 lor me understand him." 
 
 He felt so inadequate to gaide her steps in this
 
 If n WFFTCBEKT WITH A GIRL, 363 
 
 Batter that he could do little more than to keep 
 tilent, or to reply in monosyllables. 
 
 " In the first place, every baby needs a father and 
 a mother, do they not ? When I was a baby, God 
 took them both, and left me to Miss Steiner, and to 
 you, and Stanley. You are all very good, but why 
 should you take the place that a real father and 
 mother take with other children ? And my parents, 
 too, they did not want to die ; they were both 
 young. I have felt so sorry for them lately, since 
 I have begun to think of these things ! Oh, Lysle, 
 it must be terrible to die when one is young !" 
 
 She could ask him more questions than he could 
 answer, but he replied to this by admitting that it 
 did seem hard. 
 
 " What do you suppose Lisa says about that ?" she 
 went on. " She says that God sees better than we, 
 and that, although it may seem hard to us, he knows 
 that it is best. That set me to thinking, to-day, 
 that God might consider it best to sink the ship 
 that Stanley is in, and never let it reach the port 
 of Liverpool. It has nothing to do with the 
 strength of the ship, you see, nor the quietness of 
 the waves ; it is only just whatever he pleases. Lisa 
 tells me to love God but I am waiting to see. If 
 he should not let Stanley get safe to shore, I never 
 could love him no, never !" 
 
 He began to think that Stanley was right in his 
 notion that too much religion might not do this 
 young head any good, and he resolved to speak to 
 her governess about it the very next day. 
 
 " I don t think God likes me, anyway, continued 
 the child, " for if he had he would have left me my 
 father and mother. And I shall never be easy till 
 we hear Irom Stanley."
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 ~Oh, we shall *r*r from him within eight or nine 
 days," he replied, cheerily. " The ocean cable will 
 tell us when his steamer arrives io sight of the Irish 
 coast, and probably he will send a dispatch, himself, 
 from Queenstown." 
 
 Her eyes opened wide. 
 
 **A dispatch? I do not understand. Can he 
 telegraph across the sea just the same as we can on 
 the land ?" 
 
 The ocean cable was one of the things that Rosalie 
 had never heard of, she not being a reader of the 
 daily papers, and the idea that she had just imbibed 
 was a very novel one to her. 
 
 " But he did not say anything about telegraph 
 ing," she said, when he had explained to her the 
 workings of the submarine wires. " He only spoke 
 of writing." 
 
 " That is because the idea of his safety being in 
 Ov/ub. never entered his mind. People think no 
 more now of taking an ocean steamer than they do 
 of going a hundred miles on a railway. You will 
 not have to reserve your faith in God as long as 
 you thought," he added, smiling. " In eight or nine 
 days you will be able to tell whether he deserves 
 your confidence or not." 
 
 She grew much brighter at the unexpected news. 
 
 ** If he carries Stanley safely," she said with earn 
 estness, " I shall love him very dearly." 
 
 "And if he does not " 
 
 " I do not see how he could expect it," she replied* 
 soberly. 
 
 The next morning Lysle talked with Miss Steiner 
 for some time, in relation to this conversation, 
 urging at the close that Rosalie wound be better off 
 with fewer of these " dismal ideas" thrust upon her at
 
 If IB DIFFEBENT WITH A OIBL. 205 
 
 her age, Miss Steiner replied, however, that the 
 nly trouble was, to her mind, that the lessons came 
 too late. Rosalie should have been taught these 
 things years before, she said, when she would have 
 imbibed them naturally, and not have been in the 
 position to meet each truth she heard with the 
 skepticism of her growing mind. 
 
 " She is nothing but a little heathen," she said, 
 " as far as religious knowledge is concerned. 1 
 
 "She knows much more already than I," he 
 replied, with a laugh. " I have never been bored 
 with that sort of thing, and I have never been the 
 worse, I think." 
 
 * Ah, but it is different with a girl, * said Miss 
 Steiner. "They must have it. Yes," she paused, 
 and drew a long breath, " it is absolutely necessary 
 for a girl to be taught religion. I beg you, do not 
 interfere with Rosalie s education in this respect. 
 It is a serious responsibility, the bringing up of a 
 young girl, and religious training is of the first 
 importance." 
 
 He did not like to argue the main question with 
 her, as she seemed set upon it, but he suggested 
 that it was doubtful whether Lisa was exactly the 
 person to impart the wisest ideas in relation to the 
 matter. He believed, and so expressed himself, that 
 Miss Steiner ought to take that branch under her 
 own supervision. 
 
 She smiled sadly at the proposal, 
 
 " I think that Rosalie has even less confidence in 
 my judgment than she has in Lisa s," she replied. 
 " Stanley has done it all. She has seen with his 
 eyes so many years that she has none of her own 
 now." 
 
 Always so harsh when Stanley was the subject at
 
 906 arotJLDiso A 
 
 issue ! Lysle wondered why she could never reooa* 
 
 cile herself to his cousin s methods, which seemed 
 to him, on the whole, to have turned out admirably. 
 He felt himself unable to regulate this matter of 
 religious teaching, however, and let it drop for the 
 present. The newspaper that he took to Rosalie, at 
 the end of a week, to show her that Stanley s 
 jteamer had been sighted off Fastnet, was of more 
 importance to him, and apparently to hen She had 
 been quite pensive during the few preceding days, 
 and her joy at knowing there was nothing to be 
 feared from the storms of the sea was most manifest. 
 She seemed to feel as if Lysle had something to do 
 with the good news he had brought, and from 
 that time they were better friends than they 
 had ever been, or at one time ever promised to 
 be. 
 
 Lysle did not like walking as well as Stanley did, 
 but he was quite fond of driving, and soon he 
 exchanged the after-dinner stroll for a Park drive 
 before that meal. The season was early winter, and 
 the weather was not always of the best, but unless it 
 was actually raining they went out together between 
 four and six every day. During these hours they 
 grew very confidential, talking on the greatest 
 variety of things. Rosalie found her circle of 
 knowledge widening with her new association. 
 Stanley had talked to her, almost to the last as to a 
 child. Lysle talked of that great world from which 
 she had been so thoroughly shut out. He gave her 
 glimpses of life in Italy and in France, told her of the 
 odd things to be seen in Holland, where he had once 
 spent a vacation, and entertained her with accounts 
 of the days when he climbed the Alps and the 
 Pyrenees. And she, in her turn, told hint of a!* she
 
 ft |8 ntFFBBSHT WITH A ODBL. SOT 
 
 ould remember about her early experiences among 
 the Indians, where she had learned to ride horse 
 back, to swim, and to shoot with the bow-and-arrow. 
 She told him of the trips she had made with Stanley 
 and Miss Steiner into the northern part of the 
 State, and about the great hawk she had shot with 
 her rifle, after half the farmers in the neighborhood 
 had sought to dispatch it in vain. In all of her 
 stories the burden was what Stanley had said, and 
 how Stanley had advised this or that. Indeed, it 
 was to talk of Stanley that she liked most to ride 
 with Lysle. 
 
 One of the last things that Stanley had 
 done had been to give her the key to his library. 
 Some of the things that Rosalie read there, even 
 with no one to explain the parts that she could not 
 comprehend, influenced the current of her thoughts 
 to a marked degree. She read stories of roman 
 tic love, something she had never heard or dreamed 
 of, and her young mind dwelt long on the strange 
 revelation of that hitherto unknown land. She 
 learned for the first time that men came to theif 
 lady-loves with downcast eyes and trembling lips, 
 and sometimes begged the honor of their hands 
 with knees bent in the dust. She learned that 
 women could be coquettes, that they could pretend 
 to love when they did not. She learned that vows 
 made in all sacredness could be broken when a 
 fairer face or manlier form or worse still, a longer 
 purse could be gained by it. 
 
 How many questions she wanted to ask, as she 
 read ! But she knew she would get no satisfaction 
 from Lisa ; she never thought of going to Miss 
 Steiner ; and it was not the kind of information she 
 thought she ought to get from Lysle
 
 fOI muttJuno 4 mxsxma 
 
 One day when they were riding, they met a hand 
 somely dressed couple, who were newly wedded. 
 Lysle, quite thoughtlessly, called her attention to 
 them, as one of the sights of the drive, and she made 
 it the basis of several queries which had long been 
 puzzling her. 
 
 * I do not think I ever saw a bride before, Lysle," 
 she said. " Do they always dress like that ?" 
 
 " They generally have a distinctive dress, I believe. 
 To tell the truth, though, I hardly know what the 
 American custom is. In Paris I have seen the 
 bridal parties often, driving out in the suburbs to 
 some restaurant for dinner, and the bride and groom 
 could easily be distinguished by the gayety of their 
 attire." 
 
 Rosalie pondered for some time. 
 
 * I think it is a good thing to be married, Lysle.** 
 
 " Indeed ! * he said, somewhat astonished. 
 
 " When one is young, it is all right to be single," 
 she went on, musingly, " but when one grows old 
 it does not seem as if he were meant to live alone." 
 
 " Then I suppose you intend to marry ?" he said, 
 inclined to find amusement in listening to such a 
 weighty argument from her lips. 
 
 " Yes," she replied, positively. 
 
 " You have no one picked out yet, I suppose T 
 
 She had to smile a little at this witticism. 
 
 " Of course not. I shall wait till I am past youth. 
 While I am still young there will be no need of 
 marriage." 
 
 " A nice plan you are making !" he cried. " Does 
 it not occur to you that when you have passed your 
 prime and get all ready for the marriage state, no 
 ne may propose to you ?" 
 
 She looked up with a funny expression.
 
 IT 18 DIFFERENT WITH A CKBb. 
 
 Why, Lysle, I never thought of that I* 
 
 "You will have to take your pick of your 
 admirers," he said, " while you are young and hand* 
 some." 
 
 Lysle was talking merely for amusement, to hear 
 what this child would say, but it all had a basis of 
 seriousness to her. 
 
 " I shall never be handsome," she said, very slowly. 
 " I shall be strong and well, but never handsome. 
 I do not like women who are handsome, Lysle." 
 
 He gazed for a moment at the clear, bright face, 
 and thought there were few girls in New York or 
 elsewhere more likely to make a very handsome 
 woman than she. But he did not think it wise to 
 tell that to her. 
 
 " And men ?" he asked. " Do you object to men 
 who are handsome, too ?" 
 
 " I think I should," she answered. " I like to see 
 a man tall, and powerful, and able to manage other 
 men, but I would not care for him if he were hand* 
 some." 
 
 He recognized part of her description, and sug 
 gested : 
 
 " Something like Stanley would suit you. * 
 
 "Yes," she said, thoughtfully. "Something likt 
 Stanley." 
 
 It did not occur to him to be jealous. Stanley 
 would have taken immediate offence had the cas 
 been reversed, but there was a great difference 
 between the cousins in that, as in everything else. 
 
 Rosalie had begun to consider Lysle a very pleas 
 ant fellow. She wondered, in thinking about him to 
 herself, how it was that she had disliked him so 
 long. 
 
 He was not like Stanley no one, she thought,
 
 210 MOULDING A MAIDBN. 
 
 could be that but he was a very fair substitute, 
 considering. 
 
 When they reached home she wrote a letter to 
 Stanley, the regular semi-weekly epistle that he had 
 learned to expect, and she read over for the twentieth 
 time the last one she had received from him. 
 
 Soon, soon, now, he would be back again ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 STANLEY AT HEIDELBERG. 
 
 Mr. Stanley Melrose had become quite a figure on 
 * the street." His fame as a lawyer who got ver 
 dicts for his clients was eclipsed by his reputation as 
 a shrewd manipulator of securities. His especial 
 mission to Europe was the placing of the bonds of a 
 railroad in which he had a large interest. I have 
 always noticed that whenever our American finan 
 ciers find a lull in their usually active home business, 
 they always run over to Europe and " place bonds." 
 Mr. Melrose s railroad did not run anywhere in par 
 ticular, and its entire rolling stock and locations 
 were locked up each night in his large safe, but he 
 intended to " place " the bonds, just the same. In 
 which respect he did not differ from the presidents 
 of many other railroads, having the same termini 
 and equipment, who have " placed " the bonds of 
 their corporations in the European market, year after 
 year, in an attempt to fill a demand that is never 
 apparently satisfied. 
 
 There were now old fogies who had begun to look
 
 AT HTrrrmi.mma, tit 
 
 askance at Melrose and his methods. There were 
 directors in solid corporations who would not even 
 examine any scheme that had his name attached to 
 it. The rising Napoleons of finance always meet 
 with such men, but they can afford to ignore such 
 jealous opposition, when all the rest of the financial 
 world bows in adoration at their feet. The style of 
 doing business to-day is different from that of the 
 period when the aforesaid fogies were in their prime. 
 The needs of a great and growing country and of a 
 great and growing crowd of speculators will not 
 permit of anything slow in the manipulation of the 
 market. Melrose had his admirers, numbered by the 
 hundred, and his name had become a synonym for 
 bold operations. When he started for Europe to 
 " place " the bonds of the Tallahassee & Lake Supe 
 rior Railroad, those bonds were as good as placed, 
 and the whole financial world was forced to admit 
 it. The stock, which had been sagging off, took a 
 sudden start, and his agents who were left at home, 
 unloaded on the guileless public all they dared of 
 the last batch received from the printer. 
 
 It was the old story without a single variation. 
 
 Having " placed " his bonds, dined with a number 
 of London capitalists, and seen the principal wonders 
 of the metropolis of the world, Stanley, like every 
 other American who has preceded or followed him to 
 England, crossed the Channel. He made no pause 
 between the shore and Paris, where he was received 
 almost as soon as he arrived, by his old acquaintance 
 Arthur Peck, who had tendered him the hospitalities 
 of the city. Arthur had continued to alternate 
 between New York and Paris, ever since he was first 
 introduced to the reader. He went home only when 
 the demands of his father become too urgent to
 
 resist, and returned as soon as his business engage* 
 ments would permit. The elder Peck had made 
 quite a large fortune in electrical lines, and Mr. Mel- 
 rose had assisted him in " placing " some of his bonds, 
 in which he had acquired an interest, along with those 
 of the T. & L. S. R. R. Arthur was supposed to be 
 at present in Europe for the purpose of making the 
 work of Mr. Melrose easier to accomplish, and he 
 found the vacation from his father s office a very 
 delightful one. 
 
 Young Peck did not take Mr. Melrose to his little 
 apartment in the Rue Marbeuf. Neither did he 
 escort him, when the shades of evening fell, to the 
 Mabille, or to any of its numerous imitators. He 
 wanted for many reasons to keep on the right side of 
 this light of the financial world, and he had no idea 
 that his good graces could be kept or gained by fol 
 lowing such a course. He had, therefore, taken rooms 
 at the Grand Hotel, some days before his arrival, and 
 limited the excursions that they were to make 
 together, to the round usual with tourists who place 
 themselves under the guidance of Mr. Cook. 
 
 Melrose was duly impressed as what American is 
 not ? with the beauty and cleanliness of the city, 
 but thought that a little Yankee "go" might be 
 infused into some of its departments to advantage. 
 
 "One of the things I must not forget to do is to 
 take a look at Lysle s studio," he said to his friend, 
 one morning. " He has given me a letter to the con 
 cierge, as he calls her, and the keys of his rooms. 
 Would you like to go with me ? I think we shall 
 find some very good paintings there." 
 
 The concierge read the note that Lysle had sent, 
 and hesitated for a few moments before she granted 
 the gentlemen permission to ascend the stairs. It
 
 STANLEY AT HEIDELBERG 213 
 
 was an unprecedented thing for her lodger to 
 
 send any one there, and a Parisian concierge does 
 not look with favor upon the extraordinary. Peck 
 smiled as she looked up at him, and addressing her 
 in French, explained that M. Melrose was a first 
 cousin of Monsieur Lysle, and almost the same to 
 him as a brother. The woman then read the letter 
 again, and after receiving a five-franc piece from 
 Peck, announced that everything seemed to be all 
 right and that she would show them at once to the 
 room they wanted. 
 
 " You will find things rather dusty," she said, as 
 she halted before the door. " It was the command 
 of monsieur when he went away that we should not 
 attempt to sweep or touch the place in his absence. 
 He is very particular, and even when he is here he dons 
 an old suit and persists in remaining about when the 
 cleaning is going on. Oh, the monsieur americain is 
 very set about that. He must have the room dusted 
 exactly as he wishes. For the past year, only 
 Clothilde has entered it for this purpose." 
 
 Peck started at the name " Clothilde," for he 
 knew she had once been Lysle s model. 
 
 Mr. Melrose took the keys, opened the door and 
 entered, while Peck stayed a moment longer at the 
 door to converse with the concierge, whom he had all 
 at once found vastly entertaining. 
 
 " Is Mile. Clothilde still with you ?" he inquired. 
 
 44 Mais, non," replied the woman, with a shrug of 
 her shoulders. " He has sent her to a little board- 
 ing school at Raincy, to learn music. A fine thing, 
 is it not, and she already twenty-four years old ! I 
 think it is nonsense, but it is no affair of mine." 
 
 " She will, of course, return when h does?" 
 tared tn interrogate!.
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 * Without doubt," said the concierge, turning the 
 five-franc piece over in her hand. 
 
 Then, somebody calling her, she went down stairs, 
 and he entered the studio. 
 
 " Here is the picture that has made my cousin 
 famous," said Stanley, calling to his friend from the 
 farther part of the room. He had recognized it by 
 the description. 
 
 Arthur was startled. It was truly a magnificent 
 work. It seemed as if Suzette stood there breathing 
 before him, and he had provoked her to anger too 
 often not to recognize the faithfulness of every 
 detail. 
 
 " It is perfect !" he answered, after a full minute 
 had elapsed. 
 
 Stanley glanced from the picture to Arthur and 
 back again. 
 
 " Did you ever see her look like that ?" he inquired, 
 lost in curiosity. 
 
 Peck smiled at his earnestness. 
 
 " You are asking me to reveal family secrets. 
 However, I don t mind telling you that I have. 
 Suzette is a combination of angel and devil. Your 
 cousin had her at her worst in that pose." 
 
 " But how could he make her retain that expres 
 sion long enough to paint it ?" 
 
 Arthur told him the trick that Lysle had resorted 
 to, as he had gleaned it from the girl herself, and 
 Stanley pronounced it a very clever expedient. 
 
 " Much cleverer than I should have supposed Lysle 
 could have invented," he said, thoughtlessly, for he 
 did not mean to disparage his cousin to this fellow, 
 who had, he knew, no great liking for him. " What 
 do you suppose that would sell for, in cash ?** 
 
 Arthur had heard that Lysle had been offered a
 
 OTA1TLEY AT HEIDELBERG. 
 
 sum equal to $8000 for the painting, when it hung 
 in the Salon, and said so. Stanley was overcome 
 with surprise at the size of the figure. 
 
 " He was a dunce not to take it," he said. " I sup 
 pose he has not a cent of insurance on it here. He 
 has no idea of business. Let us see what else he 
 has got." 
 
 The pictures of Rosalie were the next ones to 
 attract attention, and Stanley wished, as he gazed at 
 them, that Arthur Peck were further away. It 
 brought his mind back to America, to see those bits 
 of canvas, and to the village in the mountains where 
 they had been painted, that summer when they 
 were all so happy together. He had not known fully 
 until that minute how much he had missed his ward, 
 notwithstanding the fact that he had thought of her 
 hourly ever since they were separated. But the pic 
 tures were not of the Rosalie who had said good-bye 
 to him. They were of that other Rosalie who had 
 romped with him among the Indians, who had lifted 
 her arms to be carried over deep fords, who had 
 sported with him in the breakers at Cape May, sum 
 mer after summer. The Rosalie of these canvases 
 was not thirteen years of age. She had not reached 
 a period when her relations with her guardian must 
 be restricted, to silence the comments of the idiots 
 who make np the bulk of mankind. She did not 
 wear gowns that reached to her ankles. It gave him 
 a bad turn to see and to think, and he turned sadly 
 away, and went ,o another part of the studio, where 
 Peck had resurrected something that c,. ised him to 
 utter an exclamation. 
 
 All the pictures that Lysle had painted of 
 Clolhilde, from the ones that he had done in M. 
 Jouanneau s studio to the latest study of her face
 
 816 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 and fully draped figure, were there together. Peck 
 knew them the instant his eyes rested on them, and 
 he could not help giving utterance to the expression 
 that had attracted the attention of his companion. 
 The nude one, representing the girl lying asleep in 
 the sands, was the first he discovered, and it was the 
 jwork of but a moment to take it up and place it in a 
 good light on an easel. All the desire that he had 
 felt to possess that girl came over him with redoubled 
 strength as he gloated over the beauties of her per 
 son thus revealed to him. 
 
 At school at Raincy ! He would find her, and 
 next time she should not escape him ! 
 
 Stanley Melrose had heard of nude paintings, 
 taken from a living model, but he had neve.- seen 
 one till now. The picture startled him much more 
 than it did Peck, though for a very different reason. 
 For several minutes they stood looking at it 
 together. 
 
 " Wonderful !" said Arthur, at last, in a tone of 
 the most intense admiration. 
 
 ** It is indeed !" said Stanley. "And do you sup 
 pose Lysle actually painted that from a living 
 girl ?" 
 
 Arthur Peck gave a quick glance at the financier, 
 and marked the strange expression in his face. 
 Beads of perspiration had gathered on his forehead, 
 and his hand that held the handkerchief with which 
 he essayed to wipe them away, trembled. 
 
 " From the girl herself ?" repeated Peck. " To 
 be sure he did. You do not think he could paint 
 that from his imagination, do you ? I have seen the 
 girl, and I know that the likeness is perfect." 
 
 " You have seen " began Stanley, stammering 
 out the words.
 
 STANLEY AT HEIDELBERG. 
 
 "*To be sure. She was in my employ once, and a 
 pretty little fuss she made because I tried to kiss her 
 one morning. You would have thought that she 
 would faint dead away if asked to exhibit her 
 shoulders. Ah, the minx ! But she came here and 
 posed for Monsieur Lysle, and thought nothing of 
 it ! The jade !" 
 
 He shook his fist half-angrily, half-playfully at the 
 sleeping beauty. 
 
 " Then you never saw her like like that ?" said 
 Stanley, still much moved. 
 
 * Oh, no. But I have heard where she is now, and 
 I shall turn artist myself." 
 
 Stanley, who had been in such a perspiration, 
 began immediately to shiver. He drew out his 
 watch in a shaking hand, and said they must be 
 going. He but suddenly remembered an engage 
 ment. 
 
 A few days later he took the train for Heidelberg. 
 He could not get the " Sleeping Girl " out of his 
 mind. 
 
 As the train sped on, he grew quite indignant at 
 all forms of immorality. He was sure that there 
 ought to be a law forbidding the painting of nude 
 women. He thought harshly of Lysle, and wished 
 he had said less to him about associating so closely 
 with Rosalie. A man who could draw a picture like 
 that was not fit for the companionship of a pure 
 young girl. If Lysle did not soon return to France, 
 Stanley resolved that some way must be invented to 
 keep him out of Rosalie s way. He grew very 
 tender as he thought of the child, and hoped no 
 harm would ensue from leaving her to the care of 
 hr other guardians, during the short time be had
 
 218 M6XTLDING A MA1DEK. 
 
 to be away. Neither of them seemed to htm quite 
 fit to have the charge of her. 
 
 He was very glad to get to Heidelberg, but what 
 he discovered there startled him more than anything 
 he had anticipated. He first visited the cemetery 
 where Max Vandenhoff was buried. Then he 
 searched the records of the Rath-Haus, hunted up 
 various officials, talked with several landlords, and 
 conversed with some of the prominent citizens and 
 with the best posted foreign residents. So adroitly 
 were his questions phrased that no suspicion was 
 aroused, but as he went on his wonder grew greater 
 than ever, and when he had learned all he could he 
 lost no time in starting for home. He neither wrote 
 nor telegraphed to announce his coming. On the 
 vessel he sat all day immersed in his thoughts, over 
 whelmed with the magnitude of his discoveries. 
 
 It was in the forenoon of a February day that 
 Stanley Melrose received Miss Janet Steiner in his 
 law office on Broadway. He had landed quietly, and 
 gone directly there instead of to the hotel, and had 
 sent a note requesting her presence. As soon as she 
 could don her garments and get to him, she was 
 there. And, as the clerks had previously been 
 instructed, they showed her into an inner room, 
 where he sat awaiting her. 
 
 They were both much agitated. For five minutes 
 neither spoke a word. Like fencers, each seemed 
 waiting for the other to begin. Stanley looked at 
 the woman several times, while her gaze rested 
 stolidly on one of the pictures of eminent lawyers 
 that adorned the wall. 
 
 "I have been there," he said at last, and for tke
 
 STANLEY AT HKIBELBHBO. 
 
 first time he could remember, In that room, his voice 
 was unsteady. 
 
 She looked up then, with a mute and frightened 
 inquiry in her eyes. 
 
 " To Heidelberg ?" 
 
 She waited still for him to proceed. 
 
 " I do not know all that it will be my duty to do," 
 he continued, after a pause. " But to begin with, 
 you must have no more to say to Rosalie." 
 
 The woman tried twice to speak and failed. Then 
 she held out her hands in the attitude of supplica 
 tion. 
 
 " I am not sure when I shall be ready to say any 
 more than that," he went on, as she did not speak. 
 " I do not wish to attract attention at present, and it 
 is best that you should continue to reside at the 
 hotel, but you must let the child entirely alone. I 
 will leave it to you to invent excuses to the gover 
 ness and Lysle. You will make it much better for 
 yourself if you decide to make a full confession to 
 me. I do not wish to proceed to extremes if I can 
 help it. Perhaps you have already concluded to do 
 this ?" 
 
 She seemed like one suffering with partial paralysis, 
 and it affected her utterance to a marked degree, as 
 she essayed to reply. 
 
 " I told you you would come to wrong deci 
 sions," she said, feebly. 
 
 He had had witnesses on the stand too many times 
 to allow this to disconcert him. 
 
 " Why, Janet," he said, disdaining to attach the 
 title of relationship, " I have been to the cemetery 
 where he is buried. I have talked with the keeper. 
 I have looked at all the records. And do you mean 
 to tell me that I am wrong ?"
 
 120 MOULDING A MAIDEH. 
 
 She inclined her head spasmodically in the affirma. 
 tive. 
 
 44 And that you are guilty of nothing ?" 
 
 " Not of what you think," was the almost 
 inaudible reply. 
 
 " Is it your intention to tell me of what you are 
 guilty, or do you prefer that I should unveil it in my 
 own way ?" 
 
 She roused herself a little. 
 
 " I have never harmed you !" she exclaimed. 
 "Why should you unveil it at all ?" 
 
 " For her sake," he answered, impressively. 
 
 " Rosalie s !" 
 
 She uttered the name of the child with a gasp. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " It would give her sorrow all her life !" she 
 replied, earnestly. " If you care anything for her 
 happiness, you will say no more ! * 
 
 "That is impossible," said he. "The only ques 
 tion is, will you tell me the whole truth, in which 
 case I am willing to aid you, or let me go on in my 
 own way ?" 
 
 " How long can I have to decide ?" she asked, in a 
 whisper. 
 
 " Three days." 
 
 Miss Steiner rose, bowed low, and left him alone
 
 DON T CALL MB A cm* 1 * Ml 
 
 CHAPTER XTOt 
 "DON T CALL MB A CHILD P* 
 
 Rosalie was so overjoyed to see Stanley, after his 
 
 long absence, that she came very near throwing her 
 self into his arms when he appeared at dinner that 
 evening. She had become so natural in her manner, 
 through her contact with Lysle, who never dreamed 
 of giving her the least directions about her conduct 
 or anything else, that she had to blush for her pre 
 cipitation as she saw that Stanley gave it his mild 
 disapproval. No one but Miss Steiner knew that he 
 had arrived in the city, and she forebore to mention 
 that she had seen him. Lysle, not having heard that 
 he had come, was dining out, and there was an air 
 of stiltedness to the meal that was not usual. 
 
 Stanley talked a little, to be sure, about the sights 
 he had seen in London, and the other places that he 
 had earliest visited, and of which he had written long 
 letters to the girl. Rosalie hoped he would speak of 
 his own accord on what she had most in mind, but 
 he did not, and at last she introduced the subject 
 hersen : 
 
 " Did you go to Heidelberg, as you intended ? * 
 
 He could not help glancing at the face of Miss 
 Steiner, who sat directly opposite to him, and he saw 
 the distress there. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. * It has a very pretty situa 
 tion, but I should not care to make it a permanent 
 home as so many Americans do. I prefer Paris." 
 
 "1 was not thinking of that," she replied Slowly,
 
 222 MOULDING A MAIDBN. 
 
 " I wanted to know what you heard about my par* 
 ents." 
 
 He wished she had asked him at another time, as 
 be flt very uneasy about what the result might be. 
 Miss Steiner looked as if she were liable to faint at 
 any minute. 
 
 "I talked with several people who knew your 
 father," he said, evasively, "and I visited his grave." 
 
 She realized at once that he was concealing some 
 thing. 
 
 " My father ?" she repeated. " Did you not see my 
 mother s grave, also?" 
 
 He raised his eyes to Miss Steiner s, unable to help 
 it. 
 
 " Your mother is not buried there," he said, 
 firmly. 
 
 Rosalie was too surprised to notice at first the 
 pallor that covered the face of her other guardian. 
 
 "Where is my mother buried, Miss Steiner ?" 
 
 " In in France," was the stifled reply. 
 
 ** Why, you are ill !" exclaimed the child. She 
 touched the bell, and as a maid appeared she called 
 her attention to the condition of the lady. As Miss 
 Steiner vacated the room, she cast an appealing 
 glance at Stanley. Brief as was the interchange of 
 thought, it was sufficient to ask him to quiet the 
 child s inquisitiveness, and for him to answer that he 
 had no intention of letting her know the truth. 
 
 " What have you been doing since I have been 
 away?" he asked, as soon as the equilibrium was 
 restored. " Riding out every day with Lysle, I 
 hear, and forgetting to take those long walks that you 
 used to think so fine." 
 
 It pained her to hear him speak in this flippant 
 They had just been referring to the sab-
 
 CULL MB A CHILD." 
 
 Ject of her dead parents, and she wondered that he 
 could be so thoughtless. More than this, she 
 thought his references to Lysle neither witty nor 
 called-for. 
 
 "He wanted to ride," she replied, "and I had 
 nothing to say about it. You told me I was to obey 
 him. But is that all you have to tell me about what 
 you learned in Heidelberg ? Did you find no por 
 traits of my parents ? I have thought of them a 
 great deal since you went away, and have hoped 
 you would bring back something that would show 
 me how their faces looked." 
 
 He might as well have it out, he thought, and he 
 told her he had found nothing. 
 
 * It was because I did not find anything, Rosalie, 
 that I wanted to change the subject as soon as I 
 could. There is nothing to tell, and it is painful to 
 me to talk in relation to it." 
 
 She looked much depressed, but obediently said 
 no more. She felt that a great change had somehow 
 taken place in him. He was not the Stanley he used 
 to be. He was more reserved, and a good deal 
 sterner. He seemed much older, and very far 
 removed from her, in a way that she could not 
 understand. It was a great disappointment, and she 
 was a long time going to sleep longer even than 
 on that saddest night she had then ever known, the 
 night his steamer took him out to sea. 
 
 In the morning Lysle, not having yet heard of 
 Stanley s arrival, came for her, as was his custom. 
 She was sitting with her things on, in the parlor, 
 waiting for Stanley to come down, and as it was 
 past the hour when he had always met her she had 
 grown slightly uneasy. As Lysle greeted her she 
 told him the news, which he received with surprise.
 
 994 HOCLWWO A MAIDBSC. 
 
 " Stanley here !" he exclaimed. " Why did h ot 
 
 write to let us know he was coming ? I supposed him 
 still somewhere in Germany. Well, if that is the 
 case, my nose is out of joint, I suppose," he added, 
 with a laugh. 
 
 They chatted for ten minutes more, and then 
 Rosalie, grown very uneasy, rang for the hall- 
 boy and asked him to go to the room of Mr. Mel- 
 rose and see if anything was the matter. He presently 
 returned with the information that Mr. Melrose had 
 gone to bed late, and did not intend to rise for 
 another hour. 
 
 He had evidently forgotten all about his habit of 
 walking before breakfast when in New York. Two 
 months of foreign customs had made a change in 
 him. 
 
 " I hope you won t give up your walk on that 
 account," said Lysle, as she rose and began to take 
 off her hat. "Stanley is probably tired out with his 
 journey. He will be all right to-morrow. Let me 
 go with you this morning as I have been doing." 
 
 She had much rather not have gone. She felt a 
 mental sensation the like of which she had never 
 experienced, but she assented and accompanied him 
 to the street. 
 
 * How is he looking ?" asked her escort. 
 
 ** Just the same," she replied, briefly ; but it was 
 not true. Stanley had never looked to her as he did 
 now, and she thought with a bitterness that was 
 ^uite foreign to her young heart, that he never 
 would look as he used. 
 
 It was not because he had wanted to sleep instead 
 f taking that walk with her the walk they had 
 never missed since she was a wee thing who had to 
 held his hand in the crowded streets to keep from
 
 "DON T CALL MB A CHILD." 339 
 
 letting the throng push her away from him. If he 
 had only sent her some regretful word by the mes 
 senger something scribbled on a piece of paper ! 
 He had forgotten her, that was only too evident. 
 She had never forgotten him, never, when he was at 
 home or away. She did not know whether she 
 wanted most to cry, or to strike him with something 
 that would hurt. 
 
 " He wrote me that he went to my studio," con 
 tinued Lysle, oblivious of the torrent that was rag 
 ing in the little breast. " There are six pictures of 
 you there, Rosalie, that I drew five years ago, when 
 we were up in the country. On one of them I got a 
 medal at the Salon." 
 
 The last words aroused the slumbering flame and 
 in a second it burst forth : 
 
 "And that is all that you care about me !" she 
 cried, tempestuously. " I am only something to 
 paint into a picture that will bring you a medal ! 
 It is a good thing that you do not sell your pictures, 
 or some man with money could buy all of me you 
 think worth anything ! I am nothing, nobody ! I 
 wish I had never been born ! I should be glad if I 
 could die !" 
 
 Her indignation at the slight that Stanley had 
 put upon her had found vent upon Lysle, as the 
 most convenient object at hand. He stopped in the 
 street, which was almost deserted, and gazed at her, 
 too astounded to speak. 
 
 "It is not you alone!" she went on, for she had 
 not enough diplomacy to conceal the real cause of 
 her excitement. "Stanley is just as bad. He had 
 no business to send me a message like that, after I 
 had got up, dressed and waited half an hour for 
 him ! I shall not forget it, either ! When he wants
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 me to go again, I shall let him wait, as he has let 
 me. Miss Steiner, too what does she care about 
 me ? She is asleep, as he is 1 I have not one friend 
 not one !" 
 
 She had roused him at last. 
 
 " Rosalie, Rosalie ! my dear child !" he cried. 
 
 " Oh, don t call me a child!" she retorted. "I 
 am not a baby. I do not know much, but I am not 
 a fool ! He has tried his methods on me, and you 
 have practiced with your brush, and neither of you 
 think that I have feelings that I am not a stick ! I 
 am almost fourteen, and it is time some one showed 
 me consideration. When he sent me that message, 
 do you know what I had half a mind to do ? I 
 thought of going up there and breaking his door ? 
 Yes, I did ! I will tell him so, too, when I see him 
 again !" 
 
 With every sentence she struck her foot on the 
 pavement, while her features showed the nervous 
 excitement under which she was laboring. Lysle 
 hesitated to say much to her, but he took her arm 
 gently and they resumed their walk. 
 
 It was the first time that the girl had ever given 
 way to her temper, but the tendency to do so had 
 been hers more than once. Stanley supposed, 
 merely because there was no outward manifestation, 
 that she had that complete control of herself which 
 he believed every human being capable of attaining. 
 It would have been as great a surprise to him at it 
 was to Lysle could he have seen her now. 
 
 The walk continued in silence for some time, 
 when suddenly Rosalie lifted her doleful face to 
 that of her companion. 
 
 ** I am sorry for what I said, Lysle about you.
 
 "DOJT T CALL MB A CHILD.** S8T 
 
 1 was angry at Stanley, and I said what I had no 
 right to say loyou. You you will not mind it ?" 
 
 " Not at all, he responded, quickly. " I was only 
 wondering if you were not partly right. I did paint 
 you in order to do a good piece of work and increase 
 my fame. I am afraid it was not a good motive, 
 when I recollect that you are my cousin and my 
 ward. It occurs to me that \ ought not to have 
 used your face for that purpose." 
 
 She was quite ashamed when she found that she 
 had saddened him. 
 
 "Now, don t you get cross: she replied. "It 
 was perfectly right for you to paint from me, and I 
 am very glad you did it. I am really very glad. I 
 wish you would paint another, as I look now." She 
 paused, and turned red. " No, I don t mean as I 
 look now, but as I ought to look, and as I am always 
 going to look, after this, when I am with you." 
 
 She would not rest content till he had promised 
 her what she asked, but he said at first that he should 
 not think of exhibiting it, as he had the other. 
 They disputed good-naturedly over this point for 
 some time, and finally he said he would decide that 
 point when the picture was completed. This being 
 settled, he begged her to include Stanley in her for 
 giveness, and dismiss the whole affair from her 
 mind. 
 
 " I do not like to see you do anything that makes 
 you unhappy," he said, " and you and he are too 
 good friends to quarrel over a little thing like this." 
 
 " But it is not a little thing !" she exclaimed. 
 44 You cannot see it as I do. When he comes to ask 
 me to walk with him, I shall remind him of this 
 morning. Yes, I cannot help it. Then, when I hear 
 what he says. I can tell better what I shall answer.**
 
 MOPtDDHJ A MAIDEN. 
 
 Nothing that he was able to advance could chang 
 her from this position, and he left her at the St. Nich 
 olas with some misgivings. Stanley, who had just 
 come down to breakfast as she arrived, spoke to her in 
 the ordinary way, not alluding to the morning walk, 
 and the meal was a very quiet one. Miss Steiner, who 
 sent word that she was indisposed, did not make her 
 appearance. Stanley was evidently wrapped in his 
 own thoughts so closely that he hardly knew what 
 was going on around him. 
 
 Rosalie went to her lessons with a sore heart. At 
 lunch Stanley did not come home, a practice that 
 was not infrequent with him on his busiest days, and 
 as Miss Steiner was still absent from the table, the 
 girl ate her meal alone. Lysle, who had been uneasy 
 about her, came around at four o clock to see if she 
 would take her customary drive, and to his delight 
 she went without demur. During the ride he again 
 begged her to drop all thoughts of the affair of the 
 morning, but she still felt the rankling in her breast, 
 and would make no promises. Stanley ate his dinner 
 with as few words as he had his breakfast, and when 
 it was ended sat back in his chair half-an-hour, 
 wrapped in dead silence. 
 
 "Do you want to go out for a short walk?" he 
 asked, starting up suddenly. " I have a good deal 
 of work to do, and I cannot be out long." 
 
 " I am not particular," she answered. " I have been 
 out riding for two hours, and I had a very long walk 
 this morning, before breakfast. * 
 
 He knew that there was something strange in 
 those tones, but his mind was too full of other things 
 to think of it very seriously. 
 
 " Whom were you with ?" he asked, aimlessly. 
 
 ** Why, Lysle, of course.*
 
 ^DISPUTABLE DOCUMENTS. 
 
 He uttered a pronounced " Umph !" took ap his 
 hat, which lay on the rack, and went up-stairs. 
 
 She had never thought it possible to be so lone* 
 some as she was after he had gone. She would hare 
 been glad to have had even Miss Steiner there. She 
 went to bed earlier than usual, but could not com 
 pose herself to sleep for a long time. 
 
 In the morning she lay purposely beyond her 
 usual limit, thinking that Stanley would send the 
 maid to call her, and take her to task for keeping 
 him waiting, thus giving her the chance she wanted 
 to answer him. But he did not come down till 
 breakfast was served, and when that meal passed 
 like those of the preceding day, she was utterly mis 
 erable. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 INDISPUTABLE DOCUMENTS. 
 
 The months went by, and nothing in particular 
 was changed in relation to the attitude of the prin 
 cipal characters in our story toward each other. 
 Stanley had roused himself to attend to his personal 
 business, after a fashion, but he was not by any means 
 the sharp, alert man he had been. Lysle remained in 
 America, though he felt that he was wasting time that 
 ought to have been used to better advantage, for try 
 as he might, he could not do his best work in the 
 atmosphere of New York. Stanley so thoroughly 
 neglected Rosalie, and Miss Steiner had so much less 
 So say to her than she used, that he felt that he cou!4
 
 MOULDING A MAIDKK. 
 
 not go. It would be leaving the girl in the hands 
 of no one but her hired teachers, which he did not 
 like to contemplate. Rosalie herself, who had now 
 passed her fourteenth birthday, had changed as 
 much as either of her two elder guardians. The con 
 duct of Stanley had depressed her spirits to a marked 
 degree, and this state of mind was succeeded by a 
 condition that could hardly be called less than 
 morose. She kept at her studies, and took her walks 
 and rides with Lysle, but all the brightness of youth 
 and the vivacity of childhood seemed to have gone 
 out of her. 
 
 Lysle was immensely pained at all this, but he had 
 no idea where to find the remedy. He knew that it 
 was associated in some way with the changed attitude 
 of his cousin, but he did not see how he could go to 
 him and demand that he resume his old manner. 
 Stanley had given much more of his time to her for 
 a dozen years than any one could have claimed was 
 his duty. If he had other business to attend to now, 
 it was for the junior guardian, if anybody, to step into 
 the breach. The only thing that troubled Lysle was 
 a knowledge of his inability to fill the vacant place, 
 not only in the estimation of his ward, but in any 
 other sense whatever. Stanley had a "method" 
 that he had adopted with Rosalie, which seemed to 
 work wonders. Lysle had no method, and he had 
 not even the smallest conception of the way to frame 
 one. He could merely let her do as she pleased, and 
 this did not give full satisfaction either to her or 
 himself. A gloom had settled on them all which he 
 had not the slightest idea how to remove, and yet 
 which he felt he could not bear much longer. 
 
 In the occasional brief talks that he had with Stan* 
 ley, there was nothing said that could give a clue to
 
 liDISFUTAfiLE DOCUMFSTS. 831 
 
 any reason for the changed order of things. The 
 lawyer pleaded business as an excuse for everything, 
 and there seemed justice in the claim. When the 
 vacation season arrived, and Lysle asked him what 
 places he thought Rosalie had best be taken to, the 
 reply was that he could suit himself about that 
 And when Lysle mentioned that he ought to run 
 over to Paris, if only for a month or two, to attend 
 to the things he had left there, Stanley astounded 
 him with the question, " Why don t y >u take her 
 over there with you ?" 
 
 "Take her over !" repeated Lysle, as if he could 
 hardly believe he had heard aright. " What do you 
 think Miss Steiner would say to that ?" 
 
 "Janet?" responded Stanley, rather contemp 
 tuously. " She would probably say nothing about 
 it at all. If she did it would not matter. You and 
 I are a majority, you know." 
 
 Lysle s eyes opened wide. 
 
 " But supposing she put her foot down, and said 
 she would not go ?" 
 
 " In that case, you could take Lisa and get along 
 just as well. In fact, I think, a little better. There 
 are things about Janet but, never mind. The 
 probability I might say the certainty is that she 
 would not go with you, but that ought not to 
 interfere with your plans in the least." 
 
 Could it be Stanley who was saying these 
 things ? 
 
 " You seem to have great confidence in Lisa," saif" 
 Lysle, after a slight pause. 
 
 " I have confidence in no women," was the peculiar 
 reply. " She is doubtless as good as the rest of 
 tbetn. I should not want Ja"et to go, and if I could
 
 232 MOULDING A 
 
 give you my reasons you would quite agree with 
 me." 
 
 The artist was lost in wonder. What could such 
 expressions mean in that connection ? 
 
 "Your insinuations are serious," he said. "If 
 you know anything that affects Miss Steiner s fitness 
 to have the care of Rosalie, it is your undoubted 
 duty to tell me at once." 
 
 His voice was firm and his earnestness beyond 
 question. Stanley wondered how he could have 
 doubted this fellow s goodness merely because he 
 had painted the picture of a nude female. He was 
 evidently an artist and nothing else a sort of 
 woman, himself, in masculine attire. 
 
 " It is a serious matter, Lysle," he answered, " and 
 I do not like to tell you. I have been trying to think 
 what it is best to do about it for a long time, ever 
 since I returned from Europe, and I cannot quite 
 decide. It is true that you have a right to know, 
 but the subject is so painful that you will not thank 
 me if I take you into my confidence. Accept my 
 advice and ask nothing more about it." 
 
 Lysle brushed his hair back from his forehead 
 with his hand, and was silent for a full minute. 
 
 " Does it concern Rosalie ?" he asked, at last, and 
 the firmness that had been in his voice was no longer 
 there. 
 
 " It does. It concerns us all. And yet, I tell you 
 again, you will be sorry if you compel me to tell you 
 any more." 
 
 " It is not a question whether it will or will not 
 sadden me," was the young man s answer. " If it 
 affects our ward, I must know it. You have no right 
 to keep it from me." 
 
 " If you are sure that you wish to know it, 1 shall
 
 INDISPUTABLE DOCUMENTS. 233 
 
 you," said Stanley, after a long pause. "But 
 you must first promise to take no steps unless I con 
 sent." 
 
 "I promise," replied the other, wonderingly. 
 
 "The first thing that aroused my suspicions," 
 began Stanley, " was because Miss Steiner seemed 
 so much affected whenever she was asked anything 
 about the Vandenhoffs. I have tried a dozen times, 
 if I have once, to learn something of their lives in 
 Europe, while she was with them, and the particulars 
 of their deaths, but always without success. The 
 moment I touched upon the subject, she would be 
 taken with a faintness, and be able to make only the 
 briefest replies. For a time I ascribed this to her 
 natural disinclination to discuss a painful theme, but 
 her evident alarm the day when I announced my 
 intention of visiting Heidelberg could not be 
 accounted for on any such hypothesis. I tried sev 
 eral times to induce her to talk, but she was too agi 
 tated to say anything. Then I decided to pretend 
 that I already knew something about the matter, and 
 asked her to explain to me whatever she pleased 
 before I made my journey. All she would say to 
 this was that it would be better for both of us if I 
 did not go to Heidelberg at all, and that I should be 
 sure to misunderstand what I learned there if I did. 
 There was nothing left for me but to go. I think 
 you would have felt the same." 
 
 Lysle s attention was fixed. He responded to the 
 implied query by a nod of his head, fearing to break 
 the continuity of the narrative if he spoke. 
 
 " My first act on my arrival was to visit the 
 Protestant cemetery, and seek out the Vandenhoff 
 \ot. You are doubtless prepared to be astonished, 
 but you can imagine that I was no less so at the
 
 234: MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 discovery that I made there. In that lot, Lyric, 
 there is but one grave !" 
 
 The listener could only repeat in deep tones, 
 u But one grave ?" 
 
 " But one that of Max Vandenhoff. I asked for 
 the address of the undertaker who had officiated at 
 his interment. When I found him, he said he 
 remembered the circumstances surrounding the 
 burial perfectly. He had known Herr Vandenhoff 
 slightly. The gentleman had lived long in the town 
 as a bachelor, but had been away for some years 
 to France, it was understood. Yes, he had heard 
 that the Herr had married there, or in England, or 
 one of those countries, but it was remarked that 
 no wife had accompanied his body when it was 
 brought on the train for interment. Only Miss 
 Steiner had come, and everybody wondered at 
 her intense grief, for she was after all no relation. 
 She did not stay long, not longer than was neces 
 sary to place the stone over the dead man s grave. 
 No, the undertaker had never heard that Mrs. Van 
 denhoff had had a child. It might be, but he had 
 not heard, and he kept well posted in all the gossip 
 of the place. He would ask his wife, who was 
 within doors, and when he had done so he still shook 
 his head. I went from him to the house where Max 
 had stayed, and to the hotel where Janet lived when 
 she came with his body, and no one knew anything 
 more." 
 
 Lysle brushed his hair back again. Had he been 
 accused of some terrible thing himself he could 
 hardly have been more affected. 
 
 "What do you suspect ?" he asked, in a whisper. 
 
 " I told you that what I had to say would not be 
 agreeable," was the answer, " I know of but o~*
 
 ;I U^ .LDLIi DOCUMENTS. 
 
 leason that should cause the concealment of a death, 
 in a case like this. Miss Steiner had never Intimated 
 to me that Mrs. Vandenhoff did not lie by the side 
 of her husband. When I spoke of it, on my return, 
 the stammered out the information that the lady 
 was buried in France. I told her that night that 
 she must tell me the whole truth, or I should take 
 pains to have it made known in some other manner. 
 For the next fortnight she was too ill to leave her 
 room. Since then, though we have met repeatedly, 
 she has volunteered nothing that might tend to clear 
 up the mystery. Refusal to explain is confession." 
 
 " That is putting it strongly," said Lysle, feebly. 
 
 " I am quoting a maxim of law. But I have not 
 told you all. I gave her a direct series of questions 
 one evening after that, with no better result. Were 
 you with Mrs. Vandenhoff when Rosalie was born ?* 
 Yes. Were you there when she died? Yes, 
 after a good deal of hesitation. Do you know 
 where she is buried ? No answer. Will you take 
 me to the spot ? And what did she say then ! Oh, 
 no, no ! Do not ask me anything more ! I cannot 
 answer you ! " 
 
 The faith he had summoned was beginning to 
 leave the younger man. It certainly looked like a 
 strong case of circumstantial evidence. 
 
 " And you think that she " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 As fixed as the idea had become in Lysle s mind 
 what his cousin meant, it shocked him to hear this. 
 
 And her motive ?" was the next query. 
 
 It may have been anyone of a dozen. Spite,, 
 jealousy, cupidity. We do not know at this moment 
 that the will which was proven as Max VandenhofTs 
 i s genuine. It gave her $25,000, and a guardianship
 
 986 MOULDING A MAIDBV. 
 
 of bis child, equivalent to support for herself fof 
 twenty years. It gave you and me something, it is 
 true, perhaps to quiet our suspicions, but the real 
 will may have given us much more." 
 
 Lysle s blood seemed for a moment to freeze in 
 his veins. 
 
 " Have you uttered these suspicions to any one 
 else ?" he asked. 
 
 "To no one." 
 
 ** Then you musi: not,* he said, firmly. 
 
 " Must not ? Have I no duty to perform ?" 
 
 ** You can perform no such duty as you have in 
 mind," replied Lysle, in the same tone, " without mak 
 ing it certain that Rosalie will learn of this matter. 
 And that would be a worse thing than any you would 
 try to remedy." 
 
 Stanley stared at him in surprise. 
 
 * But if she were an imposter ? If Miss Steiner 
 had brought her here to inherit a fortune that is not 
 honestly hers !" 
 
 Lysle bowed his head to conceal his emotion. 
 
 " At the present that, at least, is far from being 
 proven," he replied. " I tell you, you must go very 
 carefully in a thing like this. I must have a talk 
 with Miss Steiner myself." 
 
 "You! 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " I ought to be present," said Stanley,, not liking 
 the idea of a private conference between these 
 people. 
 
 " It would be better not," was the answer. " You 
 have tried to get the true story from her, and on 
 your own statement, have failed. I will not say that 
 I am anymore likely to be successful, but if there is 
 any chance that I shall be, I must attempt it alone.",
 
 INDISPUTABLE DOCUMENT*. 
 
 He had never seen Lysle so much in earnest, 
 He wondered what had given him this new strength 
 of mind. 
 
 "Very well," said Stanley, as he saw that the 
 promise left him the judge of what evidence he 
 might think sufficient. " But let me warn you of 
 one thing. A woman who is guilty of a crime is a 
 most dangerous creature to deal with. She will do 
 things that no man would dream of to convince 
 you." 
 
 " It is for us to prove her guilty," said Lysle, 
 impressively. " She is entitled to the presumption 
 of innocence till that is done. I shall see her as 
 soon as possible, and when I have done so I shall be 
 better able to talk to you. But mind ! not a 
 word that can reach Rosalie !" 
 
 Miss Steinerhad no suspicion of Lysle s errand when 
 she came into her parlor in response to the request 
 which he sent to her through the maid. She had 
 been little better than an invalid since that day 
 when Stanley thrust his Heidelberg discoveries in 
 her face. She knew the secretive nature of his mind 
 and his contempt for his younger cousin, and she 
 believed the last thing he would be likely to do was 
 to take him into his confidence. She had not time 
 to take more than one glance at the countenance of 
 the young artist, however, before she realized, as 
 well as if he had already spoken, that he knew a!!. 
 
 " My cousin Stanley," he began, " has made me 
 the confidant of some very strange investigations 
 and surmises of his, in relat.on to you. I can see on 
 what grounds he puts his conclusions, which are 
 very injurious to your character and standing, and 
 even to the position of our ward. He believes 
 yew * criminal/
 
 388 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 " Our ward, Rosalie ?" she interrupted, trembling. 
 
 " Yes. He doubts whether she is " he stopped for 
 some seconds, overcome by his feelings " whether 
 she is really the daughter of Mr. Vandenhoff." 
 
 Miss Steiner pressed her hands upon her forehead 
 as if to relieve her overtaxed brain. 
 
 " Has he gone so far as to say that ?" she said, in 
 a voice that was hardly above a whisper. 
 
 " He has," responded Lysle, composing himself 
 with difficulty. " He proposes to fully settle that 
 question by further investigations, unless you are 
 willing to give him the proofs he requires. Her 
 position, her fortune, everything is at stake. He is a 
 lawyer, and he cannot understand what motive you 
 can have to conceal anything, unless you have com 
 mitted acts for which you fear punishment." 
 
 " So he has told me," said the woman, slowly. 
 
 " And yet you have not given him the answers ho 
 requires ?" 
 
 Her self possession gave way all at once. 
 
 " I could not !" she cried, in pain. " Oh, God . 
 Why must I bear this longer ?" 
 
 He found his feelings hardening, even while her 
 suffering called forth his pity. 
 
 " That is equivalent to a confession," he answered. 
 
 "Oh, no !" she exclaimed. " It is nothing of the 
 sort ! There are things that I cannot tell you. You 
 might find them out, but if you did it would do you 
 no good !" 
 
 "We &re not thinking of ourselves," he said. 
 " We are thinking of Rosalie." 
 
 "It would harm her most of all," she exclaimed, 
 earnestly. " If it is her interest that you seek, you 
 can subserve it best by doing nothing." 
 
 He could not tell what to make of this, but he
 
 INDISPUTABLE DOCUMENTS. 239 
 
 told her that Stanley was bent on probing everything 
 to the bottom. 
 
 Miss Steiner leaned back in her chair as though 
 too weak to sit upright. 
 
 " Has he still other suspicions, then ?" she asked, 
 weakly. 
 
 "Yes," he said, sharply. "You may as well know. 
 He thinks you may have forged the will that you 
 brought to America." 
 
 The woman sat up in her chair, with new strength 
 that had suddenly come to her. 
 
 * I was very liberal to him, then, and I did not 
 even forget you," she said, ironically. " It is strange, 
 is it not, that I gave you so much, and that I did 
 not give myself more ?" 
 
 " Not on his theory," responded Lysle, quickly. 
 " He thinks there was a real will that gave us more 
 and you less." 
 
 So strong did she grow at this that she rose from 
 her chair, and walked slowly up and down the room, 
 
 " Mr. Melrose does me too much honor," she said, 
 after a pause. " I am, according to his notion, a 
 murderer, a forger, a thief of a great fortune, not 
 for myself, but for others. Is it not ridiculous ? 
 Did you ever read in the stories of crime anything 
 as senseless as that ?" 
 
 He could hardly help thinking that it was the 
 courage of desperation that had given her this new 
 aspect, and while he still dreaded an exposure for 
 Rosalie s sake, he knew that it would have to come, 
 and wanted to forestall Stanley, if he could 
 
 " Am I to understand that you will tell me noth 
 ing ? * he asked. 
 
 She stopped in her walk, 
 
 " There is nothing to be told that is of the slight*
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 est importance to either you or him ! I have warned 
 him, and now I warn you, that you will be sorry if 
 you persist in going into the matter. It will harm 
 Rosalie beyond repair, and it will benefit no one in 
 the world. No, not even to the extent of increasing 
 any person s share of the property left by Max Van- 
 denhoff," she added, sarcastically. 
 
 Both of the speakers were quite out of their usuak 
 element. Stanley would have been surprised to 
 know that either of them could show so much deter 
 mination. 
 
 " I should be glad to believe you," replied Lysle, 
 in answer to her last statement, " but I must admit 
 that all the evidence points ina contrary direction. 
 Now there is another thing to tell you. I am going 
 to Paris in a few weeks, and I intend to take Rosalie 
 with me." 
 
 She stopped again in her walk which she had just 
 resumed, and stood like one dazed. 
 
 " Take Rosalie !" she repeated. " How often have 
 I told you that I would never go to Paris ?" 
 
 " It is not intended that you should," he replied, 
 calmly. 
 
 Thenher smothered wrath burst forth in all its force. 
 
 " You are shrewd men, you and your cousin," 
 she said, drawing herself up to her full height, and 
 looking down on him with scorn. (Excited as he 
 was, he could not help thinking what a picture she 
 would make.) " Take Rosalie to Paris, will you ! 
 You will not take her one foot of the way ! Not an 
 inch ! Stanley has taught her to despise me, and 
 you have learned the same lesson, but you are pro 
 posing to go too far ! Take Rosalie ! And to 
 Paris! You! Never, while I am alive to prevent 
 
 ur
 
 INDISPUTABLE DOOCMEOTS. 341 
 
 His admiration for the magnificence &f her post 
 was intense, but he was lost in wonder at the sub 
 limity of the defiance that she had thrown in his 
 teeth. 
 
 " You dare us to do our best, then ?" he said. 
 
 " Yes, or your worst ! Whatever it is, it is bettei 
 than submitting longer to your dictation ! You will 
 rue it, mark me ! but if you wish to go on, do so * 
 It is now your affair, not mine !" 
 
 " The first thing would probably be to put you 
 under arrest," he said, bridling. 
 
 " Oh, no ! The first thing would be to find some 
 shred of evidence that would warrant a judge in 
 issuing the papers, and that you have not yet been 
 able to do ! You would like to have me furnish you 
 with it, but you will have to excuse me." 
 
 He thought a moment. 
 
 " You may be right," he said, " in relation to that, 
 but I shall go to France at once, to discover the 
 grave of Mrs. Vandenhoff. And this will not be so 
 hard as you, perhaps, imagine." 
 
 She laughed another of those bitter laughs. 
 
 " When you have found it," she said, " be kind 
 enough to let me know the location." 
 
 " If I do not find it, you will be under still greater 
 suspicion, for you have admitted that you were with 
 her when she died. I shall find the people who were 
 with you. Since you dare me to this act, I must 
 accept your challenge." 
 
 Her only reply was another laugh that chilled him. 
 Was he really dealing with a murderess? 
 
 He went back to Stanley, and related the full par 
 ticulars of the conversation. The lawyer nodded 
 wisely, and said he had anticipated as much. They 
 talked the matter over for an hour, and the decisior
 
 fit MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 was that Lysle should go to France and pursue his 
 investigations, while Stanley remained at home to 
 watch the suspected woman. As Lysle spoke 
 French so perfectly, and knew several of the best 
 detectives in Paris, he would, it was thought, come 
 to some decision in a short time. 
 
 Before the day on which he was to sail, however, 
 there came a message from Miss Steiner that com 
 pletely altered their plans. After her excited inter 
 view with Lysle she had taken to her bed, and was 
 so ill for some days that a physician was in constant 
 attendance. The medical man was not long in ascer 
 taining that her trouble was largely mental, and he 
 urged her to do something, if possible, to ease her 
 mind of what was wearing upon it. It was he who 
 brought the message verbally to Stanley, and it was 
 to this effect : 
 
 " Miss Steiner says that while she cannot reveal 
 either to you or Mr. Lysle, what you desire, she is 
 willing to confide everything to any outside person 
 whom you may select, and in whose probity and 
 judgment you fully rely. She will answer every 
 question you have asked or may ask, bearing on the 
 points at issue, and give him proof that she tells the 
 truth. He is then to report to you his findings, but 
 not the reasons for them. I do not understand this 
 matter at all, and do not wish to," added the doctor, 
 in conclusion. " I only know that my patient is in a 
 dangerous condition with brain trouble, and that 
 this course would tend greatly to relieve her." 
 
 Stanley said he would think the proposition over, 
 and he did so for a whole day. He saw that it 
 might be difficult to prove all his suspicions before a 
 court. If he could get her under the cross-examina 
 tion of a shrewd attorney she would be likely to
 
 INDISPUTABLE DOCUMENTS, 
 
 compromise her case, no matter how cunning she 
 might be. Who was the best man ? He was not 
 long in deciding that it was Luke Woodstock, if he 
 would consent to undertake it. 
 
 Lysle accepted the proposition at once, when ht 
 was called in, and agreed in the selection of Wood* 
 stock. He was glad that some way had opened 
 which might save a part at least of the unpleasant 
 ness inseparable from the case. He had just been 
 out to walk with Rosalie, and the thought that her 
 young head must be troubled with such a story as 
 this promised to be, had given him the greatest 
 uneasiness. 
 
 Woodstock, after thinking the matter over, 
 accepted the trust, and had a talk with Miss Steiner 
 a day or two after. First he drew up a statement 
 which he made both the Melrose cousins sign, that 
 they would abide entirely by his decisions, and Stan 
 ley wrote out for him a categorical list of what he 
 wished him to ascertain, besides confiding to him 
 every scrap of information and suspicion that he 
 had. The questions were nearly a hundred in 
 number and framed to meet every possible exigency. 
 
 Miss Steiner was closeted with the referee an hour 
 each day for nearly a week, the physician not being 
 willing that she should be submitted to more lengthy 
 trials, and at the end of that time Mr. Woodstock 
 wrote out this opinion : 
 
 " / find no reason for any alteration of the present 
 guardianship of Miss jRosalie Vandenhoff, or for any 
 other proceedings whatever, legal or otherwise, affecting 
 Miss Janet Steiner. This decision kas been arrived at iy 
 means of indisputable documents"
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 Stanley was very much disappointed when he 
 received these lines, and enclosed them in a note 
 which he sent to his cousin. Lysle read them twice 
 before he could believe his eyes, and then big tears 
 of overwhelming joy rolled down his cheeks* 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 "YOU MUST GO WITH ME." 
 
 The very first time that Lysle met Miss Steiner 
 after the report of the lawyer, he took occasion to 
 tender her an apology for the things he had said at 
 their last interview. He was very frank about it, 
 saying that he had felt himself right on that 
 occasion, and had nothing to reproach himself with, 
 as far as he had then understood his duty. But 
 the report of Mr. Woodstock had put an entirely 
 different aspect on the case, and he had no wish 
 to seek further enlightenment. Miss Steiner heard 
 him quietly. She was not the same woman in 
 appearance that she had been during those years 
 when he had hitherto known her. Ill as she was 
 still, she had a new erectness and an air of conde 
 scension as she listened to him, that put him some 
 what out of ease. 
 
 " I am going back to France soon," he said, " not, 
 as before, to seek information about your history, 
 but to attend to business of my own. I cannot tell 
 bow long I shall remain, but I trust there will be no 
 more dissentions between us." 
 
 "There has never been need of any," was her
 
 * YOU MUST GO WITH ME." 245 
 
 reply * I did all I could to avoid it for a dozen 
 years, by allowing Mr. Melrose to treat me as he 
 pleased. He can never do it again, though ! I 
 shall exercise my full rights from this time on, and, 
 if there is trouble on that account it will be of his 
 making." 
 
 There was great determination in the pale face of 
 the woman, and Lysle felt that there would be 
 almost sure to be a collision between her and Stanley 
 before he was out of sight of land. 
 
 "I will tell Stanley of your position," he said, 
 " and urge him to give you no cause of offence. I 
 should dread more than anything the effect of any 
 difference between you on the mind of our ward. 
 Rosalie is already affected by the change that she 
 has found in my cousin since his return, and it will 
 be very injurious to her if it goes any further. She 
 has been with me a great deal, as you know, since 
 that happened, and I have had occasion to notice the 
 despondent ways into which she has fallen. I hope 
 you will do what you can to shield her from all 
 unhappiness. * 
 
 Miss Steiner was considerably older than the 
 artist, and this fact was brought home to him in the 
 crushing look with which she met his suggestion. 
 
 "I will take care of her," was the haughty reply. 
 "I think I may consider myself as well fitted for 
 the task as a schemer after her fortune, like Mr. Mel- 
 rose, or a painter of nude figures, like you !" 
 
 He started as though she had struck him. 
 
 " I am an artist !" he exclaimed, proudly. * In 
 the practice of my art I have occasionally drawn 
 from the nude body. But if you mean to insinuate 
 that I have ever under any circumstances lowered 
 my profession or myself *:-*u <5tat* that which is
 
 946 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 totally without foundation. I am a gentleman, Miss 
 Steiner, and I will not permit any person to slander 
 me!" 
 
 So he could be aroused on occasion, could he ? 
 She was as much astonished at his manner as he 
 had been at hers, that other day. 
 
 "Never mind," was her calm answer. "You are 
 the best judge of your own character. You must 
 remember, however, that I am not the first one of 
 this trio of guardians to make insinuations. You 
 and your cousin began it, and you went much further 
 than I have thought of doing. But on one point you 
 may set your mind at rest. Rosalie will be quite 
 safe in my hands. She has had enough of masculine 
 methods, and it will be to her advantage to spend a 
 little time in the company of persons of her own sex. 
 A pleasant voyage to you. If your business there 
 presses, do not hasten back under any impression 
 that your ward will suffer. I assure you she will 
 have the best of care." 
 
 Lysle could not help feeling the caustic sarcasm 
 that underlaid these words. 
 
 "I shall not answer you in a similar vein to that 
 which you have assumed," he said. " Rosalie is no 
 ordinary girl. It is a perilous time with her now, 
 approaching fourteen as she is, and her entire life 
 may be moulded out of her experiences with the 
 world in the next few years. I shall come back, at 
 the latest, in a few months, not with any intention 
 of interfering with you, but to see, as it is my right 
 to see, that she has the sort of education that she 
 needs, both in mind and heart. For it is not enough 
 that a girl should receive a mere technical training. 
 She should be educated in the guidance of her 
 impulses and the disposition of her affections. A
 
 *TOU MUST GO WITH MI." 84? 
 
 young woman may have passed through the best 
 schools, but if she has come out of them all without 
 tenderness for others, she has wasted her time and 
 laid the foundation of a joyless existence." 
 
 She had never heard him speak like that, and was 
 much surprised to find that it was in him. 
 
 "You speak like a text-book," was her comment. 
 " How can you know anything whatever about the 
 mind of a young girl ?" 
 
 His eyes filled with tears that he could not control. 
 
 " Do not make a cynic of her !" he exclaimed, earn 
 estly. "Yoa have had something in your own 
 experience that has made the world seem dreary. 
 Do not teach her that there is no sunshine, because 
 you have known too much of cloud. She has a 
 bright mind, a clear perception, a loving nature. 
 Do not crush out her nobler instincts while they are 
 putting forth their tendrils !" 
 
 The first letter that he wrote home was to Rosalie, 
 giving an account of his journey, and expressing 
 the hope that sh6 had been happy since he went 
 away. The second was to Stanley, and it contained 
 this paragraph : 
 
 "A very annoying thing has happened since I left 
 Paris. Some rascal has broken into my studio, 
 through the skylight, and committed several 
 depredations. The worst is the mutilation of my 
 great painting, The Angry Woman, which has 
 been slashed with a knife into ribbons, apparently in 
 mere wantonness. My nude study, The Sleeping 
 Girl, has been cut bodily out of its frame and carried 
 away. I have informed the police of the affair, but 
 as it may have occurred any time within a number 
 Of months, there is little chance of apprehending the
 
 848 MOULDING A MAIDEN, 
 
 perpetrator. He cannot have sold the picture h 
 took away, or the fact would have become known, 
 as my work is recognizable by any artist or dealer. 
 Take it altogether it is very strange piece of business. 
 I shall try to copy the Angry Woman, but I much 
 fear I cannot make it equal the original. Although I 
 would not have sold either of them, it is something 
 to remember that I was offered forty thousand 
 francs for one, and twenty-five thousand for the other 
 last year." 
 
 Stanley felt that Arthur Peck must have done this 
 work, but there were other things that were troubling 
 him just then. He had made several very unfortun 
 ate turns in the Street, and a large slice of his fortune 
 had disappeared with a celerity that was anything 
 but gratifying. He had lost his first jury case ; he 
 had failed to be admitted to a pool that was destined, 
 he knew, to clear a big sum in Harlem lots ; and now 
 came this slump in stocks which he had thought 
 surely booked for a ten-point rise. He had intended 
 to renew his old relations with Rosalie after Lysle 
 left, for he realized that, unless he did so, she 
 would have no advisor but Miss Steiner, whom he 
 had begun to fear as much as he had once despised. 
 The woman sat at the table with him now, not as 
 a shrinking suppliant for his mercy, but like a queen 
 of her own realms who did not intend to brook any 
 unwarranted interference with her prerogatives. 
 He had meant to claim his share of Rosalie s time, 
 even though he felt that the girl had lost her old 
 sentiment in regard to him, but these business 
 troubles changed everything. He had too much to 
 do without bothering with a child and an old maid, 
 as he contemptuously designated them in his
 
 "YOU MUST GO WITH 
 
 thoughts. In the annoyance of his difficulties, h 
 forgot that Rosalie wore long skirts, and that her 
 fourteenth birthday had come and gone. 
 
 So carefully had he covered his steps that only his 
 broker knew of the losses he had sustained. To 
 the business world he was as worthy of confidence as 
 ever, and he set about recouping the sums he had 
 dropped. Like many a speculator before him, his 
 hard experience unnerved his brain and made him 
 do rash things. Sometimes, to be sure, he made a 
 successful deal, but oftener he met with greater 
 losses. There came a time at last when he had no 
 choice between declaring himself a bankrupt, and 
 using a part of Rosalie s fortune to save himself 
 from ruin. 
 
 He thought it all over for days before he decided 
 upon the latter alternative. He had invested some 
 of her money with his own in several things that he 
 considered perfectly safe, and which had undergone 
 a depreciation, notably stock in the Alma gold mine 
 in Colorado. If his failure were announced, the 
 effect would be bad, both on her interests and on those 
 of others whose trustee he had become. He argued to 
 himself, with that sophistry which comes so easily to 
 the man in a tight place, that ft would be better to 
 risk a little more of Rosalie s money than to lose 
 what he had already put in. He had been mistaken 
 before, but this time he had a sure "tip." 
 
 The decision was acted upon, and the result was 
 as he had forecasted. Both their investments were 
 saved. Stanley took a good deal of praise to him 
 self as he thought over his action in this matter. He 
 really believed he had done a very creditable thing. 
 
 It was shortly after this that he rose f.om the 
 table one evening, and remarked to Rosalie;
 
 450 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 ** You may get your fiat. I am going out for A 
 short walk with you." 
 
 The girl s temper was on fire in an instant. It 
 had been so long since that morning when he lay 
 a-bed and allowed her to wait for him, that she had 
 ceased expecting to have him speak of going out 
 with her again. Now it was too much to have the 
 delayed invitation come in the form of an abrupt 
 command. She repressed herself with a powerful 
 effort. 
 
 " Thank you, I do not care to go," she said. 
 
 He stopped and looked at her. So schooled was 
 she in the art of mastering emotion that he could 
 see no trace of the tumult going on within. 
 
 "I wish you to go," he said, quietly. 
 
 " I said I did not care to," she answered, in a tone 
 as collected as his. 
 
 A shadow crossed his face. 
 
 "You do not seem to understand," he said, raising 
 his voice slightly. " I am going out, and you are to 
 go with me." 
 
 Miss Steiner had left the room and they were 
 entirely alone. Never before had he used that tone, 
 and Rosalie felt all its indignity sweep over her in a 
 maddening wave. 
 
 Rising, she strode to where he stood. 
 
 * 4 How dare you address me like that ! * she said, 
 flashing her angry eyes at him. " I tell you I will 
 not go ! It is you who do not understand! Listen, 
 then ! 2 will NOT go . " 
 
 He felt a sickening faintness at the heart, but he 
 must enforce obedience at whatever cost. 
 
 " I am your guardian," he said, " and I have a 
 right to command you. You must get your things 
 and go out with me."
 
 *TCT MUST GO WITH MB." 951 
 
 "What will you do?" she retorted, growing 
 yet angrier. " Strike me, perhaps ? I shall not 
 go ! Why do you not begin ?" 
 
 There are difficulties in the way of enforcing a 
 mandate of this kind upon a young person of the age 
 of fourteen. But this was not the thought that was 
 uppermost in the mind of Stanley Melrose at that 
 moment. There was something in the eyes of the 
 girl that gave him the greatest alarm. He did not 
 realize at first what it was, in its full meaning, but it 
 staggered him from his equanimity. When he 
 recovered sufficiently to see clearly, he found Rosalie 
 standing there still, in her attitude of defiance, her 
 every expression daring him to do his worst. 
 
 " I shall not touch you, never fear," he responded, 
 trying to appear calm. " In all the time I have had 
 the care of you I have never made an unreasonable 
 request. For some reason which I do not under 
 stand, you have decided on the course you are pur 
 suing. The result can only be to your injury; yours, 
 and that of the woman who has counselled you to 
 this move." 
 
 The flashing eyes wavered a moment, and she 
 tried to understand what he meant by his insinua 
 tion, and when it dawned on her, she repelled it 
 instantly. 
 
 " No one has advised me. For months you have 
 treated me as if I were an inanimate object, unworthy 
 of your notice. When you change suddenly and 
 become aware that I am a sentient being, it is too 
 much that your first words should be a cool request 
 or command, if you please that I should accom 
 pany you on a walk. You have done without me 
 for a long time, and you can do without me still." 
 
 In spite of her firmness of tone, her body shook
 
 252 BfOUUHWG A MAIDEN. 
 
 with the excitement under which she was laboring. 
 It was the second time in her life that she had given 
 way to anger. A moment later she began to sway, 
 and caught at the table for support. In an instant 
 he was at her side and had his arm around her, but 
 she summoned new strength and threw him off. 
 
 " My little girl," he began, all his old tenderness 
 and more returning. 
 
 " No, I am not your little girl !" she responded, 
 impulsively. " I am no longer a baby, and you shall 
 not treat me like one. I do not need your help," 
 she added, as he made another movement to sup 
 port her. " I would rather fall than have you touch 
 me!" 
 
 Strong man as he was, these words took the blood 
 from his cheeks. 
 
 " I do not know why you say these things," he 
 stammered. " I cannot think that I have done any 
 thing to deserve them." 
 
 She was wavering in her anger already, and only 
 too anxious to accept the olive-branch, but woman* 
 like, she did not wish to seem to yield her position 
 too easily. 
 
 " You surely forget," she said, " how you have 
 treated me during the past spring. Until you went 
 to Europe you were with me several hours each day. 
 Since your return you have never been out of doors 
 with me, and have sat at the table as if you were 
 deaf and dumb. Even your library, where I used to 
 sit all the afternoon reading, has been locked against 
 me. Do you think I cannot understand anything ? 
 Am I to be thrown aside when you do not happen 
 to want me, and then be picked up again at your 
 pleasure like a disused toy ? There never was a
 
 "YOTT MUST GO WITH ME. 253 
 
 time till now that I have questioned your authority, 
 But when" 
 
 She paused, trying to regain control of her feel*- 
 ings, which had begun to get the better of her, and 
 Stanley said, very gently : 
 
 "You have been under my charge ever since you 
 can remember, Rosalie. Did I ever ask an unrea 
 sonable thing of you ? Have I not acted as if your 
 good was my chief care ?" 
 
 His manner affected her powerfully. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " until you came home the last 
 time." 
 
 " And since then I have been very busy. And 
 Lysle was here, and I thought he would do quite as 
 well to walk with you." 
 
 " That is just it !" she exclaimed. " It was not 
 that you wanted to walk with me, but that you 
 thought / wanted you. It is all right. I don t com 
 plain. But if you ask me to walk merely because 
 you think I want to do it, I have no desire to go." 
 
 He put his hand on her arm then, and she did not 
 repulse him. He took one of her hands in his, and 
 *he did not try to take it away. 
 
 " Why, Rosalie," he said, in his softest tone, "I 
 took you to walk when you could only go as far as 
 around the block and back, when I had to carry 
 you in my arms up the stairs, and your tired little 
 head would fall asleep on my shoulder. I took you 
 to the seashore and went into the water with you 
 when I had to hold you up by the band around your 
 waist. I put you on the back of a pony when you 
 could not have held yourself there to save your life. 
 We were friends and companions until you grew so 
 large that I took advice and wise advice I called 
 it and left you more to other hands. Before I weiat
 
 254 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 to Europe I told you that we should have to tum 
 
 over a new leaf upon my return, and I have merely 
 carried out that plan. And now for that, you refuse 
 to go for a stroll with me, and speak and act as if I 
 were the worst enemy you could have in the 
 world !" 
 
 She had relented, and the look that she gave him, 
 as she raised her eyes, told him her story. 
 
 " Why have you locked your library?" she asked. 
 
 He started at the question. 
 
 * I have papers relating to law cases valuable 
 ones," he said, in confusion. 
 
 " I would not hurt them," she replied, in a low- 
 voice. " Are you afraid I will put them in the grate 
 and burn them, as I did those others so long ago ?" 
 
 He smiled at the reminiscence, and the recollec 
 tion of it put them both into better humor. 
 
 " I did not think on that day that you would ever 
 speak to me as you have just done," he said, reproach 
 fully. 
 
 "And I did not think you would go for days with 
 out saying more than good-morning, and lock 
 your room so that I could not get at the books 
 there." 
 
 " In a very few days I will have that matter set 
 tled," he answered, " and I will leave the key again 
 where you can find it. And now, shall we go and 
 take that walk, or not ?" 
 
 She went to get her hat and they were together 
 till after the clocks had struck nine. She was very 
 happy. It seemed almost like the old time come 
 back again. 
 
 Miss Steiner assumed most of the care of Rosalie 
 now, but he managed to get an hour or so each day 
 for their stroll. They were not exactly like the
 
 **YOTT MUST CK> WITH 
 
 walks of long ago, after all. Rosalie was older, and 
 the hot words she had uttered, even though they 
 had been so soon ended, had had their effect. He 
 walked with her as with some young lady with whom 
 he must preserve reasonable dignity, and was very 
 careful not to say anything that might look like 
 instructing her or even giving advice, as he used to 
 do. That was of the past. 
 
 One day he happened to find Miss Steiner alone 
 and he said to her : 
 
 " When Mr. Woodstock rendered his report on 
 that matter it was agreed that I was to look no fur 
 ther into it, and I intend to be true to that arrange 
 ment ; but there is one thing that I have accidentally 
 learned and I think I ought to tell you." 
 
 The haughty expression with which she had so 
 long met his glances was tempered by a look of 
 apprehension, as she waited for him to proceed. 
 
 " No one else knows it," he went on, " and no one 
 shall through me. You will remember that I imag 
 ined you the murderer of Rosalie s mother." 
 
 He paused again, and the woman waited. She 
 hardly seemed to breathe. 
 
 " I know now that you did nothing of that sort," 
 said Stanley, with great deliberation. " I know now 
 that Rosalie s mother is alive !" 
 
 Miss Steirer gasped at the words and swooned. 
 Stanley rang for assistance and helped to carry h? 
 to her bed. 
 
 Then a messenger went for the doctor.
 
 256 MOULDING A JtAIDBiv* 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DEATH ENTERS THE HOUSB. 
 
 Lysle did not find Paris much altered. The group 
 that gathered around the dinner-table in the Restau- 
 ant de la Republique had changed some of its mem 
 bers, but the new-comers were of the same type as 
 the old. The same kind of crowds thronged the 
 boulevards, and ate their lunches at the usual resorts. 
 Paris is a maiden who never alters her counte 
 nance. Leave her for years and she will salute you 
 with as warm a kiss as if you had parted from her 
 but yesterday. 
 
 The only unpleasant thing that he found was the 
 depredation in his studio, an account of which he 
 wrote to Stanley. The police, who were called, 
 promptly pronounced it the work of an enemy, but 
 Lysle could think of no one whom he had injured. 
 Investigation at the shops showed that no one had 
 offered " The Sleeping Girl " for sale. The affair 
 was a nine-days wonder, and then was shelved with 
 other mysteries. The injury to the second painting 
 was of far more account to the artist than the pur 
 loining of the first. He sorrowfully put the pieces 
 together as carefully as he could, and set about the 
 task of trying to copy it, but there were great diffi 
 culties in the way. The knife had slit through the 
 features of the woman in more than one place, and 
 it was not easy to reproduce them with fidelity. 
 
 Clothilde came in from her Raincy school, rejoiced 
 foevond measure to se him again. When she found
 
 8IATH ENTER* THE HOUSE. 35? 
 
 that the picture of herself Jiad been stolen, and saw 
 the annoyance that it gave him, she had a genuine 
 sorrow. She believed, as he did, that the person 
 who had taken it away must have destroyed it, as it 
 would be impossible to offer it for sale without pro 
 claiming the possessor a thief. She felt that she 
 owed Lysle a great debt for his kindness to her, and 
 after pondering a long time over the matter, and 
 shedding some tears at the prospect, she came to him 
 one day and bravely offered to submit her body to 
 his brush again, that he might replace his loss. 
 
 He was touched by the offer, and thanked her 
 cordially, but he did not accept it. 
 
 " You are very kind, Clothilde," he said, "but you 
 are not the same girl now as when you posed for 
 that picture. You are nine years older and the 
 curves of your body must have undergone a great 
 alteration." 
 
 " I do not think I have changed as much as you 
 imagine,* she said, with a blush. " It it would take 
 you only a few minutes to see." 
 
 But he shook his head. 
 
 " It was a child s figure ; I know it cannot be at 
 all alike." 
 
 " Did not M. Jouanneau or any of his pupils pre 
 serve their sketches?" she asked, in a tone of disap 
 pointment. 
 
 " They would not do. It was not the figure alone, 
 that I succeeded with. It was the beauty of the 
 flesh tints." 
 
 " But the tints cannot have changed," she expos 
 tulated. " I am sure of that. If you would only let 
 me show you." 
 
 Still he declined. And for this he had another 
 reason beside the one he was willing to jrive her,
 
 MOULDING A. MAIDEN. 
 
 He remembered that Miss Steiner had alluded to 
 him as "a painter of nude women." He wondered 
 how she knew that. Surely he had never spoken on 
 the subject to her. Probably, he thought, she merely 
 uttered the words at random, knowing that all 
 artists were so. There was no need of his doing it 
 again, and he had no heart for it. The better way 
 was to let the old picture go, and devote himself to 
 something new and greater. 
 
 Clothilde found it much easier to obtain a situa 
 tion such as she desired now that she had obtained 
 a knowledge of music and of other accomplishments. 
 She spoke English very fairly, having been taught 
 by Lysle in a conversational way, and in a few days 
 she was domiciled in an American household in the 
 Avenue d Eylau. 
 
 To Lysle s intense astonishment no less a visitor 
 than Mile. Suzette walked into bis studio shortly 
 after this occurrence. She had read in the papers of 
 the robbery and the mutilation of the painting of 
 which she was the model, and she came to see the 
 destruction with her own eyes. 
 
 " I suppose you have no idea who cut those holes 
 in my face ?" she said, after a careful scrutiny uf the 
 canvas. 
 
 " Not the slightest," replied Lysle. ** The police 
 say it must have been an enemy, but I have none 
 that I know of. Perhaps it was some envious rival, 
 but there are too many artists in Paris for me to 
 guess which of them could stoop to a thins: like 
 this." 
 
 She bent upon him a look of pity for his duuness. 
 
 ** Ah ! How thick your head is I It is plain to 
 aae as the sun. No one in the world did that but 
 that miserable Monsieur Peck "
 
 DEATH ENTERS THE HOUSE. 299 
 
 * Do you think so !** gasped the artist. 
 
 " Think so ! I know it ! I can imagine him now, 
 the knife in his hand, wishing it was I instead of a 
 piece of cloth." 
 
 Then she told him that Arthur had attempted to 
 kidnap Clothilde, and that she had put the police on 
 his track just in time to prevent the execution of hii 
 nicely formed plan. 
 
 " But Clothilde has been here," he answered, " and 
 she never said one word to me about it." 
 
 " Of course she did not. Neither would I if I were 
 in her place," laughed Suzette. " She is in love with 
 you, and would not like to have you know, for fear 
 you would think her somehow to blame." 
 
 Lysle turned the color of fire. 
 
 M She is not in love with me !" he exclaimed. 
 " That is all nonsense. I have only helped her to a 
 situation. I have known her from a child." 
 
 "Oh, yes, I understand," replied the woman, 
 roguishly. " You have paid her expenses at school, 
 and she has been here in the house for months, and 
 all from mere friendship ! You Americans are the 
 queerest men, to think you can pull the wool over 
 the eyes of a Parisienne. But never mind. Mon 
 sieur Peck cut up your picture, that is certain, and 
 if you find him you will get your other one. He has 
 not destroyed it. He has kept it to remind him of 
 the beauty he could not get in person ! The wretch !" 
 
 He also learned from her that Arthur had been 
 arrested and had in some way escaped punishment, 
 but that she could learn nothing since then of hit 
 movements. She had now another lover, and cared 
 little what had become of Peck, except that she 
 would have been glad if he had come to harm. 
 
 " It is easy for you to make up for all the injury
 
 MOtTLDZKO A MATDETT. 
 
 he has done me in cutting this painting, * he said, a 
 bright idea striking him. " If you will give me hall 
 a dozen sittings, and pose as I tell you, I can restore 
 everything. See, here is a new drawing I have 
 made. I have done every part but the face quite 
 well. Help me, Suzette, that s a good girl, and I 
 will pay you whatever you demand." 
 
 She laughed, for she had a mind to grant the 
 request, but she wanted a little fun first. 
 
 * Yes, that would be very fine. But imagine me 
 posing here some day, and Mile. Clothilde comes 
 in ? I would look nice with her fingers in my hair, 
 eh*** 
 
 **U is impossible," he answered, greatly irritated. 
 ** Sht will not come, and if she did she would be 
 only vflc glad that I was restoring my lost picture." 
 
 ** Wn\ does she not pose for hers ?" was the sly 
 question. " If I am to assist you to get this one 
 back again, she ought to do as much for the other." 
 
 "I do not want the other," he said, trying to 
 conceal the impatience in his tone. " This was my 
 greatest work, and the only one I care about. You, 
 of all women, ought not to say ugly things about 
 me. You remember, when Andre left you, how I * 
 
 "Yes," she interrupted, much touched. **I 
 remember, and I will sit for you, Monsieur Lysle. 
 When shall I come ?" 
 
 In a month he had the " The Angry Woman " 
 repainted, and critics declared that it was, if any 
 thing, a finer piece of work than the first one. 
 
 He wrote of Suzette s suspicions to Stanley, in his 
 next letter, and asked him to ascertain whether Peck 
 was in America, and whether it were known that he 
 had been across the sea at the time when the picture 
 was stolen. " You are a lawyer," he said in the let-
 
 BEATH ENTERS THE HOUSE. 
 
 ter, " and will know how to ascertain these thing* 
 I am willing to pay all expenses of an investigation, 
 if it is only to satisfy my curiosity. I cannot believe 
 that Arthur would do so mean a thing, but there is 
 certainly a reasonable suspicion, and it is worth look 
 ing into. I have been lucky enough to get hold of 
 the model again, and my loss will be repaired as far 
 as the injured painting is concerned. I do not want 
 Arthur arrested or punished in any way, but if I can 
 get the picture I have lost, it will please me very 
 much." 
 
 To this Stanley answered, in due course of time, 
 that he had communicated with Mr. Peck, Sr., and 
 had found that Arthur was, at last accounts, in the 
 western part of America. He agreed with Lysle that 
 it seemed impossible that he could have been guilty 
 of such an outrage, but said he would do all he could 
 to find him and to learn whether he had been out of 
 the country. 
 
 He added to this that Miss Steiner was very ill 
 indeed, and that her physician had the gravest doubt 
 that she would ever recover her full health. If she 
 should grow suddenly worse he promised to write 
 without delay. Rosalie, he said, was in the best of 
 spirits, and sent her regards. 
 
 The next letter Lysle received showed that Stan 
 ley s statements had been none too strong. 
 
 Miss Steiner was dead. 
 
 " I could have cabled to you," wrote his cousin, 
 ** but I thought a letter containing fuller particu 
 lars would be more satisfactory, and there was 
 nothing to make it necessary that you should 
 come here any sooner than you would have other 
 wise intended. While we had beea led to expect 
 that this would be the outcome of her illness, the
 
 863 MOULDING A MAIDS2I . 
 
 dissolution was very sudden at last. Her body 
 has been placed in the tomb at Woodlawn, awaiting 
 a decision, in which you must join, as to its final 
 resting-place." 
 
 Although there had been no very warm relations 
 for some time between Lysle and the deceased 
 woman, he was much affected by the news, and 
 decided that he would go to America as soon as he 
 could make the necessary arrangements. He bade 
 good-bye to Clothilde, who wept at the parting, and 
 as he held her hand he wondered whether there was 
 anything of truth in the guess of Suzette that she 
 was in love with him. He could not believe it, and 
 he felt that at least he had not encouraged her, and 
 had nothing to regret in relation to all his inter 
 course with her. He made arrangements for one of 
 the other lodgers in the hotel to occupy a bed in his 
 room during his absence, as a precaution against 
 further depredations. Then he took the train for 
 Havre. 
 
 He found a strange air pervading the rooms in the 
 St. Nicholas that Miss Steiner had occupied. Noth 
 ing had as yet been disturbed. Stanley wore the 
 look of a man who has passed through distressful 
 experiences. Rosalie seemed frightened at the first 
 touch of death that had ever come across her path 
 since she could remember. 
 
 They told him the story in hushed tones. Miss 
 Steiner had known she could not recover, but had 
 not supposed the end so near. She had made a will, 
 leaving Rosalie what property she had. She had 
 sent for Mr. Woodstock again, and confided some 
 instructions to him, the nature of which had not yet 
 transpired. She had wanted Rosalie to be with her 
 a good deal during the last few days, and had
 
 DEATH ENTERS THK HOUSK. 363 
 
 Msayed many times to say something to her, but 
 had never succeeded in doing so. One evening, 
 when the nurse returned to her room after an 
 absence of less than five minutes, she found her lying 
 in her last sleep. The end had undoubtedly been 
 one of peace. 
 
 Stanley told most of these things. Rosalie was 
 too much affected to say anything without tears. 
 
 " What shall we do about our ward ?" asked 
 Stanley, the next morning, when Lysle came into 
 his office for a consultation. " She cannot live at the 
 hotel much longer." 
 
 " I have been thinking of that," said Lysle. " I 
 suppose the only choice is between hiring a 
 thoroughly competent, motherly woman to take 
 charge of her, and sending her to a boarding- 
 schooL" 
 
 " Exactly," was the response. " Now I am head 
 over ears in business have so much to do, in fact, 
 that I hardly know which way to turn and I wish 
 you and Rosalie would settle that matter between 
 you." 
 
 Lysle was much surprised at the proposition, but 
 after a little further talk he agreed to it. 
 
 " There are many good schools," pursued Stanley, 
 thoughtfully. u I suppose the best of them are on 
 the other side of the water, though." 
 
 " At Paris !" gasped his cousin. 
 
 " Not necessarily at Paris. There are splendid 
 ones in the neighborhood of London, I have been 
 told. I do not make any suggestion, but if you 
 thought it best to take her there it would be a 
 change. She has been gloomy here ever since Janet s 
 since Miss Steiner s death."
 
 984 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 It was so strange that Stanley should propose this*, 
 that Lysle hardly knew what to say. 
 
 " And now about the burial," continued the 
 lawyer, with the manner of a man whose time is 
 precious. " What do you say about that ?" 
 
 "I do not know," was the answer. "She 
 expressed no sentiment on the matter, herself, that 
 you know of r* f 
 
 ** No, she said nothing." 
 
 * Perhaps she confided something to Woodstock, 
 in her conferences with him." 
 
 " It may be," replied Stanley. " We can find out 
 in a minute. His office is just over the way." He 
 touched a bell. " Atwell," he said to a clerk who 
 appeared, * run over to Woodstock s, and ask him if 
 he can meet us here for a few minutes." 
 
 The lawyer turned to a pile of papers that lay 
 before him and seemingly lost himself in them at 
 once. The artist wondered at a brain that could go 
 so easily from one subject to another, and could not 
 help admiring his talented cousin, whose name stood 
 for so much at the Bar and on the Street of that 
 great city. He mentally contrasted his own accom 
 plishments with those of Stanley, and thought the 
 painting of a few pictures of merit was a small thing 
 to have accomplished in such a busy world. Still 
 he knew that each had followed the profession for 
 which he was best adapted, and art and beauty had 
 its place as well as stocks, bonds and legal docu 
 ments. 
 
 Woodstock came in a few minutes. He was quite 
 grave. Stanley questioned him in relation to his 
 conversations with Miss Steiner during her last ill 
 ness, but found that he had nothing to disclose. 
 
 "We were discussing Lysle and I the question
 
 OBATB BNTBK8 THE EOUSB. 
 
 (f where slit Should be interred," explained Stanley. 
 " It occurred to us that you might have gained 
 some knowledge of her preference on the subject- 
 something that would guide us in selecting the 
 spot." 
 
 Woodstock shook his head in the negative. 
 
 u Any one of the cemeteries about here will do,** 
 he said. 
 
 Stanley looked at him attentively. 
 
 "You would not suggest taking the body to 
 Europe ?" 
 
 " Why to Europe ?" asked the other, returning the 
 gaze imperturbably. 
 
 " She lived there for years, you know." 
 
 * Yes, and she lived here for years." 
 
 " She had friends there." 
 
 " And here also. I should think America the 
 place, by all means." 
 
 He rose to go, remarking that he had an engage 
 ment, and Lysle walked out with him. At the exit 
 they encountered Dudley Morgan, whom they were 
 both pleased to greet. He had been for a long time 
 now in Stanley s employ, but his duties were mainly 
 indoors, and Woodstock saw him but seldom. After 
 a few minutes talk, the trio separated ; but Lysle 
 had not gone far when he felt a hand on his arm, 
 and Dudley was with him again. 
 
 " Are you going to stay in the country long ?" was 
 his question. 
 
 " I don t exactly know," said Lysle, thinking of the 
 London school proposition. 
 
 "I wanted to see you and have a good long talk 
 before you went," said Dudley, rather confused. 
 
 "About anything in particular ? I am liable to go 
 very suddenly. How are you getting along with
 
 866 vouurao A MAIDEN. 
 
 Stanley ? You seem to have suited each other, 
 
 ing by the length of time you stay. And you art 
 
 now a full-fledged member of the bar, I believe ?" 
 
 " Yes," replied Morgan. He hesitated, as if uncer 
 tain what to say. " I wanted to ask your opinion oo 
 something, Lysle. If if a man is trusted by another, 
 and in that way learns secrets that are to the injury 
 of a third party, is it his duty to reveal them, or 
 should he keep them sacred ?" 
 
 Lysle had never had a thing like this to think of, 
 and he answered in an off-hand way : 
 
 "I should say it would be very mean of him to 
 betray the man who trusted him." 
 
 "Even if the other man was betraying those who 
 trusted in him ?" asked Morgan, eagerly. 
 
 "Yes," said Lysle, " that is not his affair. a l 
 think of all men I most despise a tell-tale." 
 
 Morgan winced at this, and seemed disappointed, 
 and after a moment longer he said good-bye and 
 walked thoughtfully away. As for Lysle, he had 
 forgotten the question ten minutes later, and it was 
 a long time after that he remembered it and uader* 
 stood its significance. 
 
 Rosalie was doubtful about going to Europe, but 
 agreed to it instantly when Lysle told her that Stan 
 ley had suggested it. The rooms in the St. Nicholas 
 were given up, and preparations were made for 
 departure. Lisa was to accompany the travelers on 
 her way back to her native France. 
 
 There was a good deal of hurry in the good-bye 
 that Stanley gave them. He told Rosalie that she 
 must write, and be able to give a good account of 
 herself. He looked terribly haggard, like a. man 
 who sleeps badly, and Lysle warned him that he was 
 working; too hard.
 
 UKJB A SWEET 
 
 As they were entering their carriage his eyes met 
 Rosalie s. There was such pain in his gaze that 
 she would have gone to him in a moment more and 
 thrown her arms about his neck. But even as sh 
 hesitated, he disappeared in the crowd, and the car 
 riage wound its way through the streets to the 
 steamer. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 LIKE A SWEET DELIRIUM. 
 
 The crossing of the ocean occupied nine days. 
 Rosalie was too strong physically to feel any 
 thing like sea-sickness, and Lysle had long since 
 passed that unpleasant experience of the traveler by 
 steamer. But the girl was clearly dejected during 
 the first few days out. It was the only time she had 
 ever taken such a long leave of Stanley, and Lysle 
 was observant enough to know that she felt the 
 parting very much indeed. 
 
 He wondered, as he paced the deck, what had 
 made Stanley come to the opinion that a foreign 
 journey was best for her. It did not seem like him 
 to be willing to sacrifice his own pleasure in this way. 
 Though there had been times when he had appar 
 ently neglected Rosalie notably the long weeks that 
 followed his return from Heidelberg this had been 
 compensated for by subsequent events. It was very 
 strange that he should be willing to spare her now 
 at a time whea there was no visible estrangement 
 between them. Lysle studied over this problem, and 
 finally gave it up. It was too deep for him.
 
 268 MOULDING A 
 
 As they neared Liverpool Rosalie brightened. 
 felt that joy at the prospect of setting foot on foreign 
 soil that most of us know so well. She realised that 
 she would be much freer than she had ever been* 
 with Lysle for her only present guardian, and that 
 she would be permitted to do about as she pleased 
 when she reached shore. There is something in the 
 heart of a girl of fourteen that makes her long for 
 liberty even as the bird in its cage and, often the 
 freedom gained is of no more service than it is to the 
 innocent little songster. Rosalie knew that she could 
 manage Lysle, and she felt as if the horizon had 
 widened before her. 
 
 The result showed that she had not mistaken her 
 forecast. When they reached London she requested 
 him not to go to any of the institutions of learning 
 which he had planned to visit, until they had 
 thoroughly enjoyed the sights. 
 
 A fortnight later, when this had been accom 
 plished, she wanted to run over to Paris with him, 
 and see the "most beautiful city in the world," as he 
 was in the habit of describing it to her, before she 
 settled down to study. Her wish was law, and with 
 Lisa still in the party, they crossed the Channel and 
 took up their residence in the Avenue de 1 Alma, 
 from whence he showed her the attractions to her 
 heart s content for the next month. But when he 
 urged that it was time for another term of the 
 English seminaries to begin, she showed no inclina 
 tion to hasten there. 
 
 " I have studied, studied, all my life," she said, 
 ** and now I want a good long vacation. If you 
 think it necessary, I will take special lessons here 
 from private teachers, but I do not wish So tit
 
 LIKE A SWEET DELIRIUM. 269 
 
 myself down yet to any routine such as that of a 
 
 boarding school." 
 
 "I was thinking," he replied, doubtfully, "that 
 Stanley 
 
 She tossed her head, though her eyes drooped. 
 
 " He has nothing to do with it. He sent us over 
 here, and now he must let us use our own judgment. 
 And we have decided that I am not going to any 
 English school at present." 
 
 He was very willing to be convinced, though he 
 had his doubts whether this would suit his punc 
 tilious cousin, and he met her statement with 
 silence. 
 
 "It is nice enough for you to send me into a 
 strange city, where I do not know a soul," she went 
 on, " but for me, who have never spent an hour away 
 from one or the other of my relations, it is very 
 disagreeable. I will take music and painting, if you 
 care to have me, and anything else in reason, but it 
 must be here in Paris, where you are. I know I 
 am a big girl, but there are times when I feel as if I 
 were only a baby." 
 
 Where he was ! That was enough to turn the tide 
 in Lysle s mind. He decided that she should stay 
 in Paris, and sent for Clothilde to live with her as a 
 sort of chaperone. He engaged several professors 
 in the branches she suggested, who were to come to 
 the house on specified days. He hired rooms for 
 himself in the same building, where he could be 
 near enough and yet not too near to his ward. He 
 rode out with her and Clothilde, always with 
 Clothilde and made arrangements for furniture 
 and cooks and all sorts of things, like a veritable 
 man of affairs. And he was quite delighted, when 
 be had written candidly of the matter to Stanley, to
 
 2TO MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 receive a letter in reply expressing the convection 
 that he had acted wisely, and that the new scheme 
 would be much better for Rosalie than the one first 
 suggested. 
 
 Lysle went back to his studio happier than he had 
 ever been. His brush seemed to feel the impulse 
 of his quickened pulses and he began another series 
 of paintings superior to anything he had yet done. 
 Rosalie sometimes came over to visit him, and then 
 only then his hand failed to answer the rudder 
 of his brain. He was greatly afraid of her criticism, 
 which she showered freely on his work, judging 
 things entirely by fancy and not by any standard of 
 art, for she had none. Once he threw aside a sketch 
 of which he had had great hopes, because she pro 
 nounced it disagreeable ; and another that he was 
 on the point of rejecting as too artificial, he finished 
 with the greatest care merely because she expressed 
 a liking for it. 
 
 Of course she wanted to ride in the Bois, and he 
 nought two fine saddle-horses and went out with 
 her every morning. He could not ride as well a? 
 s^ hut he liked the exercise, and kept up with her 
 fairly well. Clothilde could not follow them on 
 these excursions, but she went in a carriage with 
 them, and waited till they returned to the entrance s 
 where they resigned their saddle-horses to a waiting 
 groom. One day Rosalie saw for sale two magnifi 
 cent dogs, weighing about a hundred pounds each, 
 and insisted upon buying them. After that they gal 
 loped with the great brutes at their heels, and some 
 times, wnen she walked instead, she led them by a 
 tether, and attracted the attention of everybody who 
 met her, by the strength of arm which she showed 
 when they tried to break from her hold.
 
 LIKE A SWEET DELIRIUM. 271 
 
 Lysle painted her picture with these two dogs, at 
 her own request. He would not have dared sug 
 gest it, having felt a delicacy since that day when 
 she accused him of cai ing for her only as a model. 
 It was but a little while before she became one of 
 the sights of the Bois, which people used to point 
 out to each other. 
 
 Clothilde did the best she could, but he soon 
 found that he ought to get another companion for 
 Rosalie, one nearer her station in life. He suc 
 ceeded, by good luck, in engaging the widow of a 
 French army officer, a lady of the greatest refine 
 ment, who had met with reverses that compelled her 
 to do something to eke out her small income. 
 Mme. Fleury was not more than thirty years of 
 age, and had a beauty of face and figure that had 
 once been considered worthy of remark. She was 
 not sorry to accept the charge of the comfortable 
 establishment in the Avenue de 1 Alma, where she 
 was nearly as independent as if she had been its real 
 proprietor, and to guide the steps of such a bright 
 young girl as she found Rosalie to be. Mme. 
 Fleury had been through one of the best schools in 
 France, and was most highly accomplished. She 
 told Lysle, with a significant look of her dark eyes, 
 that it was quite as well that he had decided to have 
 his ward taught by private teachers at her own 
 home. She had nothing to say against the average 
 boarding school, as indeed she ought out, being a 
 graduate of one of them, but ! She shrugged her 
 shoulders in a way that might have meant a good 
 deal, and Lysle felt as if he had escaped a real 
 danger for the girl in whose welfare he had so deep 
 an interest. 
 
 Rosalie took kindly to her new governess. Mme.
 
 272 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 Fleury made some changes in the studies which fcef 
 charge was taking, after due deliberation and a care 
 ful estimate of her tendencies in various directions, 
 but she did not neglect her health. She was a good 
 horseback rider herself, and another animal was 
 soon added to the number that Lysle had purchased 
 for her use. She never made the mistake of 
 attempting to order or domineer in any way, but 
 succeeded in accomplishing all that she sought by 
 the mildest methods. Within a very brief time, 
 Rosalie came to regard her more as a sister than as 
 a superior authority. All these things Lysle related 
 in his letters to Stanley, having a conscientious 
 notion that it was his duty to tell him everything, 
 and the answers that came infrequent and very 
 terse always expressed satisfaction at the news, and 
 confidence in the judgment of the sender. 
 
 Rosalie occasionally received letters from Stanley, 
 too, but they always made her very pensive, and 
 Lysle used to wonder what was in them that could 
 have this effect. He wished that things were in 
 better shape between his ward and his cousin. 
 There was a mystery there that he could not 
 fathom, and it gave him as much pain as it did her. 
 In fact anything that hurt Rosalie hurt him 
 also. 
 
 Two whole years went by in this way. The life 
 at the house in the Avenue de 1 Anna changed very 
 little as the months passed. Lysle lived partly in 
 his studio rooms and partly in the hotel, but he 
 nearly always dined with his ward and Mme. Fleury. 
 He very seldom saw Rosalie alone. Once a week he 
 had an hour or so of chat with her governess on 
 business matters, and there was never any disagree 
 ment between them. He was well satisfied with the
 
 LIKE A SWEET PELUIUM. 273 
 
 way things were going. Rosalie was rapidly becom 
 ing a skillful musician, and she had acquired many 
 other things that made her better fitted for the place 
 in life that she was intended to adorn. Lysle was 
 forever congratulating himself on his good luck in 
 securing so good a chaperone for her, and in having 
 her so near him in his best-loved city. 
 
 One thing is worthy of mention, as showing an 
 odd phase of the mind of the artist. He had never 
 sent to Stanley an account of Rosalie s expenses, 
 nor drawn upon him for any sum of money what 
 ever on her account. Neither had his cousin, in all 
 this time, sent anything to him, or inquired into his 
 silence on the subject. Lysle knew that Rosalie 
 would inherit a large fortune when she came of age, 
 and he had a dim idea that he should then render 
 his statement, which he kept with scrupulous exact 
 ness. As he believed it his duty to send in a request 
 if he wanted money, and not Stanley s to offer it 
 unasked, he felt no surprise that it was never men 
 tioned in any of the letters which he received from 
 the lawyer. There was an occasional intimation 
 from Stanley that he might pay his cousins a visit 
 in the not distant future, and Lysle used to say to 
 himself that he probably intended to settle the 
 matter at that time. 
 
 All of Lysle s property was in easily convertible 
 securities, and whenever he needed more than his 
 ordinary income he was in the habit of going to his 
 brokers and parting with a piece of stock or a bond 
 at the market rate. As for Rosalie, she had never 
 thought anything about it, and had only an indis 
 tinct idea that she had plenty of money, and that if 
 the wanted anything all she need do was to ask 
 *W it.
 
 874 MOULDING A MAIDSN. 
 
 There was but one thing in relation to her charge 
 that troubled Mme. Fleury, and that was her dispo 
 sition in regard to dress. Rosalie had never learned 
 to care for pretty things. There was always a con 
 test a good-natured one, to be sure whenever a 
 dressmaker or milliner or boot-maker had to be con 
 sulted. The woman used to have talks with Lysle 
 about this trait of his ward, but he was as much at a 
 loss as she how to remedy it. 
 
 " I really hate to take her to a theatre or any 
 similar place," Mme. Fleury would say. " She is a 
 handsome girl, and attracts attention, but I can over 
 hear the comments of the ladies in relation to her 
 garments. If there were any way she could be 
 induced to change " 
 
 And Lysle would answer helplessly : 
 
 " If there were any way !" 
 
 The way came, quite unexpectedly, through the 
 arousing in the girl s mind of one of the most 
 unlovely of her attributes. While passing down the 
 stairs of her hotel to the street, one afternoon, she 
 overheard a young girl of about her own age make 
 these remarks to another who lived on the floor 
 above : 
 
 " I think that Mile. Vandenhoff the dowdiest thing 
 I ever saw ! She puts on a good deal of airs with 
 her saddle-horses and her carriages, but she wears 
 the most frightful clothes I ever knew a girl to have. 
 I have sometimes thought of taking up a subscrip 
 tion to buy her something decent." 
 
 The loud laugh that followed showed that the joke 
 was appreciated. Rosalie was going out to ride with 
 Mme. Fleury. When she wa* seated in her carriage, 
 she turned a very white face to her governess, 
 
 * 4 You heard ?" she said, laconically,
 
 LIKE A SWEET DELIRIUM. 275 
 
 ** Yes, * replied Mme. Fleury. 
 
 " Is it true ?" 
 
 Mme. Fleury hesitated. 
 
 " Do I wear the most frightful clothes you ever 
 saw ?" 
 
 The girl was much excited, but it was an oppor 
 tunity that the Frenchwoman thought she ought to 
 take advantage of. 
 
 " You do not follow the styles very closely," she 
 said. " I think, to be candid, that many people notice 
 it." 
 
 " But I hate the styles !" broke forth the girl, 
 passionately. " They are not comfortable, and they 
 are not becoming ! Is it necessary to wear every 
 style that some nobody may invent in order to keep 
 from being insulted ! And she said I could not 
 afford better things ! I ! I who have a large 
 fortune and can spend any sum I please ! Not 
 afford it, indeed !" 
 
 Mme. Fleury had never seen her angry before. 
 It was only once in a year or two that Rosalie s 
 temper got the best of her. 
 
 " M. Lysle has spoken to me about it several 
 times," pursued the woman, thinking it wise to 
 clinch the nail if she could. 
 
 " He should have spoken to me" said Rosalie, 
 regretfully. " What did he say ?" 
 
 "He only said that he should be glad if you would 
 conform a little nearer in your dress to the customs 
 of the people with whom you will by-and-by have to 
 associate. I think he would like it, too, if you 
 would take lessons of a dancing-master." 
 
 " Ah, but that seems so silly !" cried the girL " To 
 tnitsce, and bow, and turn about like a marionette * 
 I was not brought up to do those things. I can
 
 76 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 swim, ride, shoot or climb better than any of these 
 dainty women who affect to be so much better than 
 L Why should my inability to dance, or my aver 
 sion to wearing nonsensical clothes make them con 
 sider me their inferior ?" 
 
 Mme. Fleury tried to explain to her that while 
 these things did not make her less worthy than 
 other girls they did cause her to be remarked upon, 
 and that it would be wise, in her opinion, if she 
 were to add the other accomplishments to those 
 which she already had, and which were, without 
 doubt, all right in their place. 
 
 Mme. Fleury, Lysle and Rosalie occupied a box at 
 the Opera, shortly after, while one of the great balls 
 of the season was in progress. They were well 
 secured from special observation by the curtains 
 that hung across the front of the box, but Rosalie 
 could see the merry groups of dancers that covered 
 the vast floor, and with her glass distinguish the ele 
 gant costumes worn by the ladies. As the music gave 
 forth its bewitching strains, and the gay spectacle 
 was at its height, the bosom of the young girl rose 
 and fell with rapidity. She was experiencing an 
 entirely novel sensation. Here was something that 
 she had missed in the drama of life something, too, 
 that appealed to her sense of rhythm and beauty. It 
 no longer seemed silly this moving to the sound of 
 that orchestra it seemed like a sweet delirium 
 She heartily wished that she were one of that gallant 
 array, and turned from the sight with regretful eyes 
 when her friends said it was time to depart. 
 
 " Did you like it ?" asked Lysle, doubtfully, for he 
 feared very much to hear her answer in the negative, 
 He had brought her in the hope that the effect would
 
 muz, A BWEET DKLUUCM, 
 
 be good, but she had been so still all the evening 
 that he could only form a vague notion about it. 
 
 " Yes," she responded softly. " I do like it. I wlfl 
 go to the dancing-master s to-morrow." 
 
 " Not quite as soon as that," smiled Mme. Fleury. 
 "You will have to have some suitable gowns 
 first." 
 
 "I will wear them," said Rosalie, with meekness. 
 " As many as you like, and as soon as they can be 
 made." 
 
 Mme. Fleury and Lysle exchanged significant 
 glances. It had all been accomplished so easily. 
 Rosalie did not look up. She was thinking what that 
 girl on the stairs would say when she met her in a 
 dress much finer than any she had ever owned. 
 
 The new dresses were made and the dancing les 
 sons begun. In this as in everything else, the girl 
 proved an apt pupil. But suddenly she developed a 
 love of fine garments that was nothing short of a 
 craze. She wanted everything that she saw in the 
 shops, and Mme. Fleury, becoming alarmed, had 
 another conference with her guardian. 
 
 " You must give me a limit," she said. " Rosalie 
 is like a starved child now, and wants the most costly 
 things. I am willing to go as far as you direct, for I 
 never saw a girl whom fine clothes were more becom 
 ing to, but the limit is for you to set." 
 
 " There is no limit," replied Lysle, with a bright 
 light in his eyes. And he went down to his brokers , 
 with another bond fo* hena to $!!.
 
 278 MOULDING 4. 
 
 CHAPTER XXHL 
 "C IST GAIE, N EST 
 
 The rage that Rosalie had suddenly conceired for 
 
 legant attire led her into extravagancies in all 
 directions. Her only active guardian found that 
 this young person could dispose of more money in 
 one year than he had ever needed for himself in 
 six. She had no idea of the value of gold and silver. 
 She knew that she was heiress to a large fortune, 
 and that she was coming one of these days into 
 undisputed possession of vast sums. She never 
 troubled her head about figures. Up to the hour 
 when she looked down on the dazzling throng at 
 the Opera ball, she had not cared for anything that 
 could be called expensive. The matter of cost had 
 had nothing to do with the question. Comfort 
 and convenience had influenced all of her selections 
 in the way of clothing. She had been a mere child in 
 most things until that moment, as indeed she still 
 was in nearly everything else. The fancy that she 
 took for silks, satins, velvets and laces, partook 
 almost as much of the child s nature as it did of the 
 budding woman that was developing in her. 
 
 Mme. Fleury did not believe it wise to indulge her 
 in all the wild notions that she conceived, but she 
 well understood that it was not part of her business 
 to tell Monsieur Lysle his duty in a matter like 
 that. Whenever she hinted to him and the hints 
 were very gentle things that Rosalie was spending 
 a great deal more money than was good for a girl ol
 
 kA.IE, N EBT PAS?" 
 
 her age, his only reply was that she must have 
 whatever she wanked. He knew no pleasure so 
 great as to sit in her parlor and have the girl bring 
 her newest garments to him, or the fabrics from 
 which they were to be made, and catch the sparkle 
 of her pretty eyes as she gloated over the beauty 
 of the materials, or the fineness of the workmanship. 
 
 There was nothing that she did not show him 
 for what was Lysle but a dear, good fellow before 
 whom nobody could think of prudery ? She brought 
 him her new hosiery, tinted with the shades of the 
 noonday sky or the early dawn, and told htm to see 
 what bargains she had bought at thirty francs the 
 pair. She exhibited the high-heeled boots she had 
 so recently despised, and called his attention to the 
 fact that her foot had not grown too big in the old 
 common-sense shoes, as one might have supposed it 
 would have been sure to do. She showed him gar 
 ters with jewelled monograms, with as much non 
 chalance as if she were an infant of four years. She 
 developed a perfect rage for hats, and tried on one 
 after another before him that he might pass judg 
 ment on their relatively becoming qualities. There 
 were gowns innumerable, cloaks of all kinds, and an 
 endless variety of other things that she would not 
 rest content until he had seen and approved. And 
 he looked at them all, and said they were very beau 
 tiful and very becoming, and that they certainly 
 were marvels of cheapness. And he never saw one 
 of them distinctly, because his entire vision was filled 
 with Rosalie herself. 
 
 Used as she was to having her own way in every 
 thing, the young girl bade fair to go as far to one 
 extreme as she had to the other, and Mme. Fleury 
 uld not help wishing there were some feasible way
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN-. 
 
 to control her. Though but sixteen years of age. 
 she had the figure of a girl of eighteen, at least, and 
 she conceived a fondness for low-cut gowns and 
 short sleeves that was almost terrifying. She 
 seemed to feel that she had left her girlhood far 
 behind, with her outlandish garments of the former 
 era, and she wanted to plunge at one swoop into the 
 M full dress " of women five years or more her senior. 
 There were distressed moments for her chaperone 
 when the question of a bit more or less of lace in the 
 corsage seemed of the first importance, and it was 
 hard to tell who would win the day. Rosalie had a 
 most lovely neck and shoulders, and her discovery 
 that this was so had been followed by a mad anxiety 
 to utilize these charms with all possible speed. 
 
 " You cannot wear that dress cut so low without 
 exciting unpleasant remark," said Madame Fleury. 
 " You will meet no girl of your age with anything 
 like it." 
 
 " I am nearly seventeen," retorted Rosalie, " and 
 the dressmaker said I could pass for eighteen with 
 no trouble. I never looked as pretty as I do in this 
 bodice. I am going to show it to Lysle, when ha 
 comes, and see if he doesn t agree with me." 
 
 Madame Fleury grew desperate. 
 
 "I cannot imagine a costume that Monsieur Lysli 
 would not declare suitable to you if he knew you 
 wanted to wear it," she said. 
 
 Rosalie took a long look at herself in the glass. 
 
 " Can t you ?" she said, softly. " / can." 
 
 M But it is not a question for a gentleman t* 
 decide," persisted Mme. Fleury. " I know that li 
 would be considered unbecoming " 
 
 " Oh, surely it is not that !" cried the girl, inter* 
 rupting her.
 
 "o*E8T GATE, N EST PAS?* 281 
 
 "It would be considered unsuitable for you by 
 every lady who would see it. The object of dressing 
 is certainly not to excite unfavorable remark. I am 
 not sure I should be willing to go to the theatre with 
 you in that dress, if it is to be cut as low as you have 
 planned. * 
 
 Rosalie still eyed her shoulders in the mirror. 
 
 "Oh, well, Clothilde would go," she said. "But 
 you wear your dress as low as this, and I am sure it 
 loks very well on you." 
 
 " Recollect," was the reply, " that I am a few years 
 older than you." 
 
 * That is the worst of it !" cried the girl. " I have 
 waited so long to be somebody ! Well, I suppose we 
 shall have to put in a lot of lace." 
 
 " It is a little too low even for the lace," said Mme. 
 Fleury. Let me show you." She arose and began 
 to put in the pins. " There, that is the very lowest 
 it ought to be, and I should make it at least an inch 
 higher if I followed my judgment." 
 
 They arrived at a compromise, finally, and the 
 dress was finished. The evening that it was to be 
 worn for the first time Rosalie came in to dinner with 
 it on, as they were to occupy a box at the Porte St. 
 Martin. Used as her guardian was to her changed 
 appearance of late, he started to his feet in sheer 
 astonishment when the new vision met his eyes. 
 
 Stanley had felt that Miss Steiner had taken away 
 his child by the mere lengthening of a skirt. Lysle 
 thought Mme. Fleury had substituted a grown 
 woman for his late ward, and all by deepening the 
 cut of a bodice. 
 
 " How do you like it ?" demanded Kosalie with a 
 saucy toss of her head.
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 His heart beat too rapidly and his breath came 
 too short for intelligible speech. 
 
 "C estgaie, n est pas ?" she cried, going to him, 
 and encircling his neck with one of her half-bare 
 arms. She wanted very much that he should take 
 her side against Mme. Fleury. "Say that you like 
 it, dear ! Say that you like it !" she cried, coax- 
 ingly. 
 
 She had never put her arms about his neck before, 
 nor given him any endearment that approached it. 
 Nor bad she ever called him by that epithet. 
 
 " You will paint my portrait in it, will you not ? * 
 she went on, with vivacity. " You have me as a 
 little child, as a young person, and as a girl with 
 dogs and a horse. This will complete the list. I 
 am now a woman. Did you know that, Lysle, a 
 woman ! Am I not tall ? And handsome ? You do 
 not answer me. Is it, then, that you do not like it, 
 after all? I will take it off immediately." 
 
 She began as if to remove the garment, but he 
 found his voice. 
 
 " It is very pretty," he said. " I I was confused. 
 I did not expect it." 
 
 She danced about the room in glee. 
 
 " Are you in earnest ?" she asked. " For you 
 know I would not wear anything of which you did 
 not fully approve. It is not cut too low, do you 
 think ? What do you suppose Mme. Fleury said ? 
 That you would declare anything becoming if you 
 knew I wanted to wear it ! You would not do that, 
 would you, Lysle ? You are a good judge of ladies 
 attire, are you not ?" 
 
 He hardly heard her. He was thinking what if 
 Stanley should open that door and see her thus ! 
 Be felt that his complaisant cousin would protest
 
 loudly against the freedom that his ward was allowed. 
 But for himself, he did not know how to say "no* 
 to her. If she was happy, it was all he cared. 
 
 Madame Fleury came in at this moment. 
 
 " He likes it !" exclaimed Rosalie, before her gor* 
 erness could speak. " He says it is very chic, and 
 that I am charming in it !" 
 
 The Frenchwoman had taken in the expression 
 on the face of the young guardian at the same time 
 that she heard these words. She knew that he 
 would have preferred a more extensive covering to 
 those shoulders, and she wondered what he would 
 have thought had the dress been finished after the 
 pattern that the girl had selected. But she had the 
 wisdom to smile on both simultaneously, and to 
 remark that no one would question the judgment of 
 Monsieur Lysle. 
 
 The menu had no charms for the artist. He saw 
 nothing but his ward, and yet he avoided looking at 
 her as he had never done before. He thought of 
 the sittings she was to give him, in that costume, 
 for he intended fully to accede to her request at the 
 earliest opportunity. What a magnificent picture 
 she would make ! What a bud of just opening 
 womanhood, a maiden standing at the threshold of 
 the fuller life ! For she was still a child, in spite of 
 all her trappings ; a child clad in the garments of 
 one of her elders, delighted with the effect of the 
 unaccustomed display. 
 
 Yes, she was a child, a child to be guarded more 
 than ever, now that she stood so near the open 
 portal. 
 
 Another year passed, and in February a grand 
 masqued ball occurred. As many of the young 
 acquaintances that Rosalie had made at the dances
 
 MOULDING A MALDS9. 
 
 which she now frequented, were going, she per- 
 suaded Mtne. Fleury that she ought to go also 
 Lysle purchased a box, and bought costumes for 
 all three of them, as they thought it best to be on 
 the floor if Rosalie was to dance, as she seemed 
 determined to do. The dancing-school which she 
 attended was one of the most select in Paris, and the 
 young people there were of the very highest class. 
 Special preparations were made for this occasion, 
 which drew heavily on the finances of her guardian, 
 but as usual he uttered no protest. She had of late 
 taken a fancy to jewelry, and many thousand francs 
 went to purchase diamonds. 
 
 Lysle danced once with Rosalie, and then they 
 all got mixed up in the tumult. Some of her 
 young friends carried her away, and when she next 
 found herself holding a conversation it was with a 
 man hidden like the others behind a mask, but call 
 ing her by name, and professing to have known 
 her for a long time. 
 
 " You do not recollect my voice," said the figure, 
 " but I will prove to you that I know all about you. 
 Your cousin Stanley, in New York, has lately 
 declined to come to Paris on the ground that he has 
 not the time to spare." 
 
 He had mentioned the one word that could have 
 kept her talking with him ; for, young and unsophis 
 ticated as she was in the ways of the social set, she 
 did not think it a good thing to have too much to 
 say to a person whose identity she could not discern. 
 
 "Have you, then, seen my cousin lately ?" she 
 asked. 
 
 ** Less than three weeks ago.** 
 
 * Is he well?" 
 
 ** No. He is growing old and very gray,
 
 "cfarr GATE, N*EST PAS?" 38ft 
 
 would hardly know him. He has a world of trouble 
 
 on his mind." 
 
 She was fastened to his side now with hooks of 
 steel. 
 
 " Tell me more," she said, " since it is evident that 
 you can do so." 
 
 " Not to-night. This is no time or place. If you 
 will meet me to-morrow at let me see, shall you 
 ride in the Bois ?" 
 
 " In the afternoon, yes ; at four o clock.** 
 
 " Alone ?" 
 
 " Except my maid." 
 
 He muttered " Diable !" beneath his breath. 
 
 " It will not do. I cannot tell you anything unless 
 you are entirely alone." 
 
 She wanted to know why, but there was no time 
 for a long parley. 
 
 " I will bring my maid," she said, " but I will leave 
 her in the carriage and come on foot into the Avenue 
 of the Roses. If you are there I will talk to you." 
 
 He consented to this, after some hesitation, and 
 left her. 
 
 " Who was that with whom you were talking ?" 
 asked Lysle, a few moments later, for he had spied 
 the mask and failed to recognize him as one of those 
 who had hitherto been paying court to Rosalie. 
 
 ** He said he was an American," was her reply, 
 " and that he knew Stanley." 
 
 Lysle did not fancy this, and determined to have 
 an eye kept on the man. He judged from the reti 
 cence which Rosalie showed that there had been 
 something to the conversation of more moment than 
 this mere announcement. He had no intention of 
 catechizing her, and he doubted his ability to do it 
 successfully, in case there were anything which she
 
 286 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 did not wish to r&veal. But he knew there wert 
 ways in Paris to discover things, and he put one of 
 them in practice. Before he left the ball he arranged 
 with a detective to follow the strange American 
 and report what he could learn of him. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ARTHUR PECK S REVENGE. 
 
 The next moaning Rosalie repented of the agree 
 ment she had made to meet the strange man in the 
 Avenue of the Roses. She began to think that it 
 was a decidedly improper step to take, and she could 
 see no reason for this secrecy upon a matter which 
 ought apparently to be entirely above board. Lysle 
 had slept at the hotel, and like herself rose late. He 
 came in to see how she had passed the night, and 
 she told him all about the matter, with perfect 
 freedom. 
 
 "You remember the man who was talking to me 
 last night, Lysle ; the one you asked about, and 
 whom I said claimed to be an American ?" 
 
 "Yes," he replied, with a slight start. He won 
 dered what report his detective would bring in rela 
 tion to him. 
 
 " I promised to meet him in the Bois this after 
 noon," she proceeded, in the most matter-of-fact 
 way, " and " 
 
 He sprang from his chair a* if to ward off from 
 her some vital danger.
 
 AJSTHUJB PECK S REvasras. 8S? 
 
 " Promised to meet him !" he repeated, almost 
 with a scream. 
 
 " Why, yes, only in one of the avenues,* she replied, 
 shocked at the effect the announcement had had upon 
 him, and not at all comprehending the reason. " He 
 said he had seen Stanley three weeks ago," she pro 
 ceeded, in explanation, "and wanted to tell me 
 something about him which there was not time to 
 tell at the ball. I said I would meet him there at 
 four to-day, but I have changed my mind. I shall 
 send Qothilde instead, to say that I do not think it 
 quite proper." 
 
 Never had he felt so thoroughly how inadequate 
 he was to carry out the part he had assumed, how 
 totally incompetent to guide these young feet in the 
 path they ought to tread. 
 
 " I am surprised," he began, with all the dignity 
 that he could summon, " to hear that you thought 
 even for an instant of doing such a rash thing. Do 
 you not know that a young girl must not speak to a 
 gentleman under any circumstances without a 
 formal introduction ?" 
 
 She laughed at his earnestness. 
 
 " He addressed me first, you will remember, and 
 it was introduction enough when he spoke the name 
 of Stanley. And what do you think he said, Lysle ? 
 That Stanley was looking very old, and that his hair 
 had turned gray !" 
 
 The sweet voice faltered and the laugh around her 
 mouth gave way to a tremor, while tears fell from 
 her eyes. If there was anything needed to complete 
 the demoralization of her young guardian, this was 
 Sufficient. 
 
 "We ought to go over and see him," she went on, 
 when she recovered herself a little. " I have thought
 
 J88 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 of it for a long time. It seems cruel to neglect him as 
 we have been doing. He is too busy with his thousand 
 affairs to come here, but there is no reason why we 
 cannot pay him a visit. I am really ashamed that I 
 have neglected to tell you how I felt, but I have 
 hoped that he would soon find time to come to 
 Europe. We shall go to see him, Lysle, shall we 
 not ?" 
 
 He assented without a word of opposition, as he 
 Would had she asked to go to Kamschatka. But 
 he thought he must summon courage to talk to her 
 a little longer about the reckless promise she had 
 made to meet the stranger. 
 
 " You will never make such an agreement as that 
 again, will you ?" he said. " It would have distressed 
 me beyond measure had you carried it out. I do 
 not know how to state the case as strongly as I 
 (eel it." 
 
 She came over and put her hand on his mouth. 
 
 " There ! I didn t do it, and there is no more to 
 be said. Clothilde will go and tell him why I did 
 not come. If we are going to America we can soon 
 find out all he could have told me. When shall we 
 start ? I hope we shall lose no time. I shall have 
 to get very few things. We shall not need to take 
 Mme. Fleury. Probably we shall return in six 
 Weeks. Shall we write him that we are coming ? 
 No, it will be nicer to surprise him, don t you think 
 so?" 
 
 And thus she rattled on for an hour, until she had 
 him in a state of complete mental confusion, con 
 senting to every point she wished, no matter what, 
 M he always did. 
 
 " But there is to be a change, Miss Madame 
 Rotalie," he said, apologetically, to himself, as he
 
 down the street. " Stanley wiP take hold of 
 you again, and you will not pull the wool over his 
 eyes so easily !" 
 
 The detective whom he had hired met him by 
 appointment at his studio, at noon, and reported 
 that the American was registered at his hotel by th 
 name of Blake, with no occupation, and had, as he 
 claimed, recently arrived in France on a sight-seeing 
 tou". Lysle then confided to the man the fact that 
 Blake was to be in the Bois that afternoon by 
 appointment, and that Clothilde was to be commis 
 sioned to meet him there. After further converse 
 tion it was arranged that both Lysle and the detec 
 live were to shadow Clothilde and discover, if they 
 could, whether the stranger had any sinister designs 
 in view when he made the meeting with Rosalie. 
 
 Clothilde prepared to carry out the directions of 
 her mistress. She went in the carriage to the Bois, 
 and left it near the Avenue of the Roses, down which 
 she walked slowly on foot. She wore a veil, and the 
 American, who was watching for her mistress, 
 stepped out from the trees that bordered the path, 
 and came toward her, never doubting for a moment 
 that she was the one he sought. Clothilde saw that 
 he was about to speak to her, and at the san,a 
 instant she recognized his face with a great thrill oi 
 fear. 
 
 " Monsieur Villemsen !** she cried, In a faint voice, 
 ihrovving up her veil. 
 
 Arthur Peck looked as disgusted as it is possible 
 to imagine, when he saw the fair Rosalie of his 
 imagination transformed thus suddenly into his 
 former servant. He realized at once, however, that 
 he must prevent her from making a scene, or bt 
 might get himself into trouble.
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 M Stop four noise, yon idiot !" he exclaimed, te 
 bad French. " It is evident that your mistress sent 
 you here to deliver some message. Let me have it, 
 then, without delay. * 
 
 Though thoroughly frightened, Cloth ilde managed 
 to tell her story, with broken speech, and many gasps, 
 for she was actually in mortal terror of this man 
 who had once, she believed, conspired to abduct her 
 by force. Peck s anger when he found that Rosalie 
 had decided not to see him broke all bounds. 
 
 "You will tell your mistress," said he, " that if she 
 cares anything whatever for Mr. Melrose Mr. 
 Stanley Melrose she will not disappoint me to-mor 
 row. If she does not come, at the same hour, she 
 will always regret it. Don t snivel, dunce ! Do as 
 I bid you! And if you dare tell her a single word 
 beyond what I have instructed you, I have men who 
 will follow you, as they did before, and next time you 
 will not escape them so easily." 
 
 Scared out of her wits, Clothilde promised and 
 was allowed to depart, more dead than alive, to her 
 carriage. But Peck had not gone far on his way 
 back toward the city before Lysle and the detective 
 Stopped him. 
 
 * You will have to accompany me to the com 
 missary of police," said the detective, exhibiting t 
 badge to the astonished man. 
 
 "I do not speak French," replied Peck, attempting 
 to pass. 
 
 The detective placed a hand on his arm, and 
 detained him. 
 
 * He says you will have to go with him under 
 arrest," said Lysle, coldly, in English, * and as he 
 bat heard you speaking his language to the maid 
 it U rather useless for you to pretend that rou do
 
 not understand as plain a sentence as the one witfc 
 
 which he has addressed you." 
 
 Peck was inwardly furious, but he did not know 
 how much there might be behind this, and he re* 
 solved to control his temper till he found out. 
 
 * I am aware that you are no friend of mine,** he 
 answered, " but perhaps you can ascertain from this 
 fellow on what charge he presumes to interfere with 
 an American citizen who is walking peaceably in a 
 public park." 
 
 " He says," was the ready answer, " that you have 
 been guilty of threatening a French subject." 
 
 * Purely as a joke," said Arthur, trying to smile, 
 
 ** And that you are a party to the theft of a paint 
 ing from a studio in the Rue Dutot, some timt 
 since." 
 
 The accused party turned pale. 
 
 " I !" he stammered, trying to bluster. 
 
 "You." 
 
 The detective stood quietly, waiting for this con 
 versation to end. 
 
 " Does he understand English ?" asked Peck, in a 
 low tone, seeing that only by the greatest diplomacy 
 could he escape being locked up, a thing he had 
 reason to dread. 
 
 * Not a word. You can say anything you please 
 to me. Perhaps you will tell me in the first place 
 what you meant to do with my ward ?" 
 
 Beneath the calmness of the words, there was a 
 deep meaning, and Arthur Peck was in grave doubt 
 what to reply. 
 
 " I meant to tell her," he said, slowly, * where A 
 Certain painting was which I thought you might like 
 to recover." 
 
 ** And which you admit taking from ro studio V
 
 lumsv. 
 
 * By no means.* 
 
 "Of course that Is not jhe true explanation o* 
 your conduct/* responded Lysle, " but as the young 
 lady was wist enough, on after thoughts, not to 
 keep the appointment, we may let that pass, Have 
 you anything which you wit-h to tell me ?" 
 
 Peck looked at the set face before him. 
 
 ** Are you going to let this man !ock me up that 
 is the question ?" he said, 
 
 "That depends, I want my picture, in the first 
 place." 
 
 " You shall have it to-morrow, if ! am allowed to 
 go free." 
 
 What do you know of my cousin Stanley T* 
 
 Arthur Peck hesitated a moment, and then said 
 something in a low tone. 
 
 Lysle staggered backward ten steps, and would 
 have fallen had not the detective caught him in his 
 arms. 
 
 " I don t believe it !** he gasped. 
 
 Peck put his hand in his pocket and drew forth a 
 letter. Lysle saw at the moment that it was in the 
 handwriting of his cousin, and he felt apprehensive 
 Of evil. 
 
 "Read that," he said, 
 
 Lysle read it, read it again, rubbed his eyes like a 
 dazed man, and handed it back. 
 
 ** Keep it," said Peck. " You may want it" 
 
 " After ail," said Lysle, as if thinking aloud, " it 
 does not prove anything." 
 
 But he put the letter in his pocket nevertheless. 
 
 * You will find that it proves enough/* said Peck, 
 * if you take a journey to New York and look inta 
 things* He has evidently acted without much inter* 
 
 from you."
 
 CONFRONTING THE DEFAULTER. 298 
 
 It seemed to Lysle as if he could not bear this 
 itrain a minute longer. He intimated to the detec 
 tive that there was no need of detaining the Ameri 
 can, and as they took their several paths he signalled 
 to a cab that was passing and rode home. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CONFRONTING THE DEFAULTER. 
 
 Stanley Melrose had indeed grown old and gray, 
 and there was reason for it. For years he had been 
 indulging in the wildest speculations, and recently 
 he had been badly " squeezed " again by a com 
 bination of bigger and shrewder operators. As he 
 had done more than once before, he had recourse 
 to the property of his ward to help himself out of 
 his dilemma, but the result had not been favorable. 
 Rosalie s fortune had now been so badly broken into 
 that there seemed no chance of ever redeeming it. 
 Desperate at his losses, and with ruin staring him in 
 the face, he devoted himself with redoubled energy 
 to the task of making money at his profession, doing 
 things that he would once have thought it impossible 
 to stoop to, rendering enormous bills for trivial 
 services, cutting down the salaries of his employes, 
 denying himself ordinary comforts, and taking every 
 unfair advantage. 
 
 But try as he could, it would not save him, and 
 he came at last to recognize that fact. He had 
 a. good deal to do with the settlement of the
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 ot the father of Arthur Peck, and finding that th 
 young man was to come into possession of a great 
 deal of money, he threw himself upon his good 
 graces, as an old friend, writing and begging him to 
 advance enough to save him from the ruin that was 
 impending. Arthur, who hated both of the Melroses 
 indiscriminately, and was smarting under the fact 
 that Stanley had kept a sum in his hands much 
 longer than the legal time, answered this request by 
 a cool refusal, upon which Stanley threatened to 
 make him trouble about the stolen picture, of which 
 he assured him he had evidence to convict him. 
 Nothing could have been more foolish than this, 
 under the circumstances. Peck put the begging 
 letter into his pocket, and went with it to Luke 
 Woodstock s office. Luke instituted inquiries which 
 convinced him that things were all wrong, and took 
 the action which developed later in the arrest. 
 Peck, thinking that he could use the letter to advan 
 tage in Paris, took passage to that city, with the 
 result already known to the reader. 
 
 Stanley was heavily in debt, and it was all he 
 could do to meet his obligations from month to 
 month. He made new notes and got them dis 
 counted in time to meet those that were maturing ; 
 he raised technicalities to keep in his hands funds 
 that came to him for others in the processes of law ; 
 he hypothecated the stocks and bonds of Rosalie s 
 that he still had left, thinking that this was at least 
 better than putting them on the market ; and it all 
 did no more than postpone the terrible day that was 
 too evidently coming surely on. 
 
 No wonder that he grew old and gray and hag 
 gard. That bright future that he had planned, when 
 he should be leaked up to as the head of the New
 
 THE DEFAUI/TEB. 
 
 York bar and a king of Wall street, had faded out of 
 sight. The only question now was whether b 
 would be able fo escape the penitentiary. He had 
 stolen his ward s money. That was the only legal 
 name for it. His motives might have been honor 
 able at first, but he had made himself amenable to 
 the law. 
 
 Night after night, when he could not sleep, he 
 lay and thought of Lysle and Rosalie, and how 
 they would look when the news was finally brought 
 to them. He imagined the indignant flush on the 
 white brow of his cousin, the turning away to hide 
 his grief. He saw the countenance of the girl 
 wreathed in scorn and anger for the man whom she 
 had learned to respect, if not to love, with her earli 
 est years. The men of the world, the merchants, 
 attorneys, bankers they would despise him, too. 
 But he dreaded of all things the hatred of the young 
 girl whose trust he had betrayed. 
 
 When Lysle sent that request that he should come 
 to Paris, he would have given anything to have been 
 able to respond. Had the fortune which he held in 
 charge been safe he would have gone without delay, 
 but now he could not look them in the face. She 
 would be safe there, he had no doubt of that, and 
 all he could do or say would be without effect 
 when they found, as they soon must, that he was a 
 defaulter. 
 
 It was a very ugly word, that " defaulter." He 
 remembered addressing a jury once, when a poor 
 wretch sat in the dock charged with this offense, and 
 how scathingly he had pointed his finger at him as 
 only fit for a prison cell. The jury had convicted 
 the man without leaving their seats, and the judge 
 had given him a sentence of fifteen years. Fifteen
 
 SSCKJLDiNG A MAIDEN. 
 
 years ! He must be stm at Sing Sing, wearing tfto 
 
 convict s garb, eating the prison food, laboring with 
 the common felons at the common task ! And the 
 proud Stanley Melrose, who had never taken a word 
 of discourtesy from any one, might soon be sent 
 there to keep his company ! 
 
 Lysle was not long in getting ready to accompany 
 Rosalie to America. He felt that he must know as 
 soon as possible whether the intimation of Arthur 
 Peck had any foundation. If he had been consort 
 ing with a thief, with a receiver of stolen property, 
 he wanted to know it at once. He had no concep 
 tion of the other things that Stanley had done to 
 bring himself within the scope of the statutes 
 against crime. He only knew what Peck had said, 
 and that was enough to drive him frantic. Honor 
 able as he himself was in the smallest things, he 
 could not comprehend such a thing as this from a 
 man who bore the reputation enjoyed by his cousin. 
 He wanted to know if it was true. No, he wanted 
 to know that it was not true ! Until that was 
 proven, peace and rest could never be his. 
 
 It was when they were on the sea that the idea 
 first occurred to him that he would have to do some 
 thing with Rosalie until he had interviewed Stanley 
 and learned the truth of Peck s accusation. He 
 could not tell her that his cousin was unfit to man 
 age her affairs or even to have the slightest relations 
 with her until he had more proof to that effect. 
 And even after he had the proof if it should come 
 to that how could he break it to her ? He studied 
 this over, as he walked the deck, until he thought 
 he should go wild. A man who would violate 
 his oath and use the property of a ward and 
 relation was not the one to have any authority
 
 CONFBONTINO THE DEFAULTER. 297 
 
 whatever over the actions of a young girl. Lysle 
 knew that while Stanley had not exercised his rights 
 for a long time they were still his, and that being 
 the elder and thoroughly versed in the ways of the 
 law, he would be a formidable antagonist if a ques 
 tion arose which of them should rule her future. 
 How could a mere artist, unversed in the most 
 ordinary business transactions, convince a surrogate 
 that he was better fitted to have charge of a girl and 
 her large fortune than a man of Stanley s capabili 
 ties ? It might not be easy to prove the theft of the 
 property. Even if it were shown to be lost, Stanley 
 could set up any one of a dozen defenses. He could 
 say that it was done on his best business judgment i 
 in short he could say anything, and his high stand 
 ing would convince the court that he told the truth. 
 There was something ridiculous in the charge, 
 brought against a man of such standing. A jury 
 would say it was incredible that he should have 
 gone to such lengths to obtain a moderate fortune, 
 he who had managed millions of dollars worth 
 of property for others, and always with such rare 
 fidelity and honesty ! 
 
 He began to realize the difficulties in his way, 
 providing Peck s story were true always providing 
 it were true. He hoped in his inmost heart that it 
 was a complete falsehood, and that Stanley could 
 explain that damaging-looking letter in some other 
 way. 
 
 But still Rosalie must not see Stanley until Lysie 
 had come to some decision in this important matter. 
 And how to accomplish that in such a way as not to 
 arouse her suspicions was the thing that puzzled 
 him. 
 
 He had never told a lie in his life nt even a Jit-
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 tie one except the time when he did it to screen 
 Dudley Morgan. He felt that he should have to 
 invent one now, and he doubted his capacity to do 
 it successfully. After much thought, he decided on 
 this course. He would take Rosalie and Clothilde 
 to the Barrett House and go in search of Stanley. 
 If he was unable to clear up this charge on the first 
 day, he would tell her that his cousin was out of 
 town. That would give him time to think it over 
 
 Rosalie brightened as they neared the shore. 
 Lysle wondered what was the character of her 
 thoughts of the one from whom she had so long 
 been absent. They had been such attached friends 
 from her babyhood, and then there had been this 
 thing between them that was almost like an 
 estrangement. He could see that she was very 
 anxious to meet his cousin again, and he dreaded 
 the future. 
 
 Stanley was not at the St. Nicholas. The clerk 
 said he had removed from there some weeks previ 
 ous, and gave him his new address, an obscure street 
 in the business section, where a few of the old-fash 
 ioned dwellings of a former age still stood amidst 
 the large, modern blocks devoted to the storing of 
 merchandise. Lysle felt a chill as he climbed the 
 narrow stairway, badly lit at intervals by the insuffi 
 cient and infinitesimal gas-jets, for it was in the 
 evening that he made his visit. There was some 
 thing uncanny about the place. He wondered why 
 his cousin had chosen such a locality to make a 
 home in ; he, who had always seemed so careful of 
 surroundings. It prepared him somewhat for the 
 change that he was to find in him in so many other 
 ways. At last, having reached the top landing, h
 
 discovered & door on which was tacked a card with 
 the name of Melrose, and he knocked lightly. 
 
 " Who s there ?" called a startled voice, that he did 
 not recognize at first. 
 
 There was something in the tone that implied that 
 visitors were not frequent, and Lysle thought it wis 
 est not to answer except by another knock. There 
 was a short wait, during which the occupant of the 
 room seemed to be moving about, and then there 
 was the closing of a door, and the turning of a key. 
 All this took perhaps less than a minute, but to the 
 waiter on the landing, it seemed ten times as long. 
 Slippered feet finally approached the entrance, a 
 bolt was drawn, and a gray head made its appear 
 ance. 
 
 Changed as he was, there was no doubt it was 
 Stanley, and Lysle walked into the room without 
 ceremony. 
 
 He felt a sense of indignation at his cousin for 
 living in such a place as this, almost for having that 
 haggard look and those gray hairs. What right had 
 he to do these things, which were in a measure a 
 disgrace to the family ? The first look that the 
 cousins exchanged was an index to the scene that 
 was to follow. It was evident that there was to be 
 no mincing of words on the part of the younger 
 man. 
 
 "What are you doing in this damnable hole ?" he 
 exclaimed, looking around him in disgust. 
 
 "I I have charge of the property," stammered 
 Stanley, " and it is very quiet here. It it is a good 
 place to study and think." 
 
 "And to invite your friends to, I suppose ?" Lysle 
 added, with sarcasm.
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 "No, I never have visitors. How did you find 
 me?" 
 
 "By the hotel clerk." 
 
 " He did wrong. I only told him to redirect my 
 mail here. I did not think he would send any one. 
 Probably he would not have given you the address 
 had he not known our relationship." 
 
 Lysle shivered at the word. 
 
 "What are you doing here, tell me that?" he said. 
 ** It is no place for a prominent lawyer, for a trustee 
 who holds the interest of wards in his hands. I can 
 not help saying what I think of your conduct. It is 
 simply disgraceful !" 
 
 Even as he said this he wondered how he could do 
 it ; and he wondered too how this man, who was 
 nevei in the habit of brooking criticism, could stand 
 there so meekly and endure it. He did not wish him 
 to receive it in this tame manner. He wished that 
 he would reply in equally scathing terms, that he 
 might even threaten blows. Lysle would have been 
 a reed in the hands of his cousin, had it come to a 
 mere question of physical strength, but so great was 
 his sense of injury that he would have hesitated not 
 a minute in risking the encounter. 
 
 " I thought I could live where it suited me," was 
 the quiet reply, "and I preferred the seclusion which 
 can be obtained in this district after nightfall." 
 
 " You have obligations," responded the other, 
 "which should have prevented you from seeking 
 such a den the obligations of a guardian of a young 
 lady of fortune and family, who would be disgraced 
 by this act of yours, if it were known. And you 
 need not imagine that it is not known. I would 
 wager anything that it is talked over on the Street,
 
 CONFRONTING THE DBFA8LTBB. 301 
 
 and in the law offices, and the ugliest deduction* 
 drawn !" 
 
 " What what deduc-tions ?" stammered Stan, 
 ley, with a frightened look. 
 
 " I cannot answer you. You know best," replied 
 Lysle. 
 
 The pale face of Stanley Melrose turned the color 
 of clay. 
 
 You" 
 
 " Yes," said Lysle, convinced by his manner that 
 the story he had heard was true. " I have seen 
 Arthur Peck, and he has shown me your letter." 
 
 Stanley, thoroughly crushed, seemed unable to 
 make a front of any kind. He sank into a chair, and 
 buried his face in his hands. 
 
 "What can I say to you?" demanded the Other, 
 Thief !" 
 
 Stanley glanced up, and immediately lowered his 
 eyes. A tremor passed through him at the appella 
 tion, and then he relapsed into his former position. 
 
 "Are you not a nice man," pursued the artist, * to 
 have the charge of a young girl like Rosalie ? How 
 have you dared " 
 
 Stanley roused himself to interrupt him. 
 
 " Wait ! Have I tried in any way to control her 
 conduct since I since there was any question like 
 thisr 
 
 " No," said Lysle, harshly. " You have thrown all 
 your duties on me. But you must do more than 
 that now. You must resign your guardianship 
 openly. It is impossible that my name should b 
 associated with yours after this day." 
 
 The gray-haired man rose and stood, the wreck of 
 bis foreier self, before him.
 
 302 MOULDING A MA 
 
 "Where is Rosalie?" he asked. "She sh dtt 
 not come with you ?" 
 
 Lysle bowed without speaking. 
 
 " She must not see me. It would shock her too 
 much." 
 
 " Do you think she would wish to see you, if she 
 knew ?" Lysle broke out, hotly. 
 
 "Yes." There was something of defiance in the 
 tone. " She would wish to see me if I were in a 
 felon s cell. It is that which makes it the hardest 
 for me. Can it be that you have lived with her all 
 these years, and have understood nothing? Have 
 you really been as blind as that ?" 
 
 Lysle thought the walls were losing their firmness, 
 and that the old building was about to collapse, as it 
 should have done years before. Did he know it ? 
 Yes, he did know it. He had known it for a long 
 time, and he had tried not to know it. Rosalie cared 
 for nothing in the whole world but Stanley. That 
 fact ought to have made him kinder in his language 
 to this man, who had no other claim to his con 
 sideration. 
 
 "Stanley," he replied, chokingly, " I ask your 
 pardon. Let me help you out of this. You are 
 dear to Rosalie, and that is enough for me. But, for 
 the love of God ! remove your habitation to some 
 respectable locality, and do not attract attention by 
 further eccentricities ?" 
 
 Stanley made a motion as if he would grasp the 
 hand that was held out to him, but instantly drew 
 back again. 
 
 " No, no ! It is past the time for that !" he cried. 
 " The less people see of me the better. I have made 
 mistakes that cannot be remedied." 
 
 A conflict of emotion filled the heart of th artist
 
 CONFRONTING THE DEFAULTER. SOS 
 
 He seemed to be back at school with Stanley. H 
 saw the erect, self-poised young man, who could 
 control, not only himself, but everybody about him, 
 when he chose. He saw the young guardian, to 
 whom the child Rosalie looked up as to a god. 
 
 " What shall I do," he asked, " about her f She 
 heard we heard that you were growing gray, and 
 that you were looking despondent, and she said, 
 4 Let us go to him. She is here in the city, and I do 
 not know how to put her off. She has come on pur 
 pose to see you, but as you well say, she must not, at 
 least until you are in a much better condition. I 
 cannot imagine what has brought you to this pass, 
 but the change in you is terrible, Stanley. Do not 
 people remark it ? Does it not affect your busi 
 ness ?" 
 
 Stanley admitted it with a nod. 
 
 " It affects everything. But it will not do so much 
 longer. I am going away for a vacation and 
 then I think I shall feel easier. I have worked 
 altogether too hard, not given myself enough rest 
 I must go away." 
 
 " You must, indeed," responded Lysle. " Could 
 you not go at once, say, in the morning, so that I 
 could tell her that you were out of town ? And if 
 you could go without leaving your address, so that 
 she would not ask to follow you " 
 
 The lawyer looked up with a peculiar expression. 
 
 " I shall not leave my address," he answered, " and 
 I will go in t ie morning, perhaps to-night." 
 
 " She will^vant to wait till you return," suggested 
 Lysle. " If you could send word to your clerks that 
 you should probably be gone a long time, on business 
 of importance, I might persuade her to retif* the
 
 304 MOULDING A MAJDEW. 
 
 sooner to France. Do you need anything lot 
 expenses ?" 
 
 " No !" repeated the lawyer, absently. " I will 
 write to my clerks that I shall be gone a long 
 time." 
 
 " Good-bye," said Lysle, brightening. " Forgive 
 me for the harsh things I said, won t you ?" 
 
 " Freely," was the answer. 
 
 " Good-night, then !" 
 
 "Good-night." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 IN THE INSPECTOR S POWER. 
 
 When Stanley was alone again he sat silently for 
 some time, resting his face in his hands. Where was 
 he to go ? He had invested almost the last dollar of 
 Rosalie s money his own had been gone long ago 
 in the Alma gold mine, which he had thought sure 
 to pan out handsomely enough to redeem all his 
 previous losses. Nothing remained for him but 
 flight, and the sooner he went the better. Perhaps in 
 some distant land he might again pick up the threads 
 of life and find peace. But, ah ! How could he hope 
 for peace when that childish face would be always 
 before him, reproaching him for his broken trust ! 
 the face of that little girl who had looked upon him 
 as one who could not do wrong, and who was a fit 
 guide in all things ! He thought he should go mad 
 st he dwelt on this subject, and he roused himself to
 
 IX THB INSPECTOR S POWBB. JO* 
 
 fctgin the work of packing the few things that be 
 meant to take with him. 
 
 Another knock at his door startled him in the midst 
 of this occupation. Could it be that Lysle had for- 
 gotten something that he wished to say, and come 
 back for that purpose ? He stopped in the middle 
 of the floor, hesitating whether to answer or to pre 
 tend that he was asleep. The Knock came again, 
 louder than the first time. He must answer. 
 
 " Who s there ?" 
 
 " I wish to speak with Mr. Melrose.** 
 
 44 The hour is late. Come to-morrow." 
 
 "My business is imperative. I cannot wait." 
 
 " Who could it be ? Had anything happened at 
 the office ? Slowly he walked to the door and 
 unlocked it. A man stood there, whom he knew 
 well, an inspector of police, named Gallivan. Even 
 then he suspected nothing of the true errand on 
 which he had come. 
 
 " Well, Gallivan ?" he said, laconically. 
 
 " You must go with me, Mr. Melrose. You are 
 wanted at headquarters." 
 
 Stanley looked at him blankly. 
 
 " It must be a thing of great importance to Call 
 me at such a time of night," he said. 
 
 " Here s the paper," replied the man, handing it 
 to him. 
 
 Taking it from the officer s hand, Stanley looked 
 at it with dazed eyes. 
 
 " I don t understand it," he said. " Tell me what 
 it is all about. My eyes* are not as good as they 
 used to be." 
 
 Gallivan took back the paper. 
 
 "It is for the Vandenhoff matter/ said h*
 
 $06 MOULDING A MADBB. 
 
 * Woodstock says you have been vsing tht girt * 
 money illegally." 
 
 Stanley caught the man by the shoulder. 
 
 " I am under arrest !" he cried. 
 
 * That s about it." 
 
 * And what interest has Woodstock in It r* 
 
 ** I don t know. It seems that he made the Com* 
 plaint. You will hear all about it in the 
 morning." 
 
 " And to-night r* 
 
 "You must sleep at headquarters. * 
 
 Stanley shivered. 
 
 44 In a in a cell ?" 
 
 "That is for the chief inspector to say. But 
 come, we must be going. You can talk this all over 
 after you get there. I have two men waiting at the 
 outer door, who will wonder what keeps us so long. 
 Just put on your hat and lock your room up." 
 
 Stanley complied mechanically. When they 
 reached the foot of the stairs, a carriage was found 
 in waiting, and the men stood there to accompany 
 Gallivan and his prisoner. The entire party entered 
 the carriage and were driven toward Mulberry 
 street. 
 
 " You thought I would resist, evidently,* said 
 Stanley, with a faint smile, in allusion to the size of 
 the force sent after him. 
 
 " Oh, well," replied Gallivan, "it is as well to be 
 prepared for emergencies, you know." 
 
 Nothing more was said till the police headquar 
 ters was reached. Here the chief inspector, whc 
 knew Melrose very well, awaited them. The other 
 retired and left the lawyer and inspector together. 
 
 " This is an unfortunate affair,* began the in spec 
 lor. How did it happen, r
 
 THE INSPECTOR S POWEE. JOT 
 
 " Let me tell you at once," replied Melrose, " that 
 I shall not say a word about the matter. I want to 
 see my counsel, Mr. Dodd. I shall act on his advice 
 in everything." 
 
 " Then you do not claim to be innocent ?" asked 
 the inspector. 
 
 "I claim nothing. Do your duty, and leave me 
 to make my defense in my own way." 
 
 The chief inspector did not like to send his pris 
 oner to bed without something more definite than 
 this. 
 
 " I have known for a long time that you had some 
 great trouble on your mind," said he. " You have 
 grown ten years older in twelve months. I have 
 detailed men to shadow you, for I anticipated that 
 something would develop soon. Do you wish to 
 know what they reported ?" 
 
 " No," said Stanley. " I only wish to be left to 
 myself." 
 
 When it became evident that he would say nothing 
 more, the inspector had him thoroughly searched 
 and conducted to a cell, as if he had not been for a 
 dozen years one of New York s most prominent citi 
 zens. 
 
 At his breakfast the next morning Lysle saw the 
 account of the arrest, headed by large type. He 
 read it through, hardly able to believe his eyes, and 
 then decided to go at once to Woodstock s office, and 
 see what it all meant. Before he left the hotel, he 
 called in Clothilde and gave her positive directions 
 to see that her mistress was prevented from seeing 
 newspapers till further orders. The girl, devoted to 
 her master s interests, promised without question. 
 
 " If she asks you to get her a paper, buy some of 
 the literary periodicals ; say that the others are all
 
 OS XOCUXNO A 
 
 sold. Look out that she doe* not caH a 
 
 herself, or If she does, give the boy something and 
 tell him what to say. If that will not do, manage t 
 intercept him. Do anything, in short, but let her 
 see one of the dailies." 
 
 " Yes, Monsieur Lysle.** responded the girt. 
 
 Woodstock was at. his office when Lysle reached 
 there. He looked up in the greatest surprise wher. 
 be saw him enter, and rosf to take him by the hand. 
 
 " When did you arrive ?" he asked. " I thought 
 you still in Europe, though I could not make out why 
 my dispatches- were unanswered. You must have 
 started before 1 sent them. I did not know the 
 worst till a few days ago. and even then I would 
 have waited, except that I found him preparing for 
 flight." 
 
 The ignominy that the arrest had brought on 
 the name of Melrose was rankling in the heart of 
 the young artist, and he was not disposed fn sha^e the 
 evident pleasure of his old-time friend at the success 
 of his surveillance. 
 
 " Whom do you represent in this affair ?* ho, asked 
 with an accent of hauteur. 
 
 " A dead woman, who left me with a sacred 
 trust !" replied Woodstock, impressively. * I repre 
 sent Janet Steiner." 
 
 The other was silenced. 
 
 "Well," he said, after a pause, "how bad is It* 
 Of course the morning papers have magnified every 
 thing, as they always do." 
 
 " That we shall see,* responded Woodstock. " But 
 one thing let me tell you now. Stanley Melrose is 
 the greatest villain who ever lived !" 
 
 His voice was raised as he pronounced this opto*
 
 lie THS INSPECTOK S POWKB. 309 
 
 JOB, and Lysle flushed with mortification as he heard 
 him. 
 
 **Do not forget that you are speaking of my 
 cousin/ he replied. 
 
 " I do not forget," said Woodstock, " but I also 
 recollect other things. I should have told you when 
 you were here before, some things that I knew. He 
 is not only a defaulter, a forger, a thief r but he is, in 
 the true sense of the word, a murderer." 
 
 Lysle could only repeat " A murderer !" and stare 
 at him. 
 
 " He killed Miss Steiner," said Woodstock, in 
 explanation. " Not with poison of the ordinary 
 kind, but with threats and harshness. He came 
 from Europe that time with his discoveries, and held 
 them over her until she was almost frantic. When I 
 was called in and learned the truth, he agreed to 
 keep silent, but one day he said something else to 
 her that drove her to her sick bed, from which she 
 never rose !" 
 
 ** There must have been great guilt when a mere 
 word could produce such an effect as that," said 
 Lysle, still thinking it his duty to stand by his 
 cousin, before the terrible assault of this man. 
 
 " That does not follow, replied Woodstock, " and 
 in justice to her who is dead, I shall some time tell 
 you the whole truth. It is better that you should 
 know everything than that she should suffer from 
 your cruel suspicions. You will then see how an 
 over-sensitive mind could not bear the constant fear 
 to which he subjected her. But upon the matter ra 
 hand, you are here now, and I shall be glad to take 
 any suggestion from you, that is not opposed te 
 Justice for the prisoner." 
 
 A boy knocked at the door and brought a letter
 
 910 MOULDING A MAU>KM. 
 
 for the lawyer, who tore open the envelope and read 
 it at once. 
 
 "Mr. Dodd writes me that he has been retained as 
 counsel for Mr. Melrose," he said. " I will go over 
 to his office with you if you wish." 
 
 Mr. Dodd was found to be a very affable gentle 
 man of middle age, with little of the appearance of 
 a lawyer. He talked the affair over with Mr. Wood 
 stock much as if it wtre an invitation to lunch or a 
 contemplated visit to the theatre. He had already, 
 he said, sent a clerk over to the court, to say that 
 he desired to waive examination, as nothing could be 
 gained, in his opinion, by ventilating matters before 
 the police justice. He had had a long talk that 
 morning with Stanley, who quite agreed with him 
 in this opinion. While they were discussing these 
 things a messenger came with the statement that 
 bail had been fixed at one hundred thousand dollars, 
 an extraordinary sum, as Lysle remarked to the 
 lawyers. 
 
 "I charge him with having embezzled an extraor 
 dinary amount," said Mr. Woodstock. " I doubt if 
 there is much left of the entire fortune of your ward, 
 which he stated under oath at the last examination 
 to be over three hundred thousand dollars in value." 
 
 " But what has he done with it ?" asked Lysle, in 
 amazement. " When he finds that these proceed 
 ings must go on, he will certainly give it up, and 
 then none of us, I hope, will wish to be hard on 
 him." 
 
 Woodstock contemplated the speaker with pity. 
 
 "Give it up!" he repeated. "He would like 
 only too well to give it up, I have no doubt, if he 
 eould get hold of it again. The fact is that he has 
 lost it in speculation."
 
 tS THK INSPECrrOR s POWEB. Sit 
 
 Lysle heard this statement with horror. 
 
 "But he is rich," he said. "Surely he would 
 lurrender his own fortune to make good this loss." 
 
 " His own fortune went first." 
 
 "All of it?" 
 
 " Very nearly, I think. He has had a hard time ! 
 the Street and in Western mines of late. No, 
 Lysle, your cousin has nothing left to speak of. He 
 threw over everything to lighten the ship, but it ran 
 on the rocks at last." 
 
 Mr. Dodd smiled as if to say, " This fellow has it 
 right, Melrose." 
 
 " I will go at once and see him," was Lysle s next 
 remark. 
 
 " Excuse me for mentioning it," said the affable 
 Mr. Dodd, " but he particularly requests that no one 
 be admitted." 
 
 " He could not have intended to include me in that 
 prohibition." 
 
 "Excuse me again. He mentioned your name 
 especially." 
 
 Lysle looked at the lawyer with distrust. 
 
 M I should like to know what other friend he has,** 
 he said, sharply. 
 
 Mt. Dodd turned to Mr. Woodstock, and they con 
 ferred for several minutes about the case, quite as if 
 they were partners instead of opponents. Then 
 Mr. Woodstock took his leave, and Mr. Dodd came 
 back to Lysle. 
 
 " Mr. Melrose asked me to deliver this message to 
 you. He says if you really wish to serve him you 
 will manage in some way to get the Young Person 
 ut of the country as soon as possible." 
 
 ** And leave him to the law ?" cried Lysle. 
 
 * And leave him to the law. To be plain witte
 
 312 MOULDING A MAIDKB. 
 
 you, he can make no defense. He has stolen the 
 money. As it is gone, and his own with it, he can 
 make no restitution. His only course is to throw 
 himself on the mercy of the judge, and get as short 
 a sentence as possible." 
 
 Lysle walked up and down the room in distress, 
 It seemed incredible that a Melrose could ever wear 
 the garb of a convict. 
 
 " Is the case as desperate as that ?" he asked, 
 finally. 
 
 " Precisely," replied the smiling Mr. Dodd. 
 
 Lysle thought hard for a few moments. 
 
 " What will Rosalie say when she finds it out ?" 
 he said, aloud. 
 
 * It will be hard on her, of course," responded the 
 lawyer, good-naturedly. " It is a great deal of 
 money, and it makes it very bad when the whole 
 f it goes at once. But Mr. Woodstock tells me 
 that he has something for her when she is of age 
 money that Miss Steiner left in his charge. It is 
 but a trifle, only thirty thousand or so, but it is 
 better than nothing. He would doubtless advance 
 part of it if it is necessary to complete her educa 
 tion." 
 
 Lysle had not been thinking of money when he 
 made his observation. He had been thinking of the 
 love that had grown up in that young breast for this 
 worthless man, ever since she had been old enough 
 to know him. 
 
 " Poor Rosalie ! Poor Rosalie !" he said, over and 
 over as he rode up Broadway to the Barrett House. 
 
 In response to her eager questions about Stanley 
 he told her that his cousin had gone out of the city 
 to a distant part of the country, in fact and had 
 not left any definite address. His clerks, he said,
 
 IN THE INSPECTOR S powsg. 
 
 did not expect him to return for a long time, ii 
 might be months. The girl grew very sad at this 
 information, and said little during that day or the 
 next. 
 
 But luck was not with Lysle that time. Clothilde 
 bad managed to keep the newspapers away from her 
 mistress, but she was not proof against the conver 
 sation in the dining-room. Two gentlemen who sat 
 near them were discussing the case of the defaulter, 
 and the words referring to Stanley reached her ears. 
 
 "I think it will go hard with him," said one of 
 them to the other. " He is to be tried next month, 
 I hear." 
 
 " Is he the same Stanley Melrose who made such 
 a furore in Tallahassee & Lake Superior?" inquired 
 the second gentleman. 
 
 " Yes, he has been considered a big man in busi 
 ness circles, but that s all over now. He will cer 
 tainly have to go to Sing Sing." 
 
 Rosalie put down her fork, which she was on the 
 point of carrying to her mouth, and turned a startled 
 face toward her guardian. Then, rising, she walked 
 firmly to the door, he accompanying her. They 
 stepped in the elevator and rode to their apartments, 
 without a word. But as soon as they were inside of 
 them, she reeled, and he had to support her with both 
 his arms. 
 
 He started to ring the bell for Clothilde, but she 
 stopped him. Rousing herself a little she reached a 
 sofa, and reclined upon it. 
 
 "Tell me what it is," she said, faintly. "Tell me 
 all. You have been keeping it from me, but I must 
 know, If I do Rot learn it from you, I shall froai 
 others." 
 
 He was alarmed at her condition, and begged her
 
 MOULDING A MAIDBJT. 
 
 to let him call a physician, but she refused. Sht 
 persisted that he must teh her about Stanley before 
 lie did anything else. It seemed as if he could not 
 begin, even after he made up his mind that he could 
 not avoid compliance ; and he stood there, waiting 
 for the courage that would not come. 
 
 " He is in jail," she said, in a whisper. " I know 
 that. What has he done ?" 
 
 41 They say his accusers say that he has taken 
 money not his own." 
 
 She stared at him vacantly. 
 
 ** Stolen ? Stanley stolen ? It cannot be !" 
 
 He cast down his eyes, for he could not look at 
 her. 
 
 44 You do not speak," she continued. * Can you 
 Relieve it ?" 
 
 He waited another minute before he could answer. 
 
 " Sometimes," he said, at last, " a man is entrusted 
 with large amounts of money to keep for other 
 people and invest. Sometimes he is careless in his 
 investments and finds the money going from him. 
 Sometimes he becomes desperate, and tries to 
 recover by speculation what he has lost. Sometimes 
 the market goes against him and everything is 
 swept away." 
 
 She listened with the utmost eagerness. The 
 repressed manner in which he spoke convinced her 
 that he considered the matter a very serious one. 
 
 " And has Stanley done this ?" she asked, 
 
 * I am afraid so." 
 "Does he admit it?* 
 44 Yes." 
 
 * How long will he have to stay in the jail ?*" 
 lit thought her wonderfully clf-pose8ted to
 
 or Tin msraoioB s POWER. Hi 
 
 tfctt question. Little did he know the suffering sbt 
 was passing through. 
 
 " I cannot tell," he answered, dejectedly. 
 
 " Perhaps many days ?" 
 
 " Perhaps years," he said, with a groan. 
 
 There was no use in trying to deceive her any 
 longer. 
 
 "Years!" she cried. "Oh, no, not years! He 
 will pay these people, and then they will let him 
 out." 
 
 * He has nothing to pay them with/ 1 responded 
 Lysle, gloomily. " His own money is also lost." 
 
 She lay without speaking for some time after 
 that, when a sudden thought struck her and she 
 sat upright. 
 
 " I have much money, Lysle ! Miss Steiner always 
 told me that I should be rich when I was a lady I 
 Cannot he take that ? He may have it to the last 
 penny ! I would rather dress in calicoes than that 
 he should stay there in prison. Will you go and 
 tell him, Lysle ? Say that he is welcome to it- 
 more than welcome to every dollar if it will help 
 him out of his trouble !" 
 
 It was becoming very hard for him. He could 
 stand it no longer. In a burst of ingenuousness he 
 told her all. Then he stood there, frightened at 
 what he had done, and waited to hear the torrent of 
 indignation which he felt sure would be the first 
 thing to come. 
 
 " It is my money that he has taken ?" she exclaimed, 
 breathlessly. 
 
 a Yes, Rosalie, it is yours." 
 
 " Then the judge will surely set him free when I 
 go there and tell him that I do not want it 1 What 
 right had anybody to arrest him without consulting
 
 416 MOCUHNO A MAXDB8. 
 
 me? Come, let us go immediately, And get him 
 out" 
 
 Thoroughly astonished at the absolute indifference 
 with which she received the news of the loss of her 
 fortune, which he had supposed would give her such 
 intense distress, Lysle could hardly answer. But in 
 a feeble way he tried to explain that defalcations 
 were more than the mere business of those whose 
 money was lost that the State took the guilty party 
 in hand and demanded his punishment. 
 
 ** I am not sure that your statement might not 
 lessen his sentence," he added, as the only ray of 
 comfort he could give her. "He will have to be 
 tried, though, and no one can prevent it. Yes, Rosa 
 lie, Stanley has violated the law, and he must suffer 
 the penalty. I should be as glad as you if there 
 were any way to free him, but there is none." 
 
 "I must see him," she said, thoughtfully. " I will 
 write a note and send to him, saying how sorry I am 
 for his sake, and how little I care for my own loss. 
 Then he will consent to see me I am sure." 
 
 She went at once for her writing materials, and 
 began the most affectionate of letters. Lysle 
 watched her with growing apprehension, as he 
 marked the eager face bent over the manuscript. 
 
 " She does not comprehend it yet," he mused sadiy. 
 "When she fully understands it, and finds that he is 
 sentenced to long years of toil, her poor little heart 
 will break !*
 
 "IT RtrRTRTSES YOU, DOES IT?" 517 
 
 CHAPTER XXVH. 
 
 " IT SURPRISES YOU, DOES IT r" 
 
 It does not take the world long to dethrone its 
 idols. There are always enough new aspirants ready 
 to fiill the vacant pedestals. The young brokers of 
 Wall street, who had looked with admiration upon 
 the brilliant Napoleon of Finance, joked about his 
 arrest over their noonday lunch. The newly-fledged 
 orators of the Bar speculated upon his probable 
 sentence as coolly as they had yesterday discussed 
 the remarkable fact that he had lost two verdicts in 
 succession. The stocks in which he had been most 
 interested sank abruptly out of sight in the market 
 quotations. The Tallahassee & Lake Superior Rail 
 road bonds were considered not worth pHtting on 
 the list after that day. Men who had invested in the 
 real estate schemes that he fathered, got out of them 
 as fast as they could. The Alma Gold Mine was 
 admitted a failure. In short, all who had looked 
 toward Stanley Melrose as one looks toward a 
 weather vane, for indications of the prevailing direc 
 tion of the financial wind, turned toward other 
 vanes on other steeples, never thinking that these. 
 too, might have their own gearing interfered with 
 by-and-by, and be as valueless as his. 
 
 Mr. Dodd was quite right in his estimate of 
 Stanley s chances. The evidence was most con 
 clusive against him. It would only exciie contempt 
 for him to offer an elaborate defence, and bother 
 judge and jury for three or four days. A plea of
 
 318 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 guilty" and a little speech in reference to the good 
 character hitherto sustained by the prisoner, were 
 the only things there was any use in offering. 
 Stanley was lawyer enough to see this point clearly. 
 Indeed, it was at his own suggestion that Mr. Dodd 
 had decided what to do. 
 
 When the letter came from Rosalie, Stanley was 
 much affected. He expected that its tenor would be 
 one of reproachfulness, and he nerved himself for 
 the anticipated execration. He had taken all that 
 she had, and she would be left to the mercies of the 
 world. Nothing that she could say would be 
 harsher than he deserved. With these reflections he 
 opened the missive, and when he read its contents 
 breathing only the sweetest sympathy, and assur 
 ances of her undiminished, nay, her increased love 
 he felt that a note of the other kind would have been 
 less painful to receive. 
 
 " Let me come and see you," she wrote, " even if 
 it be only to press your hand and to kiss your fore 
 head. Do not say no. It is the little girl whose 
 fingers you used to hold when she was too young 
 to walk alone the child whose hammock you slung 
 by yours those summers at Cape May who entreats 
 of you this dear favor !" 
 
 At first he thought he could never do it, but as 
 time wore on it seemed to him that he owed her 
 this, at least, no matter how painful the ordeal might 
 be to himself. So he wrote her that she might come, 
 and named a day and hour in the following week. 
 
 The prison officials doffed their hats when the 
 beautiful young woman presented her ticJcet of 
 admission, and relaxed their vigilance so far as to 
 allow her to conrerse entirely at her leisure, and 
 tfhwatehed, with her guardian. Lysle had come as
 
 "IT SURFRISBS YOU, DOES HP?" 310 
 
 far as the office with her, and waited there till she 
 should return. There was a great change in her 
 since Stanley had seen her last. She was not the 
 young person who had left him three years before 
 for Europe. She was taller, and rounder, but that 
 was not it. She was dressed as he had never seen 
 her, and as he had never imagined her. She wore 
 her best clothing and many jewels were on her 
 hands and wrists. A chain with a diamond locket 
 sparkled at her throat. Her hair was dressed in the 
 mode, and every article that she wore told of the 
 convert she had become to the prevailing fashions. 
 But the same face was there ; changed by sorrow, 
 but still the same. 
 
 The sheriff turned the key and left them together. 
 After taking the hand she held out to him, Stanley 
 sank into a chair from sheer weakness. Rosalie put 
 her arms around his neck, and pressed her cheek to 
 his gray hair without speaking, for a long time. 
 Lysle had told her he was much changed, but she 
 had not been prepared for what she saw. The man 
 before her was only thirty-four years of age, but he 
 might have been sixty, if looks could count. She 
 had known him as an erect, self-contained, even 
 imperious man. She found him bent, weak and 
 trembling. 
 
 " Listen, while I talk to you, Stanley," she said, at 
 last, " for they will not leave us very long together. 
 You must escape from here. I cannot have you go 
 to prison for years and years. The lawyers say the 
 judge will surely sentence you, if you are taken into 
 court. You must not wait for a trial. You must 
 get out of the country before that time.* 
 
 The prisoner lifted his white face and looked at
 
 320 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 her in a frightened way. Had the shock, theo, 
 turned her brain so soon ? 
 
 " I know that you will answer that it cannot be 
 done," she continued, speaking in a whisper. " The 
 jail is guarded closely. There are bolts on your 
 door and heavy bars on the windows. I know it all. 
 Bat you can escape, if you desire, and I have come 
 to say to you that you must do it, if you have any 
 love left for me. It is not enough for you to say 
 that you are willing to undergo your sentence. I 
 shall suffer as much as you even more every hour 
 you are there. You would not be so cruel as to 
 inflict this on me, when I offer you the means to 
 avoid it." 
 
 Still he gazed at her and said nothing. 
 
 " I have here in my clothing some saws and a long 
 cord. You can cut the bars of your door I have 
 read of it being done in France by Gompereau, who 
 robbed the Rothschilds. You have only to saw a 
 very little each night, or whenever the opportunity 
 is given you, and stop up the cracks with soap 
 blacked by iron rust. I will see that the window 
 bars are cut in the same way. This cord is very 
 fine. It is to be let down into the street from the 
 window when I give you the word, and a rope-lad 
 der will be fastened to it for you to draw up and 
 make fast. Then you have only to descend. A car 
 riage a row-boat to a vessel bound to a foreign 
 port and you are safe !" 
 
 She started to give him the articles of which she 
 spoke, but he stopped her. 
 
 * My poor child," he answered, " you have no idea 
 f the difficulties in the way of the plan you outline, 
 The corridor is guarded carefully. The officer on 
 duty would stop me fire on me, if necessary.
 
 *R 8UBWU8B* YOU, DOBS 
 
 There is no escape from here. I most endure my 
 
 punishment." 
 
 But Rosalie had no idea of being dissuaded as 
 easily as this. 
 
 " Your punishment !" she echoed. ** My punish* 
 ment, you mean ! Do you think it is for you that I 
 wish this ? No, it is for myself. I could not live if 
 YOU were sent to that horrible Sing Sing. I insist 
 that you shall attempt this means of escaping it." 
 
 ** And if I should be killed while trying ?" 
 
 "It would be better than the living death they 
 would condemn you to suffer. You are not well 
 now, and a year in prison would be the end of you. 
 But you will not be shot. I have arranged that the 
 guard shall feign sleep and I shall select some dark 
 night, when no one will see you from the street " 
 
 He found himself listening to her proposal, even 
 while its Utopian character seemed growing stronger. 
 
 ** How could you get any one to engage in such 
 a dangerous undertaking? Your confederates 
 would themselves be given long terms of imprison- 
 ment. Even you, Rosalie, would be liable to punish* 
 ment." 
 
 " It is enough that my plans are complete. There 
 will be no failure," replied the girl, with impatience, 
 41 if you follow my directions with care. I assure 
 you I have arranged everything." 
 
 " Is it possible," he asked, " that you have 
 managed to bribe one of the officials ?" 
 
 "Yes, the watchman in charge of the corridor. 
 Hide these saws and the cord, and move carefully. 
 Their plan is to keep you here for more than a 
 month yet. You have plenty of time. I shall rtlf 
 <*n your discretion/
 
 322 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 Re hesitated no longer, but took the things from 
 
 her and hastily concealed them. 
 
 44 1 must go now," she said. " It is best not to 
 attract attention by remaining too long. I shall 
 want to come again, and they must not think that I 
 abuse my privileges." 
 
 She had said nothing about his crime, but he 
 could not let her go without expressing his contri 
 tion. 
 
 "Can you ever forgive me, Rosalie ?" he said, in a 
 tremulous voice. 
 
 44 1 am so glad," she replied, "that it was not any 
 one else s property." (There were others who had 
 also lost their investments, but she did not know 
 that.) " If I had as much more I would gladly give 
 it to know that you were safe in a land far from this. 
 But you soon will be," she added, brightly. 
 
 " There is one thing," he said, for he could not 
 help sharing her hope. " In many countries they 
 could arrest me and bring me back for what I have 
 done. The safest place is the Argentine Republic. 
 If I am to be put on a vessel it should be boufld for 
 Buenos Ayres. You will remember ?" 
 
 ** I knew it already," she answered. " But now I 
 roust go. Good-bye for to-day, and may God be 
 with you !" 
 
 She rattled at the barred door, and the sheriff 
 came to let her out. As she passed out the officers 
 in the corridor lifted their hats again Thr was 
 only one of their number who dreamed of the plan 
 that young head had put in operation. 
 
 She rode back with Lysle to the hotel, and told 
 him how broken Stanley was. He was surprised 
 that she did not seem more affected by the interview, 
 but thought again that her youth was at tan and
 
 "IT 8UBPEI8ES YOU, DOBS IT?** 
 
 rejoiced that she was not old enough to suffer more 
 deeply. The day would come when she would 
 realize what it meant to have her fortune taken away t 
 and then she would know how great a wrong had 
 been done. He wished from the bottom of his heart 
 that there had been a way to keep it from her, but 
 Fate had decreed differently. 
 
 " There is a lovely diamond cross at Lynch s," she 
 said to him, a few days later. " It is only two thou 
 sand dollars, and I am afraid some one will get it if 
 1 do not give the order to-day. You know how 
 becoming diamonds are to me " 
 
 "Yes," he replied. If she could think of such 
 things while Stanley was in such peril, all the better. 
 He was glad that her mind could be diverted. 
 " Yes, Rosalie, I will bring you the two thousand 
 Collars to-morrow." 
 
 He brought it as agreed, and then she sat about 
 arranging for the contemplated escape. By consult- 
 *g the almanac she found that there would be no 
 moon during the next week, until very late. She 
 isited Stanley in his cell twice more, and found him 
 ntill willing to try the experiment for her sake, though 
 he would fain have abandoned it, as far as his own 
 sentiments were concerned. He had sawed away at 
 the bars in his door until the slightest wrench would 
 completely sever them, and no one not in the secret 
 had suspected what he was about. 
 
 "All that you want is quickness and noiselessness,** 
 she said. " Tie your rope ladder firmly and lose no 
 time. Leave the rest to me." 
 
 Woodstock had promised Lysle that he would 
 explain the whole truth about Miss Steiner before be 
 left the city, and as he had decided to go very :
 
 2* VOUUUTO A KAIDB8. 
 
 there being absolutely nothing, as far as he could sec, 
 that he could do for Stanley he made an appoint 
 ment one evening, and met the lawyer at his office. 
 The story that he there heard astonished him much 
 more than it will the reader, who has doubtless 
 guessed much of it from the preceding pages. 
 
 " When I was called in to settle the matter between 
 Stanley and Miss Steiner," Woodstock began, "I 
 found a most distressing state of things. Before 
 telling me anything whatever she pledged me to 
 absolute secrecy, a condition which she afterwards 
 modified so far as you were concerned, leaving me at 
 liberty to relate the matter to you if I should ever 
 deem it advisable. I learned that Max Vandenhoff, 
 Rosalie s father, inherited a comfortable fortune and 
 went to Europe to spend the income of it in the most 
 entertaining ways he could find. He lived at Heidel 
 berg for a long time, and it was there that Miss Steiner 
 met him. She had been acting as governess for an 
 American family traveling abroad, and her situation 
 was on the point of expiring. Vandenhoff in some 
 way secured an influence over the girl, for she was 
 then quite young, and in the course of time the old 
 familiar stary was repeated." 
 
 Lysle could not repress a loud exclamation. 
 
 "It surprises you, does it ? Well, it surprised me, 
 too. But Miss Steiner, according to her own story, 
 which I may add that I fully believe, went through 
 a ceremony which he convinced her was binding. 
 There is no doubt that at that time Vandenhoff 
 loved her, as much as a rou6 of his description is 
 capable of loving any one. They traveled together 
 over a good deal of Europe, and finally went to Paris 
 to reside. They were registered at the hotels as Mr. 
 and Mrs. Vandenhoff, and there was nothing to
 
 arouse her suspicions that he had betrayed her. 
 
 These relations lasted for more than four years, 
 when he suddenly took a fancy to a new face and 
 left with his charmer for Italy. He then wrote Miss 
 Steiner a note, which I have in my safe, along with 
 other documents that prove the truth of her narra 
 tive, telling her that the "marriage" between them 
 was a mockery and of no effect. He said she might 
 go to his banker s on the first of each month and 
 draw a stipulated sum for her support, but that he 
 should never return to her." 
 
 Lysle could only ejaculate, * The villain !" 
 " The natural result followed. The girl was pros- 
 trated with grief and mortification. And she had 
 a double reason for the despair into which she 
 was plunged. For several months she had known 
 that she was to become a mother. This she had 
 Hesitated to tell him, knowing, from expressions 
 which he had often used, that the news would be 
 most unpleasant, and having a great dread of his 
 anger. When she recovered sufficiently, she wrote 
 him the truth, leaving the letter at the banker s to 
 be forwarded, though they told her he had left no 
 address. She heard, however, that he had gone to 
 Italy, and when no answer came, she went there to 
 seek him. Tracing him from point to point, find 
 ing the trail and losing it again, she searched 
 through Italy in vain, and the child was born at 
 Naples before she could find its father. Recover 
 ing from her illness, she returned to Paris. Here 
 she found that while she had been hunting for Van- 
 denhoff he had received her letter, and had also been 
 engaged in a search for her. He came to her rooms 
 as soon as he learned she was there, and a stormy 
 scene followed.
 
 324 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 M A1I the upbraidings that could come to the 
 tongue of a wronged woman were hurled at him. 
 She called him everything contemptible and vile, 
 and bade him quit her apartments. But the more 
 anxious she was to be rid of him now, the more he 
 wanted to repair his wrong. He told her that he 
 was ready to marry her, and that he would have 
 done it months before, had he known of the child s 
 expected advent. He had gone from Italy to 
 Algiers, and it was a long time before her first letter 
 reached him. As soon as he learned the news he 
 returned with all speed to Paris, only to find that 
 she had vanished. Finally he heard that she had 
 been seen in Milan, and he went there and from 
 thence to Naples, only to find himself too late in 
 every case. 
 
 " She would not listen to him. At last he had 
 recourse to threats that he would take his daughter 
 away from her, but she answered that an illegitimate 
 child belonged, by the laws of all nations, to its 
 mother, and that he could not have it. Nothing 
 seemed to have the slightest influence with her. She 
 said that as long as he had allowed her to endure 
 this shame she would continue to endure it, and his 
 child" should share it with her. She obtained 
 another situation, and began to earn her living. 
 Vandenhoff seems to have had an attack of genuine 
 contrition, for as soon as he could do so, he made 
 ample provision for both of them in case any acci 
 dent should happen to him." 
 
 Woodstock paused and looked at his auditor, to 
 mark the effect upon him of this remarkable story. 
 
 " I do not understand," said Lysle, after a pause, 
 " how he could have married her, even had she COM*
 
 M R eUKPBISES YOU, DOBS IT?" S9f 
 
 seattd. Was he not already wedded to another 
 woman ?" 
 
 " To another !" exclaimed Woodstock. 
 
 " Yes, to Rosalie s mother." 
 
 The lawyer started violently. 
 
 ** Are you then so slow to understand r" he said. 
 * Rosalie s mother was " 
 
 44 No !" cried the other. " No ! You do not mean 
 that !" 
 
 " I do," replied Woodstock. 44 1 have evidence 
 sufficient to prove it." 
 
 The artist seemed stupefied. 
 
 44 And she went on, all her life here, and gave no 
 sign !" 
 
 44 She could do nothing else. It was a great error, 
 as she admitted to me, that she carried her rage at 
 Vandenhoff so far, but she was terribly outraged at 
 his conduct, and it seemed to her that she could 
 never be his wife after all he had made her suffer. 
 He met his death in her room, where he had come 
 to beg her once more to relent, and where the 
 excitement of the interview brought on an attack of 
 heart trouble from which he expired. This occur 
 rence, combined with what had preceded it, made 
 her the nervous woman you knew her, and gave your 
 cousin the power he used to overrule her in every 
 thing relating to her own child. When his will was 
 brought to her, she determined at first that she 
 would refuse to recognize Vandenhoff s right to 
 dictate to her even to that extent, but better 
 counsels prevailed. The world looked dark and 
 dreary, and she accepted the new conditions. 
 
 " After taking his body to Heidelberg and burn- 
 inj every portrait she had of him, she came to 
 America, and from that time you know the rest.
 
 MOULDOTO A MAIDCK. 
 
 Only you never can know the cruelties that you? 
 cousin practised on her when he got an inkling that 
 the had a secret He was a longtime in finding 
 out what it was, but one day, when she was in 
 anger, the look in her eyes was so much like that of 
 the child, whom he had also seen enraged a short 
 time before, that it gave him the clue. He said to 
 her, Rosalie s mother is alive, and from that time 
 the question of her death was only one of days. 
 
 " She could not bring herself to tell even a part 
 of the touth to Rosalie, though she tried several 
 times, for it was to acknowledge that her father had 
 been a brute and she his mistress. I will say this 
 for Stanley. He could not have realized himself 
 how much pain he was inflicting. He did not know 
 the terrible tension of nerves which had followed the 
 death of Vandenhoff in her room, when she was 
 engaged in a quarrel with him, and which made her 
 mortally afraid of having angry words with any 
 Other person. 
 
 " By the strict construction of the common law of 
 this State, which both Vandenhoff and Miss Steiner 
 were living under all this time, they being merely 
 travelers abroad, she was his wife from the first 
 moment he registered her as such at the hotels where 
 they stayed, and introduced her by the name of Mrs. 
 Vandenhoff, as he did, to many people. I consider 
 Rosalie just as legitimate as any child ever born 
 after a civil or religious ceremony." 
 
 Lysle sprang from his chair and grasped the hand 
 of the lawyer. 
 
 " Oh, Luke, I thank you for that !" he cried. 
 
 "There is no doubt of it. I should claim her 
 property for her on that ground were it her only 
 claim but alas 1 it is all gone now !"
 
 "IT 8DRPBI8B* YOU, DOES n?P 82$ 
 
 u There is nothing left? said Lysle, icterrof- 
 ttirely. 
 
 "Only a bunch of certificates of stock in the 
 Alma mine, which no one would take as a gift." 
 
 The artist stood for several moments lost in 
 thought. 
 
 " Ah, Luke, if there were some way to save him !** 
 he said. " It is not the loss of the money that will 
 trouble Rosalie, but the disgrace and suffering of 
 her dear friend. I may as well be plain with you. 
 She is no longer a child, and she loves Stanley. 
 From babyhood she has adored him, and now I can 
 call her feeling by no less a name than love. She is 
 trying hard to bear up, but when he is sentenced 
 she will break down. I am sure of it. You must do 
 all you can with me to make his punishment a light 
 one, for the effect on her will be worse than on 
 him." 
 
 They talked it over for a long time, Woodstock 
 recalling all the disagreeable aspects of the case, 
 and Lysle pleading for mercy, until at last the 
 lawyer relented to some extent. 
 
 " I will promise at least not to press it against 
 him," he said. " If you can get the judge to view 
 this matter lightly, I will interpose no objection." 
 
 With this straw of hope Lysle went back to the 
 Barrett House, to tell it to Rosalie. Instead of the 
 girl herself, he found waiting for him a note which 
 threw him into the greatest agitation.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 
 OFF FOR BUENOS A Y R ft, 
 
 It happened very luckily for Rosalie s plans that 
 one of the watchmen of the jail where Stanley was 
 confined had a sweetheart who was employed in the 
 Barrett House, and who was aware of the fact that 
 the young girl who had come over from France was 
 related to the prisoner. It happened that the officer 
 had recently tired of his situation and was only wait 
 ing till things came around right before he should 
 resign and remove to the West, where he had an idea 
 that his fortunes would improve much more rapidly. 
 It happened that the only thing that stood in the 
 way of his marriage and subsequent removal was the 
 want of a little more ready money than he could at 
 that time command. It happened that the employee 
 at the hotel mentioned to Rosalie that her young 
 man was one of the guards in the jail and had charge 
 of Stanley every other night. And from these hap 
 penings it was not a great way to a talk between 
 Rosalie and the girl as to the possibility of an escape 
 for the prisoner. When they had exchanged confi 
 dences and the girl had told her lover of the oppor 
 tunity for him to get the money he wanted, it did 
 not take long for him to make up his mind that he 
 would never find a better time to resign his position, 
 or what was more likely, get his discharge from it. 
 
 The watchman knew that if his prisoner was found 
 missing some morning, he would be called up and 
 questioned sharply about it. If he allowed it to
 
 OFF FOB BUJSN08 AYHBW. 381 
 
 ppcar that he had been indulging in drink, the 
 worst thing they could do to him would be to dis 
 miss him in disgrace from the force. As he intended 
 going without delay to a new part of the country, it 
 made no difference to him what record was left oppo 
 site his name on the books of the sheriff s office 
 Rosalie did all her talking with the girl, so that in 
 case anything failed he could not be held responsi 
 ble, and the bargain which they consummated was 
 that fifteen hundred dollars should be paid for the 
 necessary blindness and silence on the part of the 
 guard five hundred dollars down and the balance 
 as soon as Stanley had escaped from the jail and was 
 safe in a carriage, the girl to be on hand ready to 
 take the money. 
 
 The night was selected, and every preparation was 
 made. The bars of the outer window had even been 
 subjected to the steel saws on a previous night, when 
 a thunder-storm drowned the slight sound made. 
 The story which the other officials were to be told 
 yas that Mr. Melrose must have sawed all of the 
 bars while the watchman was under the influence of 
 drugged whiskey given him by the prisoner, to 
 whom it had been in some manner smuggled. 
 
 It was the blackest night ever seen. The hour 
 was past midnight when the form of Stanley Melrose 
 came hastily down the improvised ladder, which he 
 then pulled after him, it being held by an endless 
 cord, which he had only to cut at the base The 
 street-lamps in the vicinity had been mysteriously 
 turned out. He found the carriage where Rosalie 
 had told him to look for it, several blocks away, and 
 in it the young woman from the hotel, waiting for 
 her money. Stanley was disguisad so closely that 
 wo one would have recognized him, Rosalie having
 
 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 taken him the necessary articles in the various visit* 
 she had paid to his cell,, and she was dressed in a 
 boy s suit. In half a minute more the cabman, who 
 had received one hundred dollars for his trouble, 
 though he did not exactly know what the whole 
 affair was about, was taking Stanley and his ward 
 rapidly away from the scene of his late imprison 
 ment. 
 
 They reached the river side in an obscure part oi 
 the city, and there found a man in a row-boat wait 
 ing for them. He had also been promised a larg* 
 extra fee, but knew no more than the cabman what 
 freight he was carrying. 
 
 Out into the darkness of the stfeam rowed th* 
 boatman. Stanley was cautioned to keep a lookout, 
 lest they run into other craft, though it was unlikely 
 that anything else would be moving in that Egyp 
 tian atmosphere. Rosalie lay down in the bottom 
 of the boat, and from that position she talked to her 
 companion in low tones. 
 
 " I have a little over four hundred dollars here for 
 you, Stanley. It was all I could get after paying 
 the men, without exciting attention, but when you 
 get to Buenos Ayres I will send you more. You 
 will have to take an assumed name, so that the peo 
 ple there will not avoid I mean suspect you. 
 Supposing you call yourself James Holman, and I 
 Will write to you under that title. The captain of 
 the ship to which we are going does not know your 
 real name, nor why you wish to take the journey, but 
 he probably suspects that there is something strange 
 about it. The fare will not be very nice, I fear, and 
 there is no provision for passengers such as the reg 
 ular boats provide, but you must make the best
 
 OFF FOB BUENOS AYKK8. 333 
 
 She was eighteen years of age and he nearly twice 
 as much, but in the present emergency their rela 
 tions had changed. She was now a woman and he 
 a mere child, ready to obey her in all things. He 
 held her hand in his as she talked, and his feelings 
 at the knowledge that he must soon release it, per 
 haps never to touch it again, were of the most pain 
 ful description. 
 
 " You can get something to do there," she went on. 
 " It will be much better for you than idleness, for it 
 will keep you from thinking. And besides, you will 
 be able to raise yourself to a good position with your 
 talent, if you try hard. I have read a book lately 
 about that country, and it says that there are many 
 criminals " she stopped, shocked at the words she 
 had thoughtlessly uttered " many unfortunate men 
 who have come there on account of their their 
 troubles and are now among the leading citizens. 
 You are a very smart man, Stanley, as everybody 
 says. And you are young, too, much too young to 
 let this this mistake ruin the rest of your life." 
 
 She paused, thinking that he might have some 
 thing to interject, but the man said nothing. 
 
 " Here is a little package that I want you to take 
 and use when you need it." She handed it to him. 
 " Be careful of it. I shall not want it again. It may 
 be of use to you. Do not leave the Argentine 
 Republic unless something happens which releases 
 you from any danger. It is a sad thing to have to 
 go so far from your country, but at least you will be 
 free. Lysle and I will soon return to Pans. You 
 know our address there. We shall want to hoar 
 from you very often much oftener than you have 
 written us before. As for us, we shall do very welL 
 I have no fears for the future as far as I am coa*
 
 MOULDING A MA1DBK. 
 
 cerned. Perhaps some day we can come out to 
 South America and visit you. By that time you will 
 be, very likely, a man of importance there. I have 
 heard of such things. What is that ahead? Boat 
 man, is it our vessel ?" 
 
 The boatman rested on his oars and peered into 
 the darkness, where the hull of a ship was indis 
 tinctly visible. It was not the ship they sought, but 
 an American man-of-war, and they steered away 
 from it. The boatman said he knew now exactly 
 where the vessel that he sought ought to lie, as he 
 had observed the relative proximity of the two craft 
 at sunset, and knew that both were anchored. There 
 was little more for Rosalie to say, and she lay very 
 still for the next five minutes, holding the hand of 
 her guardian. 
 
 " Stanley," she whispered, at last, " we are almost 
 there. I shall^go at once back to the city, as soon 
 as you are aboard the ship, so as to reach the hotel 
 at the earliest possible moment. We must say good 
 bye now." 
 
 " Good-bye," he murmured faintly. 
 
 " Kiss me, Stanley." 
 
 " No, no !" he cried with a gasp. " I cannot kiss 
 you, Rosalie ! If you knew everything, you would 
 not ask it." 
 
 She drew his head down in spite of his resistance, 
 and pressed her lips to his cheek. 
 
 " Skiff ahoy !" came a gruff voice from a vessel 
 just ahead. 
 
 The boatman ceased rowing and looked at the 
 hip. 
 
 " What vessel is that ?" he asked. 
 
 "The Silvia, bound at daylight for Buenos Ayres.* 
 
 ** I have a passenger for you."
 
 FOR BUENOS 1XBBB. 
 
 " Put him aboard." 
 
 Stanley rose, and with the action of a drunken 
 man, staggered upon the deck. 
 
 " Here you," called the captain, for it was he, t 
 one of his men, " put this fellow into my cabin and 
 help him undress. He has been taking a little too 
 much. The boy s not going, too, is he ?" he asked, 
 turning to the boatman. 
 
 " No," was the reply. 
 
 "It s a dark night. You did well to find us. I 
 was afraid you would get lost in the fog. The city 
 lights will help you on the way back. Well, good 
 night, shipmate." 
 
 44 Good-night," answered the boatman, steering 
 his skiff about. 
 
 Rosalie did not dare to speak, lest her voice should 
 betray her. Stanley stood there on the deck, with 
 the sailor holding him by the shoulder, under the 
 impression that he was intoxicated, but he said 
 nothing, either. 
 
 Then the fog fell between them and blotted out 
 the sight. 
 
 The first rays of the morning sun were struggling 
 vainly to dissipate the mists that hung over Manhat 
 tan Island, when Rosalie landed again. The cabman 
 was waiting for her, and his vehicle was standing a 
 few rods away. She got inside, and as he drove 
 up-town through unfrequented streets, she donned 
 the feminine outside garments which she had left 
 there. She did not let the cab go to the Barrett 
 House, bu t left it at Forty-second street, near the 
 depot, intending to give the driver the impression 
 that she meant to take a train from that point. She 
 went inside the station, thinking that he might 
 watch her, but left it immediately by a side door,
 
 3*6 MOULDING A MAIDBN. 
 
 and crossed through Madison avenue into Forty- 
 third street, and then walked rapidly to her hotel. 
 A sleepy lad let her in, surprised that a lady should 
 be out at that hour. But he could not have recog 
 nized her, on account of the heavy veil which she 
 wore, had he been ever so inquisitive. 
 
 Lysle had passed a horrible night. 
 
 Clothilde would not go to bed, though he begged 
 and almost commanded her to do so, but sat up all 
 night in his parlor, alternately weeping and lament 
 ing that it was her fault. And Lysle paced the 
 floor, looking impatiently at the clock as it moved 
 with leaden motion around the dial, or threw him 
 self impatiently on the sofa, in a vain hope to woo 
 a few moments of repose. It was the longest night 
 he had ever known twice as long as any he had 
 ever imagined but the dawn came at last, and with 
 it Rosalie. 
 
 Her tap on the door startled him, though he 
 had listened for it so long, and when he opened it to 
 let her in, she was struck by the extraordinary pale 
 ness of his countenance. In a second it flashed into 
 her brain what she had made him suffer. 
 
 "Ah, my dear mistress !" cried Clothilde, catching 
 her in her arms. " You are alive and well !" 
 
 Rosalie unclasped herself from the hysterical 
 woman, and spoke with her usual composure. 
 
 44 If you have sat up all night for me, Clothilde, 
 you have done a very foolish thing. Go to bed at 
 once now. And mind you say nothing about my 
 having been out. Go, with no explanations." 
 
 This order, curt as it may appear, was said in a 
 kind tone, and the woman complied without further 
 delay. 
 
 " And now, Lysle, for my scolding from you, for I
 
 !**HEBE AKS TWO CRIMINALS.* 
 
 see you are ready to give me one," proceeded Rosa* 
 lie, taking off her veil and bonnet. " Put perhaps 
 you had best hear first what I have to say in my 
 
 defense." 
 
 If he had formed some dim notion that he was 
 going to speak to her of her conduct in a tone of 
 severity, during those long hours of the lonely night, 
 he knew already how unfitted he was to the task. 
 
 " Well," she said, after waiting for him to speak, 
 " which shall it be, the scolding first, or the expla 
 nation ?" 
 
 He began to fear that he looked silly, but he could 
 not say anything appropriate, and he indicated that 
 she might go on. 
 
 She took one of the chairs and motioned to him to 
 take another. Then she said, mysteriously 
 
 " Have you no suspicion of what I have been 
 doing ?" 
 
 He shook his head in the negative. He wanted 
 very much to know, for until he did, the most horri* 
 ble fears would come uninvited into his mind. 
 
 " Not a guess of any kind ? I was afraid you 
 would have, though it was ridiculous enough. How 
 could you have suspected ? Well, Lysle, Si&tiUy is 
 frttJ" 
 
 The delight with which she uttered these words 
 could not be concealed. She leaned towards him 
 with her hands clasped together and her beautiful 
 eyes luminous.
 
 Free ? * he repeated, with a vacant stare 
 
 "Free, Lysle ! He will not have to undergo those 
 long years at Sing Sing, to which they meant to 
 sentence him ! He will live in a new country 
 where he will have no locks and bars to confine him ! 
 His lungs will not have to breathe the vitiated air of 
 a cell or a prison workshop ! He is at this moment 
 on the open sea, where no sherifl can touch him !" 
 
 The more he tried to speak the less he could find 
 words. He stared at the girl like one stupefied. 
 
 " The open sea ?" he echoed. What could she 
 mean ? 
 
 "Yes, Lysle. I :eft him two hours ago on the 
 deck of a South American vessel, with his passage 
 paid to Buenos Ayres. Are you not glad? Titns I 
 You do no dCt as if it pleased you !" 
 
 He read the thought that was in her eyes, and it 
 gave him speech at last. 
 
 ** Glad, Rosalie ? I know nothing that would 
 make me happier. But how was it accomplished ? 
 You could not have obtained a pardon for him 
 before his sentence. You must have assisted him to 
 escape !" 
 
 She smiled proudly. 
 
 u Yes. That is it. I gave him saws to cut his 
 bars, and a rope to let down from the window. I 
 bribed an officer to pretend sleep, hired a cab to take 
 us to the river and a boatman to row us to the 
 vessel. Yesterday I engaged his passage with a 
 captain who was to sail at daybreak. Oh, I did it all 
 very well. It would do for Monsieur Gaboriau to 
 put in a novel. See ! * 
 
 She unbuttoned her long dress and showed him 
 the boy s suit that she had on beneath it, telling him 
 how she had changed the clothing in the cab, and the
 
 "HJKKB ASK TWO GBIMDIAL0. * S39 
 
 rest of her strange adventures. Now that they 
 were accomplished, she seemed only to think of the 
 amusing element in them, and rattled on with many 
 a laugh until she came to her parting with Stanley 
 at the ship s side. 
 
 " Ah, Lysle, that was terrible !" she exclaimed, 
 dropping her happy tone and wiping genuine tears 
 from her eyes. " He hardly answered anything that 
 I said to him, all the time we were in the cab and 
 boat, and he staggered so when he gained the deck 
 that the captain thought he had been drinking. I 
 shall never forget him standing there with that 
 hopeless look, as my boat was rowed away. Oh, Lysle, 
 Lysle, how sorry I am for him !" 
 
 She burst into sobs that shook her frame, and the 
 helpless fellow did not know of any way to comfort 
 her. He began presently to think again of the 
 dangers to which she had exposed herself, and of 
 how easily one mishap might have resulted in the 
 capture of both the prisoner and his would-be 
 rescuer. Then it occurred to him that there was 
 a possibility that she might be arrested and tried for 
 what she had done, and it gave him a great start. 
 
 " Have you thought," he asked, " that the officers 
 may come here and accuse you, when they find that 
 he is gone ?" 
 
 "What can they prove ?" she responded, smiling 
 through her tears. " There is no one who can testify 
 against me without getting himself into trouble." 
 
 " But they could arrest you on suspicion," he 
 said, " and keep you perhaps for weeks under lock 
 and key, even if they had to discharge you at last." 
 
 "Could they?" She looked startled. "What 
 ild you advise me to do ?"
 
 34& mycuxaa A 
 
 Re looked at the clock. Then he weot to a de*k 
 and picked up a newspaper that lay there. 
 
 M A steamer of the Guion line sails at eleven 
 o clock," he said, after inspecting its columns. " We 
 must manage to get aboard in some way, without 
 exciting suspicion. It will not do to attempt to 
 remove our trunks. Could you travel with what 
 things you could pack in a small bag ?" 
 
 She looked lugubrious, 
 
 " And have no toilets to appear in at table ? That 
 would be dreadful !" 
 
 "You would prefer perhaps dining with the 
 sheriff of the city of New York," said Lysle, sen- 
 tentiously. 
 
 " No, that must be avoided, but there will be some 
 way to get my trunks over. It is only half-past 
 four now, and there is plenty of time. I will 
 arrange it. I have done more important things 
 than that to-night, and I will see that there is no 
 trouble." 
 
 He had grave doubts of the expediency of her 
 plan, but she seemed to have decided upon it, and 
 he said no more. She began at once to pack her 
 things, and he did the same with his own. In 
 response to his suggestion that she call Clothilde to 
 assist her, she said the woman must be exhausted 
 from her vigil and had best be allowed her rest. 
 
 "You and I are different, Lysle," she laughed. 
 * We are not upset by a little flurry. Stanley knew 
 what he was about when he put the strength and 
 muscle on my body years and years ago. Poor 
 Stanley !" She paused, to wipe her eyes again. " I 
 seemed twice as strong as he when I helped 
 him into the carriage. He has grown so old and 
 fray ! But w must think of the bright side now,
 
 "HEBE ARE TWO CRIMINALS." 341 
 
 It will be such a joke on the prison officials, when 
 they find him gone !" 
 
 The young woman who had arranged the escape 
 through her lover, came in very early, and was 
 relieved to find that Rosalie had returned safely, and 
 that Mr. Melrose was out of danger of recapture. 
 She was also pleased when she found that Rosalie 
 intended to take the Liverpool steamer, and 
 promised to aid her in all possible ways to leave the 
 house without attracting too much attention. It 
 was decided that Lysle should settle the bill, giving 
 the impression that he intended to take a Western 
 train, and after the carriages had left the house and 
 gone some distance, the drivers were to be informed 
 for the first time of the real destination of the 
 occupants. A messenger was sent to the steamer 
 office to engage state-rooms for two assumed names. 
 Everything went well, and half an hour before the 
 steamer was to start, the intended passengers of the 
 Barrett House were on board. 
 
 By this time the business part of New York was 
 ringing with the news of the escape of Melrose. 
 The watchman in charge of Stanley s corridor had 
 been found in a genuine state of unconsciousness, 
 Rosalie having put a light dose of opium into the 
 whiskey which Stanley was to give him, thinking 
 the surer method the better. In those incompre 
 hensible ways that police sometimes have, one of the 
 inspectors learned that though Lysle and Rosalie 
 had left the Barrett House ostensibly bound for the 
 Grand Central Depot, they had engaged state-room* 
 on the Alaska. Not doubting that Stanley was 
 going with them, the officer who made this dis 
 covery rushed into the nearest magistrate s and got 
 a warrant for all three, and before the steamer left
 
 342 MOULDING A MAIDEST. 
 
 her dock he boarded her with the expectation of 
 immortalizing his name and winning promotion by 
 a most important capture. 
 
 Time was pressing. He began a thorough search 
 of the boat. He saw a hundred faces, but not the 
 one he cared most to find, that of Stanley, whom he 
 knew by sight very well. The steamer left her 
 moorings and started down the tide. He did not 
 mind that, as he knew he could get the Pilot Boat 
 to take him and his prisoners back. He searched 
 still, aided by one of the passengers, whom he hap 
 pened to know, but without effect. Lysle and 
 Rosalie he had little difficulty in finding. But he 
 consoled himself with the reflection that the offences 
 of Mr. Melrose were extraditable, and that he 
 could be arrested in Liverpool on a cablegram, 
 when he tried to leave the steamer. 
 
 The vessel continued down the river and ou f 
 into the bay. The officer saw no use in waiting 
 longer. He told his friend to keep an eye on Lysle 
 while he descended into the cabin to bring up 
 Rosalie, who had gone down to her room on an 
 errand. Knocking at the door of the state-room, it 
 was opened by Clothilde, whose fears were under 
 full strain, and who gave a cry at sight of the 
 strange man. 
 
 " I wish to speak with Miss Vandenhoff," he said. 
 
 Although Rosalie had been registered as a passen- 
 jer under another name, she did not see any object 
 in denying her identity now that the steamer was on 
 its way to England. She came immediately to the 
 door and said that she was the lady in question ; upon 
 which he handed her the warrant, duly signed and 
 onspicuously sealed with the seal of the court. 
 
 " Clothilde/ she said, coolly, " go on th deck and
 
 "HERE ARE TWO CKTMINALS." 343 
 
 rem in there till I come. Be sure you say nothing 
 
 to any one about my having a visitor." Then to the 
 officer she added, " Step inside, sir. I will be ready 
 in a moment." 
 
 The officer was a small man, and noted on the fore* 
 for his unvarying politeness to the fair sex, among 
 whom he was popularly believed to be a favorite. 
 He accepted the invitation with alacrity, and 
 hastened to say how much he regretted the necessity 
 of performing this disagreeable duty, and that he 
 trusted she would be able to establish her innocence 
 of the offenses charged ; with much more to the same 
 effect. 
 
 Rosalie all this time pretended to be arranging her 
 hair and putting on her bonnet at the mirror. 
 
 " I have warrants also for both the Messrs. Mel- 
 rose," he added. 
 
 " Both !" she said, assuming astonishment. " Let 
 me see them." 
 
 He displayed the documents and she took them in 
 her hands to look over. 
 
 " But I do not see the use of these things," she 
 said, innocently. " How are you to get us ashore 
 now that the boat has started ?" 
 
 " Oh, that is easy enough," he replied. "The tug 
 will not leave us for half an hour yet. We can all go 
 in that. And if you wish to do a real service for Mr. 
 Stanley Melrose you will advise him to accompany 
 us without trouble. The English authorities will 
 certainly take him when he arrives at Liverpool, and 
 send him back again, and he will only get a longer 
 sentence." 
 
 She seemed much interested. 
 
 " Do you really think so ?" she asked, demurely. 
 
 * There is no doubt of it."
 
 344 MOULDING A MAIDEH. 
 
 She paused to consider. 
 
 " Supposing we should refuse to go with you* 
 what could you do about it ? We are on an English 
 vessel, you know.** 
 
 He smiled wisely. 
 
 " Those warrants that you hold in your hand 
 would be respected by the captain while we are in 
 American waters. He would furnish me assistance 
 if you should be so foolish as to resist." 
 
 She hesitated a moment. He held out his hand 
 for the warrants, when, with a sudden motion, she 
 dropped them out of the window. 
 
 " They are gone," she said, quietly. u Will he 
 furnish you help to take me now ?" 
 
 The officer lost his temper in his vexation, curs 
 ing the folly that had led him to allow the documents 
 to leave his hands. 
 
 " I shall take you at least," he replied, bitterly. 
 " I think I shall not need much help to do that." 
 
 Rosalie drew herself up. She was almost as tall 
 as he. 
 
 "You think so?" she replied, icily. 
 
 " Yes," he responded, losing his temper completely 
 as the thought of his idiocy came stronger upon him. 
 He drew out a pair of handcuffs. " If you make the 
 least resistance I shall put these on you." 
 
 As he put his hands on her arm she caught him by 
 both his wrists with a grasp like a vice, and threw 
 him by sheer strength upon her lower berth, where 
 he lay in her clutch as helpless as a child. 
 
 I am going out of that door and lock it after 
 me," she said, bending over him. " If you attempt 
 to move I do not know what I shall do, but I think I 
 shall kill you !" 
 
 Thoroughly startled, both at the extraordinary
 
 * HERE ABB TWO CRIMINALS. 1 * 
 
 Strength she had shown, which he could readily see 
 was but a tithe of that which she possessed, and at 
 the sudden change in her manner, the officer let her 
 leave the room and lock the door after her without a 
 protest. She made her way at once to the deck, and 
 meeting the third officer of the steamer, she told 
 him that there was a person in her state-room who 
 she thought wished to go ashore in the tug, at the 
 same time handing him her key. 
 
 Then she went to Lysle and hastily related the 
 story. He urged that they both had best conceal 
 themselves till the tug had gone, but she would not 
 listen to that. A minute later the inspector came 
 up the companion way and called the captain. 
 
 " Here are two criminals for whom I have obtained 
 warrants," he said, in a voice choking with rage, 
 " and I want help to arrest them." 
 
 " Let me see your warrants,** responded the 
 imperturbable officer. 
 
 " That woman has destroyed them/ 
 
 The captain turned to Lysle and Rosalie. 
 
 " What do you say to this ?" he asked. 
 
 " We say," said Rosalie, quietly, " that our passage 
 is paid on this steamer to Liverpool, and that we 
 intend to go there without molestation from any 
 one." 
 
 The pilot was getting ready to leave the vessel, and 
 the master of the tug inquired whether any one was 
 going with him. 
 
 " Have you a ticket ?" asked the steamer captain 
 of the inspector. 
 
 " No, sir, but" 
 
 " Then get aboard that tug," said the capta uv 
 turning away.
 
 MS MOCLOOrO A MAIDKN. 
 
 There was nothing else to do, and the Inspector 
 
 complied with a very ill grace. 
 
 " You will hear from me," be said, as he left the 
 boat. 
 
 A banker who had heard of Stanley s escape, and 
 the rumors that connected Rosalie with the affair, 
 told it all to a group of passengers soon after, and 
 she was at once the heroine of the hour. When 
 they learned that it was her money that had been 
 taken, and that she had risked so much to save the 
 thief, their admiration was intense. The captain 
 made her sit with Lysle at his table, and the voyage 
 over was made as pleasant to her as possible in every 
 way. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " WHERE ARE YOUR JEWELS Y* 
 
 Mme. Fleury was as glad to see Rosalie again as 
 if she had been a child of her own. She caught her 
 to her breast as soon as she made her appearance in 
 the hotel in the Avenue de 1 Alma, crying, " My 
 dear girl ! My darling child !" with great fervor. 
 But she was not long in realizing that there had 
 been a great change in her late charge. At sixteen 
 Rosalie had worn the appearance of eighteen, and 
 ow when her eighteenth birthday had come and 
 gone, she might have easily been taken to be in the 
 twenties. 
 
 It wa* not that her face seemed older than it 
 hould be, but she had a manner which could not be 
 reconciled with her extreme youth. She was 4
 
 "WHH&B ABB YOOB JBWBL*r** 
 
 woman in everything. Her frivolity bad given way 
 to that sober sense which usually comes only with 
 years. She showed it in her dress, in her walk, in 
 her manner of speech, in her part in the conversa 
 tion. Mme. Fleury could not help thinking that 
 this wise young person had suddenly become quite 
 fit to chaperone some other girl, instead of needing 
 a chaperone herself. 
 
 * I am afraid I cannot afford it, Lysle," said 
 Rosalie one day, when some extra expense had been 
 proposed. 
 
 It sounded very odd, that expression, coming from 
 her, who had never limited her desires for the things 
 that money could purchase. 
 
 " Nonsense !" he replied, quickly. " You can 
 afford anything you wish." 
 
 " But I thought," she answered, slowly, " that ray 
 money was about all gone." 
 
 " Much you know about it I" was his response, 
 " There is plenty left. But where are your jewels ? 
 You have never put them on once since we left 
 America." 
 
 She looked at her fingers, on which there was 
 only one ring, a plain little affair with ruby setting, 
 that Stanley had given her for a birthday present 
 when she was eleven. She had had it enlarged 
 twice, and whatever else she wore, she was never 
 without that. 
 
 " I do not think I care for diamonds now," she 
 replied. 
 
 Something in the way she said this aroused his 
 suspicions. 
 
 "They are very becoming to you, though," he 
 Mwwered. " Get them out, please, and let me sec
 
 548 MOULDING A HAIDER. 
 
 them on you once more. I am a better judge tfifM 
 you as to whether you ought to wear them." 
 
 She looked into his honest eyes, and the thought 
 came to her that there was a certain wrong in deceiv 
 ing him. 
 
 " I will tell you the truth, Lysle," said she, soberly, 
 " I have no diamonds. I have given them all away." 
 
 Careless as he was of money this startled him. 
 Given them away ! They had cost nearly one 
 hundred thousand francs ! What a child this was to 
 speak so quietly of giving away such a sum. 
 
 " You cannot mean that, I think," he said. "What 
 have you done with them ?" 
 
 She came to him, and put her soft hand on his 
 shoulder. It was a way she had when she wanted 
 to soften anything to him that she feared he would 
 not quite like to hear. 
 
 " Don t scold me, Lysle. I gave them to Stanley." 
 
 " To Stanley !" he echoed, with a shudder. " And 
 and he took them ?" 
 
 " He did not know what they were. I put them 
 all in a little package and gave it to him the las! 
 thing before he left the boat to go on the vessel. I 
 only said that he must be careful of it, and that I 
 wanted him to have it, to do what he thought best 
 with. All the money he had after paying his pas 
 sage to South America was $250. I thought he 
 might need the gems very mudh, and they were ot 
 no real use to me. You do not like it, Lysle, and I 
 am very sorry, but I did what I thought right.** 
 
 He was too full of emotion to speak, and she mis 
 took his silence for reproof, both of herself and of 
 the man who had accepted her gift. 
 
 "I do not think you ought to care," she wet on, 
 seeing that he remained silent " If I am willing to
 
 "WHERE ABE YOUB JEWELS?* 
 
 go without them, what difference can it make to 
 you ? But I know what the trouble is. You do not 
 
 like Stanley, and you would rather " 
 
 He interrupted her with a sudden motion of bit 
 hand. 
 
 ** You must not say that, Rosalie." 
 
 "It was my money that miserable money of 
 mine that has made him all this trouble," she went 
 on, the old spirit breaking out in her. <! It was not 
 yours, nor the sheriff s, nor the inspectors, nor even 
 that Mr. Woodstock s, who made himself so officious. 
 It was just mine, and I do not care a penny for it 
 all. The diamonds were mine, and I gave them to 
 him because I wanted to. I can think of nothing 
 but that wanderer in a strange land, trying to get 
 recognition of some kind after all those years when 
 he has been so prosperous. Here we are with our 
 comforts and luxuries, and there he is with nothing 
 but his hands and his brain, beginning life again 
 like a boy, only without a boy s hopes and ambitions. 
 I am glad I gave them to him, Lysle, and I wish I 
 had ten times as much to give him. He may find an 
 opening there where a few thousand dollars will 
 help put him into a good place. Tell me you do 
 not care, Lysle ! You, who are so kind and good, 
 you must not hold these bitter feelings against 
 Stanley !" 
 
 She had talked so fast that he had found no place 
 where he could stop the flow of words, but at the 
 first opportunity he told her that she was doing him 
 a wrong ; that he was quite willing she should do as 
 she pleased about the diamonds ; and that so far 
 from wishing any ill to Stanley, he would gladly do 
 anything in his power to help him to even partially 
 regain the position in life that be bad lost.
 
 310 MOULDING A if X1DKN. 
 
 " He is my cousin, Rosalie," he said, putting hit 
 arm about her for the first time. " If that were not 
 reason enough, the fact that he is so dear to you 
 would furnish any further incentive necessary to win 
 him my regard." 
 
 Her eyes ran over with tears of joy. The India* 
 spirit that Stanley had inculcated gave way befort 
 such trying tests as this. 
 
 ** Do you care very much for me ?" she whispered. 
 
 He was thrown off his guard by the unexpected* 
 ness of the question. 
 
 " Is there anything else in the world that I care 
 for ?" he exclaimed. " When you are happily set 
 tled, what more will there be for me to do ?" 
 
 His agitation quite upset her. She had never seen 
 him in such a mood. 
 
 " There will always be something for you to live 
 for," she said. "You are a great painter a very 
 famous man with a wonderful career in store." 
 
 He shook off the depression that had crept upon 
 him, and which he was ashamed that she should 
 see. 
 
 41 Never think for one moment, Rosalie, that I 
 have anything but the best of feeling toward my 
 cousin. There is one way, at least, in which I can 
 prove it to you. We will find out if there is any 
 possibility of benefitting him in a pecuniary way, 
 and if there is, I will send him whatever money h 
 needs." 
 
 " You are so good !" she cried. " And a moment 
 ago I was saying all sorts of cross things to you 
 But he has not written us yet. What do you sup* 
 pose is the reason ?** 
 
 **It is hardly time to expect it. He went on a 
 suiting vessel, you remember, which may have bccc
 
 *WHKBK ABB YOIJB JEWELS?" 351 
 
 delayed. Then he would probably wish to wait tiD 
 he had something special to write before he sent a 
 letter. But I will not wait for him. I will sed him 
 a letter to-day, offering my assistance. The knowl 
 edge that money can be obtained may aid him even 
 before it arrives." 
 
 She heard him with every manifestation of 
 delight. 
 
 " And you have plenty, Lysle, so that you can do 
 this just as well as not ?" 
 
 He laughed loudly. 
 
 " Plenty ! Why, of course I have ! Did you think 
 I was a pauper ? Let me go now, and write at 
 once. The steamer sails for Buenos Ayres to-mor 
 row." 
 
 He rose, and she stood beside him, her counte 
 nance radiant. 
 
 " Lysle, do you remember that evening, when I 
 was a little girl at Cape May, and you asked me for 
 a kiss, and I refused ?" 
 
 * Yes," he assented. " I remember it very well/* 
 
 She came closer and looked up into his eyes. 
 
 "May I give it to you now ?" 
 
 For almost a minute neither of them stirred. Her 
 mouth was within a few inches of his, and their eyes 
 were fixed on those of each other. He had a great 
 truggle, and then he spoke with composure. 
 
 " Rosalie," said he, " let us sit down again. There 
 is something that I want to say to you." 
 
 She sank beside him on a sofa, and he took both 
 of her hands in his. It was the first time in his lift 
 that he had not had an awe of her. 
 
 " I am going to talk to you about a matter that I 
 have had in mind for some time," he said, "lam 
 going to talk to you as a man can talk to a woman,
 
 352 MOULDING A HAIDBV. 
 
 as a guardian can talk to his ward. For yon 
 woman now, and you can understand me. You asfe 
 If you may give me that kiss which you once refused 
 with such indignation, and I am going to tell yon 
 that you cannot. The lapse of years has changed 
 everything. If you are pleased with what I have 
 done or offered to do, that is payment enough for 
 me. The lips of a young woman are not to be 
 lightly touched, and there is no relation between us 
 that would justify me in accepting the offer made in 
 a moment of gratitude for what you consider a favor. 
 Rosalie, my dear girl, let those lips first be pressed 
 by the man whose love you have had ever since you 
 were old enough to know his voice who now, 
 through all his errors and his misfortunes, you hold 
 dearest on earth." 
 
 The hands that he held had grown suddenly cold. 
 Had he been less in earnest he would have been 
 amazed at the phenomenon. But he was so wrought 
 up with his subject that he noticed only the still 
 face turned toward his, on which not a muscle was 
 seen to move. 
 
 ** When I first saw you and Stanley together I could 
 not help marveling that he, a man of business, full 
 of legal work and all kinds of projects, should devote 
 himself so to such a tiny thing. The next time I 
 went to America I noticed it still more, and in a 
 hundred little ways that he probably never dreamed 
 would attract my attention. When I painted those 
 pictures of you he tried to buy one of them, and as I 
 had made a rule never to sell anything I had done, 
 he showed the greatest disappointment. As you 
 grew older, the very love that he had conceived for 
 you made him assume those distant ways that caused 
 you such surprise and annoyance, Stanley thought
 
 "WHEBK ABB TOUB JEWELS?** 363 
 
 that closer contact with you was not well when k 
 was evident that you were no longer a child. All 
 the time that you were holding hard feelings against 
 him for his apparent neglect, I am convinced that he 
 was learning to love you more than ever." 
 
 The hands had grown quite icy now, but he did not 
 notice. 
 
 " Stanley s great ambition in life was to be a man 
 of prodigious wealth. In striving to accomplish it 
 too rapidly he was led into ventures which resulted 
 in disaster. I have no doubt that he fully believed 
 when he first used your money that he could thus 
 double it as well as his own. I believe he thought 
 he could see, down the vistas of time, the dear 
 little woman he loved, sitting at his fireside, enjoy 
 ing the great wealth that his shrewdness and ability 
 had brought her. How he failed to accomplish what 
 he sought, we both know. But in those days when 
 it became evident that ruin was on his track, and that 
 either flight or inprisonment was to be his fate, what 
 was it that troubled him most ? Not the loss of for 
 tune, but the distance he had placed between himself 
 and the one he loved more than wealth, more than 
 honor, more than freedom. A thoroughly bad man 
 would have gathered a goodly sum from the wreck 
 and gone out of the country before he was suspected. 
 Stanley acted like one crushed. He waited for the 
 arrest which he must have known was inevitable. 
 He went to prison without a word, and would have 
 taken his sentence without even making a defense in 
 the court. What had he to live for outside the 
 granite walls ? So far as he could forecast, his folly 
 had lost him forever the pearl he had most cared to 
 Win. 
 
 " Then, in the midst of the Egyptian blackness
 
 354 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 that enshrouded him, a light came. The loved on* 
 
 risked her reputation, her liberty, to set him free. 
 He took her hand and walked out of his prison into 
 the world. In a foreign country he is now trying to 
 make himself again a man. What is there to comfort 
 him ? Of what use will success be, if fortune smiles 
 once more, unless he has the promise of the one he 
 loves that she will some day come to him ? If he has 
 not yet had that promise if he feared to ask it he 
 must have it now. Stanley loves you, Rosalie, and 
 you love him. You are old enough to think seriously 
 of your duty. As soon as you wish, I will go with 
 you to Buenos Ayres and leave you there, the wifo 
 of a man who will never again, I am sure, give you 
 cause for a tear or a blush." 
 
 She made him no answer, but arose and slowly left, 
 the room. Lysle went that day to an art dealer and 
 arranged to sell several of his paintings, not making 
 nearly as good a bargain as he might, for he despised 
 the entire business, and was only anxious to get a 
 certain sum, regardless of how much he gave in 
 exchange. He then wrote a long letter to Stanley, 
 offering to do anything in his power to help him, and 
 enclosing a draft as an earnest of his promises. 
 
 " I wish," he wrote, " that you would accept th 
 enclosed in exchange for the jewels that Rosalie 
 gave you, and return them to me by the earliest 
 steamer. I think you would have to sacrifice them 
 if you sold them there. Do not think I am interfer 
 ing between you and her, for I quite approve of the 
 motive which made her give them to you. I am sura 
 you will find use for capital, and trust that you will 
 aoon be on your feet, financially speaking, and ready 
 to battle with the world successfully."
 
 "WHERE ABB TOUB JEWELS?** 3S6 
 
 Much more Lysle wrote also in that letter, the 
 whole breathing a fraternal spirit that was intended 
 to cheer and encourage the expatriated man. When 
 Stanley received it he had just been offered a most 
 eligible chance to enter a young firm engaged in the 
 export of hides, where the profits were sure to be 
 great. His prospective partners wanted a little more 
 money than they could command, in order to increase 
 the business, and he had felt his poverty deeply as 
 he saw the golden opportunity slipping from him for 
 the want of a sum that he would have considered a 
 short time ago a mere bagatelle. Lysle s draft would 
 enable him to accept the offer, but it seemed degrad* 
 ing to take it in exchange for the diamonds, which 
 he had intended to return to Rosalie with his thanks. 
 Had he known what was in the little packet which 
 she handed to him in the boat, he would never have 
 taken it. Feeling certain, however, that he could 
 soon return the amount, he accepted it, saying in 
 his letter to Lysle that he did not consider it any 
 thing else but a loan, and that he should repay it 
 with interest as soon as he could do so. 
 
 It was a happy day for Lysle when he brought 
 the jewels to Rosalie, and spread them out on her 
 table bel-ore her astonished eyes. She was inclined 
 to be displeased at first, until he told her that he 
 had sent Stanley much more money than he could 
 possibly have got for the stones. He made her put 
 them on again and told her how much more natural 
 she looked, but she did not seem quite satis 
 fied. 
 
 " I do not think I shall ever enjoy them as I used," 
 she said. " I almost wish you would sell them now, 
 and let me send the price to him to add to what he 
 has already. A man out there cannot have too
 
 164 MOULDING A MAIDEN. 
 
 much money. There are great chances for capital 
 F* Buenos Ayres. ! have read it in a book that I 
 have." 
 
 She had changed a good deal. Not only did ihe 
 care less for jewelry, but her love of dress had les 
 sened, also. She had become a very quiet little 
 woman, and Mme. Fleury was not entirely at her 
 ease about her. 
 
 44 Do you not notice that something is preying on 
 the mind of mademoiselle ? * she asked Lysle, in one 
 of their conferences. 
 
 44 Yes," be replied. " I may as well confide to you 
 the reason, Mme. Fleury. She is constantly think 
 ing of her guardian in South America. Rosalie is 
 now eighteen years old, and the friendship of the 
 child has become the love of the woman. As soon 
 as he is settled there, I shall try to bring the mar 
 riage about. Stanley is ashamed to ask her to share 
 such a broken and dishonored life as his, and of 
 course she cannot make the proposal, being a woman. 
 But they both entertain the same wish, and it will 
 ^e for me to arrange it/* 
 
 The woman eyed him with a peculiar expression. 
 
 **Are you sure that you have rightly guaged her 
 sentiments ?" 
 
 44 Oh, yes. There is no doubt. I have already 
 ipoken to her, and she was much impressed.** 
 
 44 Excuse me for saying it, but you also ought to 
 marry, M. Lysle," said Mme. Fleury. "You are 
 not a man who should condemn yourself to bachelor 
 hood." 
 
 a I shall never marry/* he said, simply. 
 
 The crisis came when Stanley had been absent a 
 little over six montns. Lysle received a letter from 
 Mm, saying that he was prospering wonderfully in
 
 "WHKBE ABE YOUm JEWELS?" 3ft? 
 
 his new business, which his cousin s generosity had 
 enabled him to enter, and that he had hopes of the 
 future that were really bright. After giving a slight 
 indication of the condition of his trade, be startled 
 his reader by adding these lines . 
 
 "And now, my dear cousin, I am going to say 
 something that will surprise you. Since I have been 
 here I have had the honor of an introduction to one 
 of the best and noblest women who ever lived, and 
 we have become much attached to each other. Feel 
 ing the loneliness of a single life as I never felt it in 
 my own country, and knowing that she was also 
 without attachments here, I have asked her to be my 
 wife, and she has accepted. Before I did so, I gave 
 her a truthful history of my career, and she takes 
 me as I am, knowing me fully repentant for what 
 I have done. We are to be married within three 
 months, and I am sure you and Rosalie will wish us 
 happiness." 
 
 Lysle felt his brain reeling. Anything so cold* 
 blooded he had never conceived. He wished for a 
 moment that he had back the money he had sent to 
 this ungrateful wretch. 
 
 " How can I ever tell it to her 1" he meantd, 
 " How &8 I **er teU lit to to*r I"
 
 MocLnraa A. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 TOO WONDERFUL TO BE TRUE. 
 
 For the next week Lysle was plunged into the 
 deepest melancholy. Knowing the sensitive nature 
 of his ward, he dreaded the effect of the news which 
 he would have to impart. He avoided her all that 
 he could, pretending to have errands in other parts 
 of the city at dinner time, and to be very busy in his 
 studio all the rest of the day. But once, when he 
 had told her that he must not be disturbed on any 
 atcount, as he had to finish a certain picture, she 
 disregarded his injunction and went by herself to 
 the Rue Dutot, where she surprised him sitting with 
 his head buried in his hands in an attitude of the 
 deepest dejection. 
 
 " Why, Lysle," she cried, going instantly to him, 
 "what is the matter?" 
 
 " Nothing," he answered, sitting up. " I thought 
 I asked you not to come here to-day." 
 
 " Shall I go?" she inquired, flushing. 
 
 " Oh, no," he replied. " I shall not do any more 
 work this morning." 
 
 She knew that something troubled him. He had 
 not been as cheerful as usual for a week. She 
 walked about the studio, looking at the paintings. 
 
 "Do you know, Lysle," she said, presently, "I 
 never see that picture of The Sleeping Girl but it 
 always reminds me of Clothilde ? I never saw two 
 laces more alike.**
 
 TOO WONDKRFUL TO BE TRUE. 
 
 -It is Clothilde," he said. "I thought yon 
 knew." 
 
 She drew herself up a little, and her breath came 
 
 short. 
 
 " And you you painted her that way T* 
 
 "Yes. When I was a student." 
 
 She paced the floor for several minutes. 
 
 ** I am very angry," she said, at last. 
 
 "Why?" He looked up. 
 
 " That you should bring a woman of that kind 
 to live with me." 
 
 " Of what kind?" he asked, somewhat dazed. 
 
 " One who would submit to be painted in such a 
 pose !" 
 
 Then he told her of the young girl who had been 
 compelled by her step-mother to earn her living in 
 that manner, of how she had struggled against the 
 disagreeable task, and of how she had gone through 
 suffering and privation to free herself from it. As 
 the story progressed the lines in Rosalie s face grew 
 softer. 
 
 " I am sorry for what I said," she told him, gently. 
 "You need a great deal of patience to get along 
 with me. I ought to have known that you would 
 not do anything dishonorable. But what troubles 
 you ? You need not tell me it is nothing, for I have 
 noticed it." Suddenly she glanced at the walls of 
 the studio and missed the paintings that he had sold. 
 
 " Ah ! I know ! Some one has stolen them ?" 
 
 " Stolen ?" he repeated, following her finger with 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Yes. They were there the last time I came, and 
 now they are gone. They have been stolen or else 
 Lysle ! You have not satdthem !" 
 
 Had they been the living children of his body as
 
 999 mxnsam 
 
 he used to can them of his brain, she could not hat! 
 put more horror into her tone. 
 
 * It does not matter/ he responded, arousing him 
 self. " They are of very little consequence ; just a 
 few months labor that I can devote again to some 
 thing better." 
 
 " You hove sold them," she repeated, in freezing 
 accents. " Why ? To get money ! For what ? To 
 send to Stanley !" 
 
 He looked up defiantly, 
 
 M Well, I did ! And what of it ? It was foolish to 
 keep them forever, when there was a good market. 
 I would not care if the rest went, too ! Only I 
 would not send the money to him again ! No, not 
 if he were dying of hunger !" 
 
 Was this Lysle, the gentle, affectionate Lysle? 
 She was too much astonished to answer him. 
 
 " Am I severe ?" he muttered. " Before you say 
 so, read that !" 
 
 He threw the letter at her feet, and she picked it 
 op with a strange feeling of apprehension. What 
 had Stanley done now? Robbed some one else, 
 perhaps, and laid himself liable to another term in 
 prison. She could think of nothing but that which 
 could justify the tone and manner that Lysle had 
 used. She hardly dared open the terrible missive, 
 but she found the courage, and read it through with 
 out stopping. 
 
 Lysle was alarmed after he had handed it to her, 
 at the rashness of what he had done. He thought 
 when it was too late that he should have broken it 
 to her in some gentler way, but he had been trying 
 for a week to think of one and had failed. He 
 watched her expression as she glanced over the lines, 
 and to his inexpressible wonder he saw that the
 
 TOO WONDERFUL 10 Ml 1W8 
 
 frightened look gave iy to ft pronounced unite M 
 she neared the end. 
 
 M I am so glad !" she cried, looking up. Stanley 
 has taken the only way to find real happiness. But 
 what is there here that you do not like ? Surely,** 
 the added, mischievously, " you are not such ft 
 woman-hater that you object i? his marriage !" 
 
 It was now his turn to be dumbfounded. She 
 read the letter slowly again, but could not under* 
 stand. 
 
 44 He has written that he is prospering in business 
 and about to marry an estimable woman whom bo 
 loves. Ah, Lysle, I was right before ! You hate 
 Stanley, in spite of your gift to him, and you grudge 
 him peace and contentment You think he should 
 be punished more severely for his fault I am very 
 Sorry. It is not at all like you." 
 
 It seemed to him that he must be dreaming. 
 
 "And it pleases youT he articulated. 
 
 " More than anything in the world. Do yov think 
 I, who have cared for Stanley all my life, can feet 
 anything less than elation that he is to have this joy ? 
 It lifts a load from my heart. I shall no longer think 
 of him as the lonely adventurer, but as the man of 
 family, with a wife at his side, comforting and 
 cheering him in all his vicissitudes. It will be the 
 making of him ! How can you ask if it pleases me T 
 
 He heard her and he could see that she was in 
 earnest It was not as he at first suspected, a mere 
 pretence of delight to hide the sorrow that lay 
 underneath. Had he been in error all this time ? 
 
 "But I tho#ht" he stammered, "that you** 
 
 " Was in love with him myself !" she yyrlsltMsX 
 with a gay laugh. " And so 1 was, as a child tavet 
 Us father 8 as a ward loves the kind guardian
 
 362 MOULDING A MAIDES. 
 
 whose brain she takes her first impulses. I loved 
 him as he loved me, but never in the way you art 
 trying to imagine. No, Lysle, never." 
 
 Honesty beamed from her eyes and he could not 
 doubt her. 
 
 "Why did you not say this to me that day when I 
 talked with you about him?" he replied. "You 
 knew what I thought, and you let me go on thinking 
 to." 
 
 " There were difficulties in the way," she smiled, 
 sweetly. "You had just refused me u kiss, and I 
 was too abashed to say anything." 
 
 He rose from his chair with dignity. 
 
 "That is not a thing to jest about, Rosalie ! * 
 
 "Isn t it, dear?" she replied, coming towards him. 
 " But you should not have refused me, for you may 
 never get the chance again." 
 
 There were a hundred laughs chasing each other 
 over her beautiful, blushing countenance. 
 
 * Rosalie," he said, bending toward her, " I must 
 fay something to you, now that I know I can at 
 least do so without disloyalty to Stanley." 
 
 She took his face between her hands. 
 
 " There is no need of saying anything, Ly?le. I 
 have known it for ever so long." 
 
 It seemed too wonderful to be true. 
 
 "And you love me ?" he cried. 
 
 " You ve guessed it at last," she answered. * I 
 thought you never would. Oh, Lysle, what a dear, 
 darling, slow old boy you are !" 
 
 " I have good news to write you," said Luke 
 Woodstock, in a letter received by Lysle, shortly 
 after this, " that will, I think, cause you some sur-
 
 1OO WONDERFUL TO MB TBO. 8W* 
 
 prite. You recollect that the only thing . was able 
 to save out of your cousin s investments was a lot of 
 certificates of stock in the Alma Gold Mine, which 
 nobody wanted, and which I was consequently able 
 to buy in for a song. Recently I heard from a 
 miner who had returned from Colorado, that a mine 
 near the Alma had begun to show up well, and I 
 took a trip out that way. What I learned induced 
 me to put men at work in the empty shaft and with 
 in a week they had struck it rich. I telegraphed 
 home to my partner to buv up all the rest of the 
 stock that he could get his hands on, and between 
 the Vandenhoff estate, Stanley and myself, we have 
 about the whole of it. I cannot say where the lode 
 may end, but there is enough in sight already to 
 pay off every dollar of Stanley s defalcation, and 
 leave him a handsome surplus. Miss Rosalie will 
 get the whole of her fortune again inside of a year, 
 and probably much more with it. I am now trying 
 to arrange things with the district-attorney to have 
 the indictment against Stanley nol. fros d, so that 
 he can come home and make restitution to those 
 who have suffered by him, as I have no doubt he 
 will be glad to do. 
 
 " There is another thing that may interest you. 
 Arthur Peck was killed out in California last week, 
 in a row over a woman. Dudley Morgan is doing 
 well he is now in my office and sends his regards. 
 
 Lysle handed this letter to Rosalie and was glad 
 to witness the joy it gave her. 
 
 "It is not that I want the money tor myself," she 
 said, "but it will enable Stanley to hold up his head 
 again ; and then we shall see his new wife, for they 
 will be sure to come to Paris and pay us a visit."
 
 Y-frVttidL9ile,sk>wtjr. * It will be fcetttsr Se* 
 them to come here, I think, than for us to go to tat 
 United States. There is a charge hanging over ut, 
 you know, of assisting ia 1fe escape of a prisoner" 
 
 Rosalie laughed heartily At this pleasantry, and 
 they went together to tell Itoe Wcorjr and Qotbild*
 
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