It was no easy matter to outstay Mr. Devar, but, asserting my position as an old friend, this was at last accomplished. When we were left alone, Alphonse must have divined my intention in the quick way that was natural to him; for he engaged Lucille and her mother in a discussion of the latest news, which he translated from an evening paper. Indeed, Lucille and he put their heads together over the journal, and seemed to find it damnably amusing. "Isabella," I said, "will you allow me to make some inquiries concerning this man Devar before you ask him to your house again?" "Are you afraid that Mr. Devar will interfere with your own private schemes?" she replied, in that tone of semi-banter which she often assumed towards me when we were alone. "Thanks--no. I am quite capable of taking care of myself, so far as Mr. Devar is concerned. It is--if you will believe it--in regard to yourself that I have misgivings. I look upon myself as in some sort your protector." She looked at me, and gave a sudden laugh. "A most noble and competent protector!" she said, in her biting way, "when you are always fortune-hunting, or else in France taking care of beauty in distress." She glanced across the room towards Lucille in a manner strangely cold. "Why do you encourage this man?" I asked, returning to the subject from which Isabella had so easily glided away. "He is not a gentleman. Seems to me the man is a--dark horse!" "Well, you ought to know," said Isabella, with a promptness which made me reflect that I was no match for the veriest schoolgirl in a warfare of words. [Illustration: "A MOST NOBLE AND COMPETENT PROTECTOR!" SHE SAID, IN HER BITING WAY, "WHEN YOU ARE ALWAYS FORTUNE-HUNTING, OR ELSE IN FRANCE TAKING CARE OF BEAUTY IN DISTRESS."] "I did not understand," continued Isabella, looking at me under her lashes, "that you looked upon yourself as my protector. It is rather an amusing thought!" "Oh! I do not pretend to competence," answered I; "I know you to be cleverer, and quite capable of managing your own affairs. If there was anything you wanted, no doubt you could get it better without my assistance than with it." "No doubt," put in Isabella, with a queer curtness. "But my father looked upon you rather in the light I mentioned. He was very fond of you, and thought much of your welfare, and--" "You think the burden should be hereditary," she interrupted again, but she smiled in a manner that softened the acerbity of her words. "No, Dick," she said, "you are better at your fortune-hunting." "It is not for myself," I said too hurriedly; for Isabella had always the power to make me utter hasty words, involving me in some quarrel in which I invariably fared badly. "Who knows?" "You think that if the fortune fell into my hands, the temptation would be too strong for a poor man like myself?" I inquired.