Without being the dupes of each other, but enlightened, the one by the experiences of life, the other by the precocious instinct of combat, the _comédienne_ of the fashionable world and the _comédienne_ of the theatre pressed each other's hands with tender interest and smiled amiably into each other's eyes. CHAPTER IV. THE BROOKS CLUB. Eleven o'clock chimed from the tall clock placed opposite the fireplace. To its faint, silvery tones, which vibrated for some moments upon the atmosphere of the silent chamber, neighboring clocks, repeating the hour, seemed to make echo with their melancholy voices. "Already eleven o'clock!" exclaimed Esther, starting to her feet. "I must go; I should be at home at this moment!" "The crowd has not yet dispersed," answered Lady Vereker; "listen to their shouts." Lady Vereker's mansion was situated upon Park Lane, at that day a lonesome part of the town, whither gentlemen were wont to come in the early morning to cross swords in order to get up an appetite, and instead frequently succeeded in turning their stomachs inside out. Bella approached one of the windows. Upon the faint, luminous grayness of the sky were sketched the outlines of Hyde Park wrapped in profound sleep, but the glow of the bonfires flushed the southern horizon, and from time to time savage outcries crossed the calmness of the night. "They are delirious over their Rodney," said Bella with a shrug; "neither a chair nor a coach will be able to pass through St. James's, and the other side of the Green Park is deserted at this hour; we should risk being attacked there. Ah, me! how fortunate are common women! They can go everywhere. But why should we not change our attire? My women will accommodate us with gowns. _Pardieu!_ that would be charming!" Lady Vereker uttered her little oath in French. The idea of the masquerade pleased her immensely, and without waiting for Esther's acquiescence she began to put it in execution. At the expiration of a quarter of an hour they were equipped as women of the lower class. [Illustration] "Esther," exclaimed Lady Bella, "you look like a Soho dressmaker! And I, Fanchette, what do I look like?" "I dare not say," replied the maid; "all that I can assure your ladyship is that in my gown you are--worse than I." "Exactly as I desire to look," replied Lady Vereker with a burst of laughter at the impertinence. Thereupon she started off, taking Esther by the arm, and forbidding even a footman to follow her. For that matter, her people seemed accustomed to the strange caprices of their mistress.