was said to have had on that of Madame de Stael, Eve's companion dropped his voice to a tone that was rather confidential for a stranger, although it was perfectly respectful, and said,-- "I have flattered myself, perhaps through the influence of self-love alone, that Miss Effingham has not so far forgotten all whom she has met in her travels, as to think me an utter stranger." "Certainly not," returned Eve, with perfect simplicity and composure; "else would one of my faculties, that of memory, be perfectly useless. I knew you at a glance, and consider the worthy captain's introduction as so much finesse of breeding utterly thrown away." "I am equally gratified and vexed at all this; gratified and infinitely flattered to find that I have not passed before your eyes like the common herd, who leave no traces of even their features behind them; and vexed at finding myself in a situation that, I fear, you fancy excessively ridiculous?" "Oh, one hardly dare to attach such consequences to acts of young men, or young women either, in an age as original as our own. I saw nothing particularly absurd but the introduction;--and so many absurder have since passed, that this is almost forgotten." "And the name--?" "--Is certainly a keen one. If I am not mistaken, when we were in Italy you were content to let your servant bear it; but, venturing among a people so noted for sagacity as the Yankees, I suppose you have fancied it was necessary to go armed _cap-a-pie_." Both laughed lightly, as if they equally enjoyed the pleasantry, and then he resumed: "But I sincerely hope you do not impute improper motives to the incognito?" "I impute it to that which makes many young men run from Rome to Vienna, or from Vienna to Paris; which causes you to sell the _vis-a-vis_ to buy a _dormeuse_; to know your friends to-day, and to forget them to-morrow; or, in short, to do a hundred other things that can be accounted for on no other motive." "And this motive--?" "--Is simply caprice." "I wish I could persuade you to ascribe some better reason to all my conduct. Can you think of nothing, in the present instance, less discreditable?" "Perhaps I can," Eve answered, after a moment of thought; then laughing lightly again, she added, quickly; "But I fear, in exonerating you from the charge of unmitigated caprice, I shall ascribe a reason that does little less credit to your knowledge." "This will appear in the end. Does Mademoiselle Viefville remember me, do you fancy?" "It is impossible; she was ill, you will remember, the three months we saw so much of you." "And your father, Miss Effingham;--am I really forgotten by him?" "I am quite certain you are not. He never forgets a face, whatever in this instance may have befallen the name." "He received me so coldly, and so much like a total stranger!"