“You know perfectly well where. Do you suppose that after I have worried myself about you all this time I mean to desert you now, when you are at the very climax of your glory, when you are all that I ever dared dream of? My dear Helen, I am more interested in you just now than in anything else in the world. I feel as a card player feels when millions are at stake, and when he knows that he holds the perfect hand.” “That is very nice,” said Helen, laughing nervously. “But there is always a chance of mistake.” “There is none this time, Helen, for I am an old player, and I have been picking and arranging my hand for long, long years; and you are the hand, my love, and the greatest glory of it all must be yours.” Helen's heart was throbbing still faster with excitement, as if she were already tasting the wonderful triumph that was before her; her aunt was watching her closely, noting how the blood was mounting to her bright cheeks. The girl felt herself suddenly choking with her pent up excitement, and she stretched out her arms with a strange laugh. “Auntie,” she said, “you tell me too much at once.” The other had been marshaling her forces like a general during the last few minutes, and she felt just then as if there were nothing left but the rout. “All that I tell you, you may see for yourself,” she said. “I don't ask you to take anything on my word, for you have only to look in the glass and compare yourself with the women you meet. You will find that all men will turn their eyes upon you when you enter a room.” Helen did not consider it necessary to debate that question. “You have invited some rich man to meet me at your house?” she asked. “I was going to say nothing to you about it at first,” said the other, “and let you find out. But I thought afterwards that it would be better to tell you, so that you could manage for yourself. I have invited all the men whom Mr. Roberts and I thought it would be best for you to meet.” Helen gazed at her aunt silently for a moment, and then she broke into a nervous laugh. “A regular exposition!” she said; “and you'll bring them out one by one and put them through their paces, won't you, Auntie? And have them labeled for comparison,--so that I can tell just what stocks they own and how they stand on the 'Street'! Do you remember the suitor in Moliere?--_'J'ai quinze mille livres de rente; j'ai le corps sain; j'ai des beaux dents!_'” It was a flash of Helen's old merriment, but it did not seem so natural as usual, even to her. She forced herself to laugh, for she was growing more and more excited and uneasy. “My dear,” said Aunt Polly, “please do not begin making fun again.” “But you must let me joke a little, Auntie,” said the girl. “I have never been serious for so long before.” “You ought to be serious about it, my dear.”