Meanwhile the other maskers, if not at heart happier than Patty, were at least outwardly gay. The fun was heartily entered into on all sides, and mock flirtations abounded. Flossy accepted the proffered arm of an Italian bandit, one of the Samoset party; and the pair had joined the promenaders moving up and down the long hall. "But whom do you represent?" he asked. "I do not understand your dress." "Oh! I'm Dame Trot and her wonderful cat," Flossy returned lightly. "I supposed that even in Italy I had been heard of." "So you have, Dame Trot; but, not seeing your cat, I was naturally puzzled." "My cat," she replied confidentially, "is dead." "Indeed? How sad! When did the melancholy event take place?" "I do not know exactly. The fact is, he disappeared one night; and, as I'm sure he couldn't live without me, I am convinced that he must be dead." "And you were deprived of even the privilege of weeping over his grave?" "He is like Moses," she answered impressively. "The place of his sepulchre no man knoweth to this day." "That is a distinction," laughed the brigand. "Keep a brave heart, Dame Trot: I may hear tidings of the wonderful cat yet. Meanwhile here is some one who is evidently looking for you." It was a huge monk, who had all the evening been searching for the white lute-string which she wore. Some weak souls yield to omens and ill-starred presages, but heroic mortals overcome them. So far from being discouraged by the ill-luck of his penny-tossing, Burleigh was but the more firmly determined to press his suit. Tucking Flossy under his arm, he led her out of the press, and found solitude behind a stand of plants in the back hall. "I have been trying all the evening to find you," he said. "Did I not do well to make out the lute-string dress?" "Oh, wonderfully!" she answered, imitating him in pulling off her mask. "Dear me, how hot it is! These masks are so roasting!" "They are close," he assented. "Look here," he continued with sudden vehemence. "I dare say you'll be angry,--you'll have a right to be,--but I love you, and I want you for my wife!" "Mercy!" exclaimed Flossy, much as if she had been shot. An opening among the plants let a beam of light fall upon his honest, manly face; and, as he leaned eagerly towards Flossy, his clear eyes seemed to look into the very depth of her being. "Don't you care for me?" he pleaded. "I have loved you"-- He left his sentence incomplete, and caught her into his arms, to the great detriment of the lute-string dress. He insisted always that he saw permission in her face; but she quite as strenuously averred that she gave him no answer, and that her face could have expressed nothing but indignant surprise. But in any case they forgot the world in general and the company present in particular, until they heard people going away, and were astonished to find that supper with its unmasking had passed by, and that it was long after midnight.