"She is not pretty, and she doesn't seem to know anybody. At least nobody has asked her to dance. Poor little thing, how dull it must be for her!" "If I had not been engaged for this dance, I should have stayed with her, but--" "Of course, Mlle. Hortense, you have your duties as hostess to attend to, but I will certainly ask her to dance the next quadrille with me. I don't like to see her so neglected." "Mother and I will both feel exceedingly grateful to you, M. Olivier. It would be a real deed of charity," said Hortense. Almost at the same instant that Olivier first noticed Mlle. de Beaumesnil's isolation, Herminie entered the salon from the adjoining bedroom, and, walking up to one of the card-tables, leaned over the back of Madame Herbaut's chair to watch the game. From where she stood she could look straight out into the dining-room through the folding doors, and, chancing to raise her eyes, she exclaimed: "Why, who is that young girl sitting there alone on the couch, and looking so sad?" Madame Herbaut, glancing up from her cards, answered: "It is a young girl one of my friends over there at the Pope Joan table brought with her this evening. She doesn't know anybody here, and, not being at all pretty, it is not surprising that she has no partner." "But the poor child can't be allowed to sit there alone all the evening," said Herminie, "so, as I can't dance myself, I'll try to entertain the stranger and make the time seem less tedious to her." "It is just like you to think of doing such a kind and generous act," replied Madame Herbaut, laughing, "and I assure you I shall be very grateful to you, for Hortense and Claire have so many other duties on their hands, and I fear there isn't much likelihood of this young girl's securing any partners." "Oh, don't worry about that, madame," replied Herminie. "I'm sure I shall be able to save her from any discomfort on that account." "How will you do it, my dear duchess?" "Oh, that is my affair," laughed Herminie. And still limping slightly,--deceitful creature that she was,--she walked towards the couch on which Mlle. de Beaumesnil was sitting. CHAPTER II. THE DUCHESS ENTERTAINS ERNESTINE. Mlle. de Beaumesnil, on seeing Herminie approach, was so struck by her remarkable beauty that she entirely failed to notice the slight lameness which the duchess had feigned in order to avoid dancing that evening. So what was Ernestine's surprise, when the duchess, seating herself beside her, said, in the most friendly manner: "I am deputised by Madame Herbaut to come and keep you company for a little while, in place of her daughters, who, of course, have many duties to perform." "So some one at least pities me," thought Mlle. de Beaumesnil, deeply humiliated. But Herminie's voice and manner were so sweet and engaging, and the expression of her face was so kind, that Ernestine, reproaching herself for the bitterness of her first thought, replied: