She turned her glittering eyes slowly but full upon Lester Vane’s. Met him on his own battle-field, and drove him back, for her gaze was so firm and unwavering, that he turned his eyes, after a searching glance at her, upon the ground. All crowded round him save Evangeline, who, as usual, sat quietly and unobtrusively in a retired part of the room--if there was, in that brilliantly lighted apartment, such a spot. Helen was among the first of those who called upon Lester Vane to explain the remarkable affair which had had so unpleasant a termination for him. Her inquiries were dictated by the most intense desire to ascertain if her suspicions were correct, but her acting was a masterpiece; it had the air of a very natural curiosity only. The ordeal, however, was yet to come. By general request, eagerly urged, Lester Vane commenced his recital. Helen perceived that he closely and scrutinisingly perused her features while he spoke, and a strange feeling took sudden possession of her. It was a contemptuous consciousness of a superiority in the power of deception. She knew that he was trying to read what was passing within her heart. She applied herself to the task of baffling him, feeling that she could accomplish it with ease. It was her first direct essay in simulation under strong pressure, but she went to the task with the skill of a practised adept. Cunning is not alone an art--it is necessarily a part of human organisation: but to become subtle and refined, it requires to be cultivated with careful discrimination, and to be pursued with merciless indifference to the feelings of the object upon whom it is exercised. The crafty rarely fails to detect the crafty, unless the more crafty with consummate ability assumes genuine simplicity--then as there appears to be nothing to guard against, cunning is to be effectively deceived by an affectation of its absence. Helen never troubled herself to reason upon the point, though she had plenty of natural shrewdness to have reached this conclusion, if she had addressed her mind to the task. She was naturally an accomplished actress, and with no great effort could have seemed as full of natural wonderment at what had happened as her sisters Margaret and Evangeline, but she decided upon adopting a defiant aspect--one which should say to Vane, “You seek by an attempt to confuse me with your steadfast gaze, to compel me to make an admission--I defy you.” It was a mistake, because that look at once raised up an impression in his mind that she had something to conceal--that though she listened to his story attentively, met his gaze at certain parts of the recital unflinchingly, made remarks, and put questions--all tending to disconnect her with any share in the transaction--she was in some degree mixed up with, if she was not one of, the principal actors in the little drama.