The crowd grew denser and more brilliant as the evening wore on; diamonds shamed the light from the chandeliers; the glow of rich colors became almost oppressive. The crowd scattered itself across the broad hall and into the rooms beyond. In one there was dancing and such music as makes the blood leap and thrill in young veins. Another closed in the supper-tables, where servants were still at work like bees in a flower-garden. The hum of sweet voices, the chime of suppressed laughter, the flash of some witty reply gave zest and piquancy to the scene. At first Eva was half frightened. She felt like a bird fluttering in a gilded cage. The scene was unlike anything she had ever witnessed, and her own share in it seemed like a fraud. More than once she was presented to the very persons who had commanded her services at the warerooms. Some of the lace floating around those superb dresses had passed through her hands. She felt keenly the look of surprise with which she was occasionally regarded, and wished herself at home. “What can it mean?” “Is she a relative?” “How strange!” Eva heard these low-toned observations frequently; her sensitive ear was keenly on the alert for them. She felt alone in that wilderness of people. CHAPTER XXXVIII. FIGHTING ANGUISH. Among the last of the guests was Mrs. Lambert, with Ivon and Miss Spicer. The lady had lost something of her usual graceful repose, and her eyes shone excitedly under the light of her clustering diamonds. Ross was speaking in a low voice to Eva when this lady came up to pay her respects to the hostess. An expression of tender interest was on his face, and the girl answered it with a grateful smile. The woman’s heart stopped beating; a deadly faintness seized upon her. For a moment she went blind; voices greeted her on all sides; she could not move through a throng like that without pausing every moment to receive the homage of her satellites. But this evening she passed on, hearing nothing, seeing nothing but those two faces. Still the habit of society was upon its queen. Her salutations had their usual grace, she spoke blandly to the hostess and the host, bent her head to Ross, and ignored Eva utterly. The girl blushed, and felt the pain of coming tears, for Ivon Lambert was with his mother. Would he too repudiate her. No, the young man bent before her as if she had been a princess, and would have spoken, but Mrs. Lambert, who leaned on his arm, turned abruptly away. He felt the shiver that ran through her frame, and saw the diamonds on her bosom heave and fall, as if she panted for breath. Others noticed how pale she was, and detected the delicate shade of rouge, thrown into relief by that pallor—a thing they had never dreamed of before. Ivon led the lady to a sofa, around which her friends thronged, full of anxious inquiries, each concealing a compliment.