Leola assented, and presently Jessie was set down at the place she wished, and blew Leola a deceitful kiss from her finger tips as she went in, muttering to herself as she watched her drive away: “It was a gratuitous fib I told her about marrying Chester Olyphant, but I couldn’t resist stabbing her once more to see the light grow dim in the beautiful eyes that stole his heart from me. All my maneuvering has failed to win him back, and her turn will soon come, for he is here in Paris, although she does not know it, and at any minute they may meet, and everything be explained. Oh, how I wish hate could kill!” CHAPTER XIX. LIKE A STAR IN THE NIGHT OF HER DESPAIR. At the luncheon, which was served in their private dining-room, Leola could scarcely touch a morsel, she was so eager to tell her father all that she had heard that morning, barring, of course, the facts about Chester Olyphant, whose name she vowed should never pass her lips. But she had scarcely begun her story when he smiled and interrupted: “It seems quite a coincidence that we have both met people from the United States this morning--ghosts, as it were, out of your past life.” “Why, papa?” “Yes, people from West Virginia, dear--old neighbors of yours--and from them I have heard already all you were going to tell me.” “Neighbors of mine! Why, papa, dear, you cannot mean--the Bennetts?” “Why not, my dear?” “Why not, indeed? They are rich enough to travel, and I remember now that my governess used to hanker after foreign travel. So she is here? You have seen her? Dear soul, I must call at once.” “She will be here herself by-and-by, so you have only to wait and rest till she comes.” “I shall be very impatient,” declared Leola, and then she laughed: “I suppose Giles Bennett has forgiven me the trick I played him by now?” “Oh, yes, he said so with very hearty emphasis, and I believed him. Indeed, the man appeared proud of his wife, who seems to dote on him. They have been touring the continent for several months, and I met them in an art gallery this morning. I confess I should hardly have known them again, they were both so improved since that night, but Mrs. Bennett recognized my face, and ran joyfully to me to ask about you. So we talked for an hour, and I invited them to call at our hotel this afternoon.” “I can hardly wait for them to come, I am so anxious,” declared the girl, joyfully. “Are you sure that you have told me everything, papa?” “Did I mention that Wizard Hermann was dead?” “No, papa.” “Well, that is one of the things they told me. It happened quite suddenly, the cause being heart failure, so after that they decided on this tour. They have with them also some one else that you know--a Mrs. Gray, who had a present made her of this tour by a gentleman whom she had nursed through an illness. How strange you look, Leola! You have grown pale, and you tremble. Are you ill?”