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_as if he feared to see the girl.
WILD MARGARET, — Oat
‘*'You are like Austin,’’ she said, coiling herself on the
couch again; ‘‘he started and dropped his cigar just. now.”’
Blair walked out of her hearing, and beckoned Austin
Ambrose. ae
‘*Do you know whom it was I saw just now?’ he said.
**Couldn’t guess,”’ replied Austin,
‘*It was Lottie Belvoir,’’ said Blair. -
‘*Oh, nonsense; it’s impossible!’ said Austin Ambrose,
lightly. ‘‘I tell you she is on an English tour at this pres-
ent moment. How on earth could she be here?”’
“I do not know, but I am certain if was she,” said —
Blair, gravely.
‘Tl soon convince you,’’ said Austin Ambrose, and he |
disappeared. He mingled with the crowd for five min-
utes, then he was back again. ‘‘As I thought,’ he said,
with asmile. ‘‘She is a Neapolitan girl with a face rather
like Lottie’s.”. >
‘*Rather like!’ said Blair, with a sigh of relief. ‘It
Was an astonishing resemblance, but if you saw the girl
Closely itis allright.” _
But the resemblance to Lottie of the girl in rags in the
streets of Naples haunted him several times that evening,
and on his way to Prince Rivani’s rooms, he found himself *
unconsciously scanning the faces of the women who passed,
Of Prince Rivani he had of course heard, but he had not
seen him yet, and it was with a languid kind of curiosity |
that he followed the footman into the salon.
There were about fifteen or twenty gentlemen present, |
most of them smoking cigarettes, and from their midst a
tall, patrician-looking figure came to meet him.
Blair, though he had heard of the prince’s popularity
and his good looks, was-not prepared for so handsome a
face; and he was looking at him with interest when he
was struck by the expression of the prince’s eye. It
seemed as if he were regarding Blair with a scrutiny far
and away beyond that usual on the part of a host greeting
a guest for the first time. The prince’s face, too, was
pale, and his lips compressed as if by some suppressed
emotion. But his courtesy was perfection. .
‘‘ITam honored, Lord Ferrers,’ he said bowing, as he
just touched Blair’s hand. ‘‘ Let me introduce you to
some friends of mine,’’? and he led Blair round the room, —
making him known to one and another. There weresome
Englishmen there~one meets them everywhere, from
Kamtchatka to the plains of Loo!—and he got into con-
versation with oneand another. — . .
Presently, just as he was thinking of taking his leave,
the prince came up to him,