way of love. Tout est fini! Considering the brevity of life and
the absolute certainty of death, I think that the men and women
who are so foolish as to miss any opportunities of enjoyment while
they are alive deserve more punishment than those who take all
they can get, even in the line of what is called wickedness.
Wickedness is a curious thing: it takes different shapes in
different lands, and what is called 'wicked' here, is virtue in,
let us say, the Fiji Islands. There is really no strict rule of
conduct in the world, no fixed law of morality."

"There is honor!" said the Princess, slowly;--"A code which even
savages recognize."

He was silent. For a moment he seemed to hesitate; but his
indecision soon passed. His face flushed, and anon grew pale, as
closing his arms more victoriously round the fair woman who just
then appeared voluntarily to yield to his embrace, he bent down
and whispered a few words in the tiny ear, white and delicate as a
shell, which was half-hidden by the rich loose clusters of her
luxuriant hair. She heard, and smiled; and her eyes flashed with a
singular ferocity which he did not see, otherwise it might have
startled him.

"I will answer you to-morrow," she said. "Be patient till then."

And as she spoke, she released herself determinedly from the clasp
of his arms and withdrew to a little distance, looking at him with
a fixed and searching scrutiny.

"Do not preach patience to me!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "I