capitulation, when he was struck down by a bullet through the lung, and
left in a temporary hospital. Here in the whirl and terror of Commune
days he was forgotten, and when Paris revived under the republic he had
disappeared as completely as his compatriot Helen.
But Miss Helen Maynard had been only obscured and not extinguished. At
the first outbreak of hostilities a few Americans had still kept giddy
state among the ruins of the tottering empire. A day or two after she
left the Rue de Frivole she was invited by one of her wealthy former
schoolmates to assist with her voice and talent at one of their
extravagant entertainments. "You will understand, dear," said Miss de
Laine, with ingenious delicacy, as she eyed her old comrade's well-worn
dress, "that Poppa expects to pay you professional prices, and it may be
an opening for you among our other friends."
"I should not come otherwise, dear," said Miss Helen with equal
frankness. But she played and sang very charmingly to the fashionable
assembly in the Champs Elysees,--so charmingly, indeed, that Miss de
Laine patronizingly expatiated upon her worth and her better days in
confidence to some of the guests.
"A most deserving creature," said Miss de Laine to the dowager duchess
of Soho, who was passing through Paris on her way to England; "you would
hardly believe that Poppa knew her father when he was one of the richest
men in South Carolina."
"Your father seems to have been very fortunate," said the duchess
quietly, "and so are YOU. Introduce me."
This not being exactly the reply that Miss de Laine expected, she
momentarily hesitated: but the duchess profited by it to walk over to
the piano and introduce herself. When she rose to go she invited Helen
to luncheon with her the next day. "Come early, my dear, and we'll have
a long talk." Helen pointed out hesitatingly that she was practically
a guest of the de Laines. "Ah, well, that's true, my dear; then you may
bring one of them with you."
Helen went to the luncheon, but was unaccompanied. She had a long talk
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