expect. Mr. Twisden might defend him as much as he pleased; he was manifestly a fortune-hunter, and she would be exposed through life to the attacks of such. Therefore she had seen at once that the only chance for her was to go where she should be absolutely unknown. She had declared, in her first bitterness, that she would eschew the society of all men alike. But this she knew was practically impossible; her artistic career would not admit of this. None, however, should be admitted to intimacy; on that she was resolved. And no one, man or woman, should have a suspicion that she had more than a small independence. She had hesitated some time about the second room, but as she meant to see as little as possible of her fellow-boarders, she decided to run the risk of being regarded as recklessly extravagant.
Madame Martineau rented the whole house, with the exception of the ground-floor. "Au Premier" was the antechamber, the public dining and drawing rooms, Madame Martineau's bedroom, the kitchen, and servants' offices. The furniture of the "salon" consisted of a sofa, two fauteuils, and eight chairs covered in brown Utrecht velvet. A marble table was in the middle of the room, on which stood a lamp, the shade of which represented a huge rose made of pink paper. A newspaper or two sometimes lay upon this table. It was the only literature the salon ever saw. On the mantelpiece, which was draped with Utrecht velvet to match the chairs, stood a gilt clock, representing Perseus, with the monster's head in one hand, from which depended huge gilt drops of blood, and a drawn sword in the other. It was currently reported that in the winter, Madame Martineau, whose
