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Elizabeth's Pretenders

what love is, she will be handsome. She has fine eyes. She only wants the torch to be lighted."

Mdme. M. (shaking her finger to Monsieur D.). "Ah! Monsienr Doucet, prenez garde! You must not be playing with fire in my house!"

Doucet (with a fatuous smile). "I never play with it, madame. If the lightning strikes me———"

Morin (laughing loudly). "And as Mademoiselle Shaw is all thundercloud at present, he feels sure the lightning will strike him! Poor Doucet! Shall get you a lightning-conductor, mon ami?"

Miss Baring (with a smile). "Let Monsieur Doucet be reassured. Miss Shaw's is only summer-lightning. It does not kill."

Narishkine. "Elle a l'air très rébarbatif."

Mdme. Clinchaut (shaking her head). "C'est vrai. Elle n'est pas avenante—allez! Elle ne rit même pas."

Morin. "Ah! she does not understand."

Mdme. de B. "She understands enough to find the professor's stories and yours, doctor, very shocking." (Here she laughs.)

Genron. "The Mees Anglaise finds everything shocking!"

Baring (looking up from the "Moniteur" in good serviceable French, without much accent). "Does the French girl find nothing shocking, professor?"

(The American so seldom speaks, that the room is startled.)

Genron (grinning). "The conversation in convents is said sometimes to be very enlightening. Unfortunately, I never heard it. When she leaves the convent, the