Captain Howard Murpoint, no longer known as captain, but as Howard Murpoint, Esq., M. P., is, or is supposed to be, one of the great capitalists of the day.
How he has made his money and found his position is a mystery and a marvel.
And what of Violet? Has she forgotten her love-passion? Has she forgotten her ill-fated lover?
Look at her face, and see if it is the face of a woman that forgets.
None know how much she remembers, how much of the past she still clings to.
To no one, not even to Mrs. Dodson, whom she loves as a daughter loves her mother, does she ever mention that familiar name.
"Leicester" may be graven on her heart, but it never passes her lips.
We shall see her to-night, for there is a ball, the first of the season, at the Duchess of St. Clare's, at which she will be present, in company with the élite, including Bertie Fairfax.
Bertie Fairfax, the favorite of the club and the drawing-room. Still the handsome Apollo Belvedere, but not quite the light-hearted, free, laughing fellow as of old.
He is a celebrated man, an author of great repute, whom men point out to their sons as a modern genius, and to procure whom at their balls and dinners women will do much.