MRS. Lee soon became popular. Her parlour was a favourite haunt of certain men and
women who had the art of finding its mistress at home; an art which seemed not to be
within the powers of everybody. Carrington was apt to be there more often than any one
else, so that he was looked on as almost a part of the family, and if Madeleine wanted a
book from the library, or an extra man at her dinner-table, Carrington was pretty certain
to help her to the one or the other. Old Baron Jacobi, the Bulgarian minister, fell madly
in love with both sisters, as he commonly did with every pretty face and neat figure. He
was a witty, cynical, broken-down Parisian roué, kept in Washington for years past by
his debts and his salary; always grumbling because there was no opera, and
mysteriously disappearing on visits to New York; a voracious devourer of French and
German literature, especially of novels; a man who seemed to have met every noted or
notorious personage of the century, and whose mmd was a magazine of amusing
information; an excellent musical critic, who was not afraid to criticise Sybil's singing; a
connoisseur in bric-à-brac, who laughed at Madeleine's display of odds and ends, and
occasionally brought her a Persian plate or a bit of embroidery, which he said was good
and would do her credit. This old sinner believed in everything that was perverse and
wicked, but he accepted the prejudices of Anglo-Saxon society, and was too clever to
obtrude his opinions upon others.
He would have married both sisters at once more willingly than either alone, but as he
feelingly said, "If I were forty years younger, mademoiselle, you should not sing to me
so calmly." His friend Popoff, an intelligent, vivacious Russian, with very Calmuck
features, susceptible as a girl, and passionately fond of music, hung over Sybil's piano
by the hour; he brought Russian airs which he taught her to sing, and, if the truth were
known, he bored Madeleine desperately, for she undertook to act the part of duenna to
her younger sister.
A very different visitor was Mr. C. C. French, a young member of Congress from
Connecticut, who aspired to act the part of the educated gentleman in politics, and to
purify the public tone. He had reform principles and an unfortunately conceited maimer;
he was rather wealthy, rather clever, rather well-educated, rather honest, and rather
vulgar. His allegiance was divided between Mrs. Lee and her sister, whom he infuriated
by addressing as "Miss Sybil" with patronising familiarity. He was particularly strong in
what he called "badinaige," and his playful but ungainly attempts at wit drove Mrs.
Lee beyond the bounds of patience. When in a solemn mood, he talked as though he
were practising for the ear of a college debating society, and with a still worse effect on
the patience; but with all this he was useful, always bubbling with the latest political
gossip, and deeply interested in the fate of party stakes. Quite another sort of person
was Mr. Hartbeest Schneidekoupon, a citizen of Philadelphia, though commonly
resident in New York, where he had fallen a victim to Sybil's charms, and made efforts
to win her young affections by instructing her in the mysteries of currency and
protection, to both which subjects he was devoted. To forward these two interests and
