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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Devil, by Joseph O'Brien
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Devil
+       A Tragedy of the Heart and Conscience
+
+Author: Joseph O'Brien
+
+Commentator: Beatrice Fairfax
+             Ella Wheeler Wilcox
+
+Contributor: Henry W. Savage
+             Ferenc Molnar
+
+Release Date: July 2, 2008 [EBook #25947]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEVIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Devil  ILLUSTRATED  MOLNAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: DR. MILLAR: "WHAT AN IDEAL COUPLE YOU TWO WOULD
+MAKE."--Page 56. By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+
+
+
+THE DEVIL
+
+A TRAGEDY OF THE HEART AND CONSCIENCE
+
+_Novelized by Joseph O'Brien from Henry W. Savage's great play_
+
+BY FERENC MOLNAR
+
+NEW YORK
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+PUBLISHERS
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY AMERICAN-JOURNAL-EXAMINER.
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY.
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+There is a great lesson for all women and men in this wonderful story.
+It is one that will impress with its power. But I am glad to say that I
+do not believe fully in its truth. The Devil here wins his victory, as
+he has won many. But each year, as men and women get better, the
+victories of Satan are fewer. Good men and good women fight against evil
+and do not yield.
+
+This tragic, heart-breaking story, by the wonderful new writer, tells
+one side of the battle between good and evil that goes on in every human
+heart. It has its lesson for all men and women.
+
+It is a powerful warning against playing with fire. Its lesson, taught
+in the downfall of the man and woman, is "Keep away from evil, and the
+appearance of evil."
+
+                                                       BEATRICE FAIRFAX.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHARACTERS
+
+
+Karl Mahler                  An Artist
+Heinrich                     His Valet
+Mimi                         His Model
+Herman Hofmann               A Banker
+Olga Hofmann                 The Banker's Wife
+The Devil                    Calling Himself Dr. Millar
+Elsa Berg                    An Heiress
+
+     The scenes are laid in Vienna, Austria, in Karl
+     Mahler's studio, and in the conservatory
+     reception-room at the Hofmanns', and all the
+     events transpire within the space of one day.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                                                   PAGE.
+DR. MILLAR: "WHAT AN IDEAL COUPLE YOU TWO WOULD MAKE"       Frontispiece
+
+MIMI: "YOU DO NOT LOVE ME; YOU HAVE CEASED TO CARE FOR ME"            16
+
+"CALL ME DR. MILLAR. MY SOCIAL POSITION IS BEYOND QUESTION"           40
+
+"THE ART DEALER," HE SAID SARCASTICALLY                               70
+
+"THEY SEEM TO BE GROWING FOND OF EACH OTHER," OLGA SAID JEALOUSLY    108
+
+"LET ONLY YOUR BARE NECK SHOW ABOVE YOUR CLOAK, AND THE TIPS OF      115
+ YOUR SHOES BENEATH IT"
+
+"I HAVE BEGUN THIS, LET ME FINISH IT. LET ME DICTATE THIS LETTER"    136
+
+"I WANTED TO FEEL THAT YOU LOVED ME AS I HOPED YOU DID"              173
+
+
+NOTE:--The illustrations used in this book are reproduced from scenes in
+Henry W. Savage's production of "The Devil," the only version approved
+by the author.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+FOREWORD                           3
+CHAPTER I                          9
+CHAPTER II                        19
+CHAPTER III                       34
+CHAPTER IV                        45
+CHAPTER V                         56
+CHAPTER VI                        72
+CHAPTER VII                       83
+CHAPTER VIII                      88
+CHAPTER IX                       104
+CHAPTER X                        134
+CHAPTER XI                       156
+CHAPTER XII                      162
+CHAPTER XIII                     168
+CHAPTER XIV                      175
+THE MORAL OF "THE DEVIL"         185
+
+
+
+
+THE DEVIL
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Herman Hofmann, the wealthy banker, and his beautiful young wife, Olga,
+had as their guest at dinner Karl Mahler, an artist. Some years earlier,
+before Hofmann married, Mahler, befriended by his family, had been sent
+away to Paris to study art. Olga, at that time a dependent ward in the
+Hofmann family, and the poor young art student loved each other with the
+sweet, pure affection of boy and girl.
+
+In the absence of Karl, Olga yielded to the pressing suit of Herman and
+the importunities of her own relatives, all poor, and became his wife.
+Karl returned to find the sweetheart whom he had kissed for the first
+time when he told her good-by, married to another. He was not greatly
+shocked at the discovery, the life of an art student in Paris having
+somewhat dimmed the memory of his boyhood's love, and neither he nor
+Olga alluded to their early romance.
+
+For six years the two had been friends, although they never saw each
+other alone. Karl was a frequent visitor at their house and Herman was
+his devoted and loyal friend. Olga honestly believed that she loved her
+husband and had long ago forgotten her love for Karl. Lately she had
+interested herself in his future to the extent of proposing for him a
+bride, Elsa Berg, a beautiful and youthful heiress, and she had arranged
+a grand ball, to be given so that the two young people might be brought
+together.
+
+In all the six years of her married life Olga had never visited Karl's
+studio. Karl had never even offered to paint her portrait. Although
+neither would confess it, some secret prompting made them fear to break
+down the barriers of convention, and they remained to each other
+chaperoned and safe. On this evening, however, when Karl was with them,
+the subject of a portrait of Olga came up for the first time, and Herman
+declared that it must be painted.
+
+"She is more beautiful than any of your models or your patrons," he said
+to Karl.
+
+Olga was strangely disturbed, she could not tell why. She blushed and
+looked at Karl, whom the proposition seemed to excite to strange
+eagerness. She did not trust herself to speak, but listened to the
+artist and her husband.
+
+Neither Olga nor Karl could have defined the strange, conflicting
+emotions with which they separately received Herman's proposition.
+Unwillingly Olga's mind traveled swiftly back to the old days and her
+girlhood, and she recalled the day of Karl's departure, the day he took
+her in his arms and kissed her lips and said:
+
+"I love you, Olga; I will not forget."
+
+The memory thrilled her and the color flamed into her cheeks. Karl
+looked at her, so enraptured and absorbed that he could scarcely give
+attention to Herman, who rattled on about the portrait. It was finally
+settled that the first sitting should be the following day at Karl's
+studio, where Olga would be left with him alone.
+
+It was there that Olga was then to encounter the materialization of the
+impulses she had been, only half unconsciously, struggling against for
+six years; the spirit of evil purpose against which good contends; the
+incarnation of the arch fiend in the attractive shape of a suave,
+polished, plausible, eloquent man of the world, whose cynicism bridged
+the years of married life; whose subtle suggestions colored afresh the
+faded dreams which she believed faintly remembered, and believed would
+come no more.
+
+Karl left them with the promise of a sitting on the morrow.
+
+Karl's fitful slumber was disturbed that night by vague half dreams
+which oppressed him when he arose. He was filled with misgiving, doubt,
+uncertainty. His thoughts, half formed, disturbing, were of Olga.
+
+He tried to think of marriage with Elsa, but it was without enthusiasm.
+Warm, beautiful, affectionate, she made no impression on his heart,
+which seemed like ice.
+
+He looked around the studio with aversion.
+
+The pictures on the walls seemed no longer to represent the aspiration
+of the artist; they were mementos of the models who had posed and
+flirted and talked scandal within his walls.
+
+He paced the floor restlessly, nervously, twisting his unlighted
+cigarette in his fingers until it crumbled, his mouth tight, his
+eyebrows drawn together. Then he seized his hat and overcoat and flung
+himself out of the door into the gathering winter storm.
+
+For an hour he plunged through the snow, the chaos of the storm matching
+his mood. Almost exhausted, he turned back toward his home and entered.
+The room glowed warmly. In front of the inviting fire was the big
+arm-chair with its wide seat, comfortable cushions and high pulpit back.
+As he laid aside his greatcoat he stepped toward the chair, intending to
+bury himself in its depths and surrender to his mood. A shudder ran over
+him and he drew back, staring at the seat.
+
+It was empty, his eyes assured him, but he could not rid himself of a
+feeling that it was occupied. He pressed his hands to his eyes and then
+flung them outward with the gesture of one distraught.
+
+"I am going mad!" he thought.
+
+He called loudly, harshly:
+
+"Heinrich! Heinrich!"
+
+His old servant, alarmed at the unwonted violence of his master's voice,
+hastened into the room. Karl flung aside his coat and Heinrich held for
+him his velvet dressing jacket. He slipped into it, shook himself, and
+lighted a cigarette. His hands shook with nervousness, and he held them
+out from him that he might look at them.
+
+"Oh, what a terrible sight!" he groaned.
+
+"Monsieur?" Heinrich said inquiringly.
+
+"Has any one been here?" Karl asked.
+
+"No, Monsieur, only Ma'm'selle Mimi. She is waiting in the studio to
+pose."
+
+With an impatient gesture Karl walked across the room, picked up a
+newspaper, flung himself on a couch and held the sheet before his eyes.
+He did not even see the print, but he persisted, trying to banish his
+restless thoughts.
+
+Heinrich, solicitously brushing and folding Karl's coat, waited. The
+artist looked at him impatiently:
+
+"Tell Ma'm'selle Mimi I shall not need her to-day. She may go."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur," Heinrich said.
+
+The servant stepped to the door of the studio and threw it open. He
+called out:
+
+"Ma'm'selle, Monsieur Karl says he will not need you to-day; you may go
+home."
+
+Heinrich withdrew. Karl lay at full length on the couch, holding the
+paper before him.
+
+A young woman, daintily featured, with rounded figure whose lines showed
+through her close-fitting costume, burst into the room.
+
+Although conscious of her presence and irritated, Karl did not look. He
+pretended to be absorbed in his newspaper. Mimi looked at him and
+waited, but as he did not speak, she ventured timidly:
+
+"Aren't you going to paint me to-day?"
+
+"Er--no, not to-day."
+
+"Do you not love me any more, Karl?"
+
+The newspaper rattled with the artist's impatience and irritation, but
+he did not answer. Mimi approached him.
+
+"You do not love me; you have ceased to care for me. Ah, Karl, when you
+loved me you painted me every day. Now you paint nothing but
+landscapes."
+
+[Illustration: MIMI: "YOU DO NOT LOVE ME; YOU HAVE CEASED TO CARE FOR
+ME."--Page 16.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+Karl forced a laugh.
+
+"Nonsense!" he said. "You talk like a silly child, Mimi."
+
+"You say that now, but you did not say such things when you loved me,
+Karl. It is always the way with us poor models. At first it is, 'Ah,
+what shoulders, what beautiful coloring, what perfect ankles!' Then you
+paint us every day.
+
+"And then it is, 'What in the world have you done with your figure? It
+is all angles!' or, 'What on earth have you put on your face? It is as
+yellow as old parchment.' And then you paint landscapes."
+
+Mimi burst into tears, and vigorously dabbed her eyes with her
+handkerchief. She was an extremely pretty girl of the bourgeois type,
+with heavy coils of straw-colored hair piled high on her head, and big
+blue eyes that were quick to weep.
+
+Karl arose, threw aside his paper and essayed to comfort her.
+
+"There, there," he said, patting her shoulder, "don't cry, Mimi; you are
+full of folly to-day."
+
+As quick to smile as she had been to cry, Mimi unveiled her eyes and
+looked at him eagerly, her lips parting over her white teeth.
+
+"Then you do love me, Karl? Ah, tell me that you love me."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you will paint me again? If not to-day, perhaps to-morrow?"
+
+"Perhaps, but I am very busy."
+
+He turned from her and sat on the couch again. Mimi's mood suddenly
+turned to anger, and she cried out at him furiously:
+
+"I know that you do not love me, and I know why. You are going to be
+married.
+
+"Yes, yes," as Karl made an impatient gesture; "I know it is true."
+
+"You are very silly, Mimi," he said.
+
+"Ah, no; I am not. It is true what I have said. I have heard all about
+it, but I did not believe it, because I was a fool. You are going to
+marry Ma'm'selle Elsa Berg, who is said to be very beautiful and who
+will be a great heiress; and then you will forget me, as you would be
+glad to do now."
+
+"Where in the devil have you heard all of this?" Karl demanded,
+springing angrily to his feet.
+
+"It does not matter; you cannot deny that it is true."
+
+Then her mood changed swiftly to contrition, and she went close to Karl.
+
+"But forgive me; I know it must be. I have always known, and I must have
+annoyed you. We models are always annoying--in our street clothes.
+Forgive me, Karl."
+
+She looked appealingly at Karl, and he was moved.
+
+"Never mind, Mimi; run along home, now, and I promise to paint you
+again, perhaps to-morrow, perhaps the next day."
+
+She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Then she fled from
+the room. Karl flung himself down on the couch again and hid his face
+with his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Olga's dream journey had been through the flowering orchard of girlhood,
+hand in hand with Karl, and she awoke with a sense of regret that the
+realities of everyday life should take the place of such joyous visions.
+She felt strangely elated during the day, and eagerly waited for the
+hour when Herman was to call for her and take her to Karl's studio.
+
+"I wonder what it will be like there?" she asked herself a dozen times.
+"I think I have always been jealous of that studio and its
+possibilities, and I have always wanted to go there--but I did not
+dare."
+
+Then she chided herself for the thought she had not uttered.
+
+"Why, I am a goose! What am I confessing here to myself? That I am in
+love with Karl? What silly nonsense. Come, Olga, you are getting
+romantic."
+
+Herman came after luncheon and they drove together to the studio
+building. Old Heinrich admitted them, his eyes growing big and round at
+the imposing splendor of Herman's greatcoat and the bewildering beauty
+of the grand lady.
+
+Karl, in his artist's velvet jacket, hurried forward to greet them.
+
+"Welcome to my workshop," he cried.
+
+"How do you do?" Olga said, barely giving him her hand, and turning at
+once to let her eyes rove curiously around the walls of the room.
+
+"How do you do, Karl?" Herman said. "You see, we are prompt. And now I
+am curious to see your place."
+
+Karl watched Olga as she surveyed the room. He felt piqued at her
+seeming lack of interest in him.
+
+"So this is your wonderful studio," she said absently.
+
+"It is much like a junkshop," Karl said deprecatingly.
+
+"It is very interesting," Olga said. "Whose picture is that?" she asked,
+pointing to a painting of a half nude figure on the wall.
+
+"That? Oh, that is a model who has posed for me."
+
+"Oh, yes, I recognize it. We met the girl on the stairs, Herman."
+
+"Oh, yes; that is she."
+
+Herman busied himself looking at the pictures, chuckling over those that
+caught his unpoetic fancy, and nudging Karl in the ribs at some of them.
+
+"I must come again and inspect them more at my leisure," he said. "This
+afternoon I have to go away."
+
+"I am sorry you are not to remain," Karl said politely.
+
+"Oh, I suppose we might put off the sitting in view of the fact that the
+picture might have been painted any time these last six years," Herman
+said. "But Olga has been nervous about the ball we are going to have
+to-night, and I thought it best to bring her to-day to distract her. You
+know this is really a house-warming to-night."
+
+"And we were obliged to invite so many people," Olga said, still
+looking at the pictures.
+
+"I hate these social affairs," Herman rattled on, "but I suppose in our
+position they are inevitable. What time shall I return for Olga?"
+
+"It grows dark quickly," Karl said, looking at his watch. "In another
+hour we shall not be able to see. Suppose you return about 4 o'clock."
+
+"Very well; and now I must be going. You are coming to the ball
+to-night, Karl? You know you really are the guest of honor; isn't he,
+Olga?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. Karl is to fall in love with his future wife to-night."
+
+Karl looked at her, but she spoke with perfect self-possession, and
+lightly.
+
+"I shall do my best," he said, and he tried to speak with enthusiasm.
+
+"Ah, you are not half grateful enough for this treasure, Karl; you
+should be happy," Olga said.
+
+"Of course he should, and he will," Herman interposed, moving toward the
+door. "We will all be happy--you and Elsa and Karl and I--everybody, I
+hope."
+
+Olga went nearer to Karl and spoke seriously.
+
+"She is a very charming girl, Karl."
+
+"If you say one word more about that girl I shall fall in love with her
+immediately, which would be ahead of my matrimonial scheme," Karl
+replied jestingly. "You know I am not obliged to fall in love until
+to-night."
+
+"Well, well, I must be off," Herman said, as he went up to kiss Olga.
+"Good-by, dear; I shall call for you at 4 o'clock."
+
+Almost against his will, Karl asked a question which he had never before
+in all his life thought of.
+
+"Aren't you afraid to leave your wife alone?"
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"With me, I mean?"
+
+Herman looked at him, and then spoke jestingly, but with an effort. "I
+am hurrying away because I am afraid I shall change my mind and take
+Olga with me," he said.
+
+"You are not jealous?" Olga asked.
+
+"If you don't want the truth--no, I am not," Herman replied, and in his
+tone there was the peculiar meaning which his words did not convey. "If
+I were not afraid of becoming ridiculous, I should say warningly,
+'Children, be sure to be good.'"
+
+He paused and looked at both of them. Then he said:
+
+"Good-by."
+
+As he turned, Karl followed and escorted him through the door. Olga
+stood frowning, worried, ill at ease. Karl looked at her in surprise
+when he returned.
+
+"What is the matter?" he asked.
+
+Olga started nervously and looked at him. She pressed her hands before
+her eyes and for a moment did not speak. She looked away as Karl
+approached her and said tenderly:
+
+"Are you afraid? Please tell me."
+
+"I don't know what is the matter with me, but just now, when my husband
+went away, I felt as if I had been left without a protector."
+
+She broke off abruptly, and Karl urged her to explain.
+
+"What do you mean? I don't understand," he said.
+
+"Yes, you do, Karl," Olga said, as she turned and faced him. "You know.
+I have fought against coming here for six years; ever since my
+marriage."
+
+She looked away from him, around the studio, with its bizarre
+decorations, and shuddered.
+
+"Ugh! this place looks like a devil's kitchen," she cried. "These
+strange things, terrible monsters, cold, white statues, heads without
+bodies, and you in their midst like a conjurer. I did not notice them
+while Herman was here, but now----"
+
+Karl turned swiftly toward her.
+
+"But now?" he asked.
+
+Olga looked at him with an expression of terror in her eyes. The two
+stood thus at bay.
+
+Left to themselves in the big studio, facing each other, Karl and Olga
+were silent. There was a look in Karl's eyes that Olga had never seen
+before; there was a tumult in her heart that she had never before felt.
+It was Karl who first recovered himself and broke the silence, trying to
+speak lightly:
+
+"Don't be nervous," he said, reassuringly. "This is the reception-room
+of my studio. Every woman I paint comes here."
+
+"And do you paint every woman who comes here?" Olga asked slowly.
+
+"No," Karl replied shortly.
+
+There was another awkward pause. Olga could not tell why she had asked
+that question any more than Karl could have told why he had asked Herman
+if he was not afraid to leave them alone. It was some unsuspected
+jealousy that prompted it.
+
+"Did you understand my husband?" Olga asked.
+
+"Yes, I think I did."
+
+"He said, 'I trust you.' Why should he say that? Why should it not be a
+matter of course?"
+
+"You don't think he is really jealous?"
+
+Olga shook her head.
+
+"I don't know," she said. "During the six years we have been together
+and you have been our friend, he has often pretended to be jealous.
+This time there was something in his voice that made me believe it was
+more than pretense. It is the first time he has ever left us alone."
+
+They were standing, Karl near the door, where he had bidden Herman
+farewell, and Olga across the apartment. In an alcove in one corner an
+open fire burned brightly, casting a red glow over the big, comfortable
+arm-chair drawn up before it, with its high, pulpit-shaped back toward
+them. Karl walked over to Olga and said with quiet earnestness:
+
+"We have tried to avoid it, Olga; tried for six years. Now that the
+situation is forced upon us, why not be honest? Let us talk about it
+frankly."
+
+"I think it was sweet not to discuss it for six long years," Olga said,
+smiling at him. "A clean conscience is like a warm cloak, Karl; it
+enfolds us and makes us feel so comfortable."
+
+She tried to make her mood seem light, but Karl would not fall in with
+it.
+
+"Last night, when it was suggested that I should paint your portrait,
+you gave me a look I had never seen before," he persisted. "I wonder
+why?"
+
+"I don't know," Olga answered, her fear returning. "Don't let us talk
+about it; I don't want to."
+
+"You must not be afraid of me, Olga; if I were not I you might be
+frightened. I am fond of you, yes; but respectfully. I do not see what
+harm can be done by talking everything over quietly. It seems so long
+ago--seven years--since they told me that Herman was to be your husband.
+It was on the anniversary of the day----"
+
+"Oh, Karl!" she protested, holding out her hands to silence him.
+
+"The day we kissed each other," he went on, speaking so quietly that it
+seemed almost a whisper. "We were almost children then. I was a poor
+little chap, who gave drawing lessons to Herman and his sisters. You
+were a little waif, fed cake and tea at the millionaire's table. There
+we met, a beggar boy and a beggar girl, thrown together in a palace. We
+looked at each other, and I think we understood."
+
+Olga covered her burning face with her hands, and Karl went on:
+
+"We kissed each other, quite innocently; just one kiss, the memory of
+which has almost faded."
+
+"Yes, Karl, faded," Olga cried eagerly. "We have grown up sensibly and
+we never mentioned it."
+
+Karl seemed not to hear her interruption. He went on:
+
+"You became Herman's wife and went to live in a palace. I found you
+there when I came back from Paris, still fond of you, but determined
+never to tell you so, and when I met you again I, too, was somewhat
+changed. Still, when our eyes met, Olga, it was with the same look of
+the two poor, longing little beggars of the years ago. But we did not
+kiss again."
+
+"Why not?" Olga breathed.
+
+"Your husband and I are the best of friends," Karl said. "Though we have
+met hundreds of times, you and I, we have not mentioned it."
+
+Olga turned to him gratefully and held out her hand to clasp his.
+
+"You are a good, true friend, Karl."
+
+"Are you satisfied now?" Karl asked her, smiling. "You are not afraid of
+me, are you?"
+
+"No; but there was something in my husband's voice that frightened me,"
+Olga answered. "He knows what we were to each other, and when he was
+leaving us here alone I think it made him feel uncomfortable. We aren't
+in love any more, are we, Karl?"
+
+"No, of course not."
+
+"And it is sweet to think that we have not entirely forgotten old times,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," he answered absently.
+
+"And, of course, if we loved each other still you would not marry, would
+you, Karl?"
+
+"Of course not," he said shortly.
+
+"Now you will get married and you will be very, very happy. And I, too,
+shall be happy, because I want you to marry, and I myself have chosen a
+sweet, clever girl for you."
+
+"Exactly," Karl acquiesced dryly.
+
+"And now let us think no more of it," Olga cried, her mood changing to
+one of gayety.
+
+She ran over to the door, turned and faced Karl, knocking loudly on the
+panel.
+
+"Now for work; we have done nothing," she said. "Monsieur, I have come
+to have my portrait painted."
+
+"Come in, madame," Karl said, bowing gravely and entering into her play.
+"Good-morning."
+
+"I have come to have my portrait painted," Olga said again.
+
+Karl forgot the playing and exclaimed seriously:
+
+"Ah, last night I made a memory sketch of you after I got home. I have
+made many, very many, but now I see you differently."
+
+"Why?" Olga asked, startled again by his vehemence.
+
+"Yesterday I saw the lines of your figure; to-day I see your soul," he
+said. "Yesterday you were a model; to-day you are an inspiration."
+
+"Please, Karl; please, don't; we agreed to end everything," she
+pleaded.
+
+"It is hard to end everything so suddenly."
+
+"Karl, my good friend, I did wrong in coming here," Olga said. "Now that
+I did come, let us work. Take your colors and brush. We must get through
+with it as soon as possible."
+
+"You are right, Olga; as soon as possible."
+
+"What shall I do first?" she asked.
+
+"Take off your hat and coat, please."
+
+Karl stepped toward her with outstretched hands as if to help her. She
+drew back, with a little gesture of apprehension.
+
+"You mustn't touch me," she said.
+
+As she brushed past him Karl caught a whiff of fragrance from her hair
+that was intoxicating.
+
+"Do you use perfume on your hair?" he asked, quite innocently.
+
+"Certainly not," she laughed.
+
+"Oh, then, it is the natural perfume of your hair. Pardon me; I stood
+too close to you."
+
+Olga removed her hat and cloak. She looked up and saw that Karl was
+regarding her intently.
+
+"You seem to be studying my features," she said.
+
+"I know them by heart, each one," he answered. "I am thinking of a pose.
+You know your husband wished a half length in evening gown."
+
+"Yes; I should have preferred a full length in street costume."
+
+"I agree with Herman. You must be quick; it is getting dark."
+
+"What shall I do?"
+
+"Your waist; you must take it off; you will find some shawls there from
+which to select one for your shoulders. I will go into the studio."
+
+"Oh, Karl."
+
+"Don't mind; I shall close the door. Oh, it is snowing terribly," he
+added as he moved toward the big studio.
+
+"Snowing! Oh, Karl, can't we postpone this? I don't feel well to-day;
+to-morrow I could come and bring my maid."
+
+"Certainly not; your husband would surely want to know why we did no
+work to-day. Now I will leave you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+He left the room, closing the studio doors behind him. Olga looked
+apprehensively about her. Some mysterious presence seemed to oppress
+her. She fumbled with nerveless fingers at the buttons of her waist.
+
+"Oh, what folly!" she cried to herself. "What is the matter with me?"
+
+Resolutely she set to work and drew from her beautiful shoulders and
+gleaming, rounded arms the silken waist that covered them. She turned to
+get the shawl, and the waist fell to the floor, as she recoiled with a
+shriek of terror from an apparition that arose slowly from the depths of
+the big arm-chair.
+
+Where there had been no human being an instant before Olga saw a tall,
+strange-looking man. He was in conventional afternoon attire, save that
+his waistcoat was red, in sharp contrast to the somber black of his
+frock coat. His hair was black. His upward pointing eyebrows were black,
+and his eyes shone like dull-burning lumps of coal. His face was like a
+mask, matching his immaculate linen in whiteness. It was cynical in its
+expression and almost sinister as he bowed low, with his hands folded
+over his breast, and said in a low, musical voice:
+
+"Pardon me, madam, I think you dropped something."
+
+He stooped and picked up the silken waist which had fallen from Olga's
+hands. As he held it out to her she drew back in horror.
+
+Olga shrank from this strange being, sensible of his serpent-like
+fascination, even while he repelled her. It flashed across her
+consciousness that he was something more than human, something
+worse--the embodiment of malevolent purpose--a man devoid of good--the
+Devil himself.
+
+He came from behind the chair, and as he moved toward her his every
+action heightened the impression she had received. In a situation where
+any man might have been confused he was perfectly self-possessed. His
+attitude was neither offensive nor ingratiating. He became at once a
+part of her surroundings, of her thoughts, yes, of her soul. It was this
+influence that she felt herself combating with growing weakness.
+
+"I hope you will forgive me," his smooth, suave voice went on, breaking
+the stillness almost melodiously, and he bowed again. "I permitted
+myself to fall asleep."
+
+Still Olga could not find tongue, and she drew yet farther away. The
+man, or the devil, watched her as she groped for the shawl, found it and
+quickly wound its filmy length around her beautiful shoulders and arms.
+An expression of cynical amusement crossed his face.
+
+"Excuse me, but I awoke just as you were about to unbutton your blouse,"
+he said. "Propriety should have made me close my eyes, but----"
+
+"Oh!" Olga cried, shocked into speech.
+
+"Oh, I know, madam," he said, with a bow, "you think I am suspicious,
+and you only came here----"
+
+"To have my portrait painted," Olga said quickly.
+
+"Precisely," he acquiesced, with the same cynical expression. "Only
+yesterday I met a lady at the dentist's, and I observed that she
+permitted him to extract a perfectly good and very pretty tooth."
+
+"But I----" Olga began, accepting the defensive position into which he
+placed her, when he interrupted her:
+
+"Yes, you, I know, speak the truth. I am even at liberty to believe you,
+but I cannot."
+
+For an instant Olga recovered her self-possession, and her indignation
+sprang into a flame that she should be addressed in this manner by a man
+whom she had never seen before--an intruder.
+
+"I don't know why I permit a stranger to talk to me in this fashion,"
+she exclaimed. "It amazes me."
+
+The man stepped toward her. Terrified, she turned and fled toward the
+door of the studio.
+
+"Karl! Karl!" she called.
+
+The stranger smiled as the doors were flung open and Karl burst into
+the room. The young artist paused, astonished at the presence of the
+stranger. He was more amazed when the man cried out in the voice of
+genial comradeship:
+
+"Hello, Karl; how do you do?"
+
+"Why, how do you do?" Karl faltered, looking blankly from Olga to the
+mysterious visitor. "I don't----"
+
+"You don't remember me," the other said. "Don't you recall me at Monte
+Carlo?"
+
+"Oh, yes, at Monte Carlo," Karl said with dawning recollection.
+
+"It was an eventful day," the stranger said.
+
+"Yes, yes, of course, I remember; it was last fall, when I had lost all
+my money playing roulette. Some one stood behind me, and it was you. I
+was afraid when I turned and saw you, because I fancied I had seen you a
+moment before, beside the croupier, grinning at me as my gold pieces
+were swept away. But when I had lost everything you offered me a handful
+of gold."
+
+"Which you refused, but I saw the longing to accept in your eyes."
+
+"I did not know you."
+
+"But I offered it again and you accepted."
+
+"Yes, and in ten minutes I had recouped my losses and won $20,000
+besides," Karl cried with growing enthusiasm. "I remember indeed. Your
+money seemed to possess mystic luck. When you put it in my hands it
+glowed, and I thought it was hot. It seemed to burn me."
+
+"You were excited, my boy," said the other genially. "But you repaid me
+and invited me to dine. I could not accept, because I was forced to
+leave for Spain that same evening. I promised, however, to call on you
+when you needed me--and here I am."
+
+He bowed to Karl and Olga, who stood in speechless astonishment at this
+strange dialogue. She could understand nothing of this uncanny stranger;
+this specter in black and white, who seemed to emit a lurid radiance as
+if his red waistcoat were alive.
+
+"It was kind of you to come," Karl said. "I am glad."
+
+"You were not here when I entered," the visitor said, "and I took a seat
+in that comfortable arm-chair. The warmth of the fire affected me, and
+I permitted myself to fall asleep."
+
+He indicated, with a sweeping gesture, the big pulpit-backed arm-chair.
+Olga started and cried out:
+
+"That chair was empty; I remember quite well, when my husband was here.
+There was no one in it, I am absolutely certain."
+
+Karl was so strangely affected by the stranger's presence that he did
+not notice Olga's agitation. The other regarded her with his expression
+of cynical amusement, bowed gravely and said:
+
+"Then I was mistaken, madam."
+
+"Won't you sit down?" Karl said. "Allow me to present you to--but I
+can't remember your name."
+
+"It does not matter," the other said with an expansive outward gesture
+of his restless, eloquent hands. "I am a philanthropist, traveling
+incognito. You may call me anything you like; call me Dr. Millar."
+
+"Dr. Millar," Karl repeated, seeming for the first time to have some
+doubt as to the character of his guest.
+
+"Oh, you may rest assured my social position is beyond question," the
+stranger said, as if divining his thought.
+
+[Illustration: "CALL ME DR. MILLAR. MY SOCIAL POSITION IS BEYOND
+QUESTION."--Page 40.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+Karl did not heed the irony of his speech, but presented him to Olga,
+who distantly acknowledged his bow. As Karl appeared to succumb to this
+strange influence, she felt herself growing indignant. Millar seemed
+bent on provoking an outburst, and his astonishing remarks in another
+would have seemed vulgar insolence, but in him they possessed a singular
+meaning that made both Karl and Olga shiver.
+
+"Under different circumstances I should now take my hat and say
+good-by," Millar said, after the introduction. "But my infinite tact
+compels me to force my presence upon you in this most unpleasant
+situation."
+
+The innuendo stung Olga, and she turned to the artist.
+
+"Karl, I can hardly believe it," she exclaimed, indignantly. "Think of
+it--this man dared to----"
+
+"How long has your husband been dead?" Millar interrupted with
+exasperating coolness.
+
+"I am not a widow," Olga said, surprised that she should reply.
+
+"Oh, you are divorced?"
+
+"I am not."
+
+"Then if you feel that I have offended you I should think your husband
+would be the proper man to appeal to," he said with the utmost coolness.
+
+He seemed like a trainer, prodding tame animals with sharp prongs out of
+the lethargy of their caged lives to stir them to viciousness. Turning
+to Karl he went on:
+
+"However, if you wish it, I am also at your disposal. But do you not
+see, madam, that it would be an admission on your part?"
+
+He spoke as one who had dared read every secret thought of each.
+Bewildered, Karl cried out:
+
+"What does all this talk mean? I don't understand anything. You come in
+here unannounced; I don't know how nor from where. You make us feel
+quite uncomfortable, just as if you had trapped us in some compromising
+situation."
+
+"Yes, yes, that is it," Olga cried, relieved at Karl's outburst.
+
+The stranger looked at them amusedly.
+
+"You may be as impolite to me as you wish; I cannot go," he said.
+
+"Why?" Olga demanded.
+
+"My departure now would mean that I leave you because I have interrupted
+you. On the other hand, by remaining I prove that I suspect nothing."
+
+"There is nothing to suspect," Karl declared angrily. "I do not want you
+here."
+
+"Then that is settled; let us talk of something else," the visitor
+remarked with the most casual inattention to Karl's rage. "The weather;
+isn't it snowing beautifully? Art; are you preparing anything for the
+spring exhibition at the Royal Academy?"
+
+"Perhaps I may send something," Karl answered sullenly.
+
+Olga's bewilderment gave place to panic. In her mind was formed the
+purpose of snatching up her waist and rushing from the room. Before she
+could do it the stranger was there, holding the waist out and bowing
+profoundly.
+
+"Permit me, madam," he said.
+
+With a cry of astonishment Olga snatched at the garment.
+
+"Who are you? Where do you come from?" she cried.
+
+With his restless, vibrant hands in the air, the stranger said:
+
+"I come from nowhere, I go everywhere; I am here."
+
+He touched his forehead with his long, white fingers, and his black eyes
+were fixed upon her. Clutching the silken garment she had worn, Olga
+rushed into the studio. Millar, man or devil, looked after her and
+chuckled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Karl threw himself moodily into a chair as Olga fled into the outer
+studio, and sat there, not looking at his unwelcome visitor. Dr. Millar
+seemed to find his dejection amusing. He allowed the silence to remain
+undisturbed, while he puffed a cigarette. Then he said, half to himself,
+half to Karl:
+
+"Full of temperament, that woman, and pretty, too; extremely pretty."
+
+"Yes, she is pretty," Karl acquiesced, without looking at him.
+
+"It's a pity she doesn't love her husband," was the next cynical remark
+that fell on Karl's ears.
+
+He wheeled in his seat and looked at the visitor, who went on with
+perfect coolness:
+
+"How do I know? It was apparent when she fancied I had insulted her and
+turned to you for protection."
+
+Karl angrily slammed down an ash tray he had picked up in his nervous
+fingers and began to pace the floor. Millar went on in a light tone:
+
+"She does not love her husband. He must be a genius or a very
+commonplace man. Marriage always is a failure with such men. Common men
+live so low that women are afraid some one may steal into their lives at
+night through a cellar window. Genius--well, genius lives on the top
+floor, up toward the clouds, and with so many gloomy steps to climb and
+no elevator, it's very uncomfortable for a pretty woman. Her ideal is
+one easy flight of stairs to comfortable living rooms on the first
+floor."
+
+Karl maintained silence, and continued to walk the floor. He looked at
+his watch and started toward the door of the reception-room leading into
+the hall, which was locked.
+
+"This is the second time I have seen madam's shoulders," Millar
+remarked, casually, blowing cigarette rings in the air.
+
+"What do you mean?" Karl demanded, stung to speech by jealousy.
+
+"Ah, I saw them first in Paris, at the Louvre, fashioned of snow-white
+marble. They were the shoulders of Venus. Am I right, Karl?"
+
+"I don't know," the artist snapped.
+
+"Well, you must take my word for it, then," Millar said lightly. "I have
+seen both. And since Alcamenes I have known but one sculptor who could
+form such wonderful shoulders."
+
+"Who?" Karl asked, turning to him.
+
+"Prosperity," Millar replied, sententiously. "Such tender, soft,
+exquisite curves are possible only to women who live perfectly. Madam
+must be the wife of a millionaire."
+
+Karl fell to pacing the floor again, glancing impatiently at the door
+through which Olga had fled.
+
+"Is she dressing?" asked Millar slyly.
+
+"Yes," Karl answered nervously.
+
+"Is there a mirror in your studio?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Madam must be very respectable," Millar said in an insinuating tone;
+"she takes so long to dress."
+
+"Your remarks are in very bad taste," Karl cried angrily, walking up
+threateningly to his visitor.
+
+Millar stood erect, without changing his expression of ironical
+amusement, and said:
+
+"Do you wish to offend me?"
+
+"Yes," Karl snarled.
+
+"Then you, too, must be respectable," the visitor said coolly, adding,
+as Karl looked at him with wonder: "In a situation like this only a very
+respectable man could behave with such infernal stupidity."
+
+Karl was about to retort when the studio door opened and Olga entered.
+He turned quickly toward her and she went to him without noticing
+Millar.
+
+"What time is it?" she asked.
+
+"Your husband will be here in ten minutes," Millar interposed.
+
+Olga turned toward him and cried accusingly:
+
+"Then you were not asleep in that chair when my husband was here. You
+heard him say when he would return."
+
+"Madam is mistaken. Feminine presentiment always feels the approach of
+the husband ten minutes ahead of time. Were it not for those ten
+minutes there would be more divorced women, but fewer locked doors."
+
+As he spoke he walked over and unlocked the door leading into the hall,
+then turned and looked at them calmly.
+
+"Is this never to finish?" Olga asked.
+
+"I tried to change the subject, but Karl would not let me," Millar
+answered.
+
+"I have not spoken a word," Karl protested.
+
+"By your actions, Karl; by the way you jumped up, impatiently consulted
+your watch, rushed to the door. Poor chap, he was afraid," he added to
+Olga.
+
+"Afraid!" Karl exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, afraid that your husband would come before you finished dressing.
+And you were right, Karl."
+
+"Why, my dear Olga----" Karl began impatiently, when the other
+interrupted him.
+
+"Please, please, let us be logical," he urged. "Look at the situation.
+The husband enters suddenly. 'Well, here I am, back again, my darling,'
+he announces. 'Where is the picture? I must see the picture.' There is
+none. Karl did not work on the picture. Your husband is worried; he does
+not speak, but he is irritated. He wants to speak and the words stick in
+his throat. You look at each other, unhappy. Nothing has happened, but
+the mischief is done. What mischief? Appearances. Whatever you say makes
+matters worse, and a compromising situation like this is never forgotten
+by the husband. You go home together in silence."
+
+"Ah, if it were like that," Karl broke in; "but we are not alone. You
+are here."
+
+Millar shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Ah, that is it; I am here, and with one word I could dispel the
+illusion," he acquiesced. "But I know myself; I am cursed with a
+peculiar, sinister sense of humor, and I am afraid I would not say the
+word. Hence, when the husband enters we are all silent. Then I say, 'I
+regret to have arrived at such an inopportune moment.' I take my hat and
+walk out, leaving you, madam, your husband and Karl."
+
+He seemed to find keen pleasure in the possibility of forcing the two
+into a position which would cause them suffering and weaken the
+barriers of self-control they had built up around that boy and girl love
+that had come back so vividly to both. Had they regarded him as merely
+human it is certain that Karl would have kicked this cynical being out
+of the studio, with his infernal innuendoes. But there was something
+supernormal about him. He dominated both the artist and the wife, and
+they were completely under his spell, struggle as they would to break
+it. Olga shrank from the cruelty of their tormentor.
+
+"If this is a jest it is a cruel one," she cried.
+
+"True, madam. But there is another way. If you wish it I can be quite
+truthful. Should your husband arrive I can tell him the portrait has not
+been touched and ask his pardon."
+
+"Pardon for what?"
+
+"For having seen your shoulders."
+
+"This is a trap," Olga cried, turning toward Karl for protection. "What
+do you want? You overwhelm me with false insinuations. I hardly know you
+five minutes, and I imagine I feel your long fingers at my throat."
+
+"Other pretty women do not feel them quite so soon," he murmured,
+bending toward her.
+
+Enraged at the attitude of the man, Karl stepped toward him.
+
+"Stop! I won't allow any more of this," he commanded.
+
+The entrance of Heinrich checked his speech. The old servant said:
+
+"The tailor has sent some evening clothes, Monsieur Karl, but they are
+not yours."
+
+"They are mine," interrupted the stranger.
+
+"Yours?" Karl said in amazement.
+
+"Yes; they were crushed in my trunk," the other said coolly. "I told the
+tailor to press them and send them here for the evening. I must dress,
+as I am invited to the ball of one of the most beautiful women in the
+city to-night at the residence of the Duke of Maranese."
+
+"But the Duke is not living there any more," Olga interposed. "He is in
+Madrid."
+
+"Yes, I know that; I met the Duke in Paris."
+
+"He has sold his house to us. We are living there now, and the ball is
+given by me," she went on.
+
+The man looked at her, his black eyes seeming to burn through her own.
+Shrinking, fearful, fascinated, Olga was held in the spell of those
+eyes.
+
+"Was I mistaken? Am I not invited?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, you are invited," she faltered.
+
+She could not resist the subtle influence of the man, even while every
+instinct of good made her recoil from him. With a triumphant smile he
+bowed and said softly:
+
+"Madam, a little while ago you asked me what I wanted. It was your
+invitation that I wanted. I thank you."
+
+"But my husband," Olga said, already repenting of the advantage she had
+given him.
+
+"Oh, he will be delighted to see me," the stranger assured her
+confidently. "He speculates in wheat; I have information that will be of
+value to him. The crop has turned out worse than was expected. You love
+your husband; you should be happy that the wheat crop is bad."
+
+"I am," Olga assented. "We want wheat to be bad because the price will
+go up."
+
+"Your husband will make another fortune, and you will have the new gown
+you want."
+
+"How do you know I want a new gown?" Olga asked, falling in once more
+with the devil's humor of the man.
+
+"I observe that you have a new hat, and a very pretty one; surely you
+want a new gown."
+
+"You must be married."
+
+"Married! not I," he exclaimed. "A wife is like a monocle; it looks
+well, but one sees more clearly without it."
+
+"Your views seem against marriage; why?" Olga asked.
+
+The tone of Millar became suddenly serious as he said:
+
+"You want Karl to marry; I want to prevent him from marrying."
+
+"Please let's not discuss that," Karl protested.
+
+"Pardon me, Karl, but an artist should not marry," he went on. "Your
+future wife will swear to stand by your side for life--until the wedding
+day--and the day after she will be in your way."
+
+"Not the true wife," Olga declared.
+
+"Ah, but the true wife is always the other fellow's wife," he answered.
+
+Millar had talked so absorbingly that Karl and Olga unconsciously drew
+near to each other. They stood in front of the high pulpit back of the
+arm-chair, each one resting a hand on the chair back. Although they were
+quite unaware of it, their position suggested that of a young couple,
+before the altar, about to be joined in wedlock. The cynical humor of
+the situation struck Millar, who walked around them, stood in the chair
+and leaned over the back, like a preacher in his pulpit.
+
+"You are a pessimist," Olga declared, looking up at him.
+
+"No, not a pessimist; only practical."
+
+"I agree with you," Karl said. "A man should stay at home."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Millar leaned down, placing his hands over Karl's and Olga's as they
+rested on the back of the chair. Looking at Karl, he said:
+
+"Why didn't you stay at home? You ran away to become an artist. You
+refused a professional position and ordinary morals; a decent occupation
+at so much a week. You wanted to go out and seek the Golden Fleece of
+Fame. Now, fight your battle; fight it alone; don't get married."
+
+As he spoke he lifted the hands of Karl and Olga and placed them
+together, holding them clasped in his own. They thrilled at each other's
+touch; they looked into each other's eyes, and they hardly heard the
+cynical devil's voice as Millar leaned yet farther toward them and said:
+
+"I was thinking what a splendid couple you two would make."
+
+Olga felt herself yielding to the devilish insinuation of Millar. She
+made no effort to withdraw her hand from Karl's; she was completely
+under his sinister, dominating influence. Karl's will seemed equally
+impotent; he could not shake off the mysterious obsession. This man was
+more than a mere physical presence; he was a part of their very
+selves--the weaker, sensual impulses against which they had fought, but
+which now seemed gaining the mastery. The struggle went on in the soul
+of each as Millar's voice fell melodiously on their ears:
+
+"The most important thing to you in life is to find your proper mate.
+Generations of conventional treatment will try to prevent you from doing
+so, by pretending it is impossible. But down in your hearts, in their
+depths where truth is not perverted by the veneer of convention, I know
+and you know that it is the simplest thing on earth. Here you are full
+of talent and longing; here is a woman, beautiful, passionate----"
+
+Karl made a last struggle against the inevitable consequence of this
+demon's urging, drawing Olga away from him.
+
+"I beg of you, don't!" he cried. "When I look at you I fear. Please
+don't speak of it. For six years we have lived peacefully."
+
+"Say what you will," the soft, even voice persisted, "I can read your
+eyes and they are telling me. Don't believe him; he lies," he went on to
+Olga. "He dreams of her--you--every night and you of him, and he knows
+it and you know it. Ah, I understand the language of your eyes. No
+matter what you say, that little love light in your eyes discredits you,
+reveals your inmost thoughts, and I read them through."
+
+"Let me speak," Karl pleaded. "For six years we have lived quietly in
+peace, good friends, nothing else. Olga has not the least interest in
+me, and I--I am quite, quite indifferent."
+
+"Any one who thinks Karl capable of a base thought must be base and
+contemptible himself," Olga cried.
+
+The two were almost hysterical as they stood beside each other, warding
+off the evil that seemed to emanate from the mysterious person who
+towered over them from the pulpit-backed chair. Karl held Olga's right
+hand in his; his left hand was on her shoulder protectingly. Millar
+spoke quickly, leaning far down toward them:
+
+"It is not a base thought; it is a beautiful thought, a thought shedding
+happiness, warmth and joy upon your otherwise miserable lives. But
+happiness, warmth and joy have a price that must be paid. He who loves
+wine too well will go to a drunkard's grave, but while he is drunk with
+wine angels sing to him.
+
+"Whatever the price, his happiness is cheaply bought. The poet sings his
+greatest song when he is about to die, and is a poor, weak, human mortal
+to live without wine and song and women's lips? A little stump of a
+candle shines its brightest ere it goes out forever. It should teach you
+that one glow of warmth is worth all this life can give. Life has no
+object but to be thrown away. It must end; let us end it well. Let our
+raging passions set fire to everything about us, burning, burning,
+burning until we ourselves are reduced to ashes. Those who pretend
+otherwise are hypocrites and liars."
+
+The two listened spellbound to this amazing sermon of sin. Karl's arm
+slipped down to Olga's waist. He felt himself drawing her closer to him.
+
+"Don't be a liar," Millar urged, his eyes still burning into them;
+"don't be a hypocrite. Be a rascal, but be a pleasant rascal and the
+world is yours. Look at me; all the world is mine, and what I have told
+you is the honest confession of all the world. We are baptized, not with
+water, but with fire. Love yourself; only yourself; wear the softest
+garments, sip the sweetest wine, kiss the prettiest lips."
+
+No subtler tempter ever spoke to the hearts of a man and a woman. Karl
+was leaning over Olga now; he saw her eyes, her lips, soft, warm,
+rose-colored, he felt her arms as she clung to him, while over them both
+gloated the sinister figure of Millar--the devil--triumphant, confident
+that his work was done.
+
+There was a crashing ring at the doorbell that acted like an electric
+shock on the group. Karl and Olga came to their senses, dazed,
+trembling, thankful. Millar stepped down from the chair, baffled, and
+turned his back upon them.
+
+"My husband!" Olga gasped.
+
+"Mr. Moneybags!" Millar sneered contemptuously.
+
+Olga and Karl quickly drew apart. Both were relieved. Olga felt as if
+she had stepped back from the brink of a terrible precipice, over which
+she had almost fallen. Her face was colorless, and there were lines of
+agony across her brow. The two unhappy people stood staring at each
+other for a full minute before Heinrich entered and announced Herman.
+
+It had been growing dark in the studio during the remarkable discourse
+by Millar, but so absorbed had both his listeners been in their own
+tremendous emotions that they had paid no heed. Now, as Herman entered,
+his first exclamation was:
+
+"How dark it is in here. I am sorry I am late."
+
+Heinrich turned on the lights, and the apartment was suddenly
+illuminated. Karl and Olga had not yet recovered their self-possession,
+but Karl managed to indicate with a wave of his hand his strange
+visitor.
+
+"Dr. Millar," he said.
+
+Millar nodded absently and barely replied to Herman's cordial greeting.
+He was still enraged at the interruption which had prevented the success
+of his infamous plan. Herman turned quickly to Karl and Olga.
+
+"Well, children, where is the picture? I am anxious to see it," he
+exclaimed.
+
+"There is no picture," was all Karl could say. Olga, filled with
+apprehension at she knew not what, was silent.
+
+"No picture!" Herman exclaimed. "What have you been doing all this
+time?"
+
+"It has been dark for an hour," Karl explained.
+
+"Yes, but Olga has been here for two hours," Herman said, looking at his
+watch.
+
+There was an instant of silence that threatened to become painfully
+embarrassing. Olga was about to speak when Millar unexpectedly stepped
+forward, briskly and politely.
+
+"My dear Monsieur Hofmann, it was my fault," he explained. "I came a
+moment after you left. I had not seen Karl in two years. We chatted and
+the time flew past. It was an extremely interesting conversation and
+madam was so kind as to invite me to the ball this evening."
+
+"You will accept, I trust," Herman said with ready hospitality.
+
+"Yes, thank you," Millar said. "I have come direct from Odessa, where I
+have had a talk with the Russian wheat magnate."
+
+"Ah, I know; I shall lose money; the wheat crop is bad," Herman said
+impatiently.
+
+"Oh, isn't that good for us?" Olga asked.
+
+"No, dear, it is not; I am short on wheat."
+
+"What does short on wheat mean?" Olga asked.
+
+"It means digging a pit for others and falling into it yourself," Millar
+remarked cynically. "However," he went on, "things are not so bad. I
+have reliable information that the later crop will be abundant."
+
+"Good; I am delighted to learn this," Herman said, very much pleased
+with Millar, who now spoke pleasantly and ingratiatingly.
+
+Karl had paid little attention to the colloquy between Herman and
+Millar. He tried to speak to Olga, but could not catch her eye. She
+seemed to wish to avoid him. She watched her opportunity, however, and
+managed to whisper to Millar:
+
+"I want to speak with you alone."
+
+Millar brought his subtlety into instant play. Turning to Herman he
+asked:
+
+"By the way, have you seen the sketch of madam Karl made yesterday? It
+is atrociously bad."
+
+"No; where is it? I would like to see it," Herman cried eagerly.
+
+"It is in the studio," Millar said.
+
+"You must show it to me, Karl," Herman said, walking toward the studio
+door with the young artist. "I am sorry you didn't start on the picture
+to-day, but I suppose it can't be helped. What in the world were you
+talking about all that time?"
+
+As they went out talking, Olga followed slowly. As she passed Millar he
+said:
+
+"I will await you here."
+
+Olga went with Karl and her husband. She had hardly left the room when
+the door from the hall opened and Mimi entered. As Millar turned toward
+her with his ironical bow she drew back, affrighted.
+
+"Oh, excuse me," she murmured.
+
+"You wish to see the artist?" Millar said.
+
+"Yes, please."
+
+He walked over, took her by the shoulders and coolly pushed her through
+the door into the hall.
+
+"Wait there, my dear," he said. "He is engaged just now."
+
+Then he turned to meet Olga, who entered suddenly, looking suspiciously
+around the room.
+
+"I thought I heard a woman's voice," she exclaimed.
+
+"The scrubwoman; I sent her away," Millar explained.
+
+"I wanted to speak with you alone," Olga began, turning toward him and
+speaking very earnestly, "in order to tell you----"
+
+"That is not true," Millar interrupted her, cynically.
+
+"What is not true?"
+
+"What you wanted to tell me," he said with exasperating suavity. "You
+really want to talk with me because you regret that my sermon was
+interrupted by Mr. Moneybags."
+
+"No, no, I simply want to tell you the truth," she protested.
+
+"You may want to tell the truth--but you never do. I might believe you,
+if you told me you were not telling the truth."
+
+"Must I think and speak as you wish?" she cried desperately.
+
+"No, not yet. What may I do for you, madam?"
+
+"Please do not come to-night," she implored.
+
+Millar smiled deprecatingly. She went on rapidly, speaking in a low tone
+that she might not be overheard by Herman and Karl.
+
+"I am myself again--a happy, dutiful wife. Your frivolous morals hurt
+me. Your words, your thoughts, your sinister influence that seems to
+force me against my will, frighten me. I must confess that I had become
+interested in your horrible sermon when, thank God, my good husband
+rang the bell and put an end to it. He came in at the proper moment."
+
+"Yes, as an object-lesson," Millar sneered. "I observed you closely. We
+three were beginning to understand one another when he came in."
+
+"Won't you drop the subject?" Olga asked.
+
+"Are you afraid of it?"
+
+"No," she answered coldly; "but please don't come to-night."
+
+Millar bowed deeply, as if granting her request, but he replied coolly:
+
+"I shall come."
+
+"And if my husband asks you not to come?"
+
+"He will ask me to come."
+
+"And if I should ask you in the presence of my husband not to come?"
+
+"I will agree to this, madam," Millar said, looking at her with
+amusement. "If you do not ask me, in the presence of your husband, to
+come to-night I will not come. Is that fair?"
+
+"Yes, that is more than nice. It is the first really nice thing you
+have said," Olga said, greatly relieved.
+
+She wanted to be rid of this terribly sinister influence; to be out of
+reach of the being who seemed to compel her thoughts to link her present
+with the past. She wished to feel again the sweet, wholesome purpose
+that had inspired her yesterday; to go ahead with her unselfish plans
+for Karl's future. Now that he had given his promise, she was eager to
+be away, and as Karl and Herman entered she suggested to her husband
+that it was time to go.
+
+"Yes, put on your coat," Herman said, turning to talk to Millar, whom he
+found interesting. Karl helped Olga on with her coat, and the touch of
+it brought back the feeling that had surged over him when he had leaned
+down to kiss her a few minutes before.
+
+"Now I see how unworthy is my sketch," he said softly.
+
+"Do not look at me like that," Olga protested.
+
+"Why not?" Karl asked hopelessly. "Even when I don't look at you I see
+you just the same."
+
+Olga covered her face and turned away from him.
+
+"Karl, you shall not do my portrait," she said. "Come, Herman, let us go
+home," she called to her husband.
+
+Herman and Millar were deep in the discussion of a subject on which the
+stranger seemed to be amazingly well informed. The business instincts of
+Olga's husband were uppermost, and he did not like to be drawn away, but
+he said:
+
+"We shall continue this talk this evening, then."
+
+"No, I regret to say that I can't come; I have made my apologies to
+Madam Hofmann. I had forgotten an engagement with the Russian Consul for
+this evening."
+
+"Ah, the Russian Consul will be at our house. Olga, dear, add your
+entreaties to mine. Persuade Monsieur Millar to come."
+
+In dreadful embarrassment Olga turned to the smiling, cynical mask of a
+face that looked at her triumphantly. She could not refuse.
+
+"I hope we may have the pleasure of seeing you this evening," she said,
+and turned wearily toward the door.
+
+"Thank you, madam," the fiend replied. "I shall be more than delighted."
+
+Karl interrupted to say that he would not reach the house that evening
+before 11 o'clock. He explained that he expected an art dealer. In
+reality he had just recalled his promise to stop at the house of Mimi.
+Herman, suspecting his design, made some jesting allusion to it, which
+caused Olga to ask what he meant. He evaded her question, and Millar,
+seeing another excellent opportunity to point a moral, declared that he
+heard a knock.
+
+He walked over to the door, opened it, and to the amazement of the
+others, ushered the embarrassed little model into the room.
+
+"The art dealer," he said sarcastically.
+
+Olga felt instantly consumed with jealousy. As she and her husband
+walked out Millar said to her:
+
+"I will repay you for your invitation, madam. I shall manage to forget
+my overcoat, and in five minutes I shall return for it and break up the
+chat which you anticipate with such displeasure."
+
+Olga could not deny the insinuation. She did feel jealous of the pretty
+model; she did wish that the girl and Karl might not be left alone, and
+she felt almost grateful to Millar for his promise. Karl had ushered
+Mimi into the studio, and then he bade his guests good-by. Left alone,
+he threw himself face downward on the sofa, where Mimi found him a few
+minutes later.
+
+[Illustration: "THE ART DEALER," HE SAID SARCASTICALLY.--Page 70.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Karl paid no attention to Mimi until she walked over to him and touched
+him on the shoulder. Then he sat up impatiently.
+
+"Did I not promise to call at your house?" he asked. "Why did you come
+here?"
+
+"Are you ashamed because I came while all those people were here?" Mimi
+asked, hurt and drawing away from him.
+
+"Oh, no, not at all. I promised to call, and I can't understand why you
+did not wait," Karl answered.
+
+Mimi timidly leaned down and put her arms around his neck. Then she said
+pleadingly:
+
+"Oh, Karl, dear, please don't get married."
+
+"Don't! you'll spoil my collar," Karl exclaimed, trying to avoid her
+embrace. Mimi began to cry softly.
+
+"Before I saw these people I hardly ever thought of your marriage," she
+said. "But now--Karl, dear, my heart aches. Please don't get married."
+
+Karl was touched by her grief, in spite of himself. He reached over and
+patted her cheek.
+
+"There, don't cry, dearie; please don't cry," he said. "It makes you
+homely."
+
+Mimi brightened instantly, and her tears vanished, leaving her face
+smiling.
+
+"I am a silly little girl," she said.
+
+"Yes, you are, but I like you very much," Karl said, taking her in his
+arms. "Now, Mimi, suppose we talk over our marriage quietly and
+sensibly. You may as well stay, now that you are here. Take off your hat
+and your jacket."
+
+He arose and was helping her off with her red woolen jacket. Then he
+hugged her and said as he kissed her lips:
+
+"I am your best friend, after all, Mimi, and you are my----"
+
+The door opened suddenly and Millar entered, taking up Karl's speech
+with:
+
+"My overcoat; it is here somewhere. Your servant gave me yours."
+
+Karl and Mimi drew away from each other, and Millar looked at them,
+smiling.
+
+"It's very singular," he said, "but each time I enter your studio I find
+a lady disrobing. You might think this was a ladies' tailoring
+establishment."
+
+Mimi looked at Karl jealously as he glared at Millar. Then she burst
+into tears and ran out of the room. Karl watched her, and as she slammed
+the door, he turned to Millar and quietly said:
+
+"Thank you very much."
+
+"Oh, don't mention it."
+
+"I will get your overcoat, and don't let me detain you," said Karl with
+significant emphasis.
+
+"I broke the hanger; your man is mending it and will bring it here,"
+Millar said coolly, ignoring the marked impoliteness.
+
+Karl said nothing more, and after a few minutes of silence Millar
+resumed:
+
+"I just saw something that touched me deeply. Madam Hofmann clinging to
+her husband's arm as if she were begging him to protect her----"
+
+"Protect her?" Karl exclaimed angrily. "You don't mean to protect her
+from me?"
+
+"Look here, Karl, do you think you are wise to be a fool?"
+
+"I prefer not to discuss this subject," Karl answered coldly. "You don't
+seem to understand my position. Why, it is absurd; I have seen this
+woman every day for years; met her and her husband; we have been good
+friends. That's all, absolutely, and had I thought of anything else I
+should laugh at myself. In wealth, position, everything, she is above
+me."
+
+"No woman is above her own heart," Millar replied cynically. "Look at
+her. She is yours if you want her. Just stretch out your hand, my boy,
+and you have your warmth, your happiness, your joy, unspeakable joy, the
+most supreme joy possible to a human being, and you are too lazy to
+reach out your hand. Why, another man would toil night and day, risk
+life and limb for such a woman; yet she drops into your arms unsought--a
+found treasure."
+
+Karl laughed bitterly.
+
+"A found treasure," he repeated. "Perhaps that is why I am indifferent."
+
+Millar moved over to where the young artist was seated on the couch and
+sat beside him. He leaned toward Karl and spoke low and earnestly,
+keeping his big, black, glittering eyes fixed on him.
+
+"Last fall, on the 6th of September--I shall never forget the date--I
+had a singular experience," he said. "I put on an old suit of
+clothes--one I had not worn for some time--and as I picked up the
+waistcoat a sovereign dropped out from one of the pockets. It had been
+there no one knew how long. I picked it up, saying to myself, as I
+turned the gold piece over in my hand, 'I wonder when you got there?' It
+slipped through my fingers and rolled into some dark corner.
+
+"I searched the room trying to find it, but my sovereign had gone. I
+became nervous. Again I searched, with no result. I became angry, took
+up the rugs, moved the furniture about, and I called my man to help me.
+I grew feverish with the one thought that I must have that sovereign.
+Suddenly a suspicion seized me. I sprang to my feet and cried to my
+servant, 'You thief, you have found the sovereign and put it back in
+your pocket.' He answered disrespectfully. I rushed at him. I saw a
+knife blade glimmer in his pocket and I drew a pistol--this pistol--from
+mine."
+
+He drew a shining revolver from his hip pocket and laid it on the table
+at Karl's elbow.
+
+"And with this pistol I nearly killed a man for a found sovereign which
+I did not need," he finished quietly.
+
+Karl was profoundly stirred by the story, although he could hardly tell
+why.
+
+"I give found money away," he said, laughing uncertainly, and adding,
+"for luck."
+
+"So do I," said Millar quickly, "but it slipped through my fingers, and
+what slips through our fingers is what we want--we seek it
+breathlessly--that is human nature. You, too, will seek your found
+treasure once it slips through your fingers. And then you will find that
+worthless thing worth everything. You will find it sweet, dear,
+precious."
+
+Karl turned away from him, trying not to listen to him.
+
+"Kill a man for a found sovereign," he repeated.
+
+"That woman will become sweeter, dearer, more precious to you every
+day," the malignant one went on, his words searing Karl's soul. "You
+will realize that she could have given you wings, that she is the
+warmth, the color--her glowing passion the inspiration of your work. All
+this you will realize when she has slipped through your fingers. You
+might have become a master--a giant. Not by loving your art, but by
+loving her. Oh, to be kissed by her, to look into her burning eyes and
+to kiss her warm, passionate mouth."
+
+Karl covered his face with his hands. Millar picked up the delicately
+scented shawl which had covered Olga's bare shoulders.
+
+"This has touched her bosom," he cried, twining it around Karl's head
+and shoulders, so that its fragrance reached his nostrils.
+
+The boy lost control of himself and caught the drapery, pressing it to
+his lips.
+
+"Both so beautiful," Millar persisted in his soft, even, melodious
+voice. "Oh, what you could be to each other. What divine pleasure you
+would find."
+
+Dropping the shawl, Karl started to his feet.
+
+"Be quiet! You are trying to drive me mad," he cried. "Do you want to
+ruin me? For God's sake, man, be still!"
+
+"Afraid again, O Puritan," Millar sneered. "Why, boy, life is only worth
+living when it is thrown away."
+
+"Why do you tell me that?" Karl demanded. "Why do you hover over me?
+What do you want? Who sent you?"
+
+"No one; I am here."
+
+He again touched his forehead significantly and Karl shuddered. "I won't
+do it; no, no, no! Do you hear? I won't," the boy cried hysterically. "I
+have been her good friend for years--we have been good friends; we will
+remain good friends. I don't want the found sovereign."
+
+"But if it slips through your fingers," Millar cried. "Suppose another
+man runs away with her."
+
+"Who?" Karl demanded.
+
+"Myself," Millar replied coolly.
+
+"You!"
+
+"To-night! This very night!" Millar cried, laughing satanically and
+triumphantly. "To-night I shall play with her as I please. Oh, what joy!
+What exquisite joy! For ten thousand years no lovelier mistress."
+
+"What's that?" Karl cried, taking a step toward him.
+
+"Mistress, I said--mistress! She will do whatever I wish--to-night, at
+her home. You will see, when the lights are bright, when the air is
+filled with perfume--before day dawns, you will see."
+
+"Stop, stop!" Karl cried warningly.
+
+"Be there and you will run after your lost sovereign," Millar went on
+tauntingly. "Every minute you don't know where she is she is spending
+with me. A carriage passes you with drawn blinds, and your heart stands
+still. Who is in it? She and I. You see a couple turn the corner with
+arms lovingly interlocked. Who was that? She and I--always she and I.
+We sit in every carriage. We go around every corner. Always she and
+I--always clinging to each other, always lovingly. The thought maddens
+you. You run through the streets. A light is extinguished in some room,
+high up in a house. Who is there? She and I. We stand at the window, arm
+in arm, looking down into your maddened eyes, and we hold each other
+closer, and we laugh at you."
+
+"Stop, damn you, stop!" Karl cried, beside himself and trying to shut
+out the terrible monotony of Millar's voice.
+
+"We laugh at you, you fool," the fiend cried again hoarsely. "And her
+laughter grows warmer and warmer until she laughs as only a woman can
+laugh in the midst of delirious joy."
+
+With a maddened scream of rage Karl reached the table with a bound and
+snatched up the revolver. But Millar, with a spring as lithe and agile
+as a cat, was there beside him, holding the arm with which he would have
+shot down the man who was pouring insidious poison into his ears--into
+his soul.
+
+Millar smiled as he looked at the helpless boy before him. Karl
+released the revolver, and as he replaced it in his pocket, Millar said
+quietly:
+
+"You see, Karl, a man may kill a man for a lost sovereign."
+
+Karl's paroxysm of rage and pain over, he threw himself into a chair and
+buried his face in his hands. He did not even look up as Millar, his
+cynical glance fixed on him, walked out, closing the door softly behind
+him. His departure seemed to clear the atmosphere of its oppressive
+burden of evil, however, and Karl jumped to his feet. He made a few
+turns up and down the studio and then changed his velvet studio jacket
+for a greatcoat and plunged out of doors into the storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+A brisk walk through the snow and gathering darkness revived him and he
+turned back to the studio with a clearer brain. His old servant,
+Heinrich, met him at the door.
+
+"Monsieur, the gentleman has returned and is dressing," the old man
+said, in an awe-struck whisper. "I think he is the devil," he added
+vindictively.
+
+Heinrich had been terrified when Millar, returning to the studio in
+Karl's absence, had taken possession, with the utmost coolness, of
+Karl's guest-chamber and proceeded to change to the evening clothes
+which had been sent to him there from the tailor's. Unwilling to meet
+the man again, Karl hurried into his own room and locked the door. He
+did not emerge again until long after Millar had completed his dressing
+and had left the studio.
+
+Karl tried desperately to drive thoughts of Olga from his mind; but the
+terrible flame of passion which had grown from the tiny, buried spark of
+boy love that lurked in his heart, under the sinister suggestion of
+Millar, tortured him. He could hardly keep himself from rushing off to
+Olga's house, in advance of the ball, to beg her not to proceed with her
+design of bringing him and Elsa together; to tell her that he loved her
+and that in all the world there lived no other woman for him.
+Desperately, at last, he remembered his promise to see Mimi, and he
+hurried out and made his way afoot to the tattered little buildings in
+which she lived, hoping there to find forgetfulness. But, go where he
+would, the haunting black eyes, the cynical smile, that even, persistent
+voice, the insidious suggestions of Millar, the devil, followed him and
+would not be shaken off.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a state of mind even more desperate than that of Karl, Olga went home
+with Herman. Their journey was as silent as their carriage was silent.
+Herman was absorbed in contemplation of the information Millar had
+given him regarding business affairs in Russia, in which he was heavily
+interested. Olga was torn by conflicting emotions. The man had roused in
+her the dormant love for Karl which she believed buried forever. She
+could not deny to herself now, as she had denied for six years, that she
+loved him. She knew now that during those six years it had been to Karl,
+not to Herman, that she had turned for sympathy, for understanding, and
+the knowledge maddened her.
+
+Deep in her heart Olga exalted duty before every other virtue, and the
+duty of a loyal wife before every other duty. She could feel now the
+crumbling away of all her principles. She had believed for six years
+that she had given to Herman every bit of her love and loyalty, and now
+she was forced to the self-confession that she had lived a lie, even to
+herself. She loved Karl.
+
+But, away from Millar's influence, she resolved that she would yet
+battle with and overcome the terrible impulses he had aroused. She would
+make the artist love the beautiful, accomplished girl whom she herself
+had selected for his bride. She would make him happy; make them both
+happy, even if it meant that she must crush out her own hopes of
+happiness in doing so.
+
+"That is a very remarkable man, that friend of Karl's," Herman said
+after they had driven some time in silence.
+
+"Yes; he is very disagreeable," Olga replied.
+
+"Oh, I don't think so," Herman protested. "To me he seemed very
+agreeable. Where does he come from? He seems to have been everywhere and
+to know everybody."
+
+"And everything," assented Olga wearily. "I cannot tell you anything
+about him. Karl met him a year ago at Monte Carlo."
+
+"I am glad you persuaded him to come to-night," Herman said. "He is
+going to give me information that will be of great value to me."
+
+Olga was on the point of telling Herman all about the terrible sermon
+the stranger had preached to them; of his wicked insinuations and of her
+terrible dread, but she checked herself. Herman seemed fatuously
+delighted by Millar, and she could not bring herself to talk to him now.
+They continued the ride in silence until home was reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Herman and Olga occupied one of the finest residences in Park Lane. It
+had been built by a wealthy nobleman and completed with a princely
+disregard for expenditure. It stood in the center of a considerable
+park, surrounded by trees and gardens.
+
+Preparations were already going forward for the ball when Herman and
+Olga reached home. Decorators were putting the finishing touches on the
+magnificent ballroom. Florists were banking ferns and potted plants
+along the stairs and halls. All was bustle and preparation. Herman
+delightedly went forward and examined every detail of the work. Olga,
+who ordinarily would have taken the same keen interest in the
+preparations, turned wearily away and went to her own room. She dined
+alone, under the plea of a headache, and did not again appear until the
+guests began to arrive in the evening.
+
+"You look very beautiful, my dear," Herman said to her when she entered
+the drawing-room.
+
+Her mood had changed. Her eyes seemed unnaturally bright. She herself
+could not tell what had caused the change. When she reached home she had
+looked forward with shuddering aversion to her second meeting with
+Millar. Now she was impatient for him to arrive. She wanted to talk to
+him; to hear again the soft, persuasive voice, the insidious harmony of
+his words that seemed to frame for her the thoughts she had never dared
+express.
+
+She was bright, alive, witty, charming in the beauty of her fresh color,
+her glorious hair, her splendid figure set off charmingly in an evening
+gown of white satin brocade. She stood at the head of the winding
+stairway leading to the drawing-room when Millar came.
+
+The man seemed more suggestive of malignant purpose in his evening
+clothes than he had been in the afternoon. Immaculate in every detail
+of his dress, his very grooming suggested wickedness. He walked slowly
+up the stairs, feasting his eyes on Olga as she stood with hand extended
+to meet him.
+
+"Madam, I am charmed to greet you again," he said. "I congratulate you
+on the wonderful transformation, and I need not ask in what way it was
+effected."
+
+"It may be that I owe it to you, monsieur," Olga replied gayly, her eyes
+frankly meeting those of Millar as he looked at her with admiration he
+did not attempt to disguise.
+
+"I trust we are soon to have the pleasure of seeing Karl again."
+
+"He will be here--later, I believe," Olga answered. "Meanwhile,
+monsieur, I am going to ask you to make yourself agreeable to some of my
+guests."
+
+"Madam, I can only make myself disagreeable to them," he replied
+cynically. "It is not they whom I came to see and entertain."
+
+"But you must be entertained now," Olga said. "Soon I hope we may
+talk."
+
+"We shall talk," Millar assured her, bowing.
+
+He passed on to greet Herman, and was presented to others in the rapidly
+growing throng. Wherever he went Olga heard exclamations usually of
+surprise or dismay from her women guests, and the number that invariably
+gathered around him at first rapidly diminished. He seemed bent on
+making himself disagreeable, as he had promised.
+
+One elderly spinster to whom he was presented greeted him with an
+affected lisp, drooping eyes and an inane remark about the terrible
+cold.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, your teeth will chatter to-night--on the dresser."
+
+To another--a portly lady who affected the airs of a girl--he said in
+his most silken tones:
+
+"My dear madam, I must tell you of a splendid remedy for getting thin."
+
+"I don't want to get thin," the portly one replied indignantly as she
+flounced away from him.
+
+Olga waited impatiently for an opportunity to withdraw with Millar into
+a secluded place, where she might listen to him while he told her the
+things that she did not dare tell herself. The evening had grown late,
+however, and Karl had arrived before she could get away from her guests.
+
+Karl had tried to avoid a tete-a-tete with Olga, and she took the first
+opportunity of introducing him to Elsa. She rebelled in her soul now at
+the thought of their marriage, but her will drove her to the fulfilment
+of her purpose, to that extent at least. But it was with a heart torn
+with jealousy that she watched Karl and Elsa move off together, and
+turned to meet Millar, standing beside her with his cynical, sinister
+smile.
+
+Elsa Berg was a brilliant, vivacious girl, rarely beautiful, with lively
+blue eyes, chestnut hair and a tall, slender, willowy figure. The
+romance and excitement of her meeting with Karl made her seem doubly
+beautiful, and she gladdened the artist in him, but he helplessly
+confessed to himself that she made no impression on his heart. His
+thoughts were with Olga, and he was abstracted, almost to the point of
+rudeness, while Elsa tried to talk with him.
+
+"Who is that terribly rude person who seems to be frightening every
+one?" she asked.
+
+"He? Oh, that is Dr. Millar, a friend of mine," Karl replied.
+
+"Pooh! I don't see why every one seems so afraid of him," Elsa said with
+a note of challenge in her tone. "I think I shall meet him just to see
+if he will make me run."
+
+"No, no; don't go near him," Karl begged.
+
+"And why not? Has he such a sharp tongue or an evil mind? I can take
+care of myself."
+
+"I don't really think you ought to meet him," Karl said, but he spoke
+without conviction. He suddenly yielded to a curiosity to see what might
+come of a meeting between Elsa and Millar.
+
+"I don't care; I'm going to hunt him up," she cried, jumping up and
+scampering off.
+
+Millar had gone into an anteroom leading out into the beautiful gardens.
+A number of the company had assembled there as he entered, and it was
+obvious from the instant silence which ensued that he had been the
+subject of their discussion. This seemed to gratify his cynical humor,
+and he looked the assembled men and women--society puppets--over with a
+cynical grin. Elsa was among them, and toward her Millar bowed as he
+said:
+
+"I never knew this number of ladies could be so silent. I presume during
+my absence you have been discussing me kindly."
+
+The others did not speak, but Elsa turned boldly to Millar.
+
+"Don't flatter yourself that I am afraid of you," she said. "I would say
+to your face what these people only dare think. Indeed, I was just going
+to look for you."
+
+"It is just as well you are here; they might discuss you and your
+approaching betrothal with Karl," Millar said.
+
+"You--you know!" Elsa cried in astonishment.
+
+The others seemed tremendously interested at the information Millar had
+imparted, and Elsa was embarrassed. She knew the design of her friend
+Olga in bringing her and Karl together, but she was not aware that it
+was known to any one else. Millar smiled as he replied:
+
+"Of course; they would throw you into his arms."
+
+While the others who overheard laughed at this sally and Elsa blushed
+furiously, Millar went close to her and said:
+
+"I must speak to you alone. I will send these people away. Leave it to
+me."
+
+Elsa drew away and there was a silence in the room. The others began to
+feel uncomfortable as Millar looked slowly from one to the other of
+them. One or two essayed conversation, and his cutting, insolent replies
+sent them scurrying from the room. In a few moments only he and Elsa
+remained in the apartment. From the adjoining ballroom came the strains
+of music and the sound of dancing and bright laughter. Millar looked at
+Elsa.
+
+"Now they are gone," he said.
+
+"Are you not surprised that I did not go also?" she asked. "You offended
+me, you know, but I stayed because I want to talk with you."
+
+"How charming," Millar said with gentle sarcasm.
+
+"Perhaps you know my nickname--Saucy Elsa?" said the girl warningly.
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"Then you should know that your Chesterfieldian manners embarrass me,"
+Elsa said impatiently as Millar bowed again before her. "I have selected
+you to deliver a most impudent message to that crowd in there, because
+you are so perfectly impolite."
+
+"I am entirely at your disposal, mademoiselle."
+
+"How can I be impudent, though, when you are so polite to me?" she cried
+petulantly.
+
+"Shall we end the conversation, then?"
+
+"Oh, no, not yet," Elsa cried, embarrassed. Then she went on with
+determination: "When you came in here you said I was the girl they were
+going to throw into Karl's arms."
+
+"I did."
+
+"But you did not say that I am the girl who permits herself to be thrown
+into Karl's arms. Am I right?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Please sit down," Elsa went on, recovering her self-poise, which the
+baffling politeness of Millar had disturbed.
+
+He declined the chair with a gesture, but she insisted.
+
+"I feel much more commanding when I stand, and I want every advantage,"
+she said. "I want to set you right, and it will be much easier when you
+sit down and I stand."
+
+Smiling, Millar sat down and looked up at her expectantly. Slightly
+confused, she went on:
+
+"I don't want people making fun of me before my face. I know everything.
+Do I make myself clear? You were kind enough to mention the subject, and
+I shall delegate to you the mission of explaining the true facts to
+those dummies."
+
+She grew quite vehement, and her cheeks flushed. Millar looked at her
+admiringly as he said:
+
+"Your confidence does me great honor."
+
+"As a rule I don't take these people seriously," the girl hurried on. "I
+have no more interest in them or their opinions than I have in last
+week's newspapers. But I want them all to know that they have not fooled
+me into marrying Karl. And you all want me to marry him--you all want to
+throw me into his arms."
+
+"Pardon me----" Millar interrupted, but she went on, unheeding.
+
+"Don't you think I can see through your transparent schemes? But I'll
+marry him just the same, if he'll have me. Do you understand? I'll marry
+him."
+
+"I do not think you will," Millar said quietly.
+
+"I tell you I am going to be Karl's wife," Elsa cried with emphasis.
+
+"Now that you have graced me with your confidence," Millar said, rising,
+"I feel that I may be quite frank with you. This marriage cannot take
+place."
+
+He pointed to the chair he had vacated and smiled.
+
+"Now, you sit down, because I am going to set you right," he said.
+
+Wonderingly, Elsa obeyed. Millar called a servant who was passing, and
+said:
+
+"You will find a small red leather case in my overcoat pocket. Bring it
+here."
+
+The servant went out and he continued to Elsa:
+
+"I know the reason of this marriage, but you--you don't know the reason,
+or----"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"Or you don't want to know. Hence you are about to consent."
+
+"Consent to what?" Elsa cried. "Don't beat around the bush. This is what
+I am trying to avoid. I am about to consent to become the wife of a man
+who loves another woman. And, what is more, I intend to go on my
+honeymoon with a man who has another woman in his heart--who leaves with
+this other woman everything he should bring to his wife--love, sympathy,
+enthusiasm, everything. You see, you did not know me."
+
+Millar was unmoved by her vehement declaration. As the servant
+re-entered the room and handed him a small, red leather case, he said:
+
+"I did not think this subject could excite you to such a degree."
+
+"I don't want any one laughing at me," Elsa protested. "I want them all
+to understand that I know quite well the way I am going, and that I go
+that way proudly, fully conscious of it--that I know everything and yet
+I consent to be his wife."
+
+"Why?" Millar asked, opening his little satchel.
+
+"Because--because--I--I love him," the girl answered, and began to sob.
+
+Millar smiled wickedly as he took from the case a dainty lace
+handkerchief and held it toward Elsa.
+
+"Pardon me, I always carry this with me," he said. "It is my weeping
+bag. In it is everything a woman needs for weeping."
+
+Elsa sobbed and dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief, not noticing
+that the man was amused.
+
+"I--I love him," she declared.
+
+"And take this also," Millar said, handing her a little mirror, then a
+powder puff and a tiny stick of rouge. Elsa could not help smiling
+through her tears at the absurdity of it, as she dabbed and dusted her
+tear-stained face, looking at herself in the little mirror, until all
+traces of her weeping were removed.
+
+"So this is the far-famed Saucy Elsa," Millar said as he watched her.
+
+"No, it isn't," she said rebelliously. "When I came here to-night I was
+a young, saucy girl. Now I am a nervous old woman. What shall I do?"
+
+"Whatever you do, you must not be discouraged. You must fight--attack
+the enemy. But first of all you must be pretty."
+
+"I shall try," Elsa said dolefully.
+
+"You must show that woman your teeth. Of course it is hard for a young
+girl to fight a woman," Millar went on. "You don't possess so many
+weapons as a married woman who knows love already--who--may I say
+something improper?"
+
+"Please do," she said, her sauciness returning as she held her hands
+before her eyes and looked at him through her fingers.
+
+"A woman who knows all about love that you have yet to learn."
+
+"I understand," she said.
+
+"But don't mind that; listen. There is not much sentiment in me, but I
+am a man, and I tell you, little girl, you possess the weapon that will
+deal the death blow to the most attractive, the most experienced woman
+in the world. That weapon is purity."
+
+"Should I listen to all this?" Elsa asked.
+
+"You should not," Millar replied promptly; "but listen just the same. It
+may help you. And now, go dance with Karl. You must conquer. But don't
+try to be a woman; be a girl. Don't try to be saucy."
+
+"I don't care to be saucy, but it is so original," Elsa said contritely.
+
+"Don't try to be original," Millar said earnestly. "Be yourself. Be
+modest. Be ashamed of your pure white shoulders. Look at Karl as if you
+feared he is trying to steal you away from girlhood land and show you
+the way to woman's land. And if any one ever dares to call you saucy
+again, tell him you once met a gentleman to whom you wanted to give a
+piece of your mind and that you left him with a piece of his mind,
+feeling very small indeed yourself, and making him feel as if he were
+the biggest rascal in the world."
+
+Elsa turned and went toward the other room, meeting Karl at the door as
+Millar withdrew behind a curtain of palms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Millar had played with devilish ingenuity on the tender susceptibilities
+of Elsa. He encouraged her in her love for Karl and her determination to
+win him, evidently with the deliberate purpose that she should repel the
+boy whose will he had determined to subordinate to his own. He watched
+as a cat watches its prey the meeting between Karl and Elsa after he
+withdrew quietly into the sheltering recess behind the palms.
+
+Karl had been searching for her and stopped, barring her way into the
+ballroom.
+
+"So here you are at last, Miss Elsa," he exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," Elsa replied, dropping her eyes demurely.
+
+"Why are you not in the ballroom?"
+
+"I wanted to be alone. If any one really wanted me he could find me."
+
+Her dejection surprised Karl.
+
+"You seem sad. Are you worried?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then what has happened?" Karl asked.
+
+He walked toward her, and as he did so Millar emerged from his place of
+concealment. Karl looked at him.
+
+"Ah, now I understand," he said.
+
+"Surely you do not mean to suspect that I am the cause of Miss Elsa's
+unhappiness," he said blandly.
+
+Karl ignored him and turned to Elsa, looking at her in frank admiration.
+
+"You are very pretty to-night," he said, going close to her. "It is
+because you are yourself--a sweet, pure, natural girl. I like you better
+this way, Elsa. I could take you in my arms and hug you."
+
+"Oh, Karl!" Elsa exclaimed, blushing and hiding her face.
+
+Millar's cynical smile overspread his face, and he turned away, well
+satisfied with the progress he was making.
+
+"Excuse me," he murmured. "I must say good-evening to our hostess," and
+he stole quietly out.
+
+The two young people did not notice him. They sat down very close to
+each other, Karl leaning forward and looking into the big blue eyes of
+the girl. Elsa gave a glance at the disappearing figure of Millar.
+
+"I am awfully glad to be alone with you, Elsa," Karl said. "You are the
+one natural thing in this fetid, artificial atmosphere. Don't you feel
+warm?"
+
+"Yes, as if some hot breeze were blowing through this room. It stifles
+me."
+
+"You never spoke like that before," Karl said.
+
+His back was toward the ballroom door and he did not see Millar usher
+Olga into the room. The man had brought Olga that she might witness the
+fulfilment of her plan, and that he might triumph in her jealousy and
+further thwart them. Elsa saw them come in and seat themselves across
+the room.
+
+"There is Olga," she said, "and she, too, is jealous. Don't you want to
+speak to her?"
+
+"I have seen her," Karl replied without turning around. "I would rather
+talk with you. It's far more interesting."
+
+"They are talking about us," Elsa said warningly, as she saw Olga and
+Millar look toward them.
+
+"Oh, what of it?" Karl exclaimed impatiently. "Let us be glad we are
+together. I am just beginning to know you, Elsa."
+
+"Why do you look around, then?" Elsa said.
+
+"Am I looking around?" Karl asked. "I wasn't aware of it."
+
+But even as he spoke he could not help furtively glancing around to see
+what Millar and Olga were doing. He remembered the man's declaration in
+the studio that afternoon and he distrusted and feared him. He was
+beginning to hate him.
+
+By a sheer effort of will he forced himself to turn to Elsa. He resolved
+that he would talk to her; that he would make love to her; that he would
+marry her and banish from his heart those hateful emotions which Millar
+had aroused. He leaned forward and spoke of love to the girl in low
+tones, while Elsa, with color coming and going in her face, listened and
+watched the woman she knew for her rival.
+
+"Our first love usually is our last love--our last love always is the
+first," Karl said.
+
+"I don't know," Elsa cried demurely. "I have never been in love,
+although I was disappointed twice," she added gayly.
+
+Karl was beginning to find his task difficult. His attention wandered to
+Olga.
+
+"Disappointments; well, yes, who has not been disappointed?"
+
+Elsa observed his growing inattention, his efforts to concentrate his
+thoughts on their talk, his futile love-making, and she turned from him
+coldly. Meanwhile Millar and Olga were having a conversation in which
+Olga was being torn on the rack of her jealous emotions.
+
+Millar had brought her into the anteroom to show her Karl making love to
+Elsa. Every circumstance favored his design. Olga at first was disposed
+to withdraw when she saw them.
+
+"Don't you think we should leave the young people together?" she said.
+
+"You are too considerate," Millar replied cynically.
+
+"They seem to be growing fond of each other," Olga said jealously.
+
+[Illustration: "THEY SEEM TO BE GROWING FOND OF EACH OTHER," OLGA SAID
+JEALOUSLY.--Page 108.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+"Yes; do you dislike it?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Shall we leave now?"
+
+"No; I rather enjoy watching my seed bear fruit."
+
+Olga tried to speak lightly and smile. Millar, watching her closely, saw
+her lips twitch, and it was with difficulty that she controlled herself.
+
+"They are an interesting couple," he said.
+
+"Can't we discuss something besides these two?" Olga asked impatiently.
+
+"Yes, certainly," Millar acquiesced. "I came here to-night to decide a
+wager," he went on.
+
+"What was it?" Olga asked absently, looking with jealous eyes at Elsa
+and Karl.
+
+"I made a wager that you would fall in love with me to-night."
+
+Olga was startled by the declaration, but she treated it lightly as one
+of Millar's strange sayings.
+
+"With whom did you make such a wager?" she asked.
+
+"With Karl," Millar answered quickly.
+
+"Karl--and what did he say?" Olga cried, almost rising from her seat.
+
+"I must not tell you now; it might hurt you."
+
+"Oh, no, it won't; please tell me now," Olga pleaded, leaning over the
+table toward him.
+
+Millar, too, leaned forward, his face almost touching her white
+shoulder, his hand touching hers as it rested on the table. It was thus
+Karl saw them with one of those furtive glances, and the glist froze the
+pretty speech he was trying to make to Elsa. The girl, seeing his look,
+jumped to her feet, exclaiming angrily, and so that all three heard her:
+
+"Take me to the ballroom immediately. I have promised the next dance."
+
+Karl also, his face white with passion, had jumped to his feet. Elsa,
+almost in tears, stamped her foot at him.
+
+"Why do you stand there? Take me away. Aren't you coming?"
+
+She turned and started to the door, Karl following. They passed Millar
+and Olga, still seated at the table.
+
+"I thought you were in the ballroom," Olga said sweetly to the girl.
+
+"Oh, did you?"
+
+"I hope you are enjoying the dancing."
+
+"I hate dancing, but I shall dance every dance to-night," Elsa cried
+passionately.
+
+She looked angrily at Olga, who arose and moved toward her. Karl stepped
+between them, giving his arm to Elsa. The two walked together, leaving
+Olga looking helplessly into the smiling face of Millar.
+
+Olga looked angrily at the stormy little Elsa as she floundered from the
+room into the ballroom, followed by the enraged Karl. Millar smiled more
+cynically than ever as he saw the play of emotion on Olga's face. His
+ruse had worked admirably. He had at least beaten down Olga's will, but
+he had yet to make certain of Karl.
+
+"How dared she speak like that?" Olga demanded, turning to her cynic
+Millar. "Karl must love her."
+
+"Let us not reach conclusions so hastily," Millar said. "First let me
+tell you how Karl answered me this afternoon."
+
+"When you made the wager?" Olga asked quickly.
+
+"Yes; when I promised to make you fall in love with me."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"He tried to kill me," Millar answered slowly.
+
+The color rushed to Olga's cheeks. Her eyes sparkled as she turned them
+toward her tempter. It was delight she felt; mad, unreasoning joy that
+Karl's love for her had prompted him to kill another who threatened to
+win her from him. Still smiling, Millar went on, taking the shining
+revolver from his pocket and showing it to her:
+
+"With his own hands, dear lady, Karl tried to kill me with this little
+pistol. I took it away from him."
+
+"He tried to shoot you?" Olga exclaimed.
+
+"Yes; and he would have done so. This is nicely loaded for six."
+
+Almost to herself Olga whispered her next words:
+
+"This afternoon he wanted to kill you when you only spoke of making love
+to me, and now--he saw you whisper in my ear, hold my hand, touch my
+shoulders. Why, he must have fallen in love with----"
+
+"Don't you think it silly to shoot a friend on account of a woman?"
+Millar interrupted, before she could pronounce Elsa's name.
+
+"Oh, he's fond of me--perhaps you said something about me," Olga
+stumbled on hurriedly. "Karl holds me in high regard, but, there is no
+doubt of it, these young people are in love."
+
+"I fear you regret the success of your matrimonial scheme for Karl and
+Elsa," Millar said.
+
+"Do you think it will be successful?" she asked eagerly.
+
+"I don't know, but we may find out easily enough."
+
+"How?"
+
+Millar took a turn up and down the room, his up-slanting eyebrows drawn
+together in deep thought.
+
+"This afternoon he tried to shoot me when I told him I would make you
+fall in love with me," he said, stopping in front of Olga. "That means
+love. Don't speak to me of respect or regard, my dear lady. They fire
+off cannons in salute out of respect, but when they draw pistols, that
+means love. Now, you think Karl loves this little girl. Suppose we find
+out who is right. We will make Karl tell us himself."
+
+Olga turned away with a gesture of dissent, but Millar went on
+insinuatingly:
+
+"Of course, I understand it interests you only because you planned this
+marriage, and after all it is only right that you should feel a certain
+amount of pride in the success of your plans. Is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, that is true."
+
+"Very well, then; Karl shall tell us which was real--his attempt to
+murder me or this little affair with Elsa."
+
+"But how--you don't mean to ask Karl?" Olga asked in bewilderment. "You
+are not going to listen at key-holes?"
+
+"Oh, madam, no."
+
+"Then how can we make him tell us?"
+
+"It is simple; I have a plan. But you must follow my instructions to the
+letter. Don't ask for any reasons; simply do as I say."
+
+Olga looked at him reflectively. She knew instinctively that he had
+some new bit of devilish ingenuity, some sinister twist of that
+marvelous brain, and she was afraid. But she wanted more than anything
+else to be assured that Karl did not love Elsa; that her scheme for
+their marriage had failed, and she replied:
+
+"Very well, it is agreed."
+
+"I saw you once at the opera with a very beautiful cloak that covered
+you completely from your neck to your shoe tips. Have you such a cloak
+now?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Good. Put this cloak on. Let only your bare neck show above it and the
+tips of your shoes beneath. Button it from top to bottom, as if you felt
+cold. Then we shall need but the presence of yourself and Karl, here in
+this room, to solve the problem."
+
+[Illustration: "LET ONLY YOUR BARE NECK SHOW ABOVE YOUR CLOAK, AND THE
+TIPS OF YOUR SHOES BENEATH IT."--Page 115.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+Olga looked at Millar a moment in silence. There flashed instantly
+through her mind the full meaning of his daring suggestion, and at first
+she was on the point of indignant refusal. Then she as quickly resolved
+to carry out the scheme; to beat the man at his own cunning game; to
+find out for herself what Karl really felt.
+
+"Unconditionally obey me and we shall know everything," Millar assured
+her, observing her hesitation.
+
+"This is very mysterious," Olga said slowly. "What strange influence do
+you possess that compels me to obey your will? Your eyes seem to have
+all the wisdom of the world behind them."
+
+"You do my eyes poor, scant justice," Millar replied. "Now go, dear
+madam. If any one expresses astonishment that you wear a cloak indoors,
+simply say that you felt cold."
+
+"It really is cold," Olga said with a little shiver as they turned away.
+
+"Out this way," Millar said quickly, pointing to the palms and a door
+beyond them. "Karl is coming."
+
+Olga gathered her skirts up and hurried from the room just as Karl
+entered. The young artist caught a glimpse of her dress as she
+disappeared behind the palms. He looked at Millar with jealous rage
+making his eyes glow.
+
+"Who was that?" he demanded.
+
+"Who?" Millar asked, blandly.
+
+"Did Olga run away from me?"
+
+"No one ran from you that I know of, Karl. That is a pretty girl, my
+young friend, that little Elsa."
+
+"Yes, she is pretty," Karl replied absently, sitting down at a table.
+
+He was still tortured by the sight of Millar leaning over Olga, touching
+her hands, whispering in her ear. He was tormented by the insinuating
+words the man had uttered in the afternoon when he swore that Olga
+should love him; should be his. He would have liked to take Millar's
+throat in his two hands and throttle him.
+
+Keenly aware of the inferno he had raised in Karl, Millar continued to
+chat affably, Karl not deigning to answer. Finally Millar said:
+
+"You seem annoyed."
+
+Karl lost control of himself and leaped to his feet. He went close to
+Millar, staring into his eyes.
+
+"I am annoyed. Do you want to know why?" he demanded, putting all the
+insolence he could command into his tone.
+
+"No," Millar replied with a smile.
+
+"I want to tell you why," Karl declared.
+
+"Please don't," Millar said deprecatingly.
+
+"Yes, I will," Karl went on belligerently. "I am amazed at the change
+which has come over you since this afternoon. Don't imagine that it is
+on account of Olga--we won't discuss her at all."
+
+"Certainly not; she is out of the question," Millar assented warmly.
+
+"Absolutely," Karl went on. "I came here this evening determined to ask
+Elsa to marry me."
+
+"Fine! I am very glad to hear it. I wish you good luck, my boy!" Millar
+cried with enthusiasm.
+
+"You are glad?"
+
+"Delighted," Millar assured him.
+
+"It does not take you long to change your mind," Karl continued, still
+with a truculent air. "This afternoon you insisted I should not marry
+Elsa. To-night you are delighted at the prospect."
+
+"Oh, yes; I see the matter now in a different light."
+
+"Then it was Olga who ran away as I entered!" Karl almost shouted,
+glaring at him menacingly.
+
+"Ran away? Why should she run away?" Millar asked, pretending
+embarrassment.
+
+"Don't act like a cad!" Karl cried threateningly.
+
+"What do you mean, Karl?"
+
+"I mean exactly what I say. Don't act like a cad. If you were a
+gentleman you would hide your pleasure."
+
+Millar pretended to be shocked at the indignation of the young artist,
+which secretly delighted him.
+
+"Don't talk that way, Karl," he urged. "As you seem to have penetrated
+my secret, I suppose I might as well--but have you made up your mind to
+marry Elsa?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"And you will not change your mind--you promise?"
+
+"I will not change my mind."
+
+"Well, of course, if that is the case, I can tell you. I----"
+
+He hesitated as if embarrassed at his own question. Karl cried roughly:
+
+"And did you succeed?"
+
+"Well, I----"
+
+"What of her husband?"
+
+"Ah, Karl, he is deaf, dumb and blind," Millar cried gleefully.
+
+Stifled with the pain at his heart, Karl turned away.
+
+"This afternoon, at my house, you met her for the first time," he said.
+
+"Ah, Karl, she is a clever woman; cleverer than I thought," Millar said,
+affecting tremendous enthusiasm. "She deceived me this afternoon about
+her true character; she has been deceiving all of you. I am sure of it.
+Oh, she is grand, fantastic, passionate, daring. Think of it, Karl," he
+went on, going close to the boy and leaning over him, bringing out his
+words so that every one seemed to penetrate his heart; "think of it,
+to-night a kiss behind a door in front of which her husband was
+standing. Danger fascinates her. And just now, a moment before you came,
+we agreed----"
+
+"So it was she?" Karl interrupted.
+
+"Oh, yes, it was she," Millar admitted. "I suggested a wild plan, Karl;
+almost too daring for the first day of our acquaintance. Her honor,
+position, everything depend upon its success. Of course I did not dream
+she would carry it out. I suggested it merely to sound the depths of her
+passion. But she loved the idea and insisted upon doing it this very
+night. If it fails we are lost."
+
+Karl trembled with apprehension for Olga, whom he believed in the
+devilish power of this man.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"She will be here in one minute, dressed in an opera cloak--and nothing
+else. Think of it, Karl; the daring of it. She will walk through the
+ballroom on my arm, among all those people, her friends, her husband,
+with no one in the secret but we two--and you. Ah, Karl, I told you she
+would be mine," Millar concluded with rapturous accents.
+
+With a wild cry Karl sprang at Millar, hurling one word at him:
+
+"Liar!"
+
+"Karl, be careful," Millar protested, avoiding him.
+
+"It's a lie; a damnable, dirty lie!" Karl cried, trying blindly to reach
+him, to grasp his throat to throttle him.
+
+Millar deftly avoided him and laughed triumphantly.
+
+"I have trapped you who tried to trap me," he cried. "You love Olga
+Hofmann."
+
+"Yes, I love her," Karl cried loudly. "I love her, and yet I will marry
+Elsa. Now, I have listened to your infernal lies; I have watched you
+gloat over them. Men like you steal a woman's reputation and boast of it
+and call it a success. But you shall pay for it, now, this minute, when
+I kick you out of the house. Out with you, like a sneak-thief that you
+are!"
+
+He advanced determinedly on Millar, who quietly faced him.
+
+"Remember, Karl, that I have the pistol now," he said coolly.
+
+"Out with you, you sneak-thief; I am not afraid of you," Karl cried
+again.
+
+He was about to seize Millar by the throat, when he started back in
+amazement at what seemed to be the fulfilment of the other's sinister
+promise. Olga stepped through the door into the room. She was clothed
+from head to foot in a beautiful, shimmering, fur-trimmed cloak.
+
+Above the top button gleamed her bare throat. Her white arms projected
+from the short sleeves. The hem of the skirt fell to the tips of her
+white satin shoes.
+
+As Olga entered she gave one glance at Karl and then moved away from
+him, and stood beside the table at which she and Millar had been seated.
+She saw the wild rage stamped on his face, and her woman's intuition
+made her know that Millar had told him what she had divined he meant.
+The situation frightened her, and she felt on the point of fleeing from
+the room or casting aside the cloak; but she resolved to see the game
+through.
+
+Karl stared at her, rage giving place to amazement, then to despair. For
+full a minute no one spoke. The music floated in softly from the
+ballroom, mingled with the hum of voices and laughter. Olga was the
+first to break the stillness, but she did not look at him as she spoke.
+
+"Karl, this is the first time I have had a chance to talk with you
+to-night," she said.
+
+"What is that?" Karl absently asked.
+
+He had not heard; his mind was confused, bewildered. Millar, cynically
+misunderstanding his question, said quickly:
+
+"Why, that is an opera cloak."
+
+Olga turned quickly, fearful that the remark might cause an eruption
+which she could not control. She cried impulsively, seeking to divert
+the threatening train of conversation:
+
+"The ball is a great success. Every one is merry; every one dances as if
+it were the first affair of the season. The girls are all as happy as
+young widows who have just taken off mourning."
+
+"I have observed it," Millar agreed with enthusiasm. "It is splendid.
+But why is Karl so sad amid all this merry-making?" he added.
+
+"Why are you sad, Karl?" Olga asked, turning to him.
+
+"I sad? You are silly," Karl cried with forced gayety. "I never felt
+happier in all my life."
+
+There was a touch of hysteria in his voice that made Olga's heart go out
+to him.
+
+"I am glad you are having such a good time," she said.
+
+"Yes, yes; I feel like a schoolboy," Karl cried wildly; "like a young
+tiger. I'm mad with joy. I will get drunk to-night. I will drink, drink
+drink until the angels in heaven sing to me--as you said this
+afternoon," he added, turning to Millar.
+
+"No, no, Karl," Olga pleaded, thoroughly frightened. "Why, you never
+drank. Why should you drink to-night?"
+
+"Because I am doing things to-night I never did before," Karl replied
+bitterly. "I have never been engaged before; to-night I shall be
+engaged."
+
+"Good! fine, Karl," Millar exclaimed. "She is a splendid girl."
+
+"Splendid girl! What do I care what sort of a girl she is? It's not the
+girl; it's marriage--something new. I want to see what it is like."
+
+"For a bridegroom you are not very gay," Millar said tauntingly.
+
+"Gay! Why should I be gay? I am drinking the last bitter drops of my
+bachelor days--but I'll swallow them, and then--purity."
+
+"Bravo, Karl!" Olga said.
+
+"Oh, I don't care what any one else thinks about it," Karl sneered at
+her. "I am doing this to please myself."
+
+Olga was hurt and surprised at his tone. She had never seen him so
+completely beside himself before; she had never heard him speak so
+bitterly, so vindictively. As she watched him he looked at her, and a
+spasm of pain contorted his face. He pointed his finger at her
+accusingly, and cried:
+
+"Why are you wearing that cloak in the house?"
+
+"Madam Hofmann may be cold," Millar suggested quietly.
+
+"Yes, yes; I am cold," Olga said hurriedly, drawing the cloak around her
+more closely.
+
+"You are fortunate to have such a beautiful cloak," Millar said,
+determined now to keep them at the main point of his game.
+
+"Suppose we do not talk about the cloak," Olga said. "You and Elsa
+seemed to get on nicely to-night, Karl."
+
+"Yes," he replied absently.
+
+"Really, it was charming to watch such devoted young people," Millar
+said.
+
+Karl flashed a look of hatred at him and turned again to Olga.
+
+"That cloak is lined with fur, isn't it?"
+
+Before she could reply Millar had interrupted in his silken, insinuating
+voice:
+
+"Yes, soft, smooth fur."
+
+"I did not speak to you," Karl cried at him savagely. "Well?" he
+demanded of Olga.
+
+"Soft, smooth fur," Olga replied. "It is cold in here."
+
+"Nonsense; it is hot. I feel stifling," Karl declared.
+
+"I feel chilly," Olga insisted.
+
+"Perhaps madam is not dressed warmly enough," Millar insinuated. "You
+should wear plenty of clothes in the winter time, or you may run the
+chance of taking cold."
+
+Olga caught her breath and then she answered:
+
+"I love to take chances."
+
+"You do, eh?" Karl cried.
+
+"Yes; what is it to you?" she asked tauntingly.
+
+Karl threw his self-control to the winds. With flaming face and a voice
+that shook with anger, he cried:
+
+"Aren't you two afraid of me?"
+
+Olga was afraid and she looked at him apprehensively. Millar smiled his
+cynical, sinister smile and answered:
+
+"Afraid? I'm not afraid of the husband. Why should I be afraid of a
+moralizing, joyless bridegroom?"
+
+Karl took a step toward him, when Herman entered the room. All three
+were silent and Herman looked at them in surprise.
+
+"What is this--a conspiracy?" he asked gayly.
+
+"Oh, no, merely a conversation," Millar said.
+
+"Well, Karl, how are you getting along with Elsa?" Herman asked, taking
+the boy by the arm and walking off with him.
+
+Olga watched them as they disappeared, going into the ballroom, Karl
+evidently reluctant to be taken away. Then she turned to Millar.
+
+"What did you tell him about my cloak?"
+
+"About the cloak? Nothing."
+
+"You did not tell him----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"He stared at me as if he thought--thought I had on only this cloak."
+
+"That is exactly what I told him," Millar assured her.
+
+"Oh, how could you?"
+
+"Now don't be shocked," Millar said cynically. "You knew it. The moment
+you entered the room you realized that I had told him. And what is more
+you liked it."
+
+"How dare you!" Olga gasped, "If I had understood----"
+
+"If you had understood, would you have taken off the cloak?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, now you understand, why do you not take it off?"
+
+Olga raised her head and looked straight into Millar's eyes. She said
+not a word, but drew her cloak more closely about her with a movement
+that sent a thrill of suspicion and surprise through him.
+
+"Madam, you didn't really?" he cried in amazement.
+
+"Do you think I am a child?" she asked. "Do you imagine that I did not
+understand your suggestion from the very first? You wanted me to fool
+Karl. Perhaps I have fooled you. How do you know I am not nude beneath
+this cloak?"
+
+"Madam!" Millar cried in wide-eyed amazement.
+
+"Now let us see if you will take a chance," Olga said. "Give me your
+arm, my dear doctor, and we will walk together through the ballroom."
+
+Millar was at a loss for a moment. His imperturbable calm was broken.
+Olga had matched her woman's intuition against his cunning and had won.
+But his bewilderment gave way to undisguised admiration, and, bowing as
+gallantly as a youthful sweetheart, he gave her his arm.
+
+As they were about to leave, however, Karl suddenly barred their way,
+coming hurriedly in from the ballroom.
+
+"Are you coming in with us, Karl?" Olga asked, as they paused.
+
+"No," Karl almost shouted; "and you are not going--you stay here."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean what I said. You stay here. And you, too," he added to Millar.
+
+He turned and closed the ballroom door. Then he faced them again.
+
+"We will settle this thing right here. Take off that cloak."
+
+"I will not."
+
+"By heavens, I'll tear it off," he cried furiously, rushing at her.
+
+Olga stood unmoved. Millar caught Karl by the arm and stopped him.
+
+"Why did you stop him?" Olga asked, smiling.
+
+She was perfectly self-possessed now and in command of the situation.
+Millar was frankly afraid that she had taken his meaning literally. Karl
+was mad with rage and jealousy. Olga was unruffled.
+
+"Madam, I was afraid," Millar said.
+
+"You will take it off," Karl cried, still held back by Millar. "If you
+do not, I'll find your husband and he shall have the pleasure."
+
+Olga turned to him sweetly.
+
+"Karl, will you help me off with my cloak?" she asked.
+
+Karl almost leaped toward her, but when his hands nearly touched her
+cloak he drew back, afraid. Slowly he backed away from her, while she
+smiled.
+
+"Dr. Millar, will you help me remove my cloak?" she asked sweetly.
+
+Millar put out his hands as if to do so, but quickly folded them over
+his breast, bowed very low and smiled, cynically shaking his head.
+
+Olga looked first at one and then the other with her tantalizing smile.
+The three might have been carved of stone, so still were they when
+Herman entered.
+
+"Hello, Karl; I lost you when I went to find Elsa," he said. "What are
+you talking about?"
+
+"I think we have been discussing cloaks," Millar said.
+
+"Oh, I see Olga is wearing one. Isn't it rather warm for that, dear?"
+
+"Yes, it is, but I felt chilly a while ago," Olga answered. "Will you
+help me off with it, Herman?"
+
+Herman stepped to her side as she loosened the clasps, and lifted the
+beautiful fur-lined garment from her shoulders. She stood before them
+again in the beauty of her shimmering evening gown, her white arms and
+shoulders gleaming, her lips parted in a dazzling smile.
+
+Karl did not speak. He half involuntarily made a step toward Olga, and
+she, fearing what he might say, cried lightly:
+
+"Now, I have devoted too much time to you two. My guests are departing.
+I must go. Come, Herman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Herman took his wife's arm, and together they returned to the ballroom.
+Karl watched them disappear and turned on Millar as if to attack him.
+There was such menace in his manner, the frenzied appearance of his
+face, that Millar put his hand behind him quickly and half drew his
+revolver.
+
+Before either spoke, however, Elsa entered from the ballroom. She was in
+her cloak, ready to leave, and said, holding out her hand to Karl:
+
+"I wanted to say good-by."
+
+Her voice seemed to awaken Karl as from a bad dream. He took her hand
+eagerly, stepped forward impulsively as if he would take her in his arms
+and kiss her, but Millar interposed himself between them, and a servant
+entered at the same moment. Checked in his advance, Karl said:
+
+"I shall take you to your carriage."
+
+The servant announced that Elsa's aunt awaited her. She took Karl's arm,
+and Millar directed the servant to follow them.
+
+"The sidewalk is very slippery," he said. "Take Miss Elsa's other arm."
+
+He was determined not to give the beautiful girl a chance alone with
+Karl. In the young artist's present excited state almost anything might
+occur to wreck his plans.
+
+As the two went out, followed by the servant, Olga came in excitedly.
+She looked around to see that Millar was alone and said:
+
+"Your plan worked splendidly."
+
+"What are you going to do now?" asked Millar anxiously, as Olga sat at a
+table and took out writing materials.
+
+"I am going to write to him," she answered, addressing an envelope.
+
+"But what will you say?"
+
+"I shall tell him," Olga said wearily, with her hands clasped to her
+forehead, "never to speak to me again. I never want to see him. He must
+leave town immediately. To think he believed me capable of----"
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"Ah, it is all over," Olga cried, ignoring him. "I never want to see him
+again, because----"
+
+"Because you love him?"
+
+"Oh, no. After what has happened I hate him."
+
+"I am very sorry, madam," Millar said contritely.
+
+"You need not be," Olga assured him. "I am glad it happened. With all
+your cynicism you are clever and you have done me a great service. When
+I know that this letter is in his hands again I shall be perfectly
+happy," she went on, dipping her pen in the ink-well.
+
+"You say I have helped you; let me render you one more service," Millar
+urged.
+
+"What can that be?" Olga asked.
+
+"I have begun this; let me finish it. Let me dictate this letter. You
+are excited. You cannot think of things to say. It must be firm,
+strong."
+
+[Illustration: "I HAVE BEGUN THIS, LET ME FINISH IT. LET ME DICTATE THIS
+LETTER."--Page 136.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+"Yes, firm, strong," Olga acquiesced.
+
+"Undoubtedly," Millar went on. "Let me tell you what to say."
+
+Wearily Olga yielded to his spell. She seemed under hypnotic
+influence as she replied:
+
+"Very well, I shall write whatever you tell me to say."
+
+Millar stood behind her chair, hovering over her like an evil spirit.
+His singular, expressive hands twitched.
+
+"Good. I shall try to express your thoughts," he said. "Cold, formal?"
+
+"Yes, it must be so," Olga said.
+
+"It is finished forever?"
+
+"Forever."
+
+"Then write," he ordered.
+
+She settled herself to her task. Leaning over her, Millar suggested a
+sinister hypnotist bending a helpless victim to his will. He dictated,
+while Olga wrote:
+
+"I have found out what I dreaded to learn--that you love me. Your
+behavior to-night convinced me. I could not place any other
+interpretation on it, and my own heart answered, I cannot, dare not, see
+you again. God knows I want to; I long for the happiness that I might
+find with you, but I must not. Only the certainty that I am not to see
+you impels me to this confession. Good-by forever."
+
+When this was finished Olga dropped her pen and stared at the letter.
+Before she could do anything, Millar had taken the sheet of paper,
+blotted it, folded it and placed it within the envelope, which he
+deposited in his pocket.
+
+"What have I written?" Olga cried, bewildered.
+
+"The last letter," Millar replied, with a smile of triumph. "I will
+deliver it to Karl," he said.
+
+Olga passed her hands wearily over her eyes, and struggled to clear her
+mind of the strange, intricate network of intrigue, insinuation and
+suggestion which Millar had woven there. She thought she was rid of his
+sinister influence until her fingers wrote, in obedience to his will,
+the letter which she would have given anything to have left unwritten.
+
+When she looked up, Millar was putting the letter in his pocket, and his
+face wore the evil, cynical smile.
+
+"I wrote it, yet I am ashamed of what I have written," she faltered,
+speaking with difficulty. "I tried to resist--yes, I did--but my hands,
+my pen, followed your words. You are a very strange man."
+
+"I will deliver the letter to Karl," Millar repeated slowly.
+
+"You know I did not mean it; you know I did not want to write it," Olga
+said.
+
+"A woman does not always write what she wants," Millar said lightly,
+"but she always wants what she writes."
+
+"The letter was not for him; it was for me," Olga insisted.
+
+She arose and her hand was extended imploringly, begging Millar to
+return the missive to her, when Herman entered. The house had grown
+still. The music was hushed, the guests were gone. Only Millar, spirit
+of evil, incarnation of the devil, remained.
+
+"This is good of you, to stay behind and entertain the hostess," Herman
+said cordially.
+
+"Madam Hofmann's conversation has been so entertaining that I quite
+forgot the time," Millar said, looking at his watch. "By Jove! it is
+late; I must go immediately."
+
+"Won't you have some cognac before you go out? The night is cold,"
+Herman urged.
+
+"No, I thank you; I have an important engagement in the morning, and it
+is now too late. Madam, I must bid you good-night. I have really spent a
+very pleasant evening."
+
+Millar started toward the door. Olga uttered a half-suppressed cry, and
+he turned inquiringly.
+
+"I left a letter lying here on the table; did you, perhaps, pick it up?"
+she asked nervously.
+
+She was almost weeping and spoke in a half-hysterical tone. Millar,
+without changing countenance, drew the letter from his pocket.
+
+"Perhaps this is it," he said, holding it up. "If it is of interest to
+your husband----"
+
+He made a movement as if to hand it to Herman. Fear clutched at Olga's
+heart and she cried quickly:
+
+"No, no, it was not that; it was nothing."
+
+She forced herself to laugh. Millar bowed with impressive politeness and
+left the room. Herman bowed the strange guest out, and then noticed for
+the first time Olga's weariness and distress.
+
+"You look tired, dear," he said tenderly. "It has been a long evening."
+
+"Yes, I am tired," she said sadly.
+
+Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright. As she stood leaning
+against the table Herman thought her prettier than he had ever seen her
+before. He went up to her, took her hands in his and kissed her.
+
+"You seem excited, too," he said. "It makes you prettier, and I like it,
+my dear, sweet, darling wife."
+
+Olga shrank from his caress so obviously that Herman was hurt. She
+withdrew her hands.
+
+"Please don't," she said. "I am awfully nervous."
+
+"Your cheeks are burning, dear," he said, touching them.
+
+"Don't, Herman; I wish to be alone for a few minutes; to rest all
+alone. Please leave me here."
+
+"Very well, it shall be as you wish," Herman replied, adding as he left
+the room:
+
+"But it would be better if you went to sleep."
+
+A servant entered, and Olga signed to him to extinguish the lights. In a
+few moments she was alone, in semi-darkness, the room being partially
+lighted by the reflected light from the garden lamps. As she sat there,
+the tall, sinister figure of Millar, in his fur overcoat and his top
+hat, passed the window.
+
+"It would be better if I went to sleep," Olga repeated to herself
+slowly.
+
+Just then the shadow of Millar, as he passed in front of one of the
+garden lamps, was thrown against the white wall of the room, and she
+could hear distinctly his cynical chuckle. With a cry of horror she
+raised herself to her full height, put out her hands to ward off the
+evil spell, and shrieked:
+
+"No! no! no!"
+
+Then she sank fainting on the floor. For a moment the shadow lingered
+above her, and faded.
+
+When Karl left the home of Herman and Olga to conduct Elsa and her aunt
+to their carriage he did not return. He was deeply ashamed of the
+suspicion he had entertained, and humiliated at the trick played upon
+his overheated imagination by Millar. He could not bear to face Olga or
+his tormentor.
+
+Sending the servant back for his overcoat and hat, he plunged along
+through the snow, walking briskly. Old Heinrich had gone to bed when he
+reached the studio. There remained but a few hours of the night, but
+Karl could not bring himself to sleep. He paced restlessly up and down
+the studio, his mind tortured by the thoughts so skilfully implanted
+there by Millar.
+
+He was not surprised when the door bell rang and it was Millar whom he
+admitted. His strange visitor shook the snow from his great fur coat and
+laid it aside. Then he walked over to the grate where the fire burned
+cheerfully and stood in front of it, rubbing his hands as he held them
+out to the blaze.
+
+Karl resumed his restless march up and down the room. Millar watched
+him cynically for a few moments.
+
+"You seem nervous this morning, Karl," he said.
+
+"I am nervous; I'm crazy," Karl answered.
+
+"You ought to be very happy," Millar insinuated.
+
+"Ought to be happy! I ought to be miserable--as I am, but it is all
+through your evil machinations. You have made me reveal all that is evil
+in me to the woman----"
+
+"To the woman you love?"
+
+"Yes, to the woman I love and have no right to love; to the woman whose
+honor I have held sacred for six years; to the woman I must never see
+again."
+
+"You will see her again," Millar asserted quietly.
+
+"How base she must think me," Karl went on wildly. "I did not know
+myself; I did not dream that I could be so rotten."
+
+"You will see her again," Millar repeated. "She will come to you of her
+own free will here, in this very studio, to-day, and she will tell you
+with her lips on yours that she loves you."
+
+"Stop! I won't listen to your infernal insinuations. You have ruined my
+happiness; you shall not ruin hers. I want you to keep out of her way.
+Do you understand? I give you fair warning."
+
+"My dear Karl, you don't know what you are saying. I shall not mar her
+happiness or yours."
+
+"Why did you play that evil trick on me to-night?"
+
+"Why, you dull, young artist? Because I wanted to show her that you
+loved her; that you cared not two straws for that little slip of a girl
+to whom you were trying to play devoted. Because I wanted to show her
+that her great love is not wasted on an empty-pated ass."
+
+"Her love!"
+
+"Of course. Her love. She loves you, and has loved you for six years,
+and you were blind and did not know it."
+
+"It is not true. It must not be so. She is a true, loyal wife to my
+friend."
+
+"Bah! Do you want her to be loyal to that big boor of a husband when
+she loves you?"
+
+"I refuse to listen to you any further. Now, let me tell you this. I am
+going away. I shall not see Olga again. I shall close my studio and
+return to Paris. And I wish not to see you again. Do you understand? I
+am going to bed now. When I awake I want you to be gone. Don't let me
+find you here."
+
+"You are not hospitable, my dear young friend," Millar said, smiling and
+bowing. He seemed genuinely amused at the passionate outburst of the
+young artist.
+
+"I believe you are the devil!" Karl cried.
+
+"And you don't find the devil a pleasing personage to look upon, except
+when he is decked out by poets in the disguise of Cupid," Millar
+sneered.
+
+Karl abruptly left the room, going into his own room and locking the
+door. He threw himself upon the bed and tried to sleep, but for hours he
+lay awake, haunted by the sinister shadow of his temptation.
+
+Left alone, Millar sank comfortably back in the big, Gothic arm-chair
+before the fire. The red glow of the flames seemed to absorb him. He
+was merged in the shadows--light and shadow, as they played around the
+big chair, from whence there came his devilish chuckle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Olga's maid, alarmed at the prolonged absence of her mistress, found her
+moaning on the floor, where she had fallen in a swoon after Millar's
+departure. The maid helped her mistress to her room and to bed.
+
+"As soon as it is daylight go to Monsieur Karl's studio and find out at
+what time he will arise. Let no one else know that you go there. And
+awaken me as soon as it is possible for me to see him."
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+Olga meant to get to Karl to intercept the letter which Millar had
+tricked her into writing. She meant to tell him to go away; to end
+everything between them. But, although she did not know it, she was
+blindly obeying the evil will of Millar.
+
+Broad, glaring daylight had come when Heinrich entered the
+reception-room of the studio. He divined no presence. There were no
+conflicting passions in his old heart. He pottered about, humming an old
+song to himself, dusting the vases and paintings, stirring the
+slumbering fire, until the door bell rang.
+
+He admitted to the anteroom a beautiful young woman whom he had never
+seen before. When he returned to the reception-room to ruminate on the
+situation he was confronted by the figure of Millar--the figure of the
+devil.
+
+"I--I beg your pardon; I did not know you were here," he said.
+
+"I am here," Millar responded cheerfully. "Who rang?"
+
+"A lady, sir."
+
+"A real lady?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir."
+
+"That's odd. What does she want?"
+
+"She wants to see my master, sir, Mr. Karl."
+
+Heinrich hurried out and ushered in Elsa. The poor little girl had lost
+her bravado of the night before. She was ready to humble herself. She
+was stricken with the terrible malady. She was in love; she
+acknowledged it to herself, and she knew that the man she loved had his
+heart elsewhere. But she had resolved to make a fight--to win him if she
+could, and she had taken this desperate move.
+
+She was startled, though, when she was ushered into the reception-room
+and saw Millar there, his hands on his breast, bowing profoundly.
+
+"You seem to be everywhere," she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?
+Are you Karl's secretary?"
+
+Millar was transformed back into his frock coat, his immaculate
+trousers, his wine-colored waistcoat. He was again the polished, suave,
+affable gentleman of the afternoon, with ingratiating manner, cynical
+smile and insinuating words.
+
+"No, I am not Karl's servant; only his friend," he said. "How are you
+feeling to-day?"
+
+"Oh, very well, thank you. I did not know there was any one in here or I
+should have waited outside. But as it is only you I do not mind."
+
+She resented the presence of this man in the place, and she took a seat,
+turning her back to him. Millar, not in the least disturbed, said:
+
+"Karl got in very late this morning."
+
+"I assume that he did; it was very late when the ball ended."
+
+"Still, I think he would be very much pleased to know that you are here.
+Will you permit me to acquaint him of the pleasure that awaits him?"
+
+"Thank you, no; I will wait for him here. This is an interesting room. I
+have never been here before."
+
+"I know that," Millar said.
+
+"How do you know it?" Elsa demanded with spirit.
+
+"Oh, Heinrich told me. A lady may come here secretly every day, but when
+she comes the first time it cannot be secret, even to Heinrich."
+
+"I wish I had not come alone," Elsa declared.
+
+"I know that also," said the imperturbable Millar.
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"Oh, Heinrich told me there was a real lady waiting."
+
+"I am glad at least that Heinrich recognized me as such," Elsa declared
+indignantly. "He is the only one who has spoken to me as if he realized
+that."
+
+"Then he must have thought you the other kind," Millar said cynically.
+"Heinrich made a mistake."
+
+"I think Heinrich is the better judge," Elsa said.
+
+"An excellent judge, I grant you," Millar said, laughing. "He is the one
+man who should have brought you here. You know only two men have the
+right to open the door of a bachelor apartment to a young lady. They are
+his valet and the clergyman. You may choose which of the two you would
+prefer."
+
+Elsa turned on him with eyes that flashed indignation.
+
+"I was once left alone with a man who kissed me, and I insulted him,"
+she said.
+
+"I was once alone with a lady who insulted me and I kissed her," the
+cynical person replied.
+
+"You are horrible!" Elsa exclaimed.
+
+Millar saw her distress and rang the bell. When Heinrich entered he
+said:
+
+"Get a little red leather pocketbook out of my overcoat."
+
+"Oh, you need not fear; I shall not cry this morning," Elsa said.
+
+"I am not apprehensive, but I thought you were laughing," Millar said.
+"When girls laugh I fear they are going to cry. Why did you come here?"
+
+"I want to have my portrait painted, and I shall come every day," Elsa
+replied.
+
+"You mean you want to come every day, and therefore you will have to
+have your portrait painted," said the cynic.
+
+"You are an expert word juggler," said Elsa.
+
+"Do you know that another lady comes here to have her portrait painted?"
+
+"Yes; that is why I am coming," Elsa declared boldly. "I want to see
+whose portrait will be better."
+
+"That is a bold challenge, my little girl; you were not so brave
+yesterday."
+
+"Yesterday I was undecided. To-day I have made up my mind to fight. You
+gave me good advice."
+
+"I have some more advice to give you to-day; we did not finish last
+night."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"It is this. Do not fight. You were not made to fight."
+
+"Why not? I am courageous."
+
+"Yes, you are courageous, but you are not strong. Don't fight, because
+you will batter yourself against an impenetrable wall and suffer defeat.
+Do you know where Karl's heart is?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then let me tell you. He loves Olga. He cannot love any one else. He
+has no room in his heart for any other image. Do not make sorrow for
+yourself, my child. Forget. Go away. Karl is the man for another woman."
+
+Elsa was courageous. She had set aside her conventional training and
+ideas when she came to the studio to see Karl--to fight for him. Now she
+resolved that Millar should not defeat her again. She looked at him
+squarely and said:
+
+"In spite of all that you tell me, I shall not give up."
+
+In spite of her resolve to fight she was on the verge of tears. She sat
+at a table, shrinking from the sinister figure before her. Millar
+inspired her with a nameless terror, and it was almost against her will
+that she listened.
+
+"Let me tell you what you must do," he said, sitting down in front of
+her. "Do you know what you should do?"
+
+"I don't like to have you sit in judgment on me this way," she
+protested. "You question me as if you were a judge."
+
+"No, it is not that, but you answer as if you were a prisoner. Now,
+little Elsa, stand up and listen. You know that Karl is in love with
+Olga."
+
+"Yes, I know it; it is the only thing I do know."
+
+"Then you should give Karl up."
+
+"I can't give him up."
+
+"You must learn."
+
+"How? From whom shall I learn?"
+
+"Let me see; I think I have here the very person," Millar said.
+
+He walked over and opened the hall door.
+
+"Mimi, come in here and wait; it is warmer," he called.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+To the amazement of Elsa, the shrinking little model came in, hesitating
+on the threshold. She wore a red woolen jersey over her bodice that
+fitted her tightly and made her look very slight and shivering. She
+looked with wide-open eyes at the beautiful girl and dropped a courtesy
+as she sat in the seat Millar drew out for her. Elsa nodded at her in
+silence, and Millar, after watching them a few seconds with a smile of
+amusement, walked out of the room, whistling softly. Mimi was the first
+to break the silence, squirming under Elsa's direct scrutiny.
+
+"Madam is waiting for the artist?"
+
+"Yes," Elsa replied shortly.
+
+"So am I," Mimi said, adding, with engaging frankness:
+
+"He went on a spree last night. When he does that he always sleeps
+late."
+
+Elsa was embarrassed, and there was another interval of silence. Then
+Mimi said:
+
+"Is madam to have her portrait painted?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I know all those who come here to be painted," Mimi went on. "This is
+quite like home to me. I am his model. I don't have to pay for my
+portraits. Madam has a splendid profile."
+
+"Please do not call me madam," Elsa said impatiently. "I am miss, like
+yourself."
+
+"I beg your pardon," Mimi said. "I am not madam, either. My name is
+Mimi."
+
+"My name is Elsa."
+
+"Oh, I know; I have heard of you. You are very rich as well as very
+beautiful. I know what it means to be rich. Once our family was well
+off, and I did not have to work as a model."
+
+"I am sorry you have been unfortunate," Elsa said.
+
+"But I have heard much of you," the girl went on. She was now
+tremendously interested in this beautiful woman whose coming, she
+believed, meant that she would no longer be Karl's model. "You see, I
+know all the things that go on here; I look out for the artist's
+laundry and sew his buttons on; and I almost know his thoughts."
+
+"And do they interest you?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but it will not be so any more."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because he is to be married; because you have come and he will not need
+me."
+
+"Why not? He will still paint. He must have models."
+
+"Yes, but it will not be the same, and I will not come any more."
+
+"Do you like Monsieur Karl?"
+
+"Very much."
+
+"Does he paint you now?"
+
+"Ah, no; nothing but landscapes."
+
+"Then you did not come as a model to-day?" Elsa asked.
+
+"I come always as a model. If the artist does not treat me as such it is
+not my fault."
+
+She noticed that Elsa looked offended, and went on hurriedly,
+apologetically:
+
+"Please, if I offend you I will be quiet. But you seem to be so nice. If
+I were you and you were the model I should not be angry with you."
+
+Elsa was touched by the pathos in Mimi's eyes.
+
+"Pardon me; I am very, very sorry if I have hurt you," she cried
+impulsively. "Let us be friends."
+
+"Yes, let's," Mimi cried. "You can talk to me about everything. I am not
+a bad sort, but I have known him for a long while. I was crying when I
+went away yesterday and he felt sorry for me. He came to the house on
+his way to the ball last night in his evening clothes, but I would not
+see him. It must be finished."
+
+"Was he fond of you?"
+
+"I liked him very much," Mimi replied simply.
+
+"And now?"
+
+"Ah, now it is different. If a man wants to have another sweetheart,
+what can we do? It is like the railway. The train comes in and goes and
+the little station must wait until another train comes."
+
+"And you are going to wait for another train? You were fond of him and
+can speak like that?"
+
+"I was fond of him," Mimi said. "But I am not silly enough to believe
+it will last just because I wanted it to last. I knew when it started
+that I should have to give him up some day. I have learned that. I shall
+forget him--and hope that he and you will be happy."
+
+Mimi's tears came unrestrainedly now, and as she looked for her
+handkerchief Elsa picked up Millar's weeping satchel, where he had left
+it on the table, and gave it to the model. Mimi dabbed vigorously at her
+streaming eyes.
+
+"I am glad that I met you here," she said when she could control her
+voice. "I shall be clever to-day and not see him at all. I will go away
+now and never come back. What time is it?"
+
+"It is 3 o'clock," Elsa said, looking at her watch.
+
+"Then I must go. Another artist in the next block expects me to pose for
+him, and his laundress comes at 3. He is very clever."
+
+She stood up and looked around the room at the things on the walls--her
+own pictures--the place that seemed like home to her. She sobbed as she
+started toward the door.
+
+"Good-by, miss," she said.
+
+Elsa looked after her as she went out. Then she looked around the room
+and was seized with panic.
+
+"Mimi! Mimi!" she called out.
+
+The model did not return. Elsa seized her hat and fled, just as Millar
+entered from the adjoining room. His chuckle of Satanic amusement
+reached her as she hurried from the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+Millar's sardonic face was wreathed in smiles as he looked after the two
+young girls, each of whom carried from his hateful presence a bruised
+heart.
+
+With Mimi it was the fate of a child of the underworld--something to
+which she was pathetically resigned. With her there was no struggle. She
+knew that when she ceased to charm she must go her way and find another
+man; a master rather than a sweetheart.
+
+Elsa could not have told herself what fear made her fly from the studio
+after Mimi, but she feared that she was also doomed to give up the hope
+of her heart. It was her first cruel disappointment, but Mimi had made
+her see that she was beaten, and, in spite of her earlier resolution to
+fight, she saw that fighting would bring only unhappiness. She hurried
+to her waiting carriage and was driven home, where she locked herself in
+her room to weep alone.
+
+And Millar, the sinister being, ever at hand with his insidiously evil
+suggestions, chuckled as he watched them go. He threw himself into a
+chair and rang the bell for Heinrich. The old servant entered
+rebelliously, but, trained to habits of obedience, he could not give
+expression to his feeling of hatred and distrust of his master's strange
+visitor. As for Millar, he even seemed to find something amusing in the
+old man's obvious aversion.
+
+"Bring me tea and brandy," he ordered peremptorily.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Is your master up?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Has any one seen him this morning?"
+
+"No, sir. Madam Hofmann's maid was here three times."
+
+"What for?" Millar demanded quickly.
+
+"She wished to know when Madam Hofmann might see Mr. Karl. I told her I
+had strict orders not to call him before 3 o'clock."
+
+Millar looked at his watch and saw that it was a few minutes after 3
+o'clock.
+
+"Humph! We shall have another visitor shortly," he muttered. "I think I
+begin to see the completion of my work. It shall be this afternoon. Get
+my tea," he added to Heinrich, "and serve it in the studio."
+
+The old man went out. Millar paced slowly up and down the floor, looking
+at his watch, until he heard the door bell ring.
+
+"The beautiful Olga," he said, stepping softly from the reception-room
+into the studio and leaving the way clear for Olga.
+
+She was admitted by Heinrich. She hurried into the room, looked wildly
+about her and sank into a seat. For a moment she could not speak.
+
+All night and all day, since Millar's shadow hovered above her fainting
+form in her own home, she had been torn by the emotions raised by the
+letter. It was a confession she had never meant to make. She dreaded the
+thought of Karl ever seeing it. Heinrich waited respectfully.
+
+"Is Mr. Karl at home?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+"My maid told me he could not be seen until 3 o'clock. It is now after
+3. May I see him?"
+
+"If you will wait a few minutes longer, madam, I will tell him that you
+are here."
+
+Heinrich started toward the studio.
+
+"One moment," Olga called after him. "Has any one seen Mr. Karl to-day?"
+
+"No, madam."
+
+"Has he received no letter?"
+
+"No, madam."
+
+"Thank God!" she exclaimed fervently. "Go, Heinrich; tell him I am in a
+great hurry and must see him at once."
+
+"I am afraid, madam, you will have to wait a few minutes for Mr. Karl to
+dress," Heinrich said. "Shall I tell Dr. Millar you are here?"
+
+"Who?" Olga cried, springing up in dread.
+
+"Dr. Millar; the gentleman who was here yesterday," Heinrich said.
+
+"Is he with your master?" Olga cried in fright.
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+"Oh, God! am I too late? Tell me, did you see Dr. Millar give a letter
+to your master?"
+
+"He may have done so, madam. I cannot remember."
+
+Olga walked nervously up and down the room, while Heinrich waited,
+sympathizing at her distress. The old man was mystified, but he felt
+that Millar was to blame for the grief which his young master's
+beautiful visitor showed.
+
+"It may not be too late," Olga cried to herself. Then she said to
+Heinrich:
+
+"Please tell Dr. Millar to come down. Do not tell him who is here;
+simply say a lady wishes to see him at once."
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+Heinrich withdrew, leaving Olga, with clenched hands and twitching
+features, walking up and down the room. It was thus Millar saw her as he
+entered, with his cynical smile, at which she shuddered.
+
+"You are the lady who wished to see me at once?" he asked, with his most
+polite bow. "I am honored, madam."
+
+"Yes, I sent for you," Olga said, not knowing how to begin.
+
+"And what may I do for you?"
+
+"Please tell me quickly--I am trembling--did you----"
+
+"Yes, dear lady, I delivered your letter."
+
+Olga sank into her chair and covered her face with her hands, while dry,
+tearless sobs shook her body. Millar looked at her unmoved, and as
+Heinrich entered with the tea tray he turned coolly to the old servant.
+
+"Put that tea here," he said, indicating a table near Olga. "And the
+brandy. Thank you. You may go."
+
+He poured himself a cup of tea and began to sip it, looking the while at
+the terrified woman before him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+It was the moment of Millar's complete triumph, and he gloated over Olga
+as she sat there, her trembling hands covering her face, much as a large
+cat gloats over a mouse, helpless beneath his paws. He lied deliberately
+about the letter, which even then reposed in the inside pocket of his
+immaculate frock coat. But he reserved it for a final coup. He knew that
+Olga, believing Karl was in possession of the letter, would yield to the
+inevitable; that she would again confess her love, even to Karl himself,
+and that only a miracle of resolution and faith and strength could save
+the two young people from the abyss of dishonor and unhappiness into
+which he was about to plunge them.
+
+He sipped his tea in silence. Several moments elapsed before Olga was
+able to control herself. Then she asked, without looking at Millar, and
+her voice was dry with pain:
+
+"Did--did Karl read the letter?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Millar said, with another sip of tea.
+
+"Oh, God! too late!" she cried.
+
+Millar arose and stood behind Olga's chair, leaning over her and
+speaking in a soft, low voice.
+
+"After he read the letter he buried his face in his pillow and wept," he
+said.
+
+"He wept?"
+
+"Yes; he wept with joy. I do not like men who weep."
+
+Olga did not heed his flippancy. She looked up at him imploringly.
+
+"I did not want him to get that letter," she said. "I came to ask him to
+give it back to me unopened. I am too late."
+
+"It is not you who are too late; it was I who was too early," Millar
+said deprecatingly.
+
+"Oh, is this life really a serious matter?" Olga exclaimed; "when
+everything can depend upon one's getting here a few moments before or a
+few minutes after 3 o'clock?"
+
+"That is it exactly," Millar said. "We should not take it so seriously."
+
+Olga looked thoughtfully away from him and said to herself softly:
+
+"He wept."
+
+"From joy," Millar repeated after her, in the same soft voice.
+
+"I am afraid to speak to him, and yet I must," Olga cried, starting up.
+"I would like to go far, far away, but I cannot. Something seems to hold
+me here. I cannot, cannot go. What will become of me?"
+
+"You will be very happy and will make Karl very happy," Millar said.
+
+Heinrich entered and took the tea-things.
+
+"Mr. Karl will be down in a moment," he said.
+
+Olga clasped her hands tragically and turned an imploring face on
+Millar, who started for the studio door.
+
+"Good-by," he said. "I will leave you to speak to Karl alone."
+
+"Please don't go," Olga implored.
+
+"I can hardly remain under the circumstances," he said.
+
+He knew that to further his design Karl and Olga should meet quite
+alone. He would see to it that even old Heinrich did not interrupt them
+until Olga had repeated her confession of love, and the hoax of the
+letter had been revealed. Then he would reappear, with the letter, and
+they might read it together.
+
+Olga knew that her own frail, feminine heart would give way if she were
+left alone to meet Karl. Evil as she believed Millar to be, yet she
+dreaded his going now.
+
+"I am afraid to be alone with him," she said. "Won't you please stay?"
+
+"But if I stay, how could you speak to Karl about the letter?" Millar
+asked. "And you must say something about it, you know. I would only be
+in the way."
+
+Olga weakened and began to pace the floor again.
+
+"Well, I shall be quite frank with him," she said. "I shall be honest. I
+shall ask him for the last time----"
+
+Karl's voice was heard in his own room, calling to Heinrich.
+
+"He is coming," Millar said. "I will leave you."
+
+"Please don't go very far away," Olga implored.
+
+"I shall be here," Millar said, going to a small anteroom adjoining the
+studio. "If you need me, call."
+
+He stepped within the other room and closed the door softly. Olga stood,
+her hands gripping the back of her chair, waiting.
+
+Karl entered the reception-room and stood for an instant looking at
+Olga. He showed that he, too, had suffered during the night. His face
+was white and drawn. When he saw Olga standing there, a mute statue of
+despair, he was filled with pity for her and self-abasement. He stepped
+quickly to her side, caught her hands and kissed them passionately.
+
+"I ought to go down on my knees and beg your pardon for my conduct last
+night, Olga," he said.
+
+She turned to him quickly, yielding her hands to him, leaning toward
+him, speaking eagerly.
+
+"Speak very low; he is in there," she said, pointing to the anteroom
+where Millar was hiding. "Let us be brief, Karl. I have been very
+foolish, but I could not control myself. After what happened I wanted to
+know. I wanted to feel that you loved me as I thought you did, as I
+hoped you did, day and night, every minute."
+
+"Olga!" he exclaimed rapturously.
+
+[Illustration: "I WANTED TO FEEL THAT YOU LOVED ME AS I HOPED YOU
+DID."--Page 173.
+
+By Permission of Henry W. Savage.]
+
+He was not prepared for this. He feared that he had offended her, and
+her impulsive declaration swept him from his feet. He watched her face
+eagerly, hungrily, as she went on, talking very rapidly, and making no
+effort to disengage her hands, which he held clasped to his breast.
+
+"Everything has changed since yesterday, Karl. But let us try to repeat
+what we said then. Let us shake hands honorably. Let us try to be strong
+and keep our promises, as we have kept them so long, Karl. If I have
+been bold and frivolous it was only because I wanted to know what you
+thought of me; nothing else. But I am afraid I have been punished too
+much."
+
+Her passion swept her along, as she was swayed alternately by love for
+Karl and the saner impulse to flee from him. But the sweetness of
+knowing that she was loved, of feeling her hands clasped in his, after
+all her years of self-depression, broke down her resolution.
+
+"I fear it is too late, Karl. My strength is gone. My will is lost. We
+have gone back six years. Karl, I love you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+The last words she whispered with infinite tenderness, and her head fell
+on his breast. Hysterically they clasped each other in their arms and,
+half laughing, half sobbing, looked into each other's eyes. Karl leaned
+over her, murmuring his love and kissing her eyes and hair.
+
+"Be careful; he is in there," Olga warned him finally, again pointing at
+the door behind which their evil spirit lurked. Then she whispered
+shyly:
+
+"Did my letter surprise you?"
+
+"Letter?" Karl asked, astonished. "What letter, dear heart?"
+
+"Karl, I understand you wish to be discreet," Olga said reproachfully,
+"but it is my first letter and I am not ashamed. Let us be honest; I am
+not afraid. I love you. When I wrote that letter I hardly knew what I
+was doing, and I must confess I felt ashamed at first. But I am no
+longer ashamed now; I am proud. Sometimes women do not write what they
+want, Karl, but they always want what they write. Karl, I would like to
+read that letter over again in your arms."
+
+That letter meant much to Olga; it was her only love letter. She had
+never written to Karl before, except in the conventional boy and girl
+fashion, when she did not know how to express love. Her correspondence
+with Herman had always been of the most perfunctory sort. Never before
+had she poured out her soul as she did in this letter. Now she wanted to
+see what she had written; to read it over with the man for whom it was
+intended.
+
+It was with a shock of pain that she beheld Karl's indifference, and she
+was amazed when he added:
+
+"I received no letter from you, Olga."
+
+"What! how can you say so? Was not a letter delivered to you this
+morning?"
+
+"I assure you that I did not receive any letter from you," Karl said
+earnestly.
+
+The realization of Millar's trick was like a blow in the face to Olga.
+She saw now how he had deliberately lied to her, in order that she would
+certainly repeat her confession of love to Karl. In what a bold,
+forward, disloyal attitude she had been placed! Her first impulse was of
+anger, and she ran toward the anteroom.
+
+"Doctor! Dr. Millar!" she called wildly.
+
+The door opened noiselessly and Millar stood bowing on the threshold.
+
+"My--my letter!" Olga stammered.
+
+"Madam, I beg a thousand pardons," Millar said suavely. "My only excuse
+is that some letters are better undelivered."
+
+He drew from the inner pocket of his coat a letter, and with a smile and
+a sweeping bow handed it to Karl.
+
+"However, I can now make reparation," he said.
+
+Karl took the letter, looking wonderingly from Olga to Millar. He held
+it an instant in his hand and was about to open it, when Olga cried:
+
+"Karl, tear the letter up."
+
+Karl instantly obeyed her, tearing the envelope into small pieces.
+
+"Now burn it," Olga said.
+
+He stepped over to the fireplace and threw the bits of paper on the
+glowing coals. They started up in a little flame and were quickly
+reduced to ashes.
+
+Olga was terrified at the trick Millar had played upon her and at its
+results. She looked in fear from him to Karl.
+
+"Who is this man?" she asked.
+
+Karl could not answer her. The same question was echoing in his heart.
+
+Who was this man, this personification of evil? Ever there were his
+insidious wiles to compromise, cajole, trick and betray them. He could
+not tell. He only knew that he loathed him and that he would drive him
+out.
+
+"Are you going now?" he demanded, as Millar stood looking at them with
+his evil smile.
+
+Millar took the question in the most natural way, disregarding the
+purposely offensive tone in which Karl spoke.
+
+"Yes, I am; I must," he said, half regretfully. "My train leaves in half
+an hour. Again permit me to beg a thousand pardons. Could I have
+foreseen the anguish that was to follow my failure to deliver madam's
+letter, nothing in the world could have----"
+
+Karl interrupted him rudely, determined that he should not beguile them
+again and that he should not speak of Olga or the letter as a thing of
+importance.
+
+"You should know that the letter contained only a conventional message,"
+he said.
+
+Millar looked at Olga, and his smile grew broad as she hung her head and
+blushed. Who should know better than he the confession which she had
+written and which was now destroyed?
+
+"It was quite conventional, I am sure," he said cynically.
+
+"You will miss your train," Karl said with studied insolence. "Heinrich,
+help the doctor on with his coat."
+
+"A thousand thanks," the imperturbable Millar said. "Madam, good-by. And
+once more I beg a thousand pardons."
+
+Neither Olga nor Karl spoke to him as he walked to the door, looked back
+at them, bowed low again and chuckled as the door closed after him.
+
+Olga turned quickly to Karl and held out her hands.
+
+"He is gone. I am glad. But, Karl, I would have given a year of my life
+if he had delivered my letter to you."
+
+"Why? Tell me what you wrote," he asked eagerly.
+
+"I wrote all the things I told you a few moments ago, Karl. You know it
+all now."
+
+She went over to the grate and looked sadly into the ashes.
+
+"My first love letter," she said softly. "Oh, Karl, it was my confession
+of my love for you. I would like to read it over again with you, and
+then we might forget. I don't want to be afraid. I want to be strong, to
+be happy. If I only had that letter now."
+
+Karl took her hands in his, and comforted her.
+
+"Never mind it, Olga; it has served its purpose. It has taught us
+ourselves, our hearts."
+
+"It has taught us that we must be strong, brave and loyal," Olga
+declared warmly.
+
+They stood thus, looking into each other's eyes, sanely, clearly, each
+ready to renounce. The door of the studio opened and Millar stood before
+them again, holding in his extended hand a letter.
+
+"I beg a thousand pardons again," he said. "I find I gave Karl an old
+tailor's bill instead of madam's letter."
+
+Olga eagerly took the letter, opened it and recognized her own
+handwriting.
+
+"My letter, Karl!" she exclaimed.
+
+Both bent close over the letter, reading it eagerly, while Millar
+slipped quietly out of the studio--out of their lives. Olga looked up
+from their reading.
+
+"I am glad that I wrote it, Karl," she said. "Now we will burn it."
+
+Together they watched it glow brightly into flame and fall into gray
+ashes.
+
+"That is our love begun and ended, Karl," Olga said quietly. "It was
+wrong, and now we realize it, don't we? And now, dear boy, you are
+coming with me."
+
+"Where?" Karl asked.
+
+"I am going to take you to Elsa," Olga answered.
+
+With a feeling of elation, Karl called Heinrich, and was helped into his
+overcoat. He bent respectfully and kissed Olga's hand as they walked out
+of the studio together.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MORAL OF "THE DEVIL"
+
+BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
+
+Copyright, 1908, by American Journal-Examiner.
+
+
+In every human organization dwell the _Twins_--the Angel and the Demon.
+
+The Angel is the real self; the enduring, immortal self, which goes on
+from life to life, from planet to planet, until it has made the circuit
+and ended where it began--at the _Source_.
+
+The Demon is man made; it belongs to the changing, perishable bodies
+which are created anew with each incarnation; and it goes down, and out,
+into nothingness, with the disintegration of the animal body.
+
+But with each new body, the mortal being usually invents, or adopts, a
+new Devil.
+
+A few great souls have passed along through earth without such
+demoniacal association; Christ, the latest and greatest of the Masters,
+held converse with the Devil once, on the mountain top, when He was
+tempted; but that was His only acquaintance with him, because He had
+finished His circuit, and was ready to become _one with God_.
+
+A weak man or woman, with good intentions and desirous of leading a
+moral life, but lacking _will power_, and inclined to be timid, and
+fearful, and negative in thought, often adopts a Devil formed by some
+selfish and licentious person, who fashions Devils by the wholesale and
+sends them out to roam over the earth, seeking an open door in a weak
+mind.
+
+When such occurrences are analyzed they are usually called hypnotism.
+
+In every liquor saloon, in every gambling den, in every boldly vicious
+and immoral place, about every race track and pool room, Devils swarm.
+And the weak, the dissipated, the thoughtless and the irresponsible
+minds are the open doors for them to mass through, into dominion of the
+human citadel.
+
+In many drawing-rooms of fashion, in brilliant restaurants and hotels,
+where the elite congregate; in sensuously decorated studios, Devils
+also wait day and night, knowing that they will be entertained, if not
+welcomed, by some of the self-indulgent frequenters of these places.
+
+Many are the devices employed by the Devils of earth to bring about the
+desired results.
+
+Drinks, drugs, avarice, money mania, jealousy, love of power, desire to
+outshine neighbors, lust, sensuality, gross appetites, gourmandism, love
+of praise, personal conceit and egotism, selfishness in every form--all
+these are webs which the Devils spin about humanity.
+
+Even beautiful, romantic sentiment, memory and imagination, become aids
+of the Devil, at times, when coarser and more common methods fail in the
+snaring of a refined soul.
+
+Many a good wife, who shrinks with horror at the thought of a vulgar
+amour, or of any act which could pain or anger her husband, has been led
+into the Devil's net by indulging in retrospective dreams of a vanished
+romance and through the stirring of old ashes to see if one little spark
+remained.
+
+Letter writing is a favorite pastime of almost all Devils. Once they get
+a romantic man or woman, with a pen in hand and an unoccupied chamber in
+the heart, and the breed of Devils who hang about the domestic hearth,
+hoping to find rooms to let, chuckle in glee.
+
+Wives who have believed themselves happy and satisfied, husbands who
+have been unconscious of any lack in their lives, have fallen by the
+wayside through an interesting correspondence with some sympathetic
+"affinity," who was Devil-instructed to lead them into trouble.
+
+After a man or woman falls into the Devil's snare they both call it
+Fate, and proclaim their inability to combat the powerful influence of
+"destiny."
+
+But destiny is _man himself_.
+
+The Angel dwells always within him, ready to say, "Get thee behind me,
+Satan," if the man really wants it said.
+
+The Angel and the Devil both are completely under man's control; the
+work of man, here in this sphere and in every other, is to develop the
+_character which will enable him to get back to the Source_.
+
+Unless the man directs the Angel to take the ascendancy, there would be
+no growth in wisdom for him were the Angel to interpose. So he remains
+silent and lets the Devil do his work, in order that man may find out
+for himself the pain and folly of such dominion; and in order that when
+he again encounters the Devil, either in this plane of existence or some
+other, he may be able to say as Christ said, "Get thee behind me."
+
+Always have there been Devils; always will there be Devils, while
+humanity is evolving from the lower to the higher states.
+
+But always is there the Angel, ready to lead the soul to conquest and
+victory if the soul will call.
+
+
+
+
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+colors of Beverly on the cover.
+
+    "The most fascinating, engrossing and picturesque of the
+    season's novels."--_Boston Herald._ "'Beverly' is altogether
+    charming--almost living flesh and blood."--_Louisville
+    Times._ "Better than 'Graustark'."--_Mail and Express._ "A
+    sequel quite as impossible as 'Graustark' and quite as
+    entertaining."--_Bookman._ "A charming love story well
+    told."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+HALF A ROGUE. By Harold MacGrath. With illustrations and inlay cover
+picture by Harrison Fisher.
+
+    "Here are dexterity of plot, glancing play at witty talk,
+    characters really human and humanly real, spirit and
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+    brisk as a horseback ride on a glorious morning. It is as
+    varied as an April day. It is as charming as two most
+    charming girls can make it. Love and honor and success and
+    all the great things worth fighting for and living for the
+    involved in 'Half a Rogue.'"--_Phila. Press._
+
+THE GIRL FROM TIM'S PLACE. By Charles Clark Munn. With illustrations by
+Frank T. Merrill.
+
+    "Figuring in the pages of this story there are several
+    strong characters. Typical New England folk and an
+    especially sturdy one, old Cy Walker, through whose
+    instrumentality Chip comes to happiness and fortune. There
+    is a chain of comedy, tragedy, pathos and love, which makes
+    a dramatic story."--_Boston Herald._
+
+THE LION AND THE MOUSE. A story of American Life. By Charles Klein, and
+Arthur Hornblow. With illustrations by Stuart Travis, and Scenes from
+the Play.
+
+    The novel duplicated the success of the play; in fact the
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+    dominant personalities that form the essence of the play are
+    necessarily touched upon but briefly in the short space of
+    four acts. All this is narrated in the novel with a wealth
+    of fascinating and absorbing detail, making it one of the
+    most powerfully written and exciting works of fiction given
+    to the world in years.
+
+BARBARA WINSLOW, REBEL. By Elizabeth Ellis. With illustrations by John
+Rae, and colored inlay cover.
+
+    The following, taken from story, will best describe the
+    heroine: A TOAST: "To the bravest comrade in misfortune, the
+    sweetest companion in peace and at all times the most
+    courageous of women."--_Barbara Winslow._ "A romantic story,
+    buoyant, eventful, and in matters of love exactly what the
+    heart could desire."--_New York Sun._
+
+SUSAN. By Ernest Oldmeadow. With a color frontispiece by Frank Haviland.
+Medallion in color on front cover.
+
+    Lord Ruddington falls helplessly in love with Miss Langley,
+    whom he sees in one of her walks accompanied by her maid,
+    Susan. Through a misapprehension of personalities his
+    lordship addresses a love missive to the maid. Susan accepts
+    in perfect good faith, and an epistolary love-making goes on
+    till they are disillusioned. It naturally makes a droll and
+    delightful little comedy; and is a story that is
+    particularly clever in the telling.
+
+WHEN PATTY WENT TO COLLEGE. By Jean Webster. With illustrations by C. D.
+Williams.
+
+    "The book is a treasure."--_Chicago Daily News._ "Bright,
+    whimsical, and thoroughly entertaining."--_Buffalo Express._
+    "One of the best stories of life in a girl's college that
+    has ever been written."--_N. Y. Press._ "To any woman who
+    has enjoyed the pleasures of a college life this book cannot
+    fail to bring back many sweet recollections; and to those
+    who have not been to college the wit, lightness, and charm
+    of Patty are sure to be no less delightful."--_Public
+    Opinion._
+
+THE MASQUERADER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by
+Clarence F. Underwood.
+
+    "You can't drop it till you have turned the last
+    page."--_Cleveland Leader._ "Its very audacity of motive, of
+    execution, of solution, almost takes one's breath away. The
+    boldness of its denouement is sublime."--_Boston
+    Transcript._ "The literary hit of a generation. The best of
+    it is the story deserves all its success. A masterly
+    story."--_St. Louis Dispatch._ "The story is ingeniously
+    told, and cleverly constructed."--_The Dial._
+
+THE GAMBLER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by John
+Campbell.
+
+    "Tells of a high strung young Irish woman who has a passion
+    for gambling, inherited from a long line of sporting
+    ancestors. She has a high sense of honor, too, and that
+    causes complications. She is a very human, lovable
+    character, and love saves her."--_N. Y. Times._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, -- NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: A table of contents has been created for this
+electronic book. In addition, the following typographical errors from
+the original edition have been corrected.
+
+In Chapter III, a triple quotation mark following "You were not here
+when I entered" and a single quotation mark preceding "Your future wife
+will swear" were changed to double quotation marks, and "sip the sweeest
+wine" was changed to "sip the sweetest wine".
+
+In Chapter VI, a quotation mark was added following "a found treasure".
+
+In Chapter VIII, "the fulfilment of her puropse" was changed to "the
+fulfilment of her purpose", and "every detal of his dress" was changed
+to "every detail of his dress".
+
+In Chapter IX, quotation marks were removed in front of "Don't you want
+to speak to her?" and ""With a wild cry", "the indignation of the yiung
+artist" was changed to "the indignation of the young artist", and "He
+advanced determedly" was changed to "He advanced determinedly".
+
+In the advertisements, a comma following "Boston Transcript" was changed
+to a period, "dominant personalties" was changed to "dominant
+personalties", and "Medalion in color" was changed to "Medallion in
+color".
+
+No other corrections were made to the text.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Devil, by Joseph O'Brien
+
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