s, and he walked more erect and with a firmer
step than before. Presently the professor stopped before one of the
doors.

"Go in," he said. "This is a little passage room. Knock at the door
opposite. She is there, and will receive you."

Paul followed the professor's instructions, and knocked at the door
within. A voice which he hardly recognized as his mother's bid him
enter, and he was in the presence of Madame Patoff.

A bright lamp, unshaded and filling the little sitting-room with a broad
yellow light, stood upon the table. The details of the apartment were
insignificant, and seemed to throw the figure of the seated woman into
strong relief. She had been beautiful, and was beautiful still, though
now in her fifty-second year. Her features were high and noble, and her
rich dark hair was only lightly streaked with gray. Her eyes were
brown, but of that brown which easily looks black when not exposed
directly to the light. Her face was now very pale, but there was a
slight flush upon her cheeks, which for a moment brought back a
reflection of her former brilliant beauty. She was dressed entirely in
black, and her thin white hands lay folded on the dark material of her
gown; she wore no ring save the plain band of gold upon the third finger
of her left hand.

Paul entered, and closed the door behind him without taking his eyes
from his mother. She rose from her seat as he came forward, as though to
draw back. He came nearer, and bending low would have taken her hand,
but she stepped backwards and withdrew it, while the flush darkened on
her cheek.

"Mother, will you not give me your hand?" he asked, in a low and broken
voice.

"No," she answered sternly. "Why have you come here?"

"To tell you my brother's story," said Paul, drawing himself up and
facing her. When he entered the room he had felt sorrow and pity for
her, in spite of Cutter's account, and he would willingly have kneeled
and kissed her hand. But her rough refusal brought vividly to his mind
the situation.

"You have told me already, by your letter," she replied. "Have you found
him, that you come here? Do you think I want to see you--you?" she
repeated, with rising emphasis.

"I might think it natural that you should," said Paul, very coldly. "Be
calm. I am going to-morrow. Had I supposed that you would meet me as you
have, I should have spared myself the trouble of coming here."

"Indeed you might!" she exclaimed scornfully. "Have you come h