physical beauty--temperament which has the keys of so many doors, and
can open them at will, showing glimpses of wonderful rooms, and of
gardens bathed in sunshine or steeped in mysterious twilight, and of
savage wastes, the wilderness, the windy tracts by the sea, landscapes
in snow, autumn breathing in mist; temperament which can even simulate
knowledge, and can rouse all the under-longings which so often lie
sleeping and unknown in women.

"With that man I could never be dull!"

That thought slipped through her while she listened. Where did he come
from? In how many lands had he lived? How had his life been passed? She
ought to know. Perhaps some day he would tell her. He must surely tell
her. One cannot do great things which affect one's life in the dark.

Dark--that's his word! When had she thought that? She remembered. It
had been in that room. And since then she had seen Garstin's terrible
portrait.

But he was like a palm tree singing. Even Garstin had been forced to say
that of him.

When at last he stopped all the artistic part of her was under his
spell. He had, perhaps deliberately, perhaps at haphazard--she could not
tell--aroused in her a great longing for multifarious experiences
such as she had never yet suffered under or enjoyed. He had let her
recklessness loose from its tethering chain. Was she just then the same
woman who a short time ago had feared Minnie Birchington's curious eyes?
She could scarcely believe it.

He got up from the piano. She too got up. He came up to her, put his
hands on her shoulders gently, pressed them, contracting his strong
brown fingers, and said, looking down into her eyes:

"How beautiful you are! Mon Dieu! how beautiful you are!"

And her vanity was gratified as it had never been gratified before
by all the compliments she had received, by all the longings she had
aroused in men.

Still holding her shoulders he said:

"Do something for me to-night."

"What is it? What do you want?"

"Oh, only a very simple thing."

She felt disappointed, but she said nothing.

"Let us dine together to-night! Afterwards I will take you to your hotel
and leave you to think."

He smiled down at her.

"I am no longer afraid to let you think. Will you come?"

"Yes," she said.

"Where was it you were walking to that night when I was so rude as to
follow after you?"

"To a restaurant in Soho."

"Yes?"

"To the _Bella Napoli_."

"_Napoli_!"

He half shut his eye