ose ever-recurring
revolutions, whose leaders are killed if defeated, but made governors
if they succeed; rulers until such time when another revolutionary
party may become strong enough to depose the last victors. Thus the
chance of a battle makes men heroes, or criminals.

She had never loved her husband, and, with a sensual, passionate
temperament, which had never been satisfied by her marriage, she
welcomed her freedom and her husband's wealth as a possible step
towards that love for which she longed. Exiled from her own country,
because of the politics of her dead husband, she had come to the
United States, the home of all aliens. Her estates had not been
confiscated, for fear that the fires of the revolution, smothered but
not quenched, might have been again stirred by a seeming warring
against the woman. But the President had said to his council:

"Madam Corona is too rich, and she talks too much." So the hint had
been given to her to depart, and she had acquiesced, glad enough to
retain her fortune.

In New York she had been welcomed amidst the Spanish-Americans, and
with a different temperament might readily have endeared to herself a
host of true friends. But her selfish desire for a despotic sway over
all who came near, and her extreme jealousy of attentions to others,
imbued those who made her acquaintance with an aversion which was
scarcely concealed by the thin veneer of the polite formalities of
social life. So she knew that in the new, as in the old home, she had
no friends.

One day she was taken ill, and sent for Dr. Medjora, of whom she had
heard, though she had not met him. His skill brought about her rapid
recovery, and, being attracted by his fine appearance, she invited him
to visit her as a friend. He availed himself of this opportunity to
become intimate with a wealthy patron, and called often. Very soon she
became aware of the fact that here was a man over whom she could never
hope to dominate, and so, as she could not make him her slave, she
became his. Her whole fiery nature went out to him, and she courted
him with a wealth of passion which should have melted ice, but which
from the Doctor earned but little more than a warm hand-clasp at
parting. Finally, to her utter amazement, as she was about to despair
of ever attracting him, he came to her and asked her to marry him. She
consented joyously, and for twenty-four hours lived in rapture.

Then her morning paper told of the death of Ma