told him also about seeing his mother.

"Have they anything to say to me, Athalie?" he asked wistfully.

"I don't know, Clive. Some day--when you feel like it--if you will
come to me--"

"Thank you, dear ... you are wonderful--wonderfully good--"

"Oh, Clive, I'm not! I'm careless, pleasure-loving, inclined to
laziness--and even to dissipation--"

"You!"

"Within certain limits," she added demurely. "I dance a lot: I know I
smoke too much and drink too much champagne. I'm no angel, Clive. I
won altogether too much at auction last night; ask Jim Allys. And
really, if I didn't have a mind and feel a desire to cultivate it, I'd
be the limit I suppose." She laughed and tossed her chin; and the pure
loveliness of her child-like throat was suddenly and exquisitely
revealed.

"I'm too intelligent to go wrong I suppose," she said. "I adore
cultivating my mental faculties even more than I like to misbehave."
She added a trifle shyly. "I speak French and Italian and German very
nicely. And I sing a little and play acceptably. Please compliment me,
Clive."

But her quick smile died out as she looked into his eyes--eyes haunted
by the vision of all that he had denied his manhood and this girl's
young womanhood--all that he had lost, irretrievably and forever on
that day he married another woman.

"What is the matter, Clive?" she asked with sweet concern.

He answered: "Nothing, I guess ... except--you are very--wonderful--to
me."

CHAPTER XX

A May afternoon was drawing to a close; the last appointment had been
made for the morrow, and the last client for the day still lingered
with Athalie where she sat with her head propped thoughtfully on one
slim hand, her gaze concentrated on the depths of the crystal sphere.

After a long silence she said: "You need not be anxious. Her wireless
apparatus is out of order. They are repairing it.... It was a bad
storm."

"Is there any ice near her?"

After a pause: "I can see none."

"Any ships?"

"One of her own line, hull down. They have been exchanging signals....
There seems to be no necessity for her to stand by. The worst is
over.... Yes, the _Empress of Borneo_ proceeds. The _Empress of
Formosa_ will be reported this evening. You need not be anxious:
she'll dock on Monday."

"Are you sure?" said the man as Athalie lifted her eyes from the
crystal and smiled reassuringly at him. He was a stocky, red-faced,
trim, middle-aged man; but his sanguine visage bo