re
was something mysterious in her eyes as she raised them to him, as
though there existed between them already some understanding which
mocked the conventionality of her words. Aynesworth left the house, and
lit a cigarette upon the pavement outside with a little sigh of relief.
He felt somehow humiliated. Did she fancy, he wondered, that he was a
callow boy to dance to any tune of her piping--that he had never before
seen a beautiful woman who wanted her own way?

THE GOSPEL OF HATE

"And what," Wingrave asked his secretary as they sat at dinner that
night, "did you think of Lady Ruth?"

"In plain words, I should not like to tell you," Aynesworth answered. "I
only hope that you will not send me to see her again."

"Why not?"

"Lady Ruth," Aynesworth answered deliberately, "is a very beautiful
woman, with all the most dangerous gifts of Eve when she wanted her own
way. She did me the scanty honor of appraising me as an easy victim, and
she asked questions."

"For instance?"

"She wanted me to tell her if you still had in your possession certain
letters of hers," Aynesworth said.

"Good! What did you say?"

"I told her, of course," Aynesworth continued, "that having been in your
service for a few hours only, I was scarcely in a position to know. I
ventured further to remind her that such questions, addressed from her
to me, were, to say the least of it, improper."

Wingrave's lips parted in what should have been a smile, but the spirit
of mirth was lacking.

"And then?"

"There was nothing else," Aynesworth answered. "She simply dismissed
me."

"I can see," Wingrave remarked, "your grievance. You are annoyed because
she regarded you as too easy a victim."

"Perhaps," Aynesworth admitted.

"There was some excuse for her, after all," Wingrave continued coolly.
"She possesses powers which you yourself have already admitted, and you,
I should say, are a fairly impressionable person, so far as her sex
is concerned. Confess now, that she did not leave you altogether
indifferent."

"Perhaps not," Aynesworth admitted reluctantly. He did not care to say
more.

"In case you should feel any curiosity on the subject," Wingrave
remarked, "I may tell you that I have those letters which she was so
anxious to know about, and I shall keep them safe--even from you! You
can amuse yourself with her if you like. You will never be able to tell
her more than I care for her to know."

Aynesworth continued his d