bsence of it.

We drove to the picture exhibitions, and at both of them had a little
crowd attending us. That crowd consisted chiefly of admirers, or
professed admirers, of my sister, with von Francius in addition, who
dropped in at the first exhibition.

Von Francius did not attend my sister; it was by my side that he
remained and it was to me that he talked. He looked on at the men who
were around her, but scarcely addressed her himself.

There was a clique of young artists who chose to consider the wealth of
Sir Peter Le Marchant as fabulous, and who paid court to his wife from
mixed motives; the prevailing one being a hope that she would be smitten
by some picture of theirs at a fancy price, and order it to be sent
home--as if she ever saw with anything beyond the most superficial
outward eye those pictures, and as if it lay in her power to order any
one, even the smallest and meanest of them. These ingenuous artists had
yet to learn that Sir Peter's picture purchases were formed from his own
judgment, through the medium of himself or his secretary, armed with
strict injunctions as to price, and upon the most purely practical and
business-like principles--not in the least at the caprice of his wife.

We went to the larger gallery last. As we entered it I turned aside with
von Francius to look at a picture in a small back room, and when we
turned to follow the others, they had all gone forward into the large
room; but standing at the door by which we had entered, and looking
calmly after us, was Courvoisier.

A shock thrilled me. It was some time since I had seen him; for I had
scarcely been at my lodgings for a fortnight, and we had had no
haupt-proben lately. I had heard some rumor that important things--or,
as Frau Lutzler gracefully expressed it, _was wichtiges_--had taken
place between von Francius and the kapelle, and that Courvoisier had
taken a leading part in the affair. To-day the greeting between the two
men was a cordial if a brief one.

Eugen's eyes scarcely fell upon me; he included me in his bow--that was
all. All my little day-dream of growing self-complacency was shattered,
scattered; the old feeling of soreness, smallness, wounded pride, and
bruised self-esteem came back again. I felt a wild, angry desire to
compel some other glance from those eyes than that exasperating one of
quiet indifference. I felt it like a lash every time I encountered it.
Its very coolness and absence of emotion stung