again!"

"These things do not happen twice in a lifetime," said Valentine la
Nina, "and as for Jean d'Albret, I shall put him beyond the reach of any
second chance!"

Her uncle nodded his head. He knew when a woman has the bit between her
teeth, and though he had a remedy even for such cases, he judged that
the present was not the time to use it.

So Valentine la Nina went out, the knife still in her hand.

* * * * *

The Jesuit of Toledo threw himself back on his writing-chair and wiped
his brow with a handkerchief.

"_Ouff!_" he cried, emptying his chest with a gust of relief, "this is
what it is to have to do with that wild animal, Woman! In Madrid they
tame the tiger, till it takes victual from its keeper's very hand. He is
its master, almost its lover; I have seen the tiger arch its back like a
cat under the caress. It sleeps with the arm of the keeper about its
neck! Till one day--one day--the tiger that was tamed falls upon the
tamer, the master, the lover, the friend! So with a woman. Have I not
trained and nurtured, pruned and cared for this soul as for mine own.
She was tame. She knew no will but mine. _Clack!_ In a moment, at sight
of a comely youth in a court suit asleep, as Endymion on some Latmian
steep, she is wild again. Better to let her go than perish, keeping
her."

Mariana listened a while, but the chamber of his work was as far from
the lugubrious noises of the den of Dom Teruel as if it had been the
Place of Eyes itself. Neither could he hear any sound from the little
summer parlour which had been put at the service of his niece.

The old worldly-wise smile came back upon his lips.

"It is none of my business, of course," he murmured, "but it strikes me
that the youth D'Albret had better say his prayers--such, that is, as he
can remember. I, for one, would not care twice to anger Valentine la
Nina!"

He thought a while, and then with a grave air he added, "If I were a man
of the world I would wager ten golden ounces to one, that within five
minutes Master D'Albret knows more about eternity than the Holy Father
himself and all his College of Cardinals. Well, better so! Then she will
come back to us. She has served us well, Valentine la Nina, and now,
having drunk the cup--_now_ she will serve us better than ever, or I
know nothing of womankind!"

But Mariana, though he stood long with his ear glued to the crack of the
door, could distinguish no sound with