this terrible morning. With this in one hand, and the tools in the breast
of his robe he hastened upstairs.

"Onwards, I must keep on!" he muttered, as he entered Paula's room,
bolted the door inside and, kneeling before her chest, tossed the flowers
aside. If he was discovered, he would say that he had gone into his
cousin's chamber to give her the bouquet.

"Onwards; I must go on!" was still his thought, as he unscrewed the hinge
on which the lid of the trunk moved. His hands trembled, his breath came
fast, but he did his task quickly. This was the right way to work, for
the lock was a peculiar one, and could not have been opened without
spoiling it. He raised the lid, and the first thing his hand came upon in
the chest was the necklace with the empty medallion--it was as though
some kind Genius were aiding him. The medallion hung but slightly to the
elegantly-wrought chain; to detach it and conceal it about his person was
the work of a minute.

But now the most resolute. "On, on. . . ." was of no further avail. This
was theft: he had robbed her whom, if she only had chosen it, he was
ready to load with everything wherewith fate had so superabundantly
blessed him. No, this--this. . . .

A singular idea suddenly flashed through his brain; a thought which
brought a smile to his lips even at this moment of frightful tension. He
acted upon it forth with: he drew out from within his under-garment a gem
that hung round his neck by a gold chain. This jewel--a masterpiece by
one of the famous Greek engravers of heathen antiquity--had been given
him in Constantinople in exchange for a team of four horses to which his
greatest friend there had taken a fancy. It was in fact of greater price
than half a dozen fine horses. Half beside himself, and as if
intoxicated, Orion followed the wild impulse to which he had yielded;
indeed, he was glad to have so precious a jewel at hand to hang in the
place of the worthless gold frame-work. It was done with a pinch; but
screwing up the hinge again was a longer task, for his hands trembled
violently--and as the moment drew near in which he meant to let Paula
feel his power, the more quickly his heart beat, and the more difficult
he found it to control his mind to calm deliberation.

After he had unbolted the door he stood like a thief spying the long
corridor of the strangers' wing, and this increased his excitement to a
frenzy of rage with the world, and fate, and most of all with her