He was silent for a moment after that, and I waited, knowing that I had
tried this man to the utmost point of his mental endurance.

Presently he raised his eyes again to mine, and said:

"Mr. Dubravnik, at the very beginning of our acquaintance, when you
made a prisoner of me in one of the rooms of the suite you were to
occupy in the palace, I told you that I had gone into this business for
the love of a woman, and it was tacitly, if not literally agreed
between us at that time, that the woman's personality and name should
form no part of our future discussions. You have chosen, at this time,
to mention a princess, to whom you give the name of Zara de Echeveria,
and I have told you that I know no such person; that the name means
nothing to me. What you may surmise, Mr. Dubravnik, can have no effect
upon me, or upon your relations with me, or mine with you. So now I
tell you once again, that while I am perfectly willing to believe
myself to be morally free to discuss with you all phases of nihilism,
I will not discuss this woman you have named, _or any other woman_."

He bowed his head and I could see beads of sweat upon his forehead
which betrayed the mental anguish he was undergoing. I knew that it was
far worse than physical torture, and as there was nothing to gain by
prolonging it, and nothing more to be said, I withdrew.

At the end of another half hour I was announced to the princess.

She received me in a diminutive bower of Oriental luxury. Her
decorative tastes were decidedly Eastern and lavishly extravagant. She
knew how to arrange a room with the object of stealing away a man's
reserve. There is something about the atmosphere of well chosen
surroundings which intoxicates judgment and murders discretion--which
bars reason at the threshold and generates madness of thought and deed
beyond it. A Solon in the princess' drawing room might become a puppet
in her boudoir; in that fascinating atmosphere a Jove would have
degenerated to a Hermes, or Mars have cast away his sword and shield
for the wings of Apollo. To enter it, was like awaking from a vivid
dream of battle to find the soft arms of love around you, and to feel
the lethargy of infinite content. Add to this the personality of the
Princess Zara, her half hesitating smile of welcome in which pleasure
and dread were equally mingled; suffuse her face with a quick blush,
and instantly replace it with a touch of pallor; render her manner with
a suggestio