ir.

"That is Dr. Edmund's," she cried at once. Christian saw that Harz had
disappeared, but suddenly he came back breathless, and took his place at
the end of the rank of givers.

Advancing on tiptoe, he put his present into Greta's hands. It was a
small bronze copy of a Donatello statue.

"Oh, Herr Harz!" cried Greta; "I saw it in the studio that day. It stood
on the table, and it is lovely."

Mrs. Decie, thrusting her pale eyes close to it, murmured: "Charming!"

Mr. Treffry took it in his forgers.

"Rum little toad! Cost a pot of money, I expect!" He eyed Harz
doubtfully.

They went into the next room now, and Herr Paul, taking Greta's bandage,
transferred it to his own eyes.

"Take care--take care, all!" he cried; "I am a devil of a catcher," and,
feeling the air cautiously, he moved forward like a bear about to hug.
He caught no one. Christian and Greta whisked under his arms and left
him grasping at the air. Mrs. Decie slipped past with astonishing
agility. Mr. Treffry, smoking his cigar, and barricaded in a corner,
jeered: "Bravo, Paul! The active beggar! Can't he run! Go it, Greta!"

At last Herr Paul caught Cousin Teresa, who, fattened against the wall,
lost her head, and stood uttering tiny shrieks.

Suddenly Mrs. Decie started playing The Blue Danube. Herr Paul dropped
the handkerchief, twisted his moustache up fiercely, glared round the
room, and seizing Greta by the waist, began dancing furiously, bobbing up
and down like a cork in lumpy water. Cousin Teresa followed suit with
Miss Naylor, both very solemn, and dancing quite different steps. Harz,
went up to Christian.

"I can't dance," he said, "that is, I have only danced once, but--if you
would try with me!"

She put her hand on his arm, and they began. She danced, light as a
feather, eyes shining, feet flying, her body bent a little forward. It
was not a great success at first, but as soon as the time had got into
Harz's feet, they went swinging on when all the rest had stopped.
Sometimes one couple or another slipped through the window to dance on
the veranda, and came whirling in again. The lamplight glowed on the
girls' white dresses; on Herr Paul's perspiring face. He constituted in
himself a perfect orgy, and when the music stopped flung himself, full
length, on the sofa gasping out:

"My God! But, my God!"

Suddenly Christian felt Harz cling to her arm.

Glowing and panting she looked at him.

"Giddy!" he mur