of poor Clare.
It was odious to him to prolong the discussion, for the accent of
recrimination was the one he most dreaded on her lips. But the moment
came when he had to take the brunt of it, averting his thoughts as best
he might from the glimpse it gave of a world of mean familiarities, of
reprisals drawn from the vulgarest of vocabularies. Certain retorts sped
through the air like the flight of household utensils, certain charges
rang out like accusations of tampering with the groceries. He stiffened
himself against such comparisons, but they stuck in his imagination and
left him thankful when Undine's anger yielded to a burst of tears. He
had held his own and gained his point. The trip on the Sorceress was
given up, and a note of withdrawal despatched to Van Degen; but at the
same time Ralph cabled his sister to ask if she could increase her loan.
For he had conquered only at the cost of a concession: Undine was to
stay in Paris till October, and they were to sail on a fast steamer, in
a deck-suite, like the Harvey Shallums.

Undine's ill-humour was soon dispelled by any new distraction, and she
gave herself to the untroubled enjoyment of Paris. The Shallums were the
centre of a like-minded group, and in the hours the ladies could spare
from their dress-makers the restaurants shook with their hilarity
and the suburbs with the shriek of their motors. Van Degen, who had
postponed his sailing, was a frequent sharer in these amusements; but
Ralph counted on New York influences to detach him from Undine's train.
He was learning to influence her through her social instincts where he
had once tried to appeal to other sensibilities.

His worst moment came when he went to see Clare Van Degen, who, on the
eve of departure, had begged him to come to her hotel. He found her less
restless and rattling than usual, with a look in her eyes that reminded
him of the days when she had haunted his thoughts. The visit passed off
without vain returns to the past; but as he was leaving she surprised
him by saying: "Don't let Peter make a goose of your wife."

Ralph reddened, but laughed.

"Oh, Undine's wonderfully able to defend herself, even against such
seductions as Peter's."

Mrs. Van Degen looked down with a smile at the bracelets on her thin
brown wrist. "His personal seductions--yes. But as an inventor of
amusements he's inexhaustible; and Undine likes to be amused."

Ralph made no reply but showed no annoyance. He simply t