res done you?" she asked, closing
the door behind her.

"Innocent?--ha, ha! They only pretend to be so. In reality they all
have the devil in them, in spite of their saints' halo. Not a single
one of them is really innocent. I ought to know that best, for I made
them. And I tell you, the reflection from the snow outside made it
bright enough for me to see the lie grinning from these stupid faces.
So I made an end of it and smashed them all to bits--another lie wiped
out of the world. I have been doing things by halves long enough; the
other half always avenges itself. Now I feel better again, especially
since I have seen you."

He pressed her hand: his voice sounded hoarse and strained; his eyes
were bloodshot. She had to forcibly keep down her tears, as she stepped
over the wreck upon the floor.

"I am glad that it all lies behind you now," she said. "I can feel with
you how it must pain you to make something in which your whole heart is
not interested. But come away from this destruction. We will make a
fire in the studio, and talk. Did you know that little Frances spent
the night with me? The darling child! It was hard for me to give her
back to the foster-mother. But then it won't be for long now."

He made no answer, but submissively allowed himself to be led away
without raising his eyes from the ground. While she kindled the fire,
he sat on the sofa, his arms hanging down between his knees, and began
to hum a tune as if in accompaniment to the music made by the crackling
flames in the iron stove. He did not appear to notice that she had
again stepped to his side. It was not until she bent over, threw her
arms round his neck, and, with the tears streaming down her face,
kissed him again and again, that he became conscious of what was
passing; and, even then, he seemed to see everything as if through a
mist.

"What are you crying for?" he asked, in surprise. "Am I not quite
cheerful and sensible? You, surely, are not afraid of me? Don't be
afraid, the worst is over. Last night, it is true, if any one had said
to me, 'Stamp with your foot on the ground and the whole world will
fall in ruins and bury you and all that is good and beautiful,' I
believe I would have done it. Well, those poor innocents there had to
bear the brunt of my fury; and now a little child might lead me by a
string."

"Won't you tell me how it all happened?"

"What would be the use? It is vile. It's bad enough that two persons
know of i