to write to him whenever she needed
assistance. It was a humiliation, and she felt it bitterly, for she had
thought that she had freed herself altogether and she found herself
still bound by the necessity of asking for help.

It seemed very hard to be thus shut off from the world in the prime of
her youth, and beauty, and talent. To a woman who craved admiration for
all she did and could do, it was almost unbearable. Paul Griggs worked
and looked forward to success, and was satisfied in his aspirations, and
more than happy in the companionship of the woman he so dearly loved.

"I shall succeed," he said quietly, but with perfect assurance. "Before
long we shall be able to leave Rome, and begin life somewhere else,
where nobody will know our story. It will not be so dull for you there."

"It is never dull when I am with you," said Gloria, but there was no
conviction in the tone any more. "If you would let me go upon the
stage," she added, with a change of voice, "things would be very
different. I could earn a great deal of money."

But Paul Griggs was as much opposed to the project as Reanda had been,
and in this one respect he really asserted his will. He was so confident
of ultimately attaining to success and fortune by his pen that he would
not hear of Gloria's singing in public.

"Besides," he said, after giving her many and excellent reasons, "if you
earned millions, I would not touch the money."

She sighed for the lost opportunities of brilliant popularity, but she
smiled at his words, knowing how she had used her own money for him, and
in spite of him. But for her own part she had lost all belief in his
talent since the failure of the book he had written.

The long summer days were hard to bear. He was not able to leave Rome,
for he was altogether dependent upon his regular correspondence for what
he earned, and he did not succeed in persuading his editors to employ
him anywhere else, for the very reason that he did so well what was
required of him where he was.

The weather grew excessively hot, and it was terribly dreary and dull in
the little apartment in the Via della Frezza. All day long the windows
were tightly closed to keep out the fiery air, both the old green blinds
and the glass within them. Griggs had moved his writing-table to the
feeble light, and worked away as hard as ever. Gloria spent most of the
hot hours in reading and dreaming. They went out together early in the
morning and in the ev