e
he indicated the silent circle of statues--"there were men as
courageous as you and perhaps less excitable. I remember one of them
especially well, a phlegmatic Englishman who now is resting under
Number 32. When he first appeared before Antinea, he was smoking a
cigar. And, like all the rest, he bent before the gaze of his
sovereign.

"Do not speak until you have seen her. A university training hardly
fits one to discourse upon matters of passion, and I feel scarcely
qualified, myself, to tell you what Antinea is. I only affirm this,
that when you have seen her, you will remember nothing else. Family,
country, honor, you will renounce everything for her."

"Everything?" asked Morhange in a calm voice.

"Everything," Le Mesge insisted emphatically. "You will forget all,
you will renounce all."

From outside, a faint sound came to us.

Le Mesge consulted his watch.

"In any case, you will see."

The door opened. A tall white Targa, the tallest we had yet seen in
this remarkable abode, entered and came toward us.

He bowed and touched me lightly on the shoulder.

"Follow him," said M. Le Mesge.

Without a word, I obeyed.

XI

ANTINEA

My guide and I passed along another long corridor. My excitement
increased. I was impatient for one thing only, to come face to face
with that woman, to tell her.... So far as anything else was
concerned, I already was done for.

I was mistaken in hoping that the adventure would take an heroic turn
at once. In real life, these contrasts never are definitely marked
out. I should have remembered from many past incidents that the
burlesque was regularly mixed with the tragic in my life.

We reached a little transparent door. My guide stood aside to let me
pass.

I found myself in the most luxurious of dressing-rooms. A ground glass
ceiling diffused a gay rosy light over the marble floor. The first
thing I noticed was a clock, fastened to the wall. In place of the
figures for the hours, were the signs of the Zodiac. The small hand
had not yet reached the sign of Capricorn.

Only three o'clock!

The day seemed to have lasted a century already.... And only a little
more than half of it was gone.

Another idea came to me, and a convulsive laugh bent me double.

"Antinea wants me to be at my best when I meet her."

A mirror of orichalch formed one whole side of the room. Glancing into
it, I realized that in all decency there was nothing exaggerated in
the dem