vy-clad walls
inclosed the square green spot of nature. Up the stairs, on the walls
of which hung many valuable pictures, for which there was no place in
the rooms, Pilar and Wilhelm mounted to the second floor. They entered
first a red salon with windows opening on to the balcony and in which
the all-pervading scent of ylang-ylang betrayed that it was the
favorite apartment of the lady of the house. She did not keep Wilhelm
long in this dainty bower, but drew him into the large bedroom
adjoining. The walls were draped with Japanese silk, patterned with
strange landscapes, fabulous flowers, gay-colored birds on the wing,
and a network of twining creatures, and drawn together at the ceiling
like the roof of a tent. Out of the soft folds of the center rosette
hung a lamp with golden dragons on its pink globe. There was a wardrobe
with looking-glass doors, a toilette table, an immense bed of carved
ebony inlaid with scenes from the antique in ivory, and chairs covered
with Persian stuffs. Beside all this there was an old oak Gothic
priedieu, a small altar draped in rose color and white lace, a mass of
flowers, and numerous crucifixes and Madonnas of various sizes in
silver, ivory and alabaster.

"Are you so devout? That is news to me," exclaimed Wilhelm, surprised.
He little knew that the first thing Pilar had done on entering the
house was to hasten to her bedroom, kiss the holy silver Madonna del
Pilar with deepest devotion, and kneel for a few moments on her
priedieu.

"Oh, no, I am not at all devout. I am just the pagan you have always
known. But--que voulez-vouz?--one has old habits. I regard the Blessed
Virgin chiefly in the light of Our Lady of Sorrows, whose heart is
pierced with seven swords, and Christ as the eternal type of sublimest
love. You are a heretic, but I know that pictures and symbols are not
as offensive to you as to certain vulgar free-thinkers."

Going up to the bed, she clung still more fondly to Wilhelm, and
murmured in coy and halting tones--"Perhaps you have not noticed that
everything in this room, except the altar and the priedieu, is new; I
had this fresh little nest arranged for us while we were in St. Valery.
I hope our rest may be sweet and our dreams happy ones."

He sought nervously for some appropriate answer, but she gave him no
time, and opening a door in the wall beside the fireplace, she went
on--"And this is your room. Tell me, have I guessed your taste?"

Without even glanci