rd this captivating mite with the dark
Bronzino face, and yet to Wilhelm he seemed to represent a distinct act
of treachery. How could she have been so underhand as to hide the fact
from him that her connection with the fashion-plate diplomat had not
been without results! He made as if to draw away from the boy, who
stood staring nervously at him, but the next moment his natural love of
children prevailed, and he clasped the sweet little fellow to his
breast.

"Such a lovely child!" he said, "and so young, and in need of a
mother's care. Why does it not live with you?"

"He lives with a sister of his father," she answered, hardly above her
breath.

"And you let it go?"

"The father would not let me keep it. And I could not do anything
against it because--it is not registered as my child, and does not bear
my name."

The past, to which Wilhelm and Pilar had closed their eyes till now,
presented itself that afternoon in incontestably lively form before
them. Dispelled was the artificial fabric of their dream of a love that
was as old as life itself--dispelled the poetic figment that they were
in the honeymoon of a young pure union of the heart! These three
children told a tale of Pilar in which Wilhelm bore no part, and the
chapters of that story bore different names, as did the children
themselves.

Pilar divined easily enough what was passing in Wilhelm's mind at sight
of the children. She never let them come to the house again, but
henceforth went to see them at their respective homes. He was sure that
they liked coming to the Boulevard Pereire, and was sorry that they
should miss this pleasure on his account. Pilar begged him, however,
not to allude to the subject again--he was dearer to her than her
children, and there was nothing she would not do to spare him a
moment's unpleasantness.

The first visitor whom Wilhelm saw in Pilar's house was a little tubby
gentleman with a clean-shaven face and a rosette in his buttonhole,
composed of sixteen different colored ribbons at the very lowest
computation. He enjoyed the privilege of coming at any hour of the day,
and being instantly admitted to the boudoir. He was introduced to
Wilhelm as Don Antonio Gorra, and Pilar explained afterward that Don
Antonio was a lawyer, an old friend of her family, and that he
conducted her business affairs for her. For a time she had long daily
consultations, to which Wilhelm was not invited. As soon as he left,
she would come to