presented here."

She saw the folly of wasting herself upon him, and gave a deep sigh.
Then, however, the same wild change as before came over her face.
Stooping, she took his hand and fondled it.

"Heinz! Now that you're here, do one thing--only one--for me! Have pity
on me! I've gone through so much--been so unhappy. Tell me--there's
only one thing I want to know. Where is he? Will he NEVER come back?
For you know. You must know. You have seen him."

She had sunk to her knees; her head was bent over his hand; she laid
her cheek against it. Krafft considered her thoughtfully; his eye dwelt
with approval on the broad, slender shoulders, the lithe neck--all the
sure grace of the crouching body.

"Will you do something for me, Lulu?"

"Anything!"

"Then let your hair down."

He himself drew out the pins and combs that held it, and the black mass
fell, and lay in wide, generous waves round face and neck.

"That's the idea! Now go on."

Louise kissed his hand. "Tell me; you must know."

"But is it possible that still interests you?"

"Oh, no! My life depends on it, that's all. You are cruel and bad; but
still I can speak to you--for months now, I haven't had a soul to speak
to. Be kind to me this once, Heinz. I CAN'T go on living without him. I
haven't lived since he left me--not an hour!--Oh, you're my last hope!"

"You'll have plenty of hopes in your life yet."

"In those old days, you hated me, too. But don't bear malice now.
There's nothing I won't do for you, if you tell me. I'll never speak
to--never even think of you again."

"I'm not so long-suffering."

"Then you won't tell me?"

"I didn't say that."

She crushed his hand between hers. "Here's the chance you asked for--to
save your friend! Oh, won't you understand?"

An inward satisfaction, of which only he himself knew the cause, warmed
Krafft through at seeing her prostrate before him. But as he continued
to look at her, a thought crossed his mind, and quickly resolved, he
laid his cigarette on the table, and put his hands, first on her head,
amid the tempting confusion of her hair, which met them like a thick
stuff pleasant to the touch, and from there to her shoulders, inclining
her towards him. She looked up, and though her eyes were full of tears,
her white face was alight in an instant with hope again, as he said:
"Would you do something else for me if I told you?"

She strained back, so that she might see his face. "Heinz!--what is