ut your age--clever, ambitious,
good-looking. He scored a small success--a poem, I think it was--and
some one took him one day to call on Emily de Reuss. I do not know
where he is now, but two months ago I met him in rags, far advanced in
consumption, an utter wreck bodily and mentally. Yet when I spoke one
word of her he struck me across the lips. To-day I suppose he is
dead--pauper's funeral and all that sort of thing, without a doubt. I
have taken his case first because he reminded me of you. He had come
from the north somewhere, and he was about your age. But he is only one
of a score. There is Drexley, a broken man. Once he wrote prose, which
of its sort was the best thing going. To-day he is absolutely
nerveless. He cannot write a line, and he is drinking heavily. That he
has not gone under altogether is simply because as yet he has not
received his final dismissal. He still has his uses, so he is allowed
to hang on a little longer. Now, Douglas Jesson, listen to one who
knows. What you are and who you are--well, no matter. I liked you when
we met here, and you have a splendid opportunity before you. Listen.
Emily de Reuss will care nothing for your safety. She will oppose your
going abroad. You are her latest plaything. She is not weary of you
yet, so she will not let you go. Be a man, and do the sensible thing.
Too many have been her victims. It may make your heart ache a little;
you may fancy yourself a little ungracious. Never mind. You will save
your life and your soul. Go abroad as soon as Rawlinson will send you."

Rice's words were too impressive to be disregarded altogether. They
stirred up in Douglas's mind a vague uneasiness, but his sense of
loyalty to the woman who had befriended him was unshaken. Rice was led
away by his feelings for his friend.

"Rice," he said, "I know you're speaking what you believe. I can't
quite accept it all. Never mind. I'll remember everything you've said.
I'm not quite a boy, you know, and I don't wear my heart upon my
sleeve."

"Hard to convince, as they all are," Rice said, with a wintry smile.
"Never mind. I'll do my best to save you. Listen to this. Do you know
why Drexley behaved so disgracefully to you about your story?"

Douglas looked up eagerly. The thing had always puzzled him.

"No. Why?"

"Because he had orders from Emily de Reuss to do so. She had given you
her address and bidden you go and see her. You never went. So she
wrote Drexley to give you no enc