ubtle and secretive instincts
were contradicted, at times, by a strange inconsequent frankness, that
his genuine feeling for the picturesque was accompanied by an equally
strong predilection for the appurtenances of wealth and splendour; his
love of great names and estates being almost of the calibre of the
housemaid's passion for lofty personages in her penny periodical. He
seemed to be a man of keen and cunning ability, who studied and played
upon the passions and weaknesses of his fellows, possibly for their
good, but always as a magician might deal with the beings subject to his
power. By what strange lapse did he thus naively lay himself open to
their smiles?

Hadria was amused at his occasional impulse of egotistic frankness (or
what appeared to be such), when he would solemnly analyse his own
character, admitting his instinct to deceive with an engaging and
scholarly candour.

His penetrating eyes kept a watch upon his audience. His very simplicity
seemed to be guarded by his keenness.

Hadria chafed under his persistent effort to attract and interest her.
She gave a little inward shiver on finding that there was a vague,
unaccountable, and unpleasant fascination in the personality of the man.

It was not charm, it was nothing that inspired admiration; it rather
inspired curiosity and stirred the spirit of research, a spirit which
evidently animated himself. She felt that, in order to investigate the
workings of her mind and her heart, the Professor would have coolly
pursued the most ruthless psychical experiments, no matter at what cost
of anguish to herself. In the interests of science and humanity, the
learned Professor would certainly not hesitate to make one wretched
individual agonize.

His appeal to the intellect was stimulatingly strong; it was like a
stinging wind, that made one walk at a reckless pace, and brought the
blood tingling through every vein. That intellectual force could alone
explain the fact of his being counted by Professor Fortescue as a
friend. Even then it was a puzzling friendship. Could it be that to
Professor Fortescue, he shewed only his best side? His manner was more
respectful towards his colleague than towards other men, but even with
him he was irreverent in his heart, as towards mankind in general.

To Hadria he spoke of Professor Fortescue with enthusiasm--praising his
great power, his generosity, his genial qualities, and his uprightness;
then he laughed at him as a mo