doing."

Her cheeks were burning scarlet, her eyes shone like black stars. I
tried to stop her. "My darling, you are ill!"

"Ill? Who made me ill? God made me ill, didn't He? That's my reward,
isn't it? That's what has come of all my love and faith. If that's what
God does, you can have Him. I don't want Him. I'll go with Roberta.
I'll do as Roberta does--yes, I will." She almost screamed the words.

How I prayed then for wisdom!

"No--no!" I said slowly but firmly. "You will _not_ go with Roberta. You
will go with me."

"I must say I like your impertinence," Roberta put in, her face white,
her voice trembling with fury. "This happens to be my apartment, Mrs.
Seraphine Walters, and now you can get damned well out of it."

I saw that I could no nothing more, for Penelope's eyes were hard set
against me. They both wanted me to go.

"Good night. God bless you, dear," I said.

"Don't you worry about God's blessing us. You can tell Him the next time
you make your report that there is a young woman named Roberta Vallis
living at the Hotel des Artistes who is getting along quite well, thank
you, without--"

"Don't say it, please don't say it," I begged. "You have no idea what
dangers are threatening, what evil powers are about us--even now--here."

She laughed in my face. "I snap my fingers at your evil powers and your
God of Love. I don't believe in either of them. I'm not afraid of either
of them. Evil powers! Ha! Let them come if they want to. Here! We'll
drink defiance to the powers of evil. Come on, Pen!"

"Defiance to the powers of evil," laughed my poor soul-sick Penelope,
lifting her glass.

With a shudder I watched these two tragically led young women as they
stood there, draped in white, and drank this sacrilegious toast; then,
heavy-hearted, I came away.

It was nearly four o'clock when I reached my home and I was so exhausted
by the emotions of the night that I lay down without undressing and
almost immediately fell into a troubled sleep. Then, suddenly, I awoke
with a start of alarm and a sense that a voice had called me. And,
though my bedroom was dark, I distinctly saw a white vaporish form
passing over me as if someone had blown a cloud of tobacco smoke in my
face. Once before I had had this experience of a white form passing over
me--it was when my mother died.

I got up quickly, knowing that this was a summons, and, as I put on my
hat and cloak, I heard my control telling me that I must go to