ic knowledge hardened his heart toward the
young man in the jail, and he no longer tried to defend him in his
thoughts.

He sent Mary up to talk with Betty, and that afternoon they all walked
over to the jail; for Mary could get no nearer her little daughter's
confidence, and no deeper into the heart of the matter than Betty had
allowed her father to go.

CHAPTER XXXI

ROBERT KATER'S SUCCESS

"Halloo! So it's here!" Robert Kater stood by a much-littered table
and looked down on a few papers and envelopes which some one had laid
there during his absence. All day long he had been wandering about the
streets of Paris, waiting--passing the time as he could in his
impatience--hoping for the communication contained in one of these
very envelopes. Now that it had come he felt himself struck with a
singular weakness, and did not seize it and tear it open. Instead, he
stood before the table, his hands in his pockets, and whistled
softly.

He made the tour of the studio several times, pausing now and then to
turn a canvas about, apparently as if he would criticize it, looking
at it but not regarding it, only absently turning one and another as
if it were a habit with him to do so; then returning to the table he
stirred the envelopes apart with one finger and finally separated one
from the rest, bearing an official seal, and with it a small package
carefully secured and bearing the same seal, but he did not open
either. "Yes, it's here, and that's the one," he said, but he spoke to
himself, for there was no one else in the room.

He moved wearily away, keeping the packet in his hand, but leaving the
envelope on the table, and hung his hat upon a point of an easel and
wiped his damp brow. As he did so, he lifted the dark brown hair from
his temple, showing a jagged scar. Quickly, as if with an habitual
touch, he rearranged the thick, soft lock so that the scar was
covered, and mounting a dais, seated himself on a great thronelike
chair covered with a royal tiger skin. The head of the tiger, mounted
high, with glittering eyes and fangs showing, rested on the floor
between his feet, and there, holding the small packet in his hand,
with elbows resting on the arms of the throne, he sat with head
dropped forward and shoulders lifted and eyes fixed on the tiger's
head.

For a long time he sat thus in the darkening room. At last it grew
quite dark. Only the great skylight over his head showed a defined
outline. The youn