You know why I am anxious to
know my fate. You understand now why I sympathize with"--she stopped,
and made a half contemptuous gesture--"with these men Markham and
Keene. THEY do not know it; perhaps they prefer to listen to their own
vanity--that's the way of most men; but you do know it, and you have no
excuse for misjudging me, or undeceiving them." She stopped and looked
at the clock. "They will be here in five minutes; do you wish them to
find you already here?"

"It is as YOU wish," stammered Brimmer, completely losing his
self-possession.

"I have no wish," she said, with a sublime gesture of indifference. "If
you wait you can entertain them here, while Rosina is dressing me in the
next room. We sup in the larger room across the hall."

As she disappeared, Quincy Brimmer rose irresolutely from his seat and
checked a half uttered exclamation. Then he turned nervously to the
parlor-door. What a senseless idiot he had become! He had never for an
instant conceived the idea of making this preliminary confidential visit
known to the others; he had no wish to suggest the appearance of an
assignation with the woman, who, rightly or wrongly, was notorious;
he had nothing to gain by this voluntary assumption of a compromising
attitude; yet here he was, he--Mr. Brimmer--with the appearance of being
installed in her parlor, receiving her visitors, and dispensing her
courtesies. Only a man recklessly in love would be guilty of such
an indiscretion--even Markham's feebleness had never reached this
absurdity. In the midst of his uneasiness there was a knock at the door;
he opened it himself nervously and sharply. Markham's self-satisfied
face drew back in alarm and embarrassment at the unexpected apparition.
The sight restored Brimmer's coolness and satirical self-possession.

"I--I--didn't know you were here," stammered Markham. "I left Keene in
your room."

"Then why didn't you bring him along with you?" said Brimmer
maliciously. "Go and fetch him."

"Yes; but he said you were to meet him there," continued Markham,
glancing around the empty room with a slight expression of relief.

"My watch was twenty minutes fast, and I had given him up," said
Brimmer, with mendacious effrontery. "Miss Montgomery is dressing. You
can bring him here before she returns."

Markham flew uneasily down the corridor and quickly returned with a
handsome young fellow of five-and-twenty, whose frank face was beaming
with excitement and you