FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76  
77   >>  
Olga repeated to herself slowly. Just then the shadow of Millar, as he passed in front of one of the garden lamps, was thrown against the white wall of the room, and she could hear distinctly his cynical chuckle. With a cry of horror she raised herself to her full height, put out her hands to ward off the evil spell, and shrieked: "No! no! no!" Then she sank fainting on the floor. For a moment the shadow lingered above her, and faded. When Karl left the home of Herman and Olga to conduct Elsa and her aunt to their carriage he did not return. He was deeply ashamed of the suspicion he had entertained, and humiliated at the trick played upon his overheated imagination by Millar. He could not bear to face Olga or his tormentor. Sending the servant back for his overcoat and hat, he plunged along through the snow, walking briskly. Old Heinrich had gone to bed when he reached the studio. There remained but a few hours of the night, but Karl could not bring himself to sleep. He paced restlessly up and down the studio, his mind tortured by the thoughts so skilfully implanted there by Millar. He was not surprised when the door bell rang and it was Millar whom he admitted. His strange visitor shook the snow from his great fur coat and laid it aside. Then he walked over to the grate where the fire burned cheerfully and stood in front of it, rubbing his hands as he held them out to the blaze. Karl resumed his restless march up and down the room. Millar watched him cynically for a few moments. "You seem nervous this morning, Karl," he said. "I am nervous; I'm crazy," Karl answered. "You ought to be very happy," Millar insinuated. "Ought to be happy! I ought to be miserable--as I am, but it is all through your evil machinations. You have made me reveal all that is evil in me to the woman----" "To the woman you love?" "Yes, to the woman I love and have no right to love; to the woman whose honor I have held sacred for six years; to the woman I must never see again." "You will see her again," Millar asserted quietly. "How base she must think me," Karl went on wildly. "I did not know myself; I did not dream that I could be so rotten." "You will see her again," Millar repeated. "She will come to you of her own free will here, in this very studio, to-day, and she will tell you with her lips on yours that she loves you." "Stop! I won't listen to your infernal insinuations. You have ruined my happine
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76  
77   >>  



Top keywords:

Millar

 

studio

 

nervous

 
shadow
 
repeated
 

answered

 
burned
 

walked

 

cheerfully

 

cynically


moments
 

morning

 

watched

 

restless

 

rubbing

 
resumed
 

rotten

 

insinuations

 

ruined

 
happine

infernal

 
listen
 

reveal

 

miserable

 

machinations

 

sacred

 

wildly

 
quietly
 

asserted

 

insinuated


lingered

 

moment

 

shrieked

 

fainting

 

return

 

deeply

 

ashamed

 

suspicion

 

carriage

 

Herman


conduct

 

thrown

 

garden

 

slowly

 

passed

 

distinctly

 
height
 

raised

 

horror

 

cynical