i forgot himself across table, and his onyx eyes were riveted
upon Dorothy as though their owner were enthralled.

Dorothy felt at once flattered and repelled. She was interested, even
while she shuddered; it was as though she had been made the object of
the sudden, if venomous, admiration of a king-cobra.

"My friend," purred Storri, one afternoon when he and Mr. Harley were
alone, "my good friend, I will no longer refrain from taking you into my
confidence; and when I say that, you are to understand, also, into the
confidence of my Czar."

Storri rested his head in his hand a moment, and seemed to ponder the
propriety of what he was about. Mr. Harley said nothing, but sat
a-fidget with curiosity. It is not given every American to be taken, via
a Count with estates on the Caspian, into the confidence of a Czar.

"Yes, into the confidence of my Czar," repeated Storri. "See now, my
friend, I will lay bare my soul to you. I am resolved you shall be with
me in my vast adventure. With you--who are practical--who have business
genius--my dreams will become realities. Without you, I--who am a mere
poet of finance--an artist of commerce--would fail. I have genius to
conceive; I cannot carry out. But you--you, my dear friend, are what you
call executive."

Mr. Harley felt profoundly flattered, and showed it; Storri pushed on,
watching the other with the tail of his eye. The slant survey was
satisfactory; Mr. Harley showed half upon his guard and wholly
interested.

"I have conceived projects so gigantic they will stagger belief. And yet
they are feasible; you will make them so. You will take them and girdle
the earth with them as Saturn is girdled by his rings. Observe now!
These, my designs, have the good wishes of my Czar; and next to him you
are that one to whom they are first told. Why do I come so far with my
dreams? I will tell you; it was by command of my Czar.

"'Storri, you must go to America,' were his words. 'You would only stun
Europe; you would not gain her aid. Go to America. There, and there
only, will you find what you require. They, and they of all men, have
the courage, the brains, the money, the enterprise, and--shall I
say?--the honor!'"

Having quoted his Czar in these good opinions of Americans, Storri
rapidly and in clearest sequence laid out his programmes. Before he was
half finished, Mr. Harley went following every word with all his senses.
Storri was lucid; Storri was hypnotic; Storri had his