assisted--one of those gowns
that excite masculine admiration by reason of its apparent
inexpensiveness and extreme simplicity. It was horribly expensive, of
course--white, and cut out in a circle around her neck like a young
girl's gown; and it suited Geraldine's slender, rounded throat and her
dainty head with its heavy, loosely drawn masses of brown hair, just
shadowing cheeks and brow.

When the last hook was looped she dismissed her maid for the night;
Hilda served her at dinner, but she ate little, and the waitress bore
away the last of the almost untouched food, leaving her young mistress
seated before the fire and looking steadily into it.

The fire was a good one; the fuel oak and ash and beech. The flames made
a silky, rustling sound; now and then a coal fell with a softly
agreeable crash and a swarm of golden sparks whirled up the chimney,
snapping, scintillating, like day fireworks.

Geraldine sat very still, her mouth resting on her white wrist, and when
she lifted her head the marks of her teeth showed on the skin. Then the
other hand, clutching the arm of her chair, fell to her side cramped
and quivering; she stood up, looked at the fire, pressed both palms
across her eyes, turned and began to pace the room.

To and fro she moved, slowly, quickly, as the craving for motion ebbed
or increased. At times she made unconscious movements with her arms, now
flinging them wide, now flexing the muscles, clenching the hands; but
always the arms fell helpless, hopeless; the slim, desperate fingers
relaxed; and she moved on again, to and fro, up and down, turning her
gaze toward the clock each time she passed it.

In her eyes there seemed to be growing a dreadful sort of beauty; there
was fire in them, the luminous brightness of the tortured. On both
cheeks a splendid colour glowed and waned; the slightly drawn lips were
vivid.

But this--all of it changed as the slow minutes dragged their course;
into the brown eyes crept the first frosty glimmer of desperation;
colour faded from the face, leaving it snowy white; the fulness of the
lips vanished, the chin seemed to grow pointed, and under the eyes
bluish shadows deepened. It promised to go hard with her that night; it
was already going very badly. She knew it, and digging her nails into
her delicate palms, set her teeth together and drew a deep, unsteady
breath.

She had looked at the clock four times, and the hands seemed to have
moved no more than a minut