he great scene between her husband and herself took place in the square
hall of the _chateau_, on the first floor. The marquis is on the way to
the room of one of his guests. Louise reaffirms her intention of
leaving the house. Her husband laughs at her. Her position is helpless.

"What can you do?" he mocks.

She shrugs her shoulders and passes into her room. The marquis sinks
upon a settee, and presently is joined by one of the ladies who have
traveled with him from Paris. He talks to her of the pictures upon the
wall. She is impatient to meet the _Marquis de Guy_.

The marquis knocks at his wife's door. Her voice is heard clearly, after
a moment's pause.

"In a few minutes!" she replies.

The marquis resumes his flirtation. His companion becomes impatient--the
marquis has pledged his word that she should be received by his wife. An
ancient enmity against the _Marquis de Guy_ prompts her to insist.

The marquis shrugs his shoulders and knocks more loudly than ever at his
wife's door. She comes out--followed by Faraday.

"You asked me what I could do," she says, pointing to her lover. "You
see now!"

There was a moment's breathless silence through the house. The scene in
itself was a little beyond anything that the audience had expected.
Sophy, who had been leaning over the edge of the box, turned around in
no little anxiety. She heard the door slam. John had disappeared!

He left the theater with only his hat in his hand, turning up his coat
by instinct as he passed through the driving rain. All his senses seemed
tingling with some nameless horror. The brilliance of the language, the
subtlety of the situation, seemed like some evil trail drawn across that
one horrible climax. It was Louise who had come from that room and
pointed to Faraday! Louise who confessed herself a--

He broke out into language as he walked. The desire of Samson burned in
his heart--to stride back into the theater, to smash the scenery, to
throw the puppets from the stage, one by one, to end forever this
ghastly, unspeakable play. And all the time the applause rang in his
ears. He had read with one swift glance the tense interest--almost
lascivious, it seemed to him--on the faces of that great audience. The
scene had tickled their fancies. It was to pander to such base feelings
that Louise was upon the stage!

He reached his rooms--he scarcely knew how--and walked up-stairs. There
he threw off some of his dripping garments, opened th