s half
indignant, half timid, but which said plainer than words that it had
been impossible to turn away this uncomfortably early guest; he had
made his way in by force.

"It is quite right, Erich," said his mistress, who had now completely
recovered her composure. "I will ring when I want breakfast. And,
by-the-way, I am not at home in case any one calls."

The old man retired, shrugging his shoulders, and muttering to himself.
The moment he closed the door behind him, Julie stepped quickly up to
Jansen, who stood in silence at the opposite end of the room, and
cordially extended her hand.

"Thank you for coming," she said; and from her voice it would have been
hard for any one to have believed how her heart beat as she uttered
these few words, "But sit down. We have much to say to one another."

He bowed slightly, but remained standing where he was, and appeared not
to notice that she had offered him her hand.

"Pardon this early visit," he said. "Your note did not reach me last
evening. Early this morning, when I went into the studio--"

"Have you any suspicion as to who could have written the letter?" she
interrupted, wishing to come to his aid. She had sunk down into a
chair, and the dog lay beside her on the carpet, occasionally giving a
growl of content as he felt her soft hand on his head.

"I think I know," replied Jansen, after a short pause. "I am certain
that some one in this city is dogging all my steps, very likely in the
interest of another. What was in that letter is nothing but the pure
truth; and when I went to my studio this morning, I carried a letter in
my pocket which I had written overnight, and which tells you almost the
same thing. Here it is--if you would like to read it."

She shook her head slightly.

"What for, my dear friend, if it tells me nothing new?"

"Perhaps it may. But you are right; this piece of paper cannot prove to
you the fact I most desire to have proved: that is, that I really wrote
this letter last night before I knew of any other. That is something
you can only believe from my personal assurance--and that is the reason
of my being here."

"That is the reason? Oh! my friend, as if I needed such an
assurance--as if your hasty departure yesterday had not told me that
you did not trust yourself to stay because you--because you had only
said what you did in a moment of self-forgetfulness--and yet, believe
me, that was a thoughtless word that slipped from my pen, that