he bit her lip. Her dullness in not suspecting
the identity of this spy, her lover, pained her acutely. She had thought
to read the Sphynx, and it had its paw upon her. Her exasperation was so
keen that she determined to be revenged on both the speaker and Gratian,
whose inferiority to the major was manifest.

"They shall see how _I_ can plot," she thought, "and best of all, how I
carry off the prize which I need to obtain a station of my own selection
in society."

One thing she saw clearly, that Von Sendlingen was out of her clutches.
He still acknowledged her attractions, but he was obedient to a master
more paramount. If only he had been capable of jealousy! But, no, he had
alluded to the Viscount de Terremonde's flame with perfect indifference.
Like Clemenceau, he would not have fought a duel for her choice.
Nevertheless, her husband might have another burst of the homicidal
instinct which his father showed in Paris, and he in Germany. While
refusing a duel as illogical, he might fell Gratian after the model he
had displayed for Major Von Sendlingen's profit in Munich.

Perhaps, though, Clemenceau was no longer jealous.

Hedwig had told her of letters addressed to Daniels which she had to
mail, if Clemenceau was in correspondence with the old Jew, he would not
have forgotten his daughter, the only woman of whom Cesarine harbored
jealousy.

But she could attain her end, profound, treacherous and bloody, like the
dream of a frivolous woman going to extremes. The revelation of Von
Sendlingen's presence enlightened her and filled the gap in her plan.

Meanwhile, she redoubled her efforts to entrance Gratian, and the day of
their flight had but to be fixed. On hearing from Madame Clemenceau
that Von Sendlingen was the chief of surveillance at the coterie, the
dread that he was his rival in the contest for Cesarine, filled his cup
to overflowing with disgust. He had believed himself chief of the
fraternity in France, and behold! another was set over him and probably
reported that he neglected the business to pay court to a married woman.
He felt that he was lost and that his only chance to secure the beloved
one was to step outside the circle which he knew would be the vortex of
a whirlpool once war was proclaimed.

"You speak most timely," he answered gravely, when she said that she was
ready; "I have been notified to transfer the funds to another, in such
terms as would better suit a clerk than a gentleman--a no