perfume of gown and hair and person, and then Irina--an Irina
unfamiliar--had entered, shut and bolted the door behind her, stared at
him for a moment, and then began to weep, hysterically.

"_You!_--But Irina--I--you.--But there is no light for the pose now!"

"Ah, _mon Dieu_! A sitting!--Pouf! Listen, mon cher! It has come. I
have always known it must.--Monsieur le Prince knows all the
truth.--Quelle scene!--Incroyable pour un viellard!--And I am banished.
I have none now but you, mon ami. What shall you do with me, Joseph?"
And, as she spoke, her arms crept sinuously about the young man's stiff
figure, and she drew him, by degrees, to the couch, at her side.

There followed silence: a silence so long that, almost for the first
time in her career, Irina began to wonder if she could have
miscalculated the strength of her hold on this boy for whom she had
conceived so violent a passion.

Had she, indeed, been able, at that moment, to read the depths of
Joseph's mind, her wonder would probably have been augmented to fear.
For, now that the thing that Joseph had been wanting for months had come
to pass, he was suddenly thrown back upon himself in a panic of doubt.
His mind was a blind chaos of mingled emotion and desire: the new-born
anxiety concerning his profession; the powerful fascination exerted by
the mere presence of the woman he loved; and, lastly, a selfishly
inconsistent anger that Irina's act had forced him at last to the
long-desired point of decision.

These three feelings warred within him, and the little force of good
fought valiantly and well. But, unhappily, Joseph had always regarded
the promptings of conscience as unwarrantable and unnecessary; and that
inner voice, so often stifled, had grown weak. Irina was now beside him,
the fragrance of her personality stealing upon him with all its
accustomed magnetism. Surely, too, she had been inspired to the silence
she kept? He never dreamed of the heart-sickness that was slowly
invading her. Had he guessed it, that of the brute which lay in him,
would instantly have risen up against her. For the young gentleness of
his face belied him. As it was, however, there came a moment when the
breath of perfume was strong; when conscience took a step too far. One
instant--and he turned, clasping her in his arms:

"So let it be, beloved! Thou hast come to me:--be mine! If I have little
wealth, I can give thee love:--love, the glory of life, clothed in
colors of s