of the assault, the jeers, the buffoonery, the downright evil of
initiation, he was saved by this assumption he never knew. Cellette
knew, but her tongue was held by shame. All her training had taught her
to be ashamed of "being good." If ever the secret of their astounding
innocence had got out, professional pride would have forced her to ruin
Lewis, body and soul, without a moment's hesitation.

Lewis also learned French--a French that rippled along mostly over
shallows, but that had deep pools of art technic, and occasionally flew
up and slapped you in the face with a fleck of well-aimed argot.

Weeks, months, passed before Leighton appeared on the scene, summoned by
a scribbled note from Le Brux. When greetings were over, Leighton asked:

"Well, what is it this time? How is the boy getting along? Is he going
to be a sculptor?"

"You are wise to ask all your questions at once," said Le Brux. "You
know I shall talk just as I please. Your boy, just as you said he would,
has attacked me in the heart. He is a most entertaining babe. I am no
longer wet nurse. Somebody with the attributes has supplanted
me--Cellette."

"H--m--m!" said Leighton.

Le Brux held up a ponderous hand.

"Not too fast," he said. "The lady assures me the babe is still on the
bottle. Such being the case, I sent for you. They are inseparable. They
have put off falling in love so long that, when they do, it will prove a
catastrophe for one of them. Take him away for a while. Distort his
concentrated point of view."

"That's a good idea," said Leighton. "Perhaps I will."

"As for his work--" Le Brux stepped to the door and locked it. "I
wouldn't have him catch us looking at it for anything." He lifted the
damp cloth from Lewis's latest bit of modeling, two tense hands, long
fingers curved like talons, thumbs bent in. They flashed to the eye the
impression of terrific action.

Leighton gazed long at the hands.

"So," he said, "somewhere the boy has seen a murder."

"Ha!" cried Le Brux. "You see it? You see it? He has not troubled to put
the throat within that grip but it's there. Ah, it's there! I could see
it. You see it. Presto! everybody will see it." He replaced the cloth.

"In a couple of years," he went on, "my work will be done. Let him show
nothing, know nothing, till, then."

CHAPTER XXIII

"If it's a fine day to-morrow," said Leighton that evening to Lewis,
"we'll spend it in the country. Ever been in the country aro