er stem. A Chopin
could have harmonized the melody, weaving in little trills and silvery
treble notes from the joy-song of the nesting birds.

The bandages had been removed from the patient's eyes, and she wore a
pair of wide dark glasses side-curtained from the light.

After a few conventional words of greeting and inquiry, Larssen drew up
a chair beside hers. "You're wondering why I've called on you," he
began. "You're thinking that a stranger--and a busy man at
that--wouldn't have travelled to Wiesbaden merely to inquire after you.
You're thinking that I want something."

"What is it you want from me?" asked Elaine with frank directness.

"I want your help," returned Larssen with an assumption of equal
frankness.

"My help! For what?"

"For Matheson."

"And what is this help you want from me?"

"It's simple enough, but first let me spread out the situation as I see
it. If I'm wrong, you'll correct me.... To begin with, Matheson is a man
of complex character and high ideals. The latter have been snowed under
in his business career. He's like an Alpine peak. From the distance, it
looks cold and aloof, but underneath there's a carpet of blue gentian
waiting to spring out into blossom when the sun melts off the
snow-layer. I don't pay idle compliments when I say that I haven't far
to look for the sun that's melting off the snow."

He paused.

Elaine remained silent, but Larssen's vivid metaphor went home to her.

"I used to admire Matheson as a financier," pursued the shipowner. "Now
I respect him as a man. He's put up the fists to me over what he
believes to be his duty to the British public, and I like him all the
better for it."

"You threatened Mr Matheson that you would have me dragged into a
divorce court if he didn't sign agreement to your prospectus."

It was a definite statement and not a question, and from it Larssen
judged that the financier had told her everything from start to finish.

"I did, and there's where my mistake lay. One mustn't threaten a man of
Matheson's calibre. Please understand this, Miss Verney, all question of
divorce is dead."

"It would make no difference to me."

"It was fine of you to say so to Mrs Matheson. You've pluck."

"Then you've been talking matters over with Mrs Matheson?"

"Certainly. I want to arrive at a final settlement for all of us."

"How?"

"That's where I want your help. First let me complete my lay-out of the
situation.... Matheson is a man o