he tray with a
little laugh of satisfaction.

"Come, friend Rupert," she said, thrilling Venner again with her vibrant
voice, "thou shalt be first. Eat--and drink. See, for thee I do this."
She raised the cup to her lips, and kissed the brim, fixing her
fathomless eyes full on Venner as she did so.

He struggled with his feelings for a moment, and hated himself heartily
for even debating his attitude. But he fell, as he had done before,
dazzled by her witchery. His eyes blazed, his blood leaped, and he took
the cup with a mumbled attempt at thanks. Dolores smiled at his
confusion, and in that smile was the allure of a Circe.

Venner's expression became less tense as he noted the faces of his
fellows; for in their eyes he read jealousy, rank and stark, and it
warmed him to the marrow. In the next instant his warmth rose to fever
heat, and malice twisted his features; Dolores had taken another cup,
and now she offered it to Pearse, with a smile yet more gracious than
before.

"My silent friend, here's to thee, too," she murmured. His cup she
kissed twice, and presented it carefully so that the place she kissed
was against his lips. "Drink. I have sweetened it."

As Venner's brows darkened, so did John Pearse conquer his first flush
of self-contempt and put on a smile that irradiated his usually serious
face. And Tomlin brightened, too, waiting in what patience he could
muster for his turn, which must come next. To him Dolores turned, cup in
hand, and rising at the same time gave him his wine with a brief: "Here,
drink, too. I must leave thee a while."

She forced the cup into Tomlin's trembling fingers, gave him never a
glance, but went out of the saloon on her errand.

When he realized she was gone, Craik Tomlin dashed down the wine like a
petulant boy, and cursed deeply and fiercely. And not until then did
Venner and Pearse awake to the true artistry of the woman; for here,
instead of making of Tomlin a raging foe, willing to plot with all the
power of his alert brain for their ultimate release, she had aroused a
demon of black jealousy in him which promised to set all three by the
ears.

Restricted as their movements were, they were forced to nurse whatever
feelings Dolores had implanted in them in full sight of each other. And
Tomlin left no doubt as to his feelings. At the farthest scope of his
chain he flung himself down on the slanting floor and crouched there
with dull-glowing eyes bent loweringly upon h