masquerading as the music of to-morrow.
Alixe nervously watched the critic. He stood at the end of the piano and
morosely fumbled his beard. Again a wave of anxious hatred, followed by
forebodings, crowded her alert brain. She desperately clutched her
husband's shoulder; he finished in a burst of sheer pounding and brutal
roaring. Then she threw her arms about him in an ecstasy of pride--her
confidence was her only anchorage.

"There, Elvard Rentgen! What did you tell me? I dare you to say that
this music is not marvellous, not original!" Her victorious gaze, in
which floated indomitable faith, challenged him, as she drew the head of
her husband to her protecting bosom. The warring of exasperated eyes
endured a moment; to Alixe it seemed eternity. Rentgen bowed and went
away from this castle of cobwebs, deeply stirred by the wife's tender
untruths.... She was the last dawn illuminating his empty, sordid
life,--now a burnt city of defaced dreams and blackened torches.

II

THE EIGHTH DEADLY SIN

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made.--_Genesis._

I

THE SERMON

"And the Seven Deadly Sins, beloved brethren, are: Pride, Covetousness,
Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth. To these our wise Mother, the
Church, opposes the contrary virtues: Humility, Chastity, Meekness,
Temperance, Brotherly Love, Diligence." The voice of the preacher was
clear and well modulated. It penetrated to the remotest corner of the
church. Baldur, sitting near the pulpit, with its elaborate traceries of
marble, idly wondered why the sins were, with few exceptions, words of
one syllable, while those of the virtues were all longer. Perhaps
because it was easier to sin than to repent! The voice of the speaker
deepened as he continued:--

"Now the Seven Deadly Arts are: Music, Literature, Painting, Sculpture,
Architecture, Dancing, Acting. The mercy of God has luckily purified
these once pagan inventions, and transformed them into saving
instruments of grace. Yet it behooves us to examine with the utmost
diligence the possible sources of evil latent in each and every one of
those arts. Then we shall consider some of the special forms of sin that
may develop from them. St. Chrysostom warned the faithful against the
danger of the Eighth Deadly Art--Perfume...."

His phrases, which began to fall into the rhythmic drone of a Sunday
sermon, lulled Baldur to dreaming. Perfume--that