at the White Lion.

{Kate.} _(after a pause)_ Who is the stranger at the
White Lion?

"--lover."

{Dormer.} _(L. of table)_ Eric Thorndyke's wife.

_(Kate rises slowly, supporting herself upon the
table; she and Dor. stand face to face. The song
above ceases.)_

{Kate.} Eric--Thorndyke's--wife. Yes? _(falls
back into chair)_

{Dormer.} Shall I read the message?

{Kate.} If you please.

_(Dormer goes up to the bureau, puts on his spectacles
and by the light of the lamp arranges his
papers.)_

{Dormer.} It is written in French. I have translated
it faithfully, _(he places a paper before Kate)_
That is the original.

_(She takes it mechanically, looks at it, then lets it
fall upon the floor. At the same moment the
shadow of a man is seen at the window L., and the
curtains move slightly.)_

Shall I read the translation to you? _(opens paper
with one hand; pushes it off table)_

{Kate.} If you please, _(goes toward lamps)_

_(The movement of the curtain stops. Dor. reads
slowly.)_

{Dormer.} _(reading)_ "I was a singer in Brussels,
with a sweet voice. They called me La Sirene."

{Kate.} _(in a low tone)_ Stop--the Siren. Yes.

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "I am a Protestant, born
at Chaudefontaine, five miles from Liege. My father
was an Englishman, my mother a Belgian woman.
They died when I was a child."

{Kate.} An orphan, like me. _(touches lamp again)_

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "Three years ago a student,
Eric Thorndyke--

_(Eric appears at L. C., holding back curtain.)_

married me secretly but legally at the Protestant
church in the Rue de Stassart in Brussels." Are
you listening?

{Kate.} Yes.

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "I married for money
and station. I won neither. I found myself wedded
to a man who was dependent on a wretched allowance,
and who dared not disclose his marriage. We
were never happy, and I grew to hate him. One
terrible night he discovered me in a gaming house
pledging his name to pay my losses. I feared him
for the first time in my life, and I fled."

{Kate.} Is this--a woman?

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "The fatigue of my journey
threw me into a fever. For many a day I lay
at death's door, and throughout