nce
she, perforce, endured, while it afforded her a decided relief to vent
her jealous, agonised spleen in the privacy of her apartment upon her
victorious rival of public society. She little knew, poor soul, what a
sinister list of 'affronts to be avenged' was being written in
Wilhelmine's mind, nor could she gauge, she of the moth-coloured spite,
the evil, relentless hatred which she was daily fostering in a heart
strong to love and strong to hate.

Even Madame de Ruth was appalled at the dimensions of the affair which
she herself had aided in creating. Wilhelmine fascinated her still, but
she began to fear her, and though she laughed at those who murmured that
'the Graevenitzin had the evil eye,' a certain disquiet peeped into her
mind at times. Wilhelmine had heard, through the maid Maria, that there
were whispers of her being possessed of the evil eye; and it amused her
to confront those who offended or irritated her with that strange look
which she could command at will. Certainly she had a vast will-power, and
the Duke was subjugated, not alone by love but by that marvellous
dominion of mind which is exercised by certain beings over others. He
told her often that she was a witch; being doubly a poet since he loved,
he raved of the witchery of his mistress; yet had he dreamed for one
moment that there could be anything mysterious in her fascination he
would have been appalled. He was of his day, and could not explain glibly
the mysteries and marvels of personal attraction and repulsion, of
will-power and dominion, by the easy word magnetism. He would have called
it 'witchcraft, magic, devilry,' and he did later on, and trembled. But
all this was only beginning when Wilhelmine sat listening to the silence
that summer morning. A heavy footfall on the balcony without aroused her
from her reverie, and her window was darkened for a flash by a passing
form. A rough knock came on her door, and she heard a voice informing her
the Altesse Serenissime the Duchess desired her presence immediately.

She sprang up. 'Tell her Highness I will come immediately; but that, as I
was not commanded for so early an hour, I am unfortunately not quite
ready,' she called after the lackey's retreating form. She flung off her
morning gown and began hastily to don a silken bodice, but it took her
longer to dress without Maria's help, and it was some time before she
stood at the door of her Highness's anteroom. She was met by one of the
tiri