of his, who now holds the
incriminating document in his possession. With it he can at any time
crush his false friend and deliver him over to a long imprisonment. The
trembling culprit wished to free himself at any cost from this sword of
Damocles suspended over his head, and he proposed to me two ways to
effect the desired end. One was for me to seduce the young artist and
then, as the price of my smiles, cajole him into surrendering the fatal
note."

The beautiful Cyrene threw at her listener a look full of the proud
consciousness of her own dangerous charms. Blanka drew back in nameless
fear under her gaze.

"The other way," proceeded the marchioness, "was to have him
assassinated if he refused to give up the forged paper."

Blanka pressed her hands to her bosom to keep from crying out.

"Between these two plans I was asked to choose, and I rejected them
both,--the first because I knew the young man adored you, the second
because I knew you reciprocated his feeling."

The princess rose hastily and walked across the room, seeking to hide
her tell-tale blushes.

"Come," said the marchioness, lightly, "sit down again and let us laugh
over the whole affair together. You see, I would have nothing to do with
either tragedy. I prefer comedy. Both of our arch-schemers have now
taken flight from Rome; they were seized with terror at a street riot
the other day, and they won't come back again, you may be sure, unless
it be in the rear of a besieging army. So now we have the Cagliari
palace quite to ourselves, and can sit and chat together all we please.
But I must say good night; I've gossiped enough for one while, and I'm
sleepy, too."

Once more the fire was extinguished and the phoenix made to yield a
passage, after which Blanka found herself alone again. She shuddered at
the thought of having lived for months with an open door leading to her
bedroom. She debated with herself whether to stick her key in that door
and leave it there permanently, while she herself sought another
sleeping-room, or to yield to the charm of her unbidden guest and
acquiesce in her plan of exchanging confidential visits. The strangeness
and mystery of it all, and still more the hope that her neighbour might
let fall an occasional word concerning Manasseh, at length prevailed
over her fears and scruples, and determined her to receive the other's
advances.

On the following evening she gave her servants permission to go to the
theatre,--