fear you, my friend," said Olga de
Coude softly. "I have known you but a short while, yet though it may
seem foolish to say it, you are the only man I have ever known whom I
think that I should never fear--it is strange, too, for you are very
strong. I wondered at the ease with which you handled Nikolas and
Paulvitch that night in my cabin. It was marvellous." As Tarzan was
leaving her a short time later he wondered a little at the clinging
pressure of her hand at parting, and the firm insistence with which she
exacted a promise from him that he would call again on the morrow.

The memory of her half-veiled eyes and perfect lips as she had stood
smiling up into his face as he bade her good-by remained with him for
the balance of the day. Olga de Coude was a very beautiful woman, and
Tarzan of the Apes a very lonely young man, with a heart in him that
was in need of the doctoring that only a woman may provide.

As the countess turned back into the room after Tarzan's departure, she
found herself face to face with Nikolas Rokoff.

"How long have you been here?" she cried, shrinking away from him.

"Since before your lover came," he answered, with a nasty leer.

"Stop!" she commanded. "How dare you say such a thing to me--your
sister!"

"Well, my dear Olga, if he is not your lover, accept my apologies; but
it is no fault of yours that he is not. Had he one-tenth the knowledge
of women that I have you would be in his arms this minute. He is a
stupid fool, Olga. Why, your every word and act was an open invitation
to him, and he had not the sense to see it."

The woman put her hands to her ears.

"I will not listen. You are wicked to say such things as that. No
matter what you may threaten me with, you know that I am a good woman.
After tonight you will not dare to annoy me, for I shall tell Raoul
all. He will understand, and then, Monsieur Nikolas, beware!"

"You shall tell him nothing," said Rokoff. "I have this affair now,
and with the help of one of your servants whom I may trust it will lack
nothing in the telling when the time comes that the details of the
sworn evidence shall be poured into your husband's ears. The other
affair served its purpose well--we now have something tangible to work
on, Olga. A real AFFAIR--and you a trusted wife. Shame, Olga," and
the brute laughed.

So the countess told her count nothing, and matters were worse than
they had been. From a vague fear her mind was tra