n't be, because I said you were
only human. Why it should be evil to be human, or human to be evil--"

"I cannot imagine," said Peter slowly, "the reason for any conversation
about me."

"Nor I, when I look back. We seemed to talk about other things, but it
always ended with you. Perhaps you were our one subject in common. Then
she irritated me by her calm confidence. The world was good, everybody
was good. She would find a safe occupation and all would be well."

"So you warned her against me," said Peter grimly.

"I told her you were human and that she was attractive. Shall I make
'way with myself?"

"Cui bono?" demanded Peter, smiling in spite of himself. "The mischief
is done."

Dr. Gates looked up at him.

"I'm in love with you myself, Peter!" she said gratefully. "Perhaps it
is the tie. Did you ever eat such a meal?"

CHAPTER VI

A very pale and dispirited Harmony it was who bathed her eyes in cold
water that evening and obeyed little Olga's "Bitte sum speisen." The
chairs round the dining-table were only half occupied--a free concert
had taken some, Sunday excursions others. The little Bulgarian, secretly
considered to be a political spy, was never about on this one evening of
the week. Rumor had it that on these evenings, secreted in an attic room
far off in the sixteenth district, he wrote and sent off reports of what
he had learned during the week--his gleanings from near-by tables in
coffee-houses or from the indiscreet hours after midnight in the cafe,
where the Austrian military was wont to gather and drink.

Into the empty chair beside Harmony Peter slid his long figure, and met
a tremulous bow and silence. From the head of the table Frau Schwarz was
talking volubly--as if, by mere sound, to distract attention from the
scantiness of the meal. Under cover of the Babel Peter spoke to the
girl. Having had his warning his tone was friendly, without a hint of
the intimacy of the day before.

"Better?"

"Not entirely. Somewhat."

"I wish you had sent Olga to me for some tablets. No one needs to suffer
from headache, when five grains or so of powder will help them."

"I am afraid of headache tablets."

"Not when your physician prescribes them, I hope!"

This was the right note. Harmony brightened a little. After all, what
had she to do with the man himself? He had constituted himself her
physician. That was all.

"The next time I shall send Olga."

"Good!" he responded heartily; and pr