light of
the westwardly sun poured between the houses and was spilled upon the
smooth pavement. The man choked slightly at the after-taste of the raw
whiskey he had just swallowed, but almost immediately he smiled.

"I knew it would come," he said to himself as he turned out into the
avenue, "and here it is. I'm not surprised. I'm glad, God help me--I'm
_glad_!"

His mouth was watering, and he felt, as it were, every inch of the
stimulant's progress through his veins, warming him with its familiar
glow. When he had left the conservatory, he had been trembling
pitifully. Now he was calm, and as steady as if his nerves had been
cords of steel. Responsibility, resolution, remorse--they had fallen
from him like so many discarded garments. He was sharply alive to the
pleasure of the moment, keenly appreciative of the sunlight, the soft
air, the laughter of the children romping in the streets. Of a singular
languor which had been wont to come over him toward the close of each
busy day of the past six weeks there was now no hint. He walked rapidly,
with his shoulders thrown back, and his chin well elevated, but his
course was not in the direction of his home, nor yet in that of the
"Sentinel" office. Instinctively, he had turned toward that part of the
city where were the large restaurants, the playhouses, and the more
pretentious saloons.

At a corner, he wheeled abruptly into one of these last, and, seating
himself at a small table, called for an absinthe. The place was already
lighted, and each glass in the pyramids behind the bar twinkled with a
tiny brilliant reflection of the nearest incandescent globes. The air
was faintly redolent of lemon and the mingled odors of many liquors. To
Cavendish it was all very familiar, and all very pleasant. Again he told
himself that he was glad, glad that the restraint he had been exercising
was at an end. He was free, he thought, free to accomplish his own
inevitable damnation. He had no patience for the tedious operation of
dripping the water into his absinthe over a lump of sugar, but ordered
gum, and stirring the two rapidly together, filled the glass to the brim
from a little pitcher at his side. Then he drank, slowly but steadily,
barely touching the glass to the table between his sips.

Presently, he was conscious of a slight numbness at his wrists, a barely
perceptible tingling in his knees and knuckles. His heart was
fluttering, and his temples pulsed pleasurably. He glance