y to carry out this resolve. When Pilar came to his room
and took his arm to lead him down to lunch, she was as bewitching and
fond as ever. At table she chattered brightly about an exhibition of
pictures in the Cercle des Mirlitons, which she wanted to see with him
that afternoon, asked him about the work he had done to-day, and if he
had given a thought to her now and then between his crusty old books,
and altogether gave evidence of such childlike and implicit confidence
in his love and faith, such utter absence of suspicion as to possible
rocks ahead, that that which he had it in his mind to do seemed almost
like a stab in the dark. His mental suffering was so poignant as to be
visibly reflected in his countenance, and Pilar interrupted her lively
flow of talk to ask anxiously:

"What is the matter with you to-day, darling? Don't you feel well?"

He took his courage in both hands, and answered with another question:

"Tell me, Pilar, did you really trump up a story about me? That I was a
celebrated doctor and member of Parliament, and the future President of
the German Republic?"

She flashed, but tried to laugh off her embarrassment. "Oh, it was only
a harmless little romance to amuse myself. You could be all that if you
liked, I am sure, you are ever so much cleverer than these puppets--"
She stopped short in the middle of the sentence as she caught sight of
the menacing frown upon his face, drew her chair with a rapid movement
close to his, and said, in her most humble and insinuating tones,
"Dearest, are you vexed with me?"

"Yes, for it is a humiliating, and beside which, a totally unnecessary
invention, and lays me open to the worst construction."

"And who has taken upon themselves to retail it to you? That Cuerbo, I
suppose?"

"It was not the Countess Cuerbo--not that it matters if the actual fact
is true."

"Forgive me, Wilhelm," she pleaded, "I thought to act for the best. The
whole story was chiefly for my mother's benefit. I wanted her to love
you and be grateful to you. I wanted her to take you to her heart like
a son. I do not care a bit about the other people. I only told them the
story to keep myself in practice. And beside, you know what the world
is. A man's personal worth goes for nothing, it only cares for the
outward signs of success, and that is why I said you were a celebrated
man and had a great future before you. That is no invention, for I
believe it firmly. And I told them that yo