ry head of a cadaver with eyes that lived. A
portrait of Voltaire, the likeness of a satyr, a suggestion of
Satan--all rushed up from memory's storehouse to hold her attention rapt
in contemplation of this sinister figure.

He smiled. It was like the crumpling of soft leather. Then, with a word
to one of the men, he abruptly left the room. After that she broke down
and cried herself into the sleep of exhaustion.

All the next day she sat limp and helpless in the chair they had brought
to her. She could neither eat nor drink. Late in the afternoon Marlanx
came again. She knew not from whence he came: he stood before her
suddenly, as if produced by the magic of some fabled genie, smiling
blandly, his hands clasped behind his back, his attitude one of
lecherous calculation.

Truxton King ground his teeth with rage and despair while she was
breathlessly repeating the suave compliments that oozed from the lips of
the tormentor.

"He laughed when I demanded that he should restore me to my friends. He
chided me when I pleaded and begged for mercy. My questions were never
answered. He only said that no harm was to come to me; I was merely
touching purgatory that I might better appreciate paradise when I came
to it. Oh, it was horrible! I thought I would go mad. Finally I called
him a beast; I don't know what else I said. He merely smiled. Presently
he called one of the men into the room. He said something about a sewer
and a hole in the ground. Then the man went out and I heard the clicking
of a telegraph instrument. I heard certain instructions. I was to be
taken to a certain place in the city at nightfall and kept there until
to-morrow night, when I am again to be removed by way of the river. That
is all I know. Where am I, Mr. King? Oh, this dreadful place! Why are we
here--you and I?"

King's heart throbbed fiercely one more. He was looking straight into
the piteous, wondering eyes; his gaze fell to the parted, tremulous
lips. A vast hunger possessed his soul. In that moment he could have
laid down his life for her, with a smile of rejoicing.

Then he told her why she was there, why he was there--and of the 26th.
The dreadful 26th!

Her eyes grew wide with horror and understanding; her bosom rose and
fell rapidly with the sobs of suppressed terror. At last he had finished
his stupefying tale; they sat side by side staring into each other's
eyes, helpless, stricken.

"God in heaven!" she repeated over and over agai