p beside and mingling with the other
lines. It seemed to curve over towards her shoulder, and then a few
seconds more, and to Stephen's drowsy gaze, the harsh line expanded into
a hideous grotesque figure. Out of those few shades upon the wall there
leaped a picture to his eyes: the girl, and at her side, bending over
her, a hideous devil, a strange vampire, hovering nearer or farther, in
blacker or lighter shades, as the flames in the fire rose and fell.
Stephen watched in a fascinated stupor, and then suddenly, as the light
died down in the grate and the shade leaped out nearer and blacker, he
started to his feet with a sudden exclamation.

The girl started too, and looked up. "What is it?" she asked.

Stephen pointed to the wall. Katrine turned, the blaze sprang up on the
hearth, the shadows were gone, the illusion vanished.

"What is it?" she said again, wonderingly.

"Oh, nothing--a hideous shape on the wall," stammered Stephen. "I was
watching your shadow, and another seemed to come up and threaten it.
Imagination, I suppose--perhaps I had fallen into a dream," he added
hurriedly, fearing she would laugh at him.

But Katrine did not laugh: she looked at him gravely and in silence. In
her mind she was pondering a question, hesitating, half fearing to speak
to him, half impelled to, and half held back, and the equal opposite
forces acting on her mind kept her silent.

Stephen, unused to her present mood, felt perhaps she was annoyed or
wearied, and drew out his watch. It was past ten.

"I will say good-night," he said, rising.

Katrine got up too. Her face paled yet more, her bosom rose and fell
quickly. "Take me away from here," she said abruptly and suddenly.

She had been thinking all the evening how she would approach the subject
with him, and then at last his leave-taking had startled away all her
circuitous phrases and left her only the crudest words at her command to
express her meaning.

Stephen was startled and confused, but his voice was very tender as he
took her hand in his and said, "I don't understand, dear; what do you
mean?"

He felt her hand tremble in his. She looked up at him appealingly. Her
eyes seemed frightened and uncertain. She was more womanly at this
moment than she had ever been. To Stephen she was infinitely more
fascinating than she had ever been. Accustomed to her bright, fearless
independence, admire that as he might, in this weakness, whatever its
cause, she was irresist