"We will all be happy--you and Elsa and Karl and I--everybody, I
hope."

Olga went nearer to Karl and spoke seriously.

"She is a very charming girl, Karl."

"If you say one word more about that girl I shall fall in love with her
immediately, which would be ahead of my matrimonial scheme," Karl
replied jestingly. "You know I am not obliged to fall in love until
to-night."

"Well, well, I must be off," Herman said, as he went up to kiss Olga.
"Good-by, dear; I shall call for you at 4 o'clock."

Almost against his will, Karl asked a question which he had never before
in all his life thought of.

"Aren't you afraid to leave your wife alone?"

"Alone?"

"With me, I mean?"

Herman looked at him, and then spoke jestingly, but with an effort. "I
am hurrying away because I am afraid I shall change my mind and take
Olga with me," he said.

"You are not jealous?" Olga asked.

"If you don't want the truth--no, I am not," Herman replied, and in his
tone there was the peculiar meaning which his words did not convey. "If
I were not afraid of becoming ridiculous, I should say warningly,
'Children, be sure to be good.'"

He paused and looked at both of them. Then he said:

"Good-by."

As he turned, Karl followed and escorted him through the door. Olga
stood frowning, worried, ill at ease. Karl looked at her in surprise
when he returned.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

Olga started nervously and looked at him. She pressed her hands before
her eyes and for a moment did not speak. She looked away as Karl
approached her and said tenderly:

"Are you afraid? Please tell me."

"I don't know what is the matter with me, but just now, when my husband
went away, I felt as if I had been left without a protector."

She broke off abruptly, and Karl urged her to explain.

"What do you mean? I don't understand," he said.

"Yes, you do, Karl," Olga said, as she turned and faced him. "You know.
I have fought against coming here for six years; ever since my
marriage."

She looked away from him, around the studio, with its bizarre
decorations, and shuddered.

"Ugh! this place looks like a devil's kitchen," she cried. "These
strange things, terrible monsters, cold, white statues, heads without
bodies, and you in their midst like a conjurer. I did not notice them
while Herman was here, but now----"

Karl turned swiftly toward her.

"But now?" he asked.

Olga looked at him with an expression of terror in her eyes. The t