duction. "But my infinite tact
compels me to force my presence upon you in this most unpleasant
situation."

The innuendo stung Olga, and she turned to the artist.

"Karl, I can hardly believe it," she exclaimed, indignantly. "Think of
it--this man dared to----"

"How long has your husband been dead?" Millar interrupted with
exasperating coolness.

"I am not a widow," Olga said, surprised that she should reply.

"Oh, you are divorced?"

"I am not."

"Then if you feel that I have offended you I should think your husband
would be the proper man to appeal to," he said with the utmost coolness.

He seemed like a trainer, prodding tame animals with sharp prongs out of
the lethargy of their caged lives to stir them to viciousness. Turning
to Karl he went on:

"However, if you wish it, I am also at your disposal. But do you not
see, madam, that it would be an admission on your part?"

He spoke as one who had dared read every secret thought of each.
Bewildered, Karl cried out:

"What does all this talk mean? I don't understand anything. You come in
here unannounced; I don't know how nor from where. You make us feel
quite uncomfortable, just as if you had trapped us in some compromising
situation."

"Yes, yes, that is it," Olga cried, relieved at Karl's outburst.

The stranger looked at them amusedly.

"You may be as impolite to me as you wish; I cannot go," he said.

"Why?" Olga demanded.

"My departure now would mean that I leave you because I have interrupted
you. On the other hand, by remaining I prove that I suspect nothing."

"There is nothing to suspect," Karl declared angrily. "I do not want you
here."

"Then that is settled; let us talk of something else," the visitor
remarked with the most casual inattention to Karl's rage. "The weather;
isn't it snowing beautifully? Art; are you preparing anything for the
spring exhibition at the Royal Academy?"

"Perhaps I may send something," Karl answered sullenly.

Olga's bewilderment gave place to panic. In her mind was formed the
purpose of snatching up her waist and rushing from the room. Before she
could do it the stranger was there, holding the waist out and bowing
profoundly.

"Permit me, madam," he said.

With a cry of astonishment Olga snatched at the garment.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?" she cried.

With his restless, vibrant hands in the air, the stranger said:

"I come from nowhere, I go everywhere; I am here."

He touched h