Preparations were already going forward for the ball when Herman and
Olga reached home. Decorators were putting the finishing touches on the
magnificent ballroom. Florists were banking ferns and potted plants
along the stairs and halls. All was bustle and preparation. Herman
delightedly went forward and examined every detail of the work. Olga,
who ordinarily would have taken the same keen interest in the
preparations, turned wearily away and went to her own room. She dined
alone, under the plea of a headache, and did not again appear until the
guests began to arrive in the evening.

"You look very beautiful, my dear," Herman said to her when she entered
the drawing-room.

Her mood had changed. Her eyes seemed unnaturally bright. She herself
could not tell what had caused the change. When she reached home she had
looked forward with shuddering aversion to her second meeting with
Millar. Now she was impatient for him to arrive. She wanted to talk to
him; to hear again the soft, persuasive voice, the insidious harmony of
his words that seemed to frame for her the thoughts she had never dared
express.

She was bright, alive, witty, charming in the beauty of her fresh color,
her glorious hair, her splendid figure set off charmingly in an evening
gown of white satin brocade. She stood at the head of the winding
stairway leading to the drawing-room when Millar came.

The man seemed more suggestive of malignant purpose in his evening
clothes than he had been in the afternoon. Immaculate in every detail
of his dress, his very grooming suggested wickedness. He walked slowly
up the stairs, feasting his eyes on Olga as she stood with hand extended
to meet him.

"Madam, I am charmed to greet you again," he said. "I congratulate you
on the wonderful transformation, and I need not ask in what way it was
effected."

"It may be that I owe it to you, monsieur," Olga replied gayly, her eyes
frankly meeting those of Millar as he looked at her with admiration he
did not attempt to disguise.

"I trust we are soon to have the pleasure of seeing Karl again."

"He will be here--later, I believe," Olga answered. "Meanwhile,
monsieur, I am going to ask you to make yourself agreeable to some of my
guests."

"Madam, I can only make myself disagreeable to them," he replied
cynically. "It is not they whom I came to see and entertain."

"But you must be entertained now," Olga said. "Soon I hope we may
talk."

"We shall talk," Millar as