heir once-idolized patron, did not need to be
told; so that long before Serviss had a hint of her coming the news of
Viola's domestication with Simeon was widely disseminated among the
faithful, who hurried at once to meet her.

These seekers went with smiling faces and hastening feet, but they
came away laggardly, reproaching the master of the temple for a
selfish brute. Some few were admitted, stayed, and met the girl and
Clarke--for Clarke fairly divided the honors, so vivid, so picturesque
was he. He did not hesitate to speak of his great work, a work which
would astound the world, and to announce the title of his great
oration which Simeon had engaged for the temple. This was the first
big gun of his campaign, this compelling oration; but he must have
Viola's consent to the use of her name--her consent also to sit with a
group of chosen great men of the city in order to issue a defiant
challenge to science. From these special sittings he expected to
deduce the final and greatest chapter of his book.

From this public test of her power Viola still shrank, but Pratt's
wealth and power, which Clarke continually emphasized, fairly stunned
her into acquiescence. So far from being a faith of the poor, the
obscure, a faith that lurked in dark corners, avoiding the direct gaze
of men, spiritualism from the portals of a resplendent temple appeared
to be not merely respectable but triumphant. From this sacred
meeting-place of the angelic forces, from the windows of Pratt's
palatial home, she looked out upon the city with more of content with
her mission than she had ever known before--troubled only by a deeply
hidden wish to see again the man whose buoyant health and smiling eyes
had so strongly impressed her on their ride into the Marshal Basin.

But this sense of security of power did not last. As the novelty of
her position in Pratt's household wore away she found her duties
irksome. She resented the flocks of curious or melancholy visitors and
began to perceive the bitter truth--that she was only a servant, after
all, ministering to the pleasures of Pratt and his friends. She had
very little time to herself, and could not escape her masters even for
a drive in the Park--one or the other of them was always at her side.

She attempted to withdraw her consent to the use of her name, but
Clarke, the guides, even her mother, insisted on the test. Britt alone
of all her friends took the side of her fears. They were in
corr