as rather than to looks and words of love!"

"I was not reading, my dear angel; I was looking at you."

Just then the gravel walk outside the conservatory rang with the sound
of the gardener's heavily nailed boots.

"I beg your pardon, my Lord Marquis--and yours, too, madame--if I am
intruding, but I have brought you a curiosity the like of which I never
set eyes on. Drawing a bucket of water just now, with due respect, I
got out this strange salt-water plant. Here it is. It must be thoroughly
used to water, anyhow, for it isn't saturated or even damp at all. It is
as dry as a piece of wood, and has not swelled a bit. As my Lord Marquis
certainly knows a great deal more about things than I do, I thought I
ought to bring it, and that it would interest him."

Therewith the gardener showed Raphael the inexorable piece of skin;
there were barely six square inches of it left.

"Thanks, Vaniere," Raphael said. "The thing is very curious."

"What is the matter with you, my angel; you are growing quite white!"
Pauline cried.

"You can go, Vaniere."

"Your voice frightens me," the girl went on; "it is so strangely
altered. What is it? How are you feeling? Where is the pain? You are in
pain!--Jonathan! here! call a doctor!" she cried.

"Hush, my Pauline," Raphael answered, as he regained composure. "Let us
get up and go. Some flower here has a scent that is too much for me. It
is that verbena, perhaps."

Pauline flew upon the innocent plant, seized it by the stalk, and flung
it out into the garden; then, with all the might of the love between
them, she clasped Raphael in a close embrace, and with languishing
coquetry raised her red lips to his for a kiss.

"Dear angel," she cried, "when I saw you turn so white, I understood
that I could not live on without you; your life is my life too. Lay your
hand on my back, Raphael mine; I feel a chill like death. The feeling
of cold is there yet. Your lips are burning. How is your hand?--Cold as
ice," she added.

"Mad girl!" exclaimed Raphael.

"Why that tear? Let me drink it."

"O Pauline, Pauline, you love me far too much!"

"There is something very extraordinary going on in your mind, Raphael!
Do not dissimulate. I shall very soon find out your secret. Give that to
me," she went on, taking the Magic Skin.

"You are my executioner!" the young man exclaimed, glancing in horror at
the talisman.

"How changed your voice is!" cried Pauline, as she dropped the fatal
symbo