will find my chief; and in apartments much different from these."

She took up the missive with its broken seal. "So your chief, as you
call him, asks me to come to him, at midnight, with you, a stranger?"

"Do you not believe in charms and in luck, in evil and good fortune,
Madam?" I asked her. "Now, it is well to be lucky. In ordinary
circumstances, as you say, I could not have got past yonder door. Yet
here I am. What does it augur, Madam?"

"But it is night!"

"Precisely. Could you go to the office of a United States senator and
possible cabinet minister in broad daylight and that fact not be known?
Could he come to your apartments in broad daylight and that fact not be
known? What would 'that man Pakenham' suspect in either case? Believe
me, my master is wise. I do not know his reason, but he knows it, and he
has planned best to gain his purpose, whatever it may be. Reason must
teach you, Madam, that night, this night, this hour, is the only time in
which this visit could be made. Naturally, it would be impossible for
him to come here. If you go to him, he will--ah, he will reverence you,
as I do, Madam. Great necessity sets aside conventions, sets aside
everything. Come, then!"

But still she only sat and smiled at me. I felt that purple and amber
glow, the emanation of her personality, of her senses, creeping around
me again as she leaned forward finally, her parted red-bowed lips again
disclosing her delicate white teeth. I saw the little heave of her
bosom, whether in laughter or emotion I could not tell. I was young.
Resenting the spell which I felt coming upon me, all I could do was to
reiterate my demand for haste. She was not in the least impressed by
this.

"Come!" she said. "I am pleased with these Americans. Yes, I am not
displeased with this little adventure."

I rose impatiently, and walked apart in the room. "You can not evade me,
Madam, so easily as you did the Mexican gentleman who followed you. You
have him in the net also? Is not the net full enough?"

"Never!" she said, her head swaying slowly from side to side, her face
inscrutable. "Am I not a woman? Ah, am I not?"

"Madam," said I, whirling upon her, "let me, at least, alone. I am too
small game for you. I am but a messenger. Time passes. Let us arrive at
our business."

"What would you do if I refused to go with you?" she asked, still
smiling at me. She was waiting for the spell of these surroundings, the
spirit of this place, to