of gold coins, her small feet
bare, and strings of pearls up to the knee.

In the tenth portrait she appeared as "Claudia Laeta," the vestal
virgin, at the moment when she is led to the stake because she has
refused the solicitations of Caracalla; on her face an expression of
horror, of virginal modesty. With one hand she tries to cover her
head with her cloak to escape from the gaze of the multitude.

How is it possible for one woman to play so many parts? Arpad
accompanied these pictures with diffuse explanations, which were so
many arrows in the heart of Ivan. The result of all this posturing
was, he said, becoming every day clearer.

"The prince is more and more fascinated; he is falling deeper and
deeper into the net spread for him. After each rehearsal he declares
that a real treasure has been concealed, which has been a loss to art
that must be at once remedied."

But such treasures are very costly, especially when a man has reached
the age of sixty-eight, close on seventy, and has a marriageable
granddaughter; then it is necessary to look very closely into his
check-book to see if it would be possible to provide for the
grandchild and at the same time satisfy the caprices of a beautiful
young woman.

Not long ago Prince Theobald had built a splendid palace in the
Maximilian Strasse; it was destined for the Countess Angela, in the
case that she agreed to her grandfather's wish as to her marriage. The
palace was furnished with the utmost magnificence. The countess,
however, had thought otherwise. She broke off her marriage with
Sondersheim; she had good reasons, no doubt, but she need not have
openly defied her grandfather. It was unwise of her so to do, for
Evila was weaving her spell closer round the old man's heart, and
Angela had best be prudent, and return speedily to Vienna, else the
palace in the Maximilian Strasse will be presented, without a shadow
of doubt, to Madame Kaulmann.

Arpad's letters had made Ivan acquainted with the ins and outs of the
whole affair; through them he had learned that the woman he had loved
had become the wife of another man, and was likely to be the mistress
of a third. The first blow he could bear with a certain resignation;
he wished her all happiness; but that she should sink up to the neck
in shame, led thither by the act of her own husband, was a bitter
thought! No, that she should be saved from, if Ivan could compass her
deliverance. For this end he remained in Pe