th this odious wretch.
Heavens, the bare idea of it is poisonous! You remember the two men who
paid such marked attentions to me a short time ago?"

Paul Nicholas nodded. His emotion was such he could not speak.

"They both imagined they were in love with me. They swore they would
confront the black tyrant and kill him; but when they were put to the
test--when I took them and pointed him out to them--they went white as a
sheet, and--fled."

"Why torture me thus?" Paul Nicholas cried. "Tell me--only tell me what
it is you want me to do!"

"Do you love me?"

"More than my life."

"More than your soul?"

"More than my soul."

"Will you save me from a fate more horrible than death?"

"If I go to Hell for you--yes!" Paul said, gazing on a face lovely as a
dream.

"You must come with me to his house to-morrow then! You must come armed.
You must kill him."

"Kill him!" Paul cried, turning pale.

"Well?"

"But it will be murder--assassination."

"Murder, to kill him--a tyrant--a black man! Bah! Are you too a coward?"
And she sprang to her feet, the veins swelling on her white brow, her
cheeks colouring, her eyes flashing fire, as if she, at least, knew not
the meaning of fear. "Sooner than let such a wretch inherit my father's
wealth," she cried out, "I will kill him myself--kill him, or perish in
the attempt."

Paul Nicholas encountered the earnest gaze of her large, bright eyes,
the pleading of her beautiful mouth, and the sweetness of her breath
fanned his nostrils. A terrific wave of passion swept over him. He loved
as he had never loved before--as he had never deemed it possible to
love: and in his mad worship of the woman he believed to be as pure as
she was fair, he forgot that the devil hides safest where he is least
suspected. Seizing her small white hands in his, he swore upon them to
do her will; and he would have gone on making all sorts of wild,
impassioned speeches had not Mlle de Nurrez reminded him that it was
past locking-up time.

She crossed the main hall of the hotel with him, and as she turned to
bid him good night prior to ascending to her quarters, her eyes met
his--met his in one long, lingering glance that he assured himself could
only have meant love.

Next morning the guests in the hotel received another shock. Mlle de
Nurrez had gone off again--this time with Monsieur Paul Nicholas--that
good-looking, well-to-do young man, at whom all the matrons with
marriageable daughters h