angely! It was to be a little
surprise party for Jean--was it not? Is it strange if he were
surprised then? When he heard all of you coming, laughing and talking
and tramping up the stairs, he ran to the door to open it, and I
remember now that the key fell out of the lock and to the floor, and
that he picked it up. How amazing that perhaps he held it in his hand,
Monsieur Valmain! And do you imagine, Monsieur Valmain, that it was an
opportune time for me, who not only knew you were coming, but who had
arranged the affair, to indulge in the amours that your vilely fertile
mind--"

"Stop, mademoiselle!" he cried wildly. "I was mad--mad with my love
for you. I understand too well now! I understood that I had made a
terrible mistake, _miserable_ that I am, when this girl, when it was
too late, came out of that dressing room there, when--when Laparde had
fallen. I am a fool, a blind, senseless fool; but--but, mademoiselle,
it was my love--you will forgive, you--"

"Besides a fool, you are a coward!" she said pitilessly. "But you do
not understand everything yet--and you shall have no further chance to
warp and twist things to suit your perverted fancy, Monsieur Valmain.
I think I could quite easily tell you where this girl, in whom you
imagine you have discovered Jean's model, obtained those clothes--and
if she will not tell you, I will. And then you will leave here, and
you will take pains, Monsieur Valmain, that we do not meet again. Do
you hear that? I tell you again that I hate you, that I loathe you,
and that if I were a man I would know how to make you answer for it!"
She stepped quickly to Marie-Louise's side. "Look up at me!" she
ordered curtly. "This man says that hat and cloak are mine, and it is
true--they were mine. Tell him where you got them!"

Marie-Louise did not move, except that she clasped her hands together a
little more tightly in her lap. She could not tell; for suddenly she
thought of Father Anton, and a sense of loyalty to Father Anton
insisted that she should not tell. If mademoiselle knew, as
mademoiselle said, that was another matter, and she could not change
that now; but to tell it herself--no, she could not do that, for that
was to admit that the good cure was in the secret of her presence in
Paris, and after that it would be known almost surely that he had
arranged with Hector and Madame Mi-mi for her to come there to the
_atelier_.

"Well?" prompted Myrna Bliss, sharply