ed
back at him. The little mask-like face changed and grew soft till she
looked more a girl, less an embodied tragedy. Vardri's wild spirits
were infectious, and, as on the night of the Hippodrome fiasco, Youth
called and Love made answer.

"_Mon ami_, I am so glad you have come."

"Is this the first time you have been out? Who said you could get up?
The doctor?"

"No, it was Emile."

Vardri nodded towards the communicating door of the bedroom. "Poleski
is here then?"

"No, and he doesn't know I'm here. He has gone to Saria and will not
be back till late. I was horribly irritable this morning, so he thinks
I'm all right now." A ripple of amusement broke her voice as their
eyes met.

"My sweet, you must ask me to believe some other little _histoire_."

"Oh! but it's true. You should have heard us! I knew that it was
funny afterwards, but there was no one to laugh with at the time. It
was about that dreadful old coat of Emile's. He threw it on my bed,
and--I can't help being a Jewess, can I? and I so loathe dust and
dirt, and I said so. Emile was furious. 'Very well,' he said. 'If
you are strong enough to grumble, you are strong enough to get up.' So
when he had gone I dressed and came here. I was so glad to get away
from that room."

"Not as glad as I am to see you here. And I've heard you laugh,
Fatalite. You're a little girl today."

"I have moods, dear. I shall depress you sometimes."

Vardri smiled scornfully, and slid down to the floor, his head resting
against her knee. "_Je suis bien content_! What cool hands you have,
and how still you keep. No other woman in the world was ever so
restful. You love to be quiet, don't you? I know you better to-day
than I ever did. You were always in the wrong atmosphere at the
Hippodrome."

"And I have to go back to it," the girl said under her breath. "And I
may be hissed again. You will not be there now, and we shall miss you.
I and Don Juan and Cavaliero, and El Rey, and Don Quixote. Some of the
grooms are horrible, and the animals get so badly treated."

"It seems to me that everything gets badly treated here," Vardri
muttered. "Women and horses, it's all the same. Don't let us talk
about it. It drives me mad to think, I shan't be able to be near you.
I was some use to you there."

He jumped up and began to move about the room collecting the scattered
cigarettes.

"Shall I play to you, _mon ange_? I suppose the piano hasn't