together as though to repress further
words; and her fine grey eyes, filled with unbidden tears, were
smoldering to their depths with hate.

Impulsively Elza sank to the floor beside the woman. But Tara drew away.

Elza said: "Tarrano--he is a wonderful man, Tara. A genius--the greatest
figure of these three worlds...."

My heart sank to hear her say it!

"... a genius, Tara. You should be proud to love him...."

"You----" The woman's writhing fingers seemed about to reach for Elza. I
took a sudden step forward, then relaxed. Elza added quickly:

"But I would not steal Tarrano from you. Don't you realize that?"

"No!"

"But it's true."

"No! No! You have stolen him! With your queer Earth beauty--that colored
hair of yours--those rounded limbs--you've bewitched him! I can see it.
You can't lie to me! I made him angry once and he admitted it."

"No, I tell you!"

"I say yes. You've stolen him from me. He loves you--and he mocks and
laughs at me----"

"Tara, wait. I do not love Tarrano, I tell you. I would not have
him----" How my heart leaped to hear her say it so convincingly. She
added:

"He loves me, perhaps--but I can't help that. He has me prisoner here. I
am forced----"

"You lie! You are playing to win him! What girl would refuse? You say
yourself he is the greatest man of the ages. You lie when you tell me
you do not want him!"

Elza had taken the woman by the shoulders. "Tara, listen--you _must_
listen! Are you mated with Tarrano?"

"No! But years ago he promised me. I took his name then, as we do in the
Cold Country. They still call me Tara! Years I have waited, true to my
promise--with even my name of maidenhood relinquished. _His_ name--Tara!
And now he tosses me aside--because _you_, only an Earth woman, have
bewitched him."

"I didn't want to bewitch him, Tara." Elza's voice was very gentle; and
a whimsical smile was plucking at her lips. "You think I want him
because he is a genius--the greatest man of our time?"

"Yes!"

"Is that why _you_ want him?"

"No, I love him."

"You loved him before he was very great, didn't you?"

"Yes. Back in the Cold Country. When he was only a boy--and I was no
more than a girl half grown. I love him for himself, I tell you----"

Elza interrupted; and her voice risen to greater firmness, held a
quality of earnest pleading.

"Wait, Tara! You love Tarrano for himself--because you are a woman
capable of love. It is the man you love--not his deed