with a sneer of obvious distrust and disbelief. She had very little courage and was a poor fighter. Her only weapon was her beauty; and it was useless of course against me.

Her eyes began to show a scared, hunted expression. "Don't go. Forgive me, Christabel. I didn't mean it. I swear I didn't. You angered me, and you know how impetuous I am."

"I am surprised you should plead thus to--a spy, Madame."

"But I tell you I didn't mean it. Christabel, dear Christabel, I know you are not a spy. Don't make so much of an angry word. Come, let us talk it over. Do, do"; and she put her arm in mine to lead me back to my chair.I let her prevail with me, but with obvious reluctance.  
"Why are you so afraid of me?" I asked.  
"I am not afraid of you; but I want you to stay and help me."  
I sat down then as a concession and a sign that I was willing to talk things over; and she sat near me, taking care to place her chair between me and the door.  
"If that is so, it is time that we understood one another. Perhaps I had better begin. You cannot marry Count Karl."  
"I love him, Christabel."  
"And Monsieur Constans--your husband?"  
"Don't, don't. He deserted me. He is a villain, a false scoundrel. Don't speak of him in the same breath with--with the man I love."
"He is your husband, Madame." She moaned and waved her arms despairingly.  
"I am the most wretched woman on earth. I love him so."  
"And therefore encourage him to take opium. I do not understand that kind of love. Had you not better tell me the truth?"  
"I shall save him. You don't understand. My God, you don't understand at all. The only way I can save him is to do what he asks."  
"Who is it that is forcing your hand?"  
She winced at the question, as if it were a lancet thrust. "You frighten me, Christabel, and mystify me."  
"No, no. It is only that you are trying to mystify me, and are frightened lest I should guess your secret. Let us be fair to one another. I have an object here which you cannot guess and I shall not tell you. You have an object which I can see plainly. You have been brought here to involve Count Karl in a way which threatens him with ruin, and you have fallen in love with him--or think you have. You are now anxious to please your employer and also secure the man you love from the ruin which threatens him. He has asked you to marry him; and a crisis has arisen which you have neither the nerve to face nor the wit to solve."  
"_Nom de Dieu_, how you read things!" she exclaimed under her breath, her eyes dilated with wonder and fear.  
"But for my presence you would marry him; and trust to Fate to avoid the discovery being made that M. 

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