“And what brings Mr. Hume to St. Petersburg?”

I murmured something about studies in the Imperial Library.

At that he looked even more startled than when he first saw me:

“I, too, have been in the Imperial Library,” he cried. “I have been reading a rare book there–one of the rarest in the world.”

“Indeed! The book I wish to consult is also one of the rarest in the world.”

It was a foolish hint, but I could not forbear the pleasure of giving it. Already I suspected that the duke was on the trail of the casket. Instead of being alarmed or annoyed, it gave me the keenest delight. Brain against brain. Wit against wit. Courage against courage. I could have asked nothing more to my liking. For instinctively I had felt the mettle of my foe and measured the chances of my rival for Jacqueline’s heart.

105At this bold challenge–it was nothing less–he started perceptibly. It was impossible to doubt further. But in an instant the mask had fallen over his face. He bowed with mock respect.

105

“Ah, Mr. Hume is a scholar?” he asked mockingly. “For me, I find the streets–its life and pleasures and peoples–more instructive than any books. Especially here in this strange, frozen north. Is there not an English poet who has said that the proper study of mankind is man? If he had said woman, he would have spoken the absolute truth. Yes, a beautiful woman is the apotheosis of fascination and interest for the man of fashion and heart. Leave the dull books for the priests and the dotards, my friend.”

I had nothing to say to this essentially Italian summing up of the interests of life. We walked on a few steps in silence. We had crossed the bridge now. He took my arm.

“Yes, yes,” he continued, “woman is the proper study of mankind. But when one meets a woman as lovely as the exquisite Miss Quintard–ah, knowing her, one knows all there is for one in life, is it not so?” and he pinched my arm familiarly.

I withdrew my arm angrily. I resented his 106tone and his reference to Jacqueline. But I said nothing, only walked faster toward the Library.

106

“I have met many beautiful women in my 

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