E 
 OYER 

 
 BERTR/ 
 ACRES
 
 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 BY 
 
 VIRNA WOODS 
 
 'JASON HILDRETH'S IDENTITY 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 ($&e fttoerisibe 
 
 1898
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1898, BT VIRNA WOODS 
 All rights reserved.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PASB 
 
 I. AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE ... 1 
 
 II. CASTLE-BUILDING . . . . . 19 
 
 HI. REX CAKRINGTON 81 
 
 IV. THE SYMBOL 42 
 
 V. A CHALLENGE ... . 48 
 
 VI. MOUNT LOWE .... .69 
 
 VII. CLODDS 92 
 
 VIII. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE . . 106 
 
 IX. AVALON 120 
 
 X. A BROKEN PROMISE .... 139 
 
 XI. MRS. CAKRINGTON is ALARMED . . 147 
 
 XII. THE ARREST 162 
 
 XIII. THE RING 178 
 
 XTV. A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE . . 191 
 
 XV. A STARTLING THEORY . . . .204 
 
 XVI. THE TRIAL 213 
 
 XVH. A REBUFF 228 
 
 XVHI. AN UNSUCCESSFUL RUSE ... 238 
 
 XIX. VICTORY . . 245
 
 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 
 
 THE clock struck eight and he had not 
 come. Constance rose and walked impa- 
 tiently to the window. She was dressed for 
 the street, but had thrown her heavy cloak 
 across a chair till she should be ready to go 
 out. She looked down the sidewalk, and 
 began to scan the faces of the passers- 
 by, that flashed a moment under her win- 
 dow, lit up by the glow of the electric light 
 on the corner. Her smooth brow was gath- 
 ered in a frown, and the sweetness of the 
 thin lips was marred by a pout that was not 
 natural to them. She wore a bonnet that 
 showed a golden-brown circle of hair brushed 
 back from a broad brow, and the full con-
 
 2 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 tour of a face that Gottfried had said was 
 shaped like a heart. Nor was the resem- 
 blance altogether fanciful, for it sloped from 
 the broad brow to a somewhat sharp chin, 
 the severity of whose expression was modi- 
 fied by the great sweetness of the mouth. 
 A little point of hair growing lower at the 
 middle of the forehead completed the gen- 
 eral outline of a heart. The skin was fair, 
 the cheeks a delicate pink, and the eyes a 
 deep azure. The figure was slender, but 
 well rounded, and of medium height. It 
 was a face and a form that Gottfried had 
 used as a model for his painting of the 
 Madonna. 
 
 This thought passed through Constance's 
 mind as she stood waiting at the window, 
 leading to other thoughts that centred 
 chiefly about the evening before, when Gott- 
 fried had been with her. 
 
 It was then he had first told her that he 
 loved her. Only twenty-four hours had in- 
 tervened, and already it seemed to her that 
 she had known the sweet truth for years.
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 3 
 
 He had told her of his ambitions and his 
 plans, and she had promised to wait for 
 him until he had made a name for himself 
 and won a home for her. At last, just 
 before he left her, as he held her face be- 
 tween his hands, he had told her he would 
 come the next night to take her to a concert. 
 A great violinist was to be in the city, and 
 she had been thinking of it for weeks ; but 
 she was only a poor music-teacher with an 
 invalid mother, and she had not thought she 
 could afford to go. But at his words her 
 eyes had lit up with pleasure, and she had 
 thanked him with a shy kiss, which he 
 had passionately returned. Now she turned 
 from the window and glanced at the inex- 
 orable clock. It was a quarter past the 
 hour for the performance to begin ; and he 
 had said he would come at half-past seven. 
 She sat down and tried to restrain the tears 
 that welled up in her eyes. 
 
 " Constance ! " called a voice from an ad- 
 joining room. 
 
 "Yes, mamma," the girl replied, as she
 
 4 ^V ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 parted the portieres and went into a dark- 
 ened chamber where a form, indistinct in 
 the shadow, lay on a couch. 
 
 "Hasn't he come, dear?" the voice con- 
 tinued. 
 
 " No, mamma," the girl replied, going up 
 to the invalid and kneeling beside her. 
 
 The mother lifted her hand and laid it 
 against the girl's cheek. Visions and mem- 
 ories of her own youth returned to her. 
 
 " And do you love him very much, dear ? " 
 she asked after a pause. 
 
 " Very much, mamma," the girl answered 
 with a sob. 
 
 But she checked herself with the instinct 
 of sparing the invalid pain ; for her mother, 
 fragile and still pretty, notwithstanding her 
 illness and years of disappointment, seemed 
 to her something to be petted and cared for. 
 So she rose without complaint, took off her 
 bonnet and gloves, and returned to the front 
 room to put it in order for the night. 
 
 It was only a small room in an apart- 
 ment house, but it had an air of beauty and
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 5 
 
 refinement about it that reflected the nature 
 of its occupant. With the exception of the 
 grand piano, the furnishings were inexpen- 
 sive ; but there were several good etchings, 
 a graceful jardiniere containing a delicate 
 fern, soft curtains in old rose and blue, and 
 a silken screen before the fireplace. There 
 was a shelf of books on the wall, and a late 
 magazine lay open on the table. 
 
 The girl removed her wrap from the chair, 
 turned out the gas, and drew the curtains at 
 the windows. The soft, silvery strokes of 
 the clock counted the hour of nine, as she 
 passed with a smothered sigh into her 
 mother's room. 
 
 The next morning she awoke with a thrill 
 of pain and sense of disappointment that 
 were quickly succeeded by hope. Surely, 
 she thought, she would receive word from 
 Gottfried this morning. He had been un- 
 avoidably detained the night before, and 
 would write her a note, or come himself to 
 explain. She felt so sure of it that the 
 thought had something of the illusion of
 
 6 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 reality ; and she could almost hear his voice 
 and feel the touch of his lips on her face. 
 
 But two hours later, when she was ready 
 to go out on her daily round of lessons, no 
 word had come. She stepped out on the 
 street and walked briskly away, comforted 
 by a new hope. He would be watching for 
 her at the window of his studio, where she 
 had first seen him several months before, 
 and had gradually learned to look for his 
 face. Often, indeed, she had been disap- 
 pointed ; but many mornings she had found 
 him there at work, and he had never failed 
 to see her pass. She recalled their first 
 chance meeting. She had been caught in 
 the rain, and was hurrying down the street 
 toward the house of one of her pupils, when 
 he overtook her. He was carrying an um- 
 brella, and with some diffidence offered her 
 its protection. 
 
 " I haf the pleasure of your acquaintance 
 by the window," he said by way of apology. 
 
 Constance blushed and smiled, and* mind- 
 ful of the new ribbons on her hat, did not
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 7 
 
 refuse the proffered shelter. In some way 
 his face and manner inspired her with con- 
 fidence ; and besides, she said to herself, one 
 is more unconventional in California than in 
 the East. She was surprised at his German 
 accent, for there was nothing in his appear- 
 ance to suggest a foreign nationality. His 
 features were clear-cut and firm, his eyes 
 and hair dark ; his mouth, concealed only by 
 a mustache, was strong but sensitive. After 
 all, it was the expression of his eyes, more 
 than anything else, that made Constance 
 instinctively trust him. 
 
 " Have you been here long ? " she asked 
 nervously, breaking an embarrassing silence. 
 
 " Oh, no," he said ; " I am come from 
 Germany to make my fortune." And he 
 laughed. 
 
 "It is beautiful here in Los Angeles," 
 she observed. " Are you a landscape 
 painter ? " 
 
 " A little," he said, " but more of figures 
 and faces. What is it you call it ? por- 
 traits."
 
 8 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 He looked at her admiringly, and thought 
 of the Madonna he wanted to paint ; but he 
 dared not ask her to sit for him. 
 
 Notwithstanding the rain and the sudden 
 chill in the air, it seemed all too soon that 
 they came to the house of her pupil, and she 
 turned and thanked him prettily for his kind- 
 ness. He longed then to ask her if he might 
 call on her, but the words choked in his 
 throat, and instead he lifted his hat and 
 walked thoughtfully down the street. 
 
 They had been together only a few min- 
 utes, but something had entered into the life 
 of each and subtly changed for them the 
 commonplace routine of the days. Now, 
 when she passed his window, she could do 
 no less than bow, and he learned to watch 
 and wait impatiently for her coming. 
 
 It happened, too, with curious coincidence 
 that he tried by various excuses to explain, 
 that he often came out of the house just as 
 she approached, and walked down the street 
 with her. But sometimes for many days she 
 missed him ; and once when he reappeared
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 9 
 
 and she referred to his absence, he started 
 and flushed, then spoke vaguely of business 
 in the country. 
 
 " But a foreigner, my dear," her mother 
 had protested nervously when Constance 
 told her he had asked if he might call. But 
 Mrs. Wilbur herself had yielded at once to 
 the charm of his ingenuous manner. 
 
 As the acquaintance progressed, the young 
 artist had dropped into the habit of coming 
 in the evening with sketches to show Con- 
 stance, or a volume of German verse. She 
 had studied German a little in her school- 
 days, and he was freshening and perfecting 
 her knowledge of the language. At last he 
 gained courage to ask her to srt for his Ma- 
 donna, and their evenings together were 
 supplemented by long hours in the studio. 
 
 Constance thought of these things as she 
 walked down the street the morning after 
 her disappointment, and of the evening he 
 had asked her to be his wife. Her cheeks 
 flushed and her heart beat fast as she ap- 
 proached the house where he lived. She
 
 10 A.\ T ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 looked at his window, and her eyes filled 
 with tears ; for the blind was drawn, and the 
 plant he had set on the broad window-sill 
 had begun to droop. 
 
 Day after day she looked for him in vain. 
 Her cheeks paled a little, and often her eyes 
 showed traces of tears. But she went about 
 her tasks as usual, taking her solitary walks, 
 or riding lonely and unnoticed on the crowded 
 cars through the city, to the houses of her 
 pupils, and with unfailing patience caring 
 for the invalid mother at home. Methodi- 
 cally she went through the hours of her 
 practice ; but the old joy in her music was 
 gone. Each morning she watched for the 
 postman with feverish impatience, and when 
 he had gone by fell into an apathy that was 
 broken only when, in her morning walk, she 
 approached the studio window. 
 
 One evening, just a week after the night 
 of the concert, she sat by the window, gazing 
 idly down the street. She lived in a quiet 
 suburb in the southeastern part of the city, 
 on a street that had been built up within
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 11 
 
 the last two or three years. There were 
 roses and fuchsias and geraniums in the gar- 
 den, and a large pepper-tree. The sidewalk 
 also was lined with a row of pepper-trees. 
 She looked out on a succession of pretty 
 cottages, each with its grass-plot and border 
 of flowers. 
 
 Suddenly she started to her^feet with a 
 low cry. Gottfried was approaching the 
 house, and, seeing her at the window, lifted 
 his hat and smiled. 
 
 She ran to the door to meet him. 
 
 " I have been so worried about you," she 
 exclaimed, as she led the way into the house. 
 " Where have you been so long ? " 
 
 "Why, I did not think you would be 
 looking for me yet," he said in surprise. 
 " I haf to your house early come to show 
 you some sketches." 
 
 He had learned English rapidly in the 
 last few months, and it was rarely that he 
 lapsed into German idiom. Constance no- 
 ticed it now with some surprise. 
 
 As the door closed behind them, he took
 
 12 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 her face in his hands and kissed it. She 
 clung to him with a strange feeling that if 
 she did not hold him he might vanish. 
 
 " But you are not ready to go," he said, 
 looking at the dainty house dress she wore. 
 
 " To go ? " she echoed ; but before he had 
 time to reply, she spoke again. " Where 
 have you been all the week ? " she asked. 
 " Why did n't you write, if you had to go 
 away?" 
 
 He turned white, and, staggering back a 
 step, clutched at the piano to support him- 
 self. 
 
 " Is it a week since I have been here ? " 
 he asked in a low tone. 
 
 " Yes," she said. " Don't you even re- 
 member how long it is ? and that we did not 
 get to the concert at all ? " 
 
 He did not notice the reproach in her 
 voice. 
 
 " Again ! " he muttered. " Mein Gott, 
 mein Gott ! " 
 
 " What is it ? " she cried, going up to 
 him and laying her hands on his shoulders. 
 " Gottfried, Gottfried ! "
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 13 
 
 " Mem armes Liebchen ! " he replied. 
 " Why did 1 ask you to be my wife ? " 
 
 " But don't you love me any more ? " she 
 asked ; and the heart-like face was so near 
 his own that he bent his head and kissed it. 
 
 " Can you trust me, dear ? " he said. " I 
 cannot tell you why I did not come. I can 
 only say that it was not within my power. 
 Can you believe me ? " 
 
 She looked in his eyes and read the truth 
 of his words. 
 
 " Yes," she said ; " strange as it is, I be- 
 lieve you." 
 
 " And you will not question me ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " No," she replied ; " I will not question 
 you." 
 
 " I will show you the sketches," he said ; 
 and as they sat down at the table, he drew 
 them from his pocket. 
 
 They embraced views of picturesque parts 
 of the city and of Pasadena, and of the 
 Sierra Madre Villa, surrounded with pep- 
 pers and palms, the serrated outlines of
 
 14 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 mountains rising in the background. There 
 were also several figure-studies ; a Spanish 
 seiiorita with a guitar, a child-faced flower- 
 girl with sprays of lilies and bunches of La 
 France roses drooping from her basket ; and 
 an old woman gathering driftwood from the 
 beach. 
 
 " You will be great, Gottfried," said Con- 
 stance at last, looking up from the sketches 
 and letting her eyes rest on his face. 
 
 " Do you think so ? " he asked musingly. 
 " Do you think so, or is it only the fancy of 
 love ? " 
 
 " No, it is true," she replied ; and she be- 
 gan to speak in detail of the perfection of 
 outline and shading in the work. 
 
 Gottfried was surprised. 
 
 " I did not know you knew so much about 
 art," he said. 
 
 "Oh," she answered laughing, "I have 
 studied art subjects assiduously of late. I 
 want to be able to understand my husband's 
 work." 
 
 She said the words softly, and a faint
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 15 
 
 flush deepened the rose of her cheeks. He 
 moved nearer, and, resting his elbow on the 
 table, held out his open palm to her. She 
 leaned towards him and laid her cheek 
 in it. 
 
 Long afterward she remembered the ca- 
 ress and dreamed of it with intense long- 
 ing ; and before sorrow came, it was one of 
 the beads in her rosary of recollections that 
 she counted happily at night before she fell 
 asleep. 
 
 Before he went away, he picked up the 
 volume of Heine he had given her and 
 handed it to her. 
 
 " Eead me a poem of the Harzreise" he 
 said. " It is so long since I have read my 
 Heine that I have almost forgotten it. But 
 I remember that his verse is melodious and 
 tender and full of charming imagery." 
 
 She opened the book and began reading 
 in sweet, low tones. 
 
 " Ah," he said, as she finished, " I can 
 see them now the ' grauen Schlossruinen 
 in dem Morgenlichte stehn.' And the old
 
 16 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 dreams rise up again and my heart's door 
 opens to them, indeed. Now read me the 
 dream of the Fatherland ; for when you read 
 to me, mein Liebchen, I can almost feel my- 
 self on the high mountain by the Rhine, lis- 
 tening to the Zaubermelodien of the waves 
 that murmur below, and looking down on 
 the dear Deutschland blooming clear in the 
 sunshine." 
 
 When she had finished reading, he looked 
 at her with the smile in his eyes that she 
 had learned to love. 
 
 "Ah, mein Liebchen" he said, "you 
 catch the music of the German verse the 
 music that can be created by the instru- 
 ment of no other language. I love to hear 
 you read about the Fatherland. But, do 
 you know, my memories of Germany already 
 seem vague, like the visions of a dream. All 
 the past, in fact," he added, " seems like a 
 dream, up to the last few months, since I 
 have known you. Perhaps that is because 
 love has become to me the only reality. But 
 Heine makes me see Germany again and
 
 AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE 17 
 
 love it ; and I think I would have the 
 Ileimweh if it were not for you. But some 
 time I will take you there, and we will see it 
 together." 
 
 " But you are losing your German accent 
 and your ridiculous idioms, Gottfried," said 
 Constance, teasingly ; " and when you go 
 there, they will take you for an American. 
 I shouldn't wonder," she added with a 
 smile, " if, by that time, you would speak 
 German with an English accent." 
 
 He had risen to go, and, taking her face 
 between his hands in his favorite caress, he 
 silenced with kisses the audacious lips. 
 
 When he had gone, the happiness and 
 confidence that Constance had felt in his 
 presence were disturbed by a vague sense of 
 trouble. What could be behind the mys- 
 tery of his unexplained absence of a week ? 
 She was too young and trustful and too 
 much in love not to believe in his loyalty ; 
 but there was a strangeness about it all that 
 stirred her mind to an uneasiness of which 
 she could not rid herself.
 
 18 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Meantime, Gottfried was walking away 
 from the house, muttering under his breath. 
 
 "Again, mein Gott, mein Gott! Mein 
 armes Liebchen! " 
 
 With the words, he drew from his pocket 
 two concert tickets, and tearing them to bits 
 gave them to the wind.
 
 II 
 
 CASTLE-BUILDING 
 
 CONSTANCE WILBUR was an only child. 
 Ever since she could remember, her parents 
 had been in straitened circumstances. Her 
 mother, however, had not allowed her to 
 grow up in ignorance of the fact that she 
 belonged to an aristocratic family. Mrs. 
 Wilbur's mother had been a Randolph, and 
 her father belonged to a wealthy family of 
 Virginia. A strain of Quaker blood in his 
 ancestry had asserted itself in him, and on 
 account of religious scruples he had freed 
 his slaves, thus impoverishing himself. His 
 wife, who had been a great belle, was not 
 quite contented in the Ohio home to which 
 he had subsequently taken her ; and their 
 only child inherited her aspirations and am- 
 bitions. As the child grew into a woman, 
 however, a romantic element in her nature
 
 20 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 had led her into what her mother termed 
 the folly of an unfortunate marriage. Har- 
 vey Wilbur was an obscure journalist, with 
 more brains and nobility of character than 
 ancestry or wealth. But his wife was happy 
 with him, and, like her mother, transferred 
 the dreams of her own wealth and social 
 success in which she had indulged, to plans 
 for her child. 
 
 Constance had been carefully educated at 
 home. From her mother she had learned 
 music and French and embroidery ; from her 
 father mathematics, history, literature, and 
 Latin. A year of elective studies at a 
 small college, in which she had gained her 
 somewhat limited knowledge of German, 
 had completed the instruction she had re- 
 ceived. 
 
 At this time her father, who had all his 
 life been engaged in a hard struggle for 
 existence, broke down in health, and was 
 given no hope by his physician unless he 
 should try the effect of a more favorable 
 climate. Strongly against his will, he at
 
 CASTLE-BUILDING 21 
 
 length yielded to the persuasions of his wife 
 and daughter, and sacrificed the little home 
 that represented the savings of many years 
 to remove to California. In the genial cli- 
 mate of Los Angeles he had, for a time, 
 seemed to recover strength ; but the change 
 was only temporary, and after a few months 
 of alternating hope and fear he died. Mrs. 
 Wilbur, who had always been frail, had 
 broken down under the strain of nursing 
 and anxiety and grief. Thus upon Con- 
 stance had devolved the responsibility of 
 the support of her mother and herself in a 
 strange land. 
 
 She had taken a few piano lessons of a 
 noted teacher in the city, and through him 
 had secured a number of pupils, the most of 
 them belonging to the wealthy classes. A 
 number of houses she visited were elegant 
 residences on Figueroa and Adams Streets, 
 and she felt keenly the good-natured con- 
 descension and patronage with which she 
 was treated. As she had found little oppor- 
 tunity of meeting people in any but business
 
 22 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 relations, she had made few acquaintances 
 and no intimate friends. The house in 
 which she and her mother lived was occupied 
 by two families besides themselves. One 
 consisted of two unmarried sisters, who fol- 
 lowed the trade of dressmaking ; the other 
 was composed of an agent for patent medi- 
 cines, his showy little wife, and their ten- 
 year-old child. While Mrs. Wilbur and her 
 daughter were always kind and courteous to 
 their fellow-lodgers, they found the sisters so 
 reserved and the others so uncongenial that 
 they retired more and more into themselves. 
 Until Constance had made the acquaintance 
 of Gottfried Jager, she and her mother had 
 been very lonely, and on this account it had 
 been the easier for Mrs. Wilbur to give up 
 her apparently hopeless dreams of a bril- 
 liant marriage for her daughter. 
 
 "But Gottfried will be great some day, 
 and who knows ? rich," her daughter 
 had said, to silence her regrets. 
 
 Of Gottfried's past history the girl had 
 been able to learn nothing beyond the brief
 
 CASTLE-BUILDING 23 
 
 statement he had made to her on the occa- 
 sion of their first meeting: "I am come 
 from Germany to make my fortune." 
 She had, indeed, questioned him a little 
 about his family and friends, but without 
 success. 
 
 " I am alone in the world but for you," 
 he had answered her. 
 
 The painting of the Madonna went on, 
 the face growing day by day more beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 " It is not my face," said Constance one 
 day, a little sadly ; " you are idealizing it." 
 
 " No," said Gottfried, " it is all there ; it 
 is all there sometimes when you are looking 
 at the child." 
 
 For, several times, when he was outlining 
 the figures, she had posed with the child of 
 Gottfried's landlady in her arms, and her 
 heart thrilled and warmed as she held the 
 plump and rosy baby to her breast and felt 
 the eyes of Gottfried lovingly studying her ' 
 face. Gottfried, too, was moved by the 
 sweet picture as he had never been moved
 
 24 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 before. Mrs. Flannigan, standing in the 
 doorway and watching them, declared that 
 Constance looked like the holy mother her- 
 self. 
 
 " And it 's proud I am to have my baby 
 in the picture," she added; not knowing 
 that in this case, indeed, the face was to be 
 idealized. 
 
 The hours in the studio were perhaps 
 the happiest hours the lovers passed. Here 
 they discussed their dreams of Gottfried's 
 success and their plans for the future. The 
 splendor of the castles they builded dazzled 
 their eyes so that they did not see the bare 
 and dingy studio, brightened only by the 
 bits of color in the half-finished paintings 
 and pastels that were scattered about on 
 easels and tables and against the walls. 
 
 "I hope," said Gottfried musingly one 
 day, when they had been talking over a 
 bright plan for the future, " that it will not 
 be a Schloss am Meere" 
 
 " Oh, Gottfried," cried Constance, with a 
 note of pain in her voice, " do not prophesy
 
 CASTLE-BUILDING 25 
 
 such terrible things for our beautiful dreams. 
 I still see our Castle by the Sea, with the 
 golden and rosy clouds about it, and I will 
 not hear the song of lamentation, nor see 
 the tears and the black mourning-robes. 
 You are cruel to suggest the poem to me 
 now." 
 
 Gottfried had been obliged to lay down 
 his brush and go over to her to comfort 
 her. 
 
 But the painting was finished at last, and 
 before Gottfried took it to the dealer's on 
 Spring Street, where he had arranged to 
 exhibit it for sale, he took it up to the 
 house to show to Constance's mother. 
 
 " I believe it is a masterpiece," she said, 
 as she looked at the beautiful face so like 
 her daughter's. " It is a shame you can't 
 hang it in a Paris salon and not have to 
 sell it to some of the unappreciative newly- 
 rich here." 
 
 She spoke a little bitterly, a faint flush of 
 resentment at their poverty rising to her wan 
 cheeks.
 
 26 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 "Nevermind," said Gottfried, cheerily; 
 " I shall be glad if the newly rich prove ap- 
 preciative enough to take it. Its sale might 
 make my reputation ; at least it would pro- 
 bably enable me to get orders from these 
 despised owners of the shekels." 
 
 So the painting was hung in the dealer's 
 window, and the three waited anxiously for 
 the result. 
 
 They had not long to wait. Gottfried, 
 indeed, had been away several days on one 
 of his mysterious absences ; but, when he 
 returned, he said nothing about it, and Con- 
 stance had not the courage to mention it. 
 One evening, not long after his return, as 
 Constance sat by the shaded lamp reading 
 to her mother, there was a violent pull at 
 the door-bell. Constance knew it was Gott- 
 fried, and laid down her book to go to the 
 door. At the first sight of his face, she 
 divined the news he had to tell. 
 
 "Mein Liebchen," he exclaimed, catching 
 her rapturously in his arms, " it is sold. 
 And at such a price ! If this means any-
 
 CASTLE-B UILDING 2 7 
 
 thing for the future, it means that we can 
 be married before long." 
 
 Constance blushed, and, drawing herself 
 from his arms, led him out to her mother's 
 room to tell the good news. 
 
 " Mr. Robins said a man came in and 
 asked the price of the picture," he began. 
 " Mr. Robins told him I had not set the 
 price, but wished to negotiate about it with 
 any one that cared for an interview. With 
 that, he said, the man drew out a packet of 
 money and laid it on the counter. ' Give 
 him that,' he said ; ' and if he is not satisfied, 
 here is my master's card. I was told to have 
 the picture sent home at once.' When Mr. 
 Robins opened the packet and saw what was 
 in it, he knew I would not refuse the offer ; 
 so he had the painting sent to the address on 
 the card." 
 
 "And who was the purchaser?" asked 
 Constance eagerly. 
 
 " Rex Carrington of Figueroa Street," 
 said Gottfried. 
 
 " It must be one of the newly rich, after 
 all," laughed Mrs. Wilbur.
 
 28 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " He is what do you call it ? a great 
 swell," said Gottfried. " I have never seen 
 him, but I have heard of him. He is a 
 young man and immensely rich." 
 
 A shade of annoyance had crossed Con- 
 stance's fair face. 
 
 " I don't know," she said hesitatingly, 
 "that I altogether like his having my 
 picture." 
 
 u Ei! that is so," cried Gottfried sud- 
 denly. " I was a fool to paint your face for 
 another man to look at." 
 
 " Forgive me, Gottfried," said Constance 
 with quick contrition ; " I should not have 
 spoken so. We will think only of the good 
 fortune that has come to you." 
 
 With that, they fell to castle-building 
 again ; and Mrs. Wilbur, listening to their 
 happy chatter, thought with a stifled sigh of 
 the plans she had formed with her own 
 lover in her youth. He was to have be- 
 come a great writer ; and the long years of 
 poverty and disappointment she had spent 
 with him had never shaken her faith in his
 
 CASTLE-BUILDING 29 
 
 genius. But with Gottfried, she said to her- 
 self, it might be different; and Constance 
 might yet realize the dreams that in her own 
 life had been unfulfilled. 
 
 Gottfried stayed later than usual that 
 evening and tried with Constance some Ger- 
 man songs that he had given her. As he 
 went away at last, they stood talking a mo- 
 ment at the door, and their fresh young 
 voices reached the ears of the two dress- 
 makers who sat patiently stitching in the 
 room across the hall. Emma, who was 
 much the younger of the two and was still 
 almost pretty, looked up at her sister and 
 smiled. 
 
 "I like to hear their voices," she said; 
 " it makes me think of the times when Rob- 
 ert used to come to see me and the happy 
 days before he died." 
 
 Agnes, who had never had a lover, sup- 
 pressed a sigh of envy at her sister's recol- 
 lections, and bent lower over the dress that 
 must be taken home the next day. 
 
 " Good-by, mein Liebchen. good-by," whis-
 
 30 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 pered Gottfried ; -and as Constance turned 
 back into the house, Emma Burroughs 
 averted her face that her sister might not 
 see the sudden tears in her eyes.
 
 in 
 
 BEX CARRINGTON 
 
 THE house of Mrs. Carrington on Figueroa 
 Street was built in the style of the Kenais- 
 sance, with tower, domes, and many gables. 
 It was of soft red stone, with wide verandas 
 and little balconies in unexpected nooks, 
 and was set in the midst of extensive grounds 
 that rose in low terraces from the wide street. 
 The driveway passed under an open porch 
 at the side of the house, supported by Ionic 
 pillars. It was one of the handsomest and 
 most valuable of the many beautiful resi- 
 dences on the fashionable street. 
 
 The adjoining house was a picturesque 
 residence built in imitation of a French cha- 
 teau, and was occupied by a German baron 
 and his wife, who were passing the winter 
 in California and had leased the house of 
 a United States senator, whose family had
 
 32 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 accompanied him to Washington. Mrs. Car- 
 rington herself was the widow of the younger 
 son of an English nobleman, who had made 
 his fortune on Australian sheep-ranches. He 
 had retired from the business and removed 
 to Los Angeles some years before his death. 
 The interior of the elegant house he had 
 built was quite in keeping with its external 
 appearance. A broad vestibule floored with 
 marble tiles, the niches of its walls filled 
 with marble figures and busts, opened 
 through curtained archways into apartments 
 furnished variously according to the styles of 
 different countries and epochs of history. A 
 drawing-room in the style of Louis XVI. was 
 separated by tapestry portieres from an Ori- 
 ental apartment furnished with rugs and 
 cushions like a harem, and scented with the 
 odors of sandal wood and attar of roses. A 
 Japanese boudoir, its walls ornamented with 
 a metal fret-work and its lacquer tables 
 and ebony cabinets filled with bricabrac of 
 fine pottery and hand-carved ivory, com- 
 municated with a private sitting-room carved
 
 REX CARRINGTON 33 
 
 entirely of teak- wood, its tables and chairs 
 supported by forms of dragons and beasts of 
 the jungles. A large banquet-room was pat- 
 terned after the Roman style of the Augus- 
 tan age, low cushioned seats being substi- 
 tuted for couches about the tables. In an 
 adjoining dining-room, the Swiss hand-carved 
 sideboard was crowded with Dutch crockery 
 and Austrian and Bohemian glass. The 
 walls, too, were adorned with pictures 
 formed of Dutch tiles, the blue and white 
 faces staring stonily from rural environments 
 of the same impossible colors ; and the floor 
 was of blue and white tiles. 
 
 In the centre of the second floor was a 
 " chamber of silence," with padded walls and 
 thickly carpeted floor, where no sound from 
 the adjoining rooms or from the street out- 
 side could enter ; and whose pillowed couches 
 and deeply cushioned chairs invited the tired 
 habitue of crowded drawing-rooms to repose. 
 
 On every hand, in. fin de siecle style, were 
 to be seen rare works of art and fine brica- 
 brac and curios. Portieres, some tapes-
 
 34 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 try, some silk, and some of Japanese beads 
 in rainbow colors when drawn back, 
 showed bewildering vistas of diversely fur- 
 nished rooms, multiplied by the reflections 
 of long mirrors to the semblance of a maze. 
 
 Mrs. Carringtou sat in the morning-room, 
 waiting for breakfast to be served. She 
 was a woman past middle age, tall and slen- 
 der, with clear-cut features and a haughty 
 expression. As she sat waiting, she toyed 
 impatiently with the silken tassel of her 
 morning-gown. Her lips were compressed 
 and her brows were gathered together in a 
 frown. At length she rose and touched a 
 beU. 
 
 " Send Perkins to me," she said to the 
 servant that answered the summons. 
 
 A moment later the man appeared, sleek, 
 well-groomed, obsequious. 
 
 " How is your master this morning ? " the 
 lady asked. 
 
 "If you please, ma'am," was the reply, 
 " I don't think he '11 be down this morning. 
 He has one of his headaches again."
 
 REX CARRINGTON 35 
 
 " This is very strange, Perkins," was the 
 reply, " and I don't like it. He has never 
 remained in his room so long before. I 
 shall insist upon seeing him if he does not 
 come down to breakfast. It is my opinion 
 that he requires the services of a physician." 
 
 " I beg pardon, ma'am," said the servant 
 insinuatingly ; " but no one could expect 
 a lady to know about these things. The 
 last master I had took longer than Mr. Rex 
 to get over the effects of a banquet." 
 
 " Do not mention your last master to me, 
 Perkins," said the lady irritably ; " you 
 know he was nothing but the son of a 
 broker." 
 
 " But if you will only be patient, ma'am," 
 returned the servant, " Mr. Rex will be all 
 right in a day or two." 
 
 " I shall be patient no longer," said Mrs. 
 Carrington, rising with sudden decision. 
 " I am going to see my son." 
 
 With a quick though apologetic move- 
 ment, the valet interposed himself between 
 her and the door.
 
 36 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " I beg of you, I implore you, not to 
 think of such a thing," he said, " Mr. Rex 
 would be very angry when he knew ; I 
 should lose my place. And you would not 
 wish to see him, ma'am, indeed you would 
 not," he added persuasively. "He is not 
 like himself, and it would not be pleasant 
 for you to remember." 
 
 " Nonsense, Perkins," said the lady, 
 endeavoring to pass him. " Who should 
 know the weaknesses of a man if not his 
 own mother ? Stand aside, for I am going 
 to see him." 
 
 The perplexed valet looked at her appeal- 
 ingly, but she was inflexible. 
 
 " Let me at least go up and prepare him 
 a little," he began, seeking to gain time. 
 
 " No, I do not wish him prepared," said 
 Mrs. Carrington. " I wish to see him as 
 he is." 
 
 " But I beg of you," persisted the valet, 
 about to fall on his knees in his excite- 
 ment, " I beg of you not to go." 
 
 The lady made an imperative gesture for
 
 REX CARRINGTON 37 
 
 him to stand aside, and had already lifted 
 her hand toward the door, when a bell rang 
 violently. 
 
 " That 's Mr. Rex now, ma'am," ex- 
 claimed Perkins, a look of intense relief 
 crossing his face. " If you will wait a 
 while longer, I think he will come down to 
 breakfast." As Mrs. Carrington returned 
 to her seat by the window, he went eagerly to 
 answer his master's summons. 
 
 As the valet entered the room, a handsome 
 young man, with disheveled dress and tum- 
 bled hair, rose impatiently from his couch. 
 
 " What 's the matter with you, Per- 
 kins ? " he exclaimed angrily. " Make me 
 a cup of coffee ; and make it strong." 
 
 " When did you come in, sir ? " asked 
 the servant. "I did n't know " 
 
 " Stop talking, stupid, and be quick about 
 the coffee. What day of the month is it? " 
 he asked suddenly. 
 
 " The fifteenth," was the reply. 
 
 " Have I any engagements for to-day, 
 Perkins ? "
 
 38 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Yes, sir," the servant answered ; " the 
 bicycle ride to the beach with the baron 
 and baroness." 
 
 "Have I missed anything of impor- 
 tance ? " 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Rex," said the valet a little 
 fearfully ; " Miss Alicia's reception night 
 before last." 
 
 " By thunder ! " exclaimed the young man, 
 springing up and beginning to pace the 
 room. " She '11 show that beautiful temper 
 of hers the next time I see her." 
 
 " If you please, sir," interposed the valet, 
 " I took the liberty of sending her word you 
 was ill, sir ; and she sent over yesterday to 
 inquire about you." 
 
 "You're a treasure, Perkins," was the 
 reply. "But why the devil don't you get" 
 me the coffee ? " he added irritably. 
 
 The servant left the room, and Rex Car- 
 rington continued pacing up and down the 
 floor. 
 
 " There 's sure to be a row with the old 
 lady," he mused, " and a hot interview with
 
 REX CARRINGTON 39 
 
 my affectionate fiancee. If it were not for 
 Perkins to look after me, I 'd never get out 
 of my messes. I wonder how many bottles 
 I drank that night," his thoughts went on ; 
 " it was deuced fine Burgundy." 
 
 The valet reentered with a cup of steam- 
 ing black coffee on a tray. Rex seized it 
 eagerly and gulped it down. His brain 
 cleared, and forgotten recollections rushed 
 back to his mind. 
 
 " Oh, I say, Perkins," he asked care- 
 lessly, as he set the cup down on the table 
 beside him, " did you find the address of 
 the Madonna?" 
 
 "No, Mr. Rex," was the reply; "I 
 did n't." 
 
 " Confound you, Perkins," exclaimed his 
 master, " why did n't you ? " 
 
 " Well, Mr. Rex," began the valet, " if 
 Miss Alicia " 
 
 "Miss Alicia be ," exclaimed the 
 
 young man violently ; " what has Miss Alicia 
 to do with it, blockhead ? " 
 
 " If she should hear of it, sir "
 
 40 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " And how is she to hear of it, if you 
 don't take it into your meddlesome head to 
 tell her ? " retorted Rex. " Do you take her 
 for my confessor ? " 
 
 " But the last time, you know, sir," per- 
 sisted the servant. 
 
 " Silence ! " thundered the young man in 
 a fury. " Now go," he added in a calmer 
 voice, " and get me the address at once." 
 
 " But your toilet, Mr. Rex," Perkins ob- 
 jected. " You can't go down to breakfast 
 till you have changed, and your mother 's 
 expecting you." 
 
 " You 're right, Perkins," said the young 
 man carelessly. " The conventionalities must 
 be observed, even if affairs of state have to 
 wait." 
 
 An hour later, when he had breakfasted 
 with his mother and placated her displeasure 
 to the best of his ability, and had dispatched 
 Perkins to the dealer's on Spring Street, he 
 went into his study and sat down before 
 the painting of the Madonna. The lips 
 smiled at him, and the clear blue eyes looked
 
 REX CARRINGTON 41 
 
 tranquilly in his. A soft halo hovered over 
 the deep gold of the hair. He wondered 
 if the model could be as beautiful as the 
 painting. 
 
 He gazed at it long, and something new 
 and tender stirred in his selfish heart. 
 
 " She is a little saint," he said softly, 
 " and I would die rather than harm a hair of 
 that pretty head. What I want to get her 
 address for I don't understand. It could 
 be nothing to me unless I meant to break 
 with Alicia." And as he thought of Alicia's 
 proud, cold face, his heart grew hard again. 
 
 But the blue eyes of the picture smiled at 
 him with strange depths of tenderness, and 
 involuntarily he held out his arms toward 
 the canvas. 
 
 " My darling," he said brokenly, " I must 
 find you. You, and you alone, can make a 
 man of me." *
 
 IV 
 
 THE SYMBOL 
 
 THE days passed happily for Constance. 
 When Gottfried was at home there were the 
 daily morning greetings at the studio win- 
 dow to look forward to, and all his evenings 
 he passed with her. If he chanced to be 
 out of town, still she had the memory of his 
 words, his looks, his tones, and his caresses 
 to ponder over. And the sweet world-old 
 dream had thrown a spell over the earth, 
 the blue of the sky, the soft haze that lay 
 over the mountains, the cool salt breeze of 
 the afternoons, the very streets and gardens, 
 wore a different aspect to her. She had 
 stepped into a world of enchantment ; or 
 rather, she told herself, she had been asleep, 
 and he was the fairy prince that had awak- 
 ened her. Could it be the same old work- 
 aday world in which she had suffered and
 
 THE SYMBOL 43 
 
 toiled and grown weary, this beautiful 
 earth with its perfect days, its mornings of 
 hope and its evenings of delight? Could 
 this be her life, once so dull and monoto- 
 nous, through whose illumined atmosphere 
 she looked upon her beautiful castles in the 
 air? 
 
 "Ah," she sighed sometimes, pierced 
 with a momentary pain, "if, as Gottfried 
 once said, they should be but castles by the 
 sea ! " 
 
 But she turned from the thought and fell 
 to dreaming again. 
 
 Evening after evening, as she read or sang 
 or talked with her lover, or walked with him 
 in silence on the quiet suburban streets, the 
 moonlight softening the outlines of gabled 
 roofs and gardens beautiful with pepper-trees 
 and palms, she felt her mind expand from 
 contact with his thoughts. He was so wise, 
 so noble, so true. And then she felt a thrill 
 of pride that she possessed the gift of his 
 love. He was a genius, who belonged to the 
 world and to the future, and he had chosen
 
 44 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 her to make his happiness. A new dignity 
 and sweetness had come to her with the ex- 
 perience ; a new sign and seal of woman- 
 hood. With her happiness the curves of 
 face and form grew softer, the delicate color 
 of her cheeks deepened in more frequent 
 blushes, and the light laughter rippled 
 oftener from her lips. So she grew daily 
 more bewitchingly beautiful, and daily the 
 love of Gottfried deepened and grew. 
 
 They sat together one evening in a wide 
 seat by the window, she leaning against him 
 and letting him play with her slender hands. 
 They were silent, as they often were, satis- 
 fied to be together, and not feeling the need 
 of speech. But at last Gottfried broke the 
 silence. 
 
 " Why do you wear no rings, Constance ? " 
 he asked, holding up the little pink palm. 
 
 She gave an amused laugh. 
 
 " Because my purse cannot afford them," 
 she answered lightly. 
 
 " I am glad you do not wear them," her 
 lover replied, "for I do not like them.
 
 THE SYMBOL 45 
 
 There are so many legends and superstitions 
 connected with rings that I have never 
 wanted to give you one. You know the 
 song of ' The MiU-Wheel ' : - 
 
 ' Sie hat ihr Treue gebrochen ; 
 Das Ringlein sprang entzwei.' 
 
 If I gave you a ring and any accident be- 
 fell it, I should have a superstitious feeling 
 that our love was doomed. But more than 
 that," he went on, " I have read somewhere 
 that the ring was an ancient symbol of 
 slavery, indicating by its encircling band the 
 power that held the wearer in a bond of ser- 
 vitude. From this idea, the betrothal ring 
 came to indicate the possession of the woman 
 by the man. So I have felt that I could 
 not humiliate you and degrade our love by 
 placing a ring on your finger. Are you 
 sorry, mein Liebchen ? Have you perhaps 
 wanted one and wondered why I did not 
 give it to you ? " 
 
 She had indeed wanted some tangible evi- 
 dence of their love that she might carry 
 with her and look at and touch, especially
 
 46 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 when he was away, to assure herself that her 
 happiness was not all a dream. But she 
 would not hurt him by admitting the fact. 
 
 " It is enough to have your love," she said 
 softly, as she nestled her head on his shoul- 
 der. 
 
 "But see, mein Liebchen" he went on, 
 drawing a little packet from his pocket and 
 untying the cord ; " I did not forget you. I 
 wanted you to have something that would 
 be a symbol of our love." 
 
 She leaned forward expectantly as he un- 
 wrapped the package and lifted from a cush- 
 ioned box a Trilby locket suspended on a 
 slender silver chain. The locket itself was 
 of frosted silver and set in the centre with a 
 pearl. 
 
 " See," he said ; " it is shaped like a 
 heart ; why should it not remind you that 
 you carry my heart with you wherever you 
 go? And in the centre of the heart is a 
 pearl, to tell you of my truth and loyalty." 
 
 "It is beautiful, Gottfried," she said, 
 taking it in her hand ; " and the idea, too,
 
 THE SYMBOL 47 
 
 is beautiful. I shall prize it much more 
 than a ring." 
 
 " Open it, mein Liebchen," he said. 
 
 She did so, and gave a little cry of plea- 
 sure, for the face of Gottfried looked out at 
 her with" serene and tender eyes. She looked 
 at the tinted miniature a moment, then 
 pressed it to her lips. 
 
 "No, mein Licbchen, no," her lover 
 laughed ; " I will take that on my own 
 lips." 
 
 When he had made good his words he 
 slipped the chain over her head, and she sat 
 with the locket clasped in her palm. 
 
 "You see," he laughed, "how you hold 
 my heart in your hand." 
 
 " And in my heart as well," she answered 
 solemnly.
 
 A CHALLENGE 
 
 ONE evening, several weeks after the sale 
 of the painting, Gottfried told Constance he 
 was to meet the purchaser at the dealer's at 
 eight o'clock. 
 
 " So I shall have to leave you early to- 
 night," he said ; " but to-morrow I may have 
 good news to tell you." For they had both 
 been dreaming of future orders. 
 
 She stood at the door watching him as he 
 went away. He turned at the gate and 
 lifted his hat, then walked briskly down the 
 street. 
 
 The evening was warm for the time of 
 year, and the scent of orange blossoms was 
 in the air. The electric light shone through 
 the pepper-trees, casting weird shadows on 
 the sidewalk. Gottfried walked several 
 blocks down the quiet street, past his studio
 
 A CHALLENGE 49 
 
 and the house where Constance had left him 
 the day of their first meeting ; and at the 
 next corner took the electric car into the 
 city. His thoughts dwelt speculatively on the 
 message he had received. Rex Carrington's 
 man, the same that had purchased the pic- 
 ture, had gone to the store a few days be- 
 fore and left word that his master wished to 
 see the painter of the Madonna, and would 
 be at the dealer's for that purpose at eight 
 o'clock Saturday evening. He was sure to- 
 day was Saturday, for he had taken the pre- 
 caution to speak of it incidentally before 
 Constance, lest his memory should play him 
 one of its unaccountable tricks, and she had 
 made no comment. He felt certain the 
 young man wanted to order another picture ; 
 perhaps he wanted to sit for his own por- 
 trait. His example would surely bring other 
 patrons ; and visions of success and pros- 
 perity, with Constance as the central figure 
 of his dreams, made his heart beat fast and 
 his dark eyes glow with suppressed excite- 
 ment.
 
 60 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 He changed cars, and after a brief ride 
 alighted again, in the heart of the city. The 
 streets were noisy with the rush of cars and 
 the rattling of late delivery wagons; the 
 sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians. 
 He walked a short distance, looking in at 
 the brilliantly lighted windows, and in a few 
 moments entered the dealer's, just as the 
 hand of the clock pointed to eight. 
 
 Mr. Robins, a fair, bland man of middle 
 age, walked up behind the counter and 
 nodded familiarly. 
 
 " You 're in time, I see," he remarked. 
 
 Gottfried assented. 
 
 " Do you know," he said, " what Mr. Car- 
 rington wanted to see me for ? " 
 
 " No, I don't," answered the dealer ; " but 
 I have a pretty strong suspicion ; for his 
 man was in the other day asking for the ad- 
 dress of the model of your picture, which I 
 am glad to say I was unable to give him." 
 
 Gottfi-ied flushed, and a look of unaccus- 
 tomed anger flashed in his eyes, changing 
 completely the expression of his face.
 
 A CHALLENGE 51 
 
 " Why does he want to know that ? " he 
 cried with suppressed excitement. 
 
 The dealer shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "It is not for me to say," he replied; 
 " but if the lady is a friend of yours, I 
 would advise you not to give her address to 
 Rex Carrington." 
 
 " You know him, then ? " asked Gottfried 
 quickly. 
 
 " Only by reputation," was the reply ; 
 " but that is enough." 
 
 Gottfried paced once or twice the length 
 of the store, then stopped before the dealer 
 with forced composure. 
 
 " Yes," he said ; " I will haf patience ; I 
 will wait for him ; and when he comes, I will 
 appoint a meeting and I will fight him ; it 
 is a German duel I will fight him, with 
 swords." 
 
 In his excitement, the elegance of English 
 he had striven so hard to acquire was for- 
 gotten. 
 
 The dealer was surprised at his vehe- 
 mence, and, fearing trouble for himself, tried
 
 52 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 to calm the storm he had raised. It would 
 be very unpleasant if an altercation should 
 take place on his premises. Occasionally a 
 customer came in and occupied his attention ; 
 the young artist paced up and down the 
 room, or gazed moodily out of the window. 
 
 The minute hand passed slowly around 
 the face of the clock, and still Gottfried 
 waited, but in vain. 
 
 " He is a coward," he said ; " a black- 
 hearted coward. He is afraid to come." 
 
 " He has probably been detained unex- 
 pectedly," said Mr. Eobins quietly. "He 
 will doubtless send you apologies to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 But Gottfried would not listen to the ex- 
 planation. 
 
 " He is afraid," he reiterated. " But if 
 he thinks to draw back from the meeting 
 now, he does not know with whom he has to 
 deal. I shall learn what it is he wants. I 
 shall pay well attention to him," slipping 
 in his speech in his anger. " He need not 
 think he will escape so easily."
 
 A CHALLENGE 53 
 
 Again the dealer regretted his indiscre- 
 tion in making the suggestion that had so 
 enraged the artist. But who would have 
 thought, he reflected, that so quiet a man 
 would work himself into a passion over an 
 uncertainty ? 
 
 Gottfried went away reluctantly when it 
 was time to close the shop, leaving vehement 
 messages which the dealer had no intention 
 of delivering. 
 
 The next day, hearing nothing from his 
 patron, Gottfried sent a peremptory note to 
 the house on Figueroa Street, containing 
 the challenge he had threatened. The mes- 
 sage was answered by Perkins to the effect 
 that his master was out of town for an inde- 
 finite period. The note itself Perkins care- 
 fully unsealed and read ; sealing it again in 
 case it should be called for, but determining 
 at the same time that he would keep it from 
 his master if possible. 
 
 " It 's just as I knew it would be," he 
 grumbled. " He is n't out of one scrape till 
 he 's neck-deep in another. He 's got a hot-
 
 54 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 headed Dutchman to deal with this time, 
 and no mistake. He 's sure to fight if he 
 gets this challenge, and drag me into the 
 trouble some way have me arrested, like 
 as not. His mother and Miss Alicia will 
 blame me, too, if anything happens. Look 
 here, Perkins, you're in the worst hole 
 you 've been in yet, but so is Mr. Rex ; and 
 if you pull him through this all right, you 
 ought to get something handsome for it." 
 
 In the mean time, Gottfried had to evade 
 the questions Constance put to him, and to 
 comfort her for the evident disappointment 
 she felt that he had not received an order 
 for another picture. 
 
 But as time went on, orders began to come 
 in to him, and he worked assiduously, find- 
 ing his models chiefly in the Spanish quarter 
 of the city, and along the beaches. He re- 
 fused to let Constance pose for him again, 
 but he was engaged on a portrait of her for 
 himself. He painted her in a white dress, 
 with puffed elbow sleeves and V neck, and 
 with La France roses in her lap and in her
 
 A CHALLENGE 55 
 
 hair. In the sweet naturalness of the posi- 
 tion and the bright, glad look of the face, 
 the portrait seemed to him more human and 
 so more beautiful than the Madonna. He 
 placed the canvas so that he might see the 
 face when he first opened his eyes in the 
 morning ; and at night before he fell asleep, 
 it smiled at him, lit up with the faint 
 white radiance of the electric light that 
 shone through the studio window. It al- 
 most seemed to him sometimes that it was 
 her actual presence, the face was so full of 
 joy and tenderness. 
 
 The painting was a delightful pretext for 
 the continuance of the long hours they had 
 spent in the studio together ; and when he 
 had finished the face, he lingered over the 
 details of the draperies, reluctant to give 
 up the pleasure of the sittings. At last, 
 Constance could not fail to notice it. 
 
 " I believe you are more interested in my 
 dress than in my face," she said archly ; 
 " you are spending ever so much more time 
 on it."
 
 56 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " I will go back to the face and retouch 
 it," he said. " And yet, I don't believe I 
 can make it more perfect than it is." 
 
 There was no egotism in the words ; he 
 was not thinking of the perfection of the 
 work, but only of the beauty of the woman 
 he loved. 
 
 In addition to his painting, Gottfried was 
 doing some black and white work for period- 
 icals, but nothing of a definite kind. He 
 might have obtained a salaried position that 
 would have settled for him the troublesome 
 financial question and enabled him to marry 
 at once ; but his frequent and irregular ab- 
 sences rendered this impossible. They inter- 
 fered also with his retaining the pupils that 
 had come to him ; but there were some that 
 were loyal to him, notwithstanding the fact 
 that it was no unusual experience for them 
 to go to the studio and find it empty. On 
 these occasions the landlady could give no 
 information as to his whereabouts ; he never 
 left word or made any explanation of his ab- 
 sence. Even to Constance he did not speak
 
 A CHALLENGE 57 
 
 of the matter, and since the first instance, 
 she had not ventured to refer to it herself. 
 It is true that she trusted him and believed 
 that in time he would explain everything to 
 her; but more than once she was anxious 
 and disturbed by his sudden and unexpected 
 departure. His absences were rendered the 
 more inexplicable by the fact that, as far as 
 she knew, he had few acquaintances and no 
 friends ; and he did not seem to gather any 
 material for work, for he never showed her 
 any sketches that could have been made 
 while he was away. Another peculiarity 
 that she had noticed more than once was 
 that upon his return his English was more 
 broken than usual, as though he had been 
 speaking German in his absence. A day or 
 two, however, sufficed to give him the easy 
 command of English he had so marvelously 
 acquired in the few months of their acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 So the winter passed with its rains ; and 
 the transient green of the hills began to 
 give place to the browns and yellows and
 
 58 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 golds of the summer, hung in the distance 
 with violet and purple mists. In the city 
 constant irrigation had kept the gardens 
 green and beautiful ; and Constance herself 
 had carefully tended the little grass-plot, 
 shaded with its symmetrical pepper-tree and 
 brightened with its tall geraniums and fuch- 
 sias. 
 
 Gottfried had tried repeatedly to see Rex 
 Carrington ; and that young gentleman him- 
 self had left more than one message for 
 Gottfried at the dealer's ; but so far they 
 had failed to meet. Notwithstanding the 
 efforts of Perkins to keep his master out of 
 trouble, Gottfried had at length succeeded 
 in sending a challenge, which Rex had inso- 
 lently accepted. He had declared it beneath 
 the dignity of a gentleman to meet on terms 
 of equality a low-bred German dauber in 
 paints ; but he wanted to show his adver- 
 sary that his countrymen were not the only 
 men that could wield a sword. His pride 
 and the contempt he felt for his antagonist 
 had prevented him from denying the unjust
 
 A CHALLENGE 59 
 
 imputations of the latter ; but he was deter- 
 mined more than ever to win the beautiful 
 girl, who had posed for the Madonna, away 
 from the painter, who was evidently her 
 lover, and whom he denominated a cad. 
 
 When Gottfried had read the acceptance 
 of his challenge, which Mrs. Flannigan had 
 handed him one morning as he entered the 
 house, he began to pace his studio in deep 
 thought. He had written impetuously and 
 had not considered the difficulty of securing 
 a second ; and for some time no one oc- 
 curred to him of whom he would dare to ask 
 the dangerous favor. He smiled as he men- 
 tally ran over the list of his acquaintances ; 
 Mr. Robins, the dealer, the few patronshe 
 knew personally, and the fathers of several 
 of his pupils ; most of the latter engaged in 
 business. Their quiet respectability would 
 be deeply shocked at the mere suggestion of 
 a duel ; and as for a man with a family and 
 a reputation to keep up in the community, 
 he knew it would be useless to dream of 
 such a thing. But at a sudden thought, his
 
 60 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 face brightened, and seizing his hat he 
 rushed out upon the street. 
 
 It was nearly noon when he entered a 
 quiet coffee-house a Kttle beyond the busi- 
 ness centre of the city, and sat down at a 
 table near the door. He ordered a steak 
 and a glass of beer ; but even after they ap- 
 peared, he seemed more interested in watch- 
 ing the people that entered the place than 
 in devoting himself to his modest meal. 
 
 He had not long to wait before a young 
 man came in and made his way to the table 
 at which Gottfried sat alone. 
 
 "Wie geht's" he said carelessly, as he 
 dropped into a seat and duplicated Gott- 
 fried's order. 
 
 Gottfried returned the greeting with a 
 smile. The newcomer was a young German, 
 apparently about thirty, with a frank, blond 
 face and a fine, broad figure. He began to 
 speak rapidly in German. 
 
 " What 's the matter with you to-day ? " 
 he said. " You look as though you were in 
 trouble."
 
 A CHALLENGE 61 
 
 " So I am," answered Gottfried ; " and if 
 I did not think it presumption to trouble a 
 stranger with my private affairs, I would 
 tell you about it." 
 
 "Strangers?" said the other heartily. 
 " What of that ? We are countrymen." 
 
 " Thank you," said Gottfried ; " but even 
 so, I feel that I have no claim upon you. 
 We have met here three or four times in the 
 most casual way ; and we do not even know 
 each other's names." 
 
 " That is soon remedied," said his com- 
 panion with a laugh. " I am Heinrich 
 Dierssen, recently a student and from the 
 city of Berlin; but now, a Los Angeles 
 doctor without patients." 
 
 " A doctor ! " exclaimed Gottfried ; " so 
 much the better. But I," he went on, " I 
 too am from the Fatherland. I am Gott- 
 fried Jager, painter and teacher, with a few 
 pupils and a few patrons, one of whom has 
 gotten me into trouble." 
 
 "If I can render you any assistance," 
 said Dierssen, setting down his glass and
 
 62 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 looking at his companion with frank blue 
 
 eyes, " I shall be happy to do so." 
 
 Then Gottfried told him his trouble, as 
 briefly and clearly as possible, at the same 
 time warning him of the danger of the en- 
 terprise. To Heiurich Dierssen, who was so 
 recently from a German university and who 
 carried on his person more than one mark 
 of the sword, the American prejudice against 
 dueling was inexplicable. 
 
 He was deeply interested in as much of 
 the artist's grievance as he had divulged to 
 him, and correspondingly indignant with the 
 young aristocrat who had not denied the ac- 
 cusations that Gottfried had made against 
 him. 
 
 " I shall be glad to serve you," he said, 
 extending his hand to Gottfried across the 
 table. " Leave the arrangements to me and 
 to Carrington's second." 
 
 " I am ashamed to tell you," said Gott- 
 fried uneasily, " that for the sake of secrecy 
 he wishes his valet to act as second. Per- 
 haps you will not care to confer with him."
 
 A CHALLENGE 63 
 
 " It does not matter," said Dierssen with 
 a shrug ; " I recognize the difficulties of the 
 case." 
 
 After some delay, caused by the absence 
 of Rex Carrington from home, Perkins 
 called at the office of Heinrich Dierssen, 
 and the arrangements were duly made. The 
 place appointed for the meeting was on the 
 beach beyond Redondo; and the time set, 
 early in the morning, when there would be 
 least danger of disturbance. 
 
 As Perkins returned home, his heart sank 
 and his knees trembled and almost knocked 
 together in the darkness. 
 
 " I 'm sure I don't know how this scrape 
 will end," he muttered. " He may save his 
 own neck from the gallows with his money, 
 but I 'm not so sure about mine." 
 
 Suddenly he seemed struck with a happy 
 thought. He slapped his knee and laughed 
 softly to himself. 
 
 " I '11 do it," he muttered, as he entered 
 the grounds of his master's house. " He '11 
 never resist sampling the new case of cham-
 
 64 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 pagne that came to-day. He '11 be in a rage 
 with me if he finds out I thought of it, but 
 I '11 get out of it some way." 
 
 As the brief days of waiting passed, Gott- 
 fried could scarcely realize that he could be 
 so beside himself with anger ; but when he 
 looked at the sweet, pure face of Constance, 
 and thought of the life of a man like Rex 
 Carrington, the blood leaped like fire 
 through his veins and his hands clenched 
 till he felt the nails in the flesh. However, 
 he did not mean to slay his antagonist ; but 
 only to give him a wound that would teach 
 him that Constance was not unprotected. 
 To the skill in fencing that he possessed, he 
 had added a certain practical knowledge of 
 anatomy ; so that he felt confident that he 
 could inflict a blow that should be severe 
 but not fatal. 
 
 In order to escape the danger of subse- 
 quent detection, Gottfried and his new 
 friend did not go to Redondo Beach the 
 evening before the day that had been set, 
 but drove out before daybreak. In addition
 
 A CHALLENGE 65 
 
 to his duties as second, Dierssen was to act 
 as surgeon ; and he had provided himself 
 with lint and bandages and a case of instru- 
 ments. 
 
 The two men drove through the yet silent 
 town and found the place on the beach that 
 had been agreed upon, just as the light of 
 day began to struggle through the heavy 
 morning mists. The air was chill, and the 
 sea, shrouded in fog, rolled heavily and 
 monotonously on the beach. Dierssen looked 
 at his watch and announced that they were 
 a quarter of an hour ahead of time. 
 
 " Carrington probably came up last night 
 and stopped at the hotel," said Gottfried ; 
 " so he will doubtless be on time." 
 
 "Yes, you may depend upon it that he 
 has made himself comfortable," was the re- 
 
 Pty- 
 
 They spoke in German, Gottfried finding 
 it a relief in his state of tense excitement. 
 
 Little by little the fog cleared, and the 
 sun came out, silvering the surface of the 
 sea, and falling with grateful warmth on the
 
 66 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 stretch of wet sand where the friends impa- 
 tiently waited. 
 
 As the time approached, Gottfried stood 
 with his watch open in his hand. But the 
 hour passed and his antagonist did not 
 come. As moment after moment went by 
 and he did not appear, Gottfried's impa- 
 tience gave place to angry scorn. 
 
 " He is a coward, he is afraid to come," 
 he muttered. 
 
 " It is just possible," said his cooler com- 
 panion, "that he did not understand the 
 exact place we were to meet. He may have 
 stopped the other side of the town." 
 
 On this suggestion, he left Gottfried to 
 keep watch at the appointed place, and 
 drove through the town and along the beach, 
 but without success. When he returned at 
 last, Gottfried was still alone. 
 
 Another hour passed, and the patience of 
 the friends had become exhausted. 
 
 . " It is of no use to wait any longer," said 
 Dierssen at last ; " but as we drive through 
 town we might stop at the hotel and inquire 
 for him."
 
 A CHALLENGE 67 
 
 So it happened that while Gottfried sat 
 in the buggy and waited for his friend, the 
 latter went up to the hotel and sought the 
 clerk. 
 
 " Is Mr. Eex Carrington here ? " he in- 
 quired. 
 
 " Mr. Rex Carrington, of Los Angeles ? " 
 was the smiling rejoinder. 
 
 Dierssen assented. 
 
 " No, he is not. If he was expecting to 
 come, he may be up to-day. Will you come 
 again, or do you wish to leave any word for 
 him?" 
 
 "Tell him," was the reply, "that Gott- 
 fried Jager was here, and was surprised that 
 he has not come." 
 
 As Heinrich Dierssen passed out, he found 
 the long veranda facing the sea already oc- 
 cupied by the usual groups of young women 
 in shirt-waists and sailor hats, and young 
 men in flannel outing-suits, who looked up 
 from their papers or stopped their chatter 
 among themselves to stare a little curiously 
 at his stalwart figure and handsome blond 
 face. The beach, too, was beginning to show
 
 68 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 the morning activities of bathers and fishing- 
 parties ; and the sleepy little town was wak- 
 ing to its customary holiday air. 
 
 The young man rejoined his companion 
 in the buggy, and they drove back to Los 
 Angeles. 
 
 On his return to his studio, Gottfried 
 found a note from Perkins, saying that his 
 master was out of town on imperative busi- 
 ness and had been unable to keep the ap- 
 pointment of that morning. Gottfried sent 
 a note to be delivered to Carrington on his 
 return, stigmatizing him as a coward and 
 declaring that he deserved to be shot down 
 in the street. The wily Perkins, having un- 
 sealed and read the note, concealed it ; and 
 several days later explained to his master 
 that the night before the appointed time the 
 painter had sent apologies and withdrawn the 
 challenge. 
 
 " I 'm going to see about this myself, Per- 
 kins," the irate young man exclaimed ; " I 
 believe, you coward, you made me drunk so 
 I could n't keep my appointment." And in 
 this surmise he was not mistaken.
 
 VI 
 
 MOUNT LOWE 
 
 IT was almost midsummer when Gottfried 
 first seriously thought of taking a trip to 
 Mount Lowe. 
 
 " I should like to stay two or three days 
 and make a number of sketches," he said 
 one evening as he sat in Mrs. Wilbur's sit- 
 ting-room ; " but I am afraid that I cannot 
 afford more than a day at the Echo Moun- 
 tain House. I could get material for half a 
 dozen pictures in that time, and I think they 
 would sell." 
 
 " But I don't like to have you go," said 
 the girl ; " you have just been away several 
 weeks, you know." 
 
 Gottfried started, but instantly controlled 
 himself. 
 
 " But why can't you go too, mein Lieb- 
 chen ? " he said. " We will make up a little
 
 70 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 party. I will ask Heinrich Dierssen to go 
 and take his mother to chaperon you. She 
 cannot speak English, but you can talk Ger- 
 man with her. She is the dearest old lady 
 in the world. You know I do not consider 
 you old, Mrs. Wilbur," he added, turning to 
 the invalid who lay on the couch watching 
 the two bright young faces with a smile. 
 
 " That will be lovely," cried Constance, 
 with flushed cheeks and eyes bright with ex- 
 citement. " But will Mrs. Dierssen go, and 
 what shall I do about mamma? " 
 
 " I will be all right," said that lady em- 
 phatically. " I will ask Agnes Burroughs to 
 look in once in a while, and you might ask 
 Emma to go with you. She has not been 
 well lately, and the trip would do her good." 
 
 " Poor Emma," said Constance ; " I will 
 ask her. I don't believe she ever gets an 
 outing." 
 
 And so the matter was arranged. 
 
 It was a beautiful but warm afternoon 
 when the little party of five left the Los An- 
 geles station behind them and the train swept
 
 MOUNT LOWE 71 
 
 out above the empty bed of the Los Angeles 
 river and followed the curve of the road to- 
 ward Pasadena. Long before they reached 
 the town, Gottfried, pointing through the 
 open window, showed them the Echo Moun- 
 tain House perched half-way up the moun- 
 tain-slope, that rose bare and brown in the 
 sunlight. 
 
 " But, Gottfried," expostulated Constance 
 in a tone of disappointment, " that does not 
 look so very high." 
 
 "Thirty-five hundred feet," he replied. 
 " Wait till we are at the foot of the Cable 
 Incline ; it will seem higher then." 
 
 They skirted the picturesque town of Pas- 
 adena, with its beautiful churches and hand- 
 some residences, and went on to Altadena, 
 the mountain looming nearer and the hotel 
 and the observatory a little farther up seem- 
 ing to rise away from them and creep far- 
 ther up the mountain-slope. 
 
 " I believe you are right, Gottfried," Con- 
 stance admitted ; and her disappointment 
 began to give place to a slowly growing 
 wonder.
 
 72 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Have you made the Hartz-journey ? " 
 asked Heinrich, turning to Gottfried. 
 
 "Yes, a long time ago," was the reply. 
 " The details are a little blurred in my mem- 
 ory ; but I know that it verified the descrip- 
 tion of Heine's Harzreise, although even 
 that is not fresh in my mind." 
 
 "I went last year with a party of stu- 
 dents," Dierssen went on. " I imagine we 
 won't do much climbing this trip." 
 
 " Only by cable and electricity," said 
 Gottfried ; " unless," he added laughing, 
 "you want to take one of the saddle ani- 
 mals they advertise." 
 
 At Altadena they changed to the electric 
 cars, Constance insisting upon sitting on the 
 front seat with the milk-cans and baskets of 
 freshly laundered clothes that were on their 
 way to the Echo Mountain House. 
 
 "I want to get the best view possible," 
 she explained. 
 
 She was in high spirits, and presented to 
 Gottfried a new phase of her nature that 
 was charming to him.
 
 MOUNT LOWE 73 
 
 Soon they reached the little station at 
 Rubio Canon. They alighted in front of 
 the pavilion, the road by which they had 
 just come curving away to the left. To the 
 right stretched Rubio Canon, narrow and 
 shut in with high, precipitous walls. In 
 front of them rose the mountain, its rugged 
 and steep incline marked by the double 
 line of the cable ; at its foot stood the White 
 Chariot, arranged in three tiers of seats, and 
 entered by steps that led up to it on either 
 side of the track. 
 
 The passengers from the electric car 
 crowded into their places, Gottfried and his 
 party sitting in the highest division, and 
 facing the canon, the better to see the pano- 
 rama that was to be unrolled before them. 
 
 The conductor, who was the same that had 
 been with them on the electric car, stood in 
 the front and explained to them the points 
 of interest. 
 
 " The Great Cable Incline that connects 
 Rubio Canon with the summit of Echo 
 Mountain is about two thirds of a mile in
 
 74 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 length, and is without doubt the safest and 
 most unique piece of railroading in the 
 world. It has the remarkable inclination of 
 from forty-eight to sixty degrees." 
 
 The car began to rise, and with a simulta- 
 neous impulse the party were on their feet. 
 Emma Burroughs, however, sank down in 
 sudden terror and covered her eyes with her 
 hands. 
 
 Slowly and steadily the car swung up as 
 though in mid-air, and the horizon widened, 
 the scenery unfolding as the earth receded 
 from them. To their right, the San Gabriel 
 Valley stretched like a level sea, Pasadena 
 glimmering faintly through a luminous mist 
 that reached in the distant foreground the 
 base of Mount Santiago, the summit of the 
 mountain rising from it like an island in the 
 sea. Above the horizon, bounded by sinu- 
 ous mountain curves, peak after peak lifted 
 its purple head as they rose higher and 
 higher ; while close at hand they were 
 hemmed in by brown and rocky steeps that 
 broke away at the left in the wild, half-hid- 
 den ravine of Rubio Canon.
 
 MOUNT LOWE 75 
 
 The voice of the conductor droned on, but 
 they did not hear it. Gottfried was fasten- 
 ing in his memory a picture to be transferred 
 to canvas ; and the others drank in the glo- 
 rious beauty of the scene with silent delight. 
 
 " It is wonderful," said Constance after- 
 ward, " to climb a mountain and see the ho- 
 rizon widen below. But you climb with 
 your back to the greater part of the scenery 
 and have to turn at intervals to get the ef- 
 fect; while we stood facing it all, and the 
 scene changed with the swift movement of a 
 panorama. The appearance of that succes- 
 sion of purple mountain-peaks was one of the 
 most grandly beautiful phenomena I have 
 ever seen." 
 
 At last they reached the summit, and 
 stepped out at the entrance steps of the 
 Echo Mountain House, a picturesque build- 
 ing with long verandas and a circular 
 dome. 
 
 " The electric car starts up to Mount 
 Lowe in a few minutes," said the conductor 
 in his function of guide, " and will return
 
 76 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 in time for dinner. You will just have time 
 to go in and register." 
 
 The ascent of Mount Lowe proved more 
 wonderful and beautiful than even the wild 
 ride up the Cable Incline. To the right, 
 the brown wall of the mountain rose rocky 
 and precipitous ; to the left, a succession of 
 canons looked down upon the valley, where 
 Pasadena and Los Angeles lay, hidden in a 
 mist that was like a violet sea ; and beyond, 
 the range of the Santa Monica Mountains 
 lifted their summits against the sky, opal- 
 escent masses of a remarkable semi-trans- 
 lucence. 
 
 " It is a symphony in a minor key," said 
 Constance, as she drank in the beauty of 
 the soft, ethereal coloring. 
 
 "The colors of those mountains are like 
 opals and moonstones," said Heinrich 
 Dierssen. 
 
 Emma Burroughs and Mrs. Dierssen 
 were sitting side by side in silent delight. 
 Gottfried stood at the end of the car, trans- 
 ferring hasty lines to his sketch-book.
 
 MOUNT LOWE 77 
 
 " Wunderschon" he murmured, "wun- 
 derschon" 
 
 "Yes," said Constance softly; "that is 
 the only word that is worthy of it ; wonder- 
 ful and beautiful." 
 
 Past the canon of Los Flores, or The 
 Flowers, past Sugar-Loaf, Milard, and 
 Grand Canons, they swept in strange loops 
 and curves that transcended the wonders of 
 Tehachapi Pass. At one spot, they could 
 count the track in seven places ; at other 
 times, they looked down from dizzy heights 
 on sinuous trails no wider than the daring 
 track by which they were outlined. As 
 they ascended, the barrenness of the lower 
 altitudes gave place to a growth of live-oak 
 and what Heinrich Dierssen greeted joy- 
 fully as the " Nadelholz" or needle-bearing 
 trees. 
 
 Gottfried put away his sketch-book in 
 despair. 
 
 " I will climb up to-morrow morning and 
 get the outlines," he said. " The color 
 effects I can carry in my memory."
 
 78 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Is this like Alpine scenery ? " asked 
 Constance, turning to Heinrich Dierssen. 
 
 " No," said the latter with decision ; 
 "these are not the Alpine effects at all. 
 The colors are brilliant in Alpine scenery, 
 like a Titian painting. This is colder, but 
 more ethereal and more beautiful." 
 
 She had spoken to him in English and he 
 had replied in German, so absorbed in 
 admiration of the scenes through which 
 they were passing that he had not noticed 
 the unconscious transition from one lan- 
 guage to another. 
 
 "Yes," said Constance; "I think this 
 must be more like Arctic scenery ; one 
 could almost imagine those translucent vio- 
 let mountains were glaciers and icebergs." 
 
 " It needs only the aurora borealis above 
 them to make the illusion perfect," as- 
 sented Dierssen. 
 
 The sun was just .setting when they re- 
 turned to the hotel, laden with beautiful 
 specimens of the long green moss that covers 
 the twigs and hangs from the branches of
 
 MOUNT LOWE 79 
 
 the live-oaks. Even now the color effects 
 of the scene were subdued, passing in im- 
 perceptible transitions from crimsons and 
 violets to silver and gray. 
 
 After dinner the little group had become 
 separated, and Gottfried and Constance sat 
 together at the front of the long veranda, 
 looking down into the blackness of the 
 valley below. The night was moonless. 
 A little below them, on the mountain-side, 
 glimmered the white chalet, that had 
 originally been the hotel. Above them tow- 
 ered the summit of Echo Mountain ; on 
 either side the slopes were dim in the dark- 
 ness; while far below, in the fathomless 
 gloom-filled valley, shone two constellations 
 of lights, marking the sites of Pasadena 
 and Los Angeles ; the former of dazzling 
 brightness, the latter, from its greater dis- 
 tance, piercing the darkness with a fainter 
 brilliance. 
 
 There were several groups of guests in 
 different parts of the veranda ; but the 
 seats immediately about them were unoccu-
 
 80 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 pied. Gottfried leaned toward Constance 
 and captured her hand. 
 
 "It seems as though there were just we 
 two together in all the world," he said. 
 
 "And not iu the world," she rejoined, 
 "but above the world, with all its trivial 
 round of daily life. Alone together," she 
 added softly, pressing the hand that in- 
 closed her own. 
 
 The next moment they had started for- 
 ward with a simultaneous cry. A broad 
 stream of light had bridged the darkness to 
 the valley below, and brought out in a swift 
 flash-picture a pretty cottage in a luminous 
 circle, whose distinctness was intensified by 
 the dense blackness above it. 
 
 " The search-light," said Gottfried, bend- 
 ing forward. 
 
 "And is that a house in Pasadena?" 
 asked Constance. 
 
 " It must be," he replied. 
 
 The shaft of light turned upward toward 
 the mountain, and played upon a peak that 
 seemed suddenly to swim out of a sea of
 
 MOUNT LOWE 81 
 
 darkness. Again and again the weird 
 flash-pictures leapt to sudden and ephemeral 
 life, only to sink again into the black ob- 
 livion of the night. 
 
 "They are like our lives," said Gott- 
 fried musingly ; " a moment of light be- 
 tween the darkness of two eternities." 
 
 " But the peaks and the slopes and the 
 cottages are there, even in the darkness," 
 said Constance softly. " So it is with the 
 deathless reality of love." 
 
 If Gottfried was tinged with the skep- 
 ticism of German philosophy, nevertheless 
 he liked to hear those words fall from her 
 lips. 
 
 The light went out, and again the veil 
 of darkness settled over them. A wag- 
 onette rattled up to the side door, and 
 the voice of Heinrich Dierssen broke the 
 stillness. 
 
 " Come up to the observatory," he said ; 
 " they say it 's a fine night to see Saturn." 
 
 " And where are the others ? " asked 
 Gottfried, as they rose to follow him.
 
 82 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " My mother and Miss Burroughs are in 
 the wagonette," he replied. 
 
 A moment later they were seated, Con- 
 stance occupying a high perch beside the 
 driver; and the wagonette rattled rapidly 
 over the winding road, the horses turning 
 with trained agility the sharp, unexpected 
 curves that threw the occupants of the wag- 
 onette out of their seats amid screams of 
 laughter. 
 
 In the observatory, they climbed the lad- 
 der in the darkness, and as they looked 
 through the great telescope, shouted ques- 
 tions into the deaf ear of the kindly old as- 
 tronomer, who answered with more patience 
 and wisdom than comprehension of their 
 immediate needs. 
 
 On their return to the hotel, they stood 
 at the back of the house while the cannon 
 was fired, and listened to the echo flung from 
 slope to slope, that sounded in its continu- 
 ous reverberation like a heavy roll of thun- 
 der. It was a fitting salute to the day that 
 had been so full of wonders and surprises.
 
 MOUNT LOWE 83 
 
 " Will you walk up the mountain with me 
 to-morrow ? " asked Gottfried of Constance, 
 as they stood in the hallway a moment be- 
 fore parting for the night. 
 
 " Will you be back in time for the Rubio 
 Canon trip ? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes, we can take that in the after- 
 noon. We do not leave here till four." 
 
 " I should like to go," said Constance, 
 " but I hope it will be cooler than it has 
 been to-day." 
 
 " Don't decide then until to-morrow," he 
 said ; " it will make no difference to me, ex- 
 cept that I should like to have your com- 
 pany, as always." 
 
 The last words were almost a whisper, and 
 were accompanied by a pressure of the hand. 
 
 " Good-night, mein Liebchen" he added ; 
 " I would like a kiss, but there come Hem- 
 rich and Miss Burroughs." 
 
 " What have they done with Mrs. Diers- 
 sen? " asked Constance ; " and why is Emma 
 blushing so ? Do you know, Gottfried, I be- 
 lieve " and she stopped with a laugh.
 
 84 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 The next morning the little party as- 
 sembled on the veranda before daybreak 
 to watch the sunrise. The pageant began 
 with a soft deepening of color on the dis- 
 tant hills and in the sky. Slowly the light 
 spread along the horizon, peak after peak 
 and slope after slope transformed to a golden 
 glory while they were yet in shadow. The 
 light drew nearer and nearer ; and at length 
 over the edge of a beetling height above 
 them, the rim of the sun appeared, more 
 than an hour after daylight shone on the 
 most distant hills. 
 
 The morning was warm, with more of op- 
 pressive heat than is ever felt in the valley 
 and plains below. The ladies, who had worn 
 their heavy clothing, were very uncomfort- 
 able, and Constance hesitated to take the 
 walk up the mountain with Gottfried. He 
 did not urge it, and even insisted on her stay- 
 ing below in the comparative coolness of the 
 shaded veranda. Heinrich volunteered to 
 entertain the ladies in his absence, and he 
 set off alone, promising to return for lunch
 
 MOUNT LOWE 85 
 
 and go with them to Rubio Canon in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 The morning seemed to Constance of in- 
 terminable length. They went down to the 
 chalet, which was used for overflow when 
 necessary, and sometimes for servants' quar- 
 ters, but which was unoccupied now, during 
 the dull season. They found it cooler than 
 the hotel, and established themselves on the 
 veranda for a comfortable chat. Constance 
 noticed with a smile that Heinrich Dierssen 
 had drawn a little apart with Emma Bur- 
 roughs. For the first time, too, she thought 
 that Emma Burroughs was almost pretty, 
 with the flush of pleasure on her face and 
 the unaccustomed sparkle in her eyes. 
 
 " I don't believe she is more than twenty- 
 seven or eight, after all," she said to herself. 
 " She must be at least ten years younger 
 than her sister. Heinrich Dierssen is cer- 
 tainly older than Gottfried, and can be little 
 if any younger than Emma. I don't see 
 why it should n't be." And with the enthu- 
 siasm of her sex for match-making, Con- 
 stance determined to help matters along.
 
 86 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 The most obvious thing to do at present 
 was to leave them to themselves ; so Con- 
 stance turned to Mrs. Dierssen and talked 
 with her in imperfect German, asking her 
 about those places in Germany that Gott- 
 fried had sometimes mentioned. 
 
 Thus the morning wore away. For some 
 reason Constance had lost her buoyant spirits 
 and felt vaguely regretful that she had not 
 gone with Gottfried up the mountain. She 
 was glad when Mrs. Dierssen declared it was 
 time to go to lunch. 
 
 They went back to the hotel, and looked 
 for Gottfried, but in vain. He was not on 
 the veranda, nor in the lower vestibule, nor 
 in the parlor above. 
 
 " He must be in his room," said Hein- 
 rich ; " I will go and see." 
 
 But the door was locked, and there was no 
 answer to his tap. 
 
 He returned to the group on the veranda, 
 and here they waited some time longer ; but 
 Gottfried did not return. Constance was 
 anxious and ill at ease ; but she strove to
 
 MOUNT LOWE 87 
 
 conceal her agitation. She laughed and 
 jested in a merry way, but at intervals fell 
 into abstracted silence. Heinrich began to 
 suspect there was some cause for her anxiety, 
 and speculated idly as to its nature. 
 
 At last, at the young man's suggestion, 
 they went to the dining-room, thinking Gott- 
 fried would join them there on his return. 
 But they finished lunch, and still he had not 
 come. The White Chariot was ready to 
 start down the Incline for the trip to Rubio 
 Canon. 
 
 " You had better go," Constance said to 
 the others. " I will stay here till he re- 
 turns." After a moment's demur they left 
 her. 
 
 The White Chariot swept down the In- 
 cline with its merry, laughing load of pas- 
 sengers ; and Constance turned back into 
 the vestibule with an undefined fear in her 
 heart. She went directly to the office and 
 spoke to the clerk. 
 
 " Have you seen Mr. Jager ? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes," was the reply. " He went 
 back to Los Angeles this morning."
 
 88 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Constance paled, but controlled herself 
 with an effort. 
 
 " Did he leave any word ? " she asked. 
 
 " No," was the answer. " He merely 
 asked for his bill ; and when he had settled 
 it, went out to the Chariot and got in, just 
 as it was starting down for the morning 
 train. By the way," he added, drawing out 
 a roll of papers, " the bell-boy found these 
 in his room after he left. Perhaps you will 
 be kind enough to return them to him." 
 
 Mechanically Constance took the roll he 
 handed to her, and walked slowly up to her 
 room. When she had closed the door be- 
 hind her, she unrolled the papers and looked 
 at them. They were evidently the sketches 
 he had made on the mountain that morning. 
 
 An hour later, the party to Rubio Canon 
 returned. Constance met them quietly, and 
 told them that Gottfried had been unex- 
 pectedly called away on the morning train 
 and had left word with the clerk for them. 
 She choked a little over the last words, but 
 could not resist the loving deception. Hein-
 
 MOUNT LOWE 89 
 
 rich looked at her keenly, and saw that his 
 suspicious of the morning had not been un- 
 founded ; but he made no comment on her 
 explanation, simply translating it to his mo- 
 ther in response to her inquiries. 
 
 The return to Los Angeles was silent or 
 broken by forced conversation, all reference 
 to the unaccountable defection of their com- 
 panion being carefully avoided. Constance 
 felt herself continually on the point of tears, 
 and could hardly trust her voice to answer 
 the remarks addressed to her. Heinrich 
 Dierssen and Emma Burroughs were ab- 
 sorbed in each other in a quiet way; and 
 Mrs. Dierssen, seeing the girl's distress, did 
 not trouble her with much attempt at con- 
 versation. 
 
 While Constance was crying herself to 
 sleep that night, Rex Carrington, dispensing 
 with the somewhat officious ministrations of 
 Perkins, paced his study with corrugated 
 brow and hands clasped behind him. 
 
 He stopped in front of the Madonna, and 
 stood looking at it. Gottfried had tried in
 
 90 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 vain to regain possession of the picture, 
 having offered him twice what he had paid 
 for it, though the price would have left him 
 without means of buying his next meal. 
 But Rex Carrington had laughed at his 
 overtures and sent him scornful replies. 
 
 Now, as the young man gazed at the pic- 
 tured face, he realized as never before the 
 strange power it had over him. All the 
 best and noblest part of his nature had been 
 touched to life by the revelation. Yet he 
 could not understand himself. 
 
 " What a fool I am," he muttered, " to 
 be in love with a picture. And such love ! 
 I never knew the meaning of the word be- 
 fore. I feel as though I could carry that girl 
 in my arms to the ends of the earth ; and I 
 could no more harm her than I could harm 
 an angel. What would my mother think if 
 she knew I wanted to marry her, my 
 mother, who is the daughter of an earl ? But 
 she is fit to be a countess herself," he went 
 on, letting his eyes rest on the pictured face. 
 "It is strange I cannot find her. And it
 
 MOUNT LOWE 91 
 
 is strange that fool of an artist does not 
 succeed in meeting me. We are even now 
 at least, for it was he that failed at the ren- 
 dezvous last week, and I have cast the impu- 
 tation of coward in his teeth." 
 
 He stopped again in front of the picture, 
 and, looking closely at the name scrawled 
 across the lower corner, gave a start of sur- 
 prise. 
 
 " Gottfried Jager ! " he exclaimed. " It is 
 strange I never thought of it before. It is 
 easy enough to translate. Gottfried Jager ; 
 how the deuce did the fellow get that 
 name?" 
 
 He stared at the words with incredulous 
 wonder. 
 
 " It is a remarkable coincidence," he mut- 
 tered, and fell to pacing the floor again.
 
 VII 
 
 CLOUDS 
 
 IT was early in the afternoon that Con- 
 stance turned up Adams Street on her way 
 to the home of little Lillian Ferris, one of 
 her music pupils. She was dressed in a 
 dainty summer gown of pink and white, but, 
 mindful of the afternoon sea breeze, she 
 carried her winter cape over her arm. She 
 did not know what a pretty picture she made; 
 and as she hurried along her thoughts were 
 anxious and unhappy, for she had not seen 
 Gottfried since he left them at Echo Moun- 
 tain. She had almost been tempted to make 
 a confidante of Mrs. Dierssen,for she longed 
 for comfort and counsel ; but she felt that 
 the secret belonged to Gottfried, and what- 
 ever it might be, it was her duty to guard it 
 for him. Her mother was as much disturbed 
 as Constance over the mystery that seemed
 
 CLOUDS 93 
 
 to surround Gottfried's life. She almost 
 regretted that she had not opposed the 
 courtship in the beginning ; but she could 
 not help liking and trusting Gottfried her- 
 self, and she knew that now her daughter's 
 happiness was irrevocably bound up in him. 
 It happened, therefore, that his absence was 
 scarcely ever commented upon between 
 them, each wishing to spare the other the 
 pain of discussing the subject. 
 
 Constance had just passed the house in 
 which Gottfried lived, and the drawn blinds 
 of the studio window had seemed in some 
 mysterious way to shut him out of her life. 
 Where he passed his time and what he did 
 in those long days away from her she had 
 tried in vain to imagine. Not by the slight- 
 est reference or lapse of caution had he ever 
 given her a glimpse into those closed chap- 
 ters of his life. 
 
 As she continued her walk she left behind 
 her the pretty cottages with their trim little 
 gardens, and turning on a broad street, 
 passed a succession of beautiful residences,
 
 94 AN ELUSIVE LOVKR 
 
 most of them of either Renaissance or Gothic 
 architecture. She turned in at the gate of a 
 spacious house built in Queen Anne style, 
 and a moment later was in the music-room 
 with her little pupil. 
 
 It was with difficulty that she could con- 
 centrate her mind upon the monotonous 
 round of scales and exercises, and the pretty 
 spoiled child seemed more careless and try- 
 ing than usual. The ordeal was over at 
 last, however, and she stood by the piano 
 drawing on her gloves, when Miss Ferris, 
 her pupil's sister, entered the room. She 
 was a handsome girl, with a cold, proud 
 face, and an air of almost disdainful hauteur. 
 She nodded carelessly to Constance as she 
 crossed the room. 
 
 "Did you see my card-case, Lillian?" she 
 said to her little sister ; " I thought I left it 
 on the piano." 
 
 " Yes, it is here," said the child, picking 
 it up and holding it out to her. 
 
 As Miss Ferris stepped forward to take 
 it, passing in front of Constance to do so,
 
 CLOUDS 95 
 
 something fell at her feet. It was the locket 
 that Gottfried had given Constance. A link 
 of the chain had parted, and in falling the 
 locket had opened, and lay with the portrait 
 exposed to view. Miss Ferris glanced down, 
 and, with a cry of surprise, stooped swiftly 
 and lifted the trinket in her hand. 
 
 "Is this your property, Miss Wilbur?" 
 she asked coldly. 
 
 " Thank you, yes," said Constance, hold- 
 ing out her hand for the locket. 
 
 Miss Ferris did not notice the gesture, but 
 continued looking at the portrait. 
 
 " May I take the liberty of inquiring who 
 this is ? " she asked, raising her scornful eyes 
 to Constance's face. 
 
 " Certainly," said Constance with quiet 
 dignity ; " it is my fiance." 
 
 Miss Ferris laughed ; a bitter, mocking 
 laugh that vibrated painfully on her lis- 
 tener's ears. 
 
 " So that is what he tells you," she said ; 
 " and it is presumably with you he spends 
 so much of the time he denies his friends."
 
 96 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 She handed back the locket and turned 
 to leave the room. Constance stopped her 
 with an imperative gesture. 
 
 " Miss Ferris," she said, steadying her 
 voice with an effort, "will you be kind 
 enough to explain the meaning of your 
 words?" 
 
 " Certainly, since you wish it," was the 
 cold reply. " The gentleman whose portrait 
 you wear, is engaged to a lady of position 
 and wealth. He is deceiving you unless, 
 perhaps, you are deceiving me." 
 
 The face of Constance had paled, but 
 flushed deeply at the insult of the concluding 
 words. 
 
 " It is not true," she cried with passionate 
 vehemence ; " I know it is not true." 
 
 "As you wish," said Miss Ferris icily; 
 " I suppose, of course, you wear his ring." 
 
 As she spoke, she glanced from the little 
 gloved hands to the indignant face. The 
 eyes of Constance faltered and fell. 
 
 " Ah ! " said Miss Ferris quietly, " I see 
 you do not. It is as I thought."
 
 CLOUDS 97 
 
 Again she turned to leave the room, and 
 again Constance detained her. 
 
 " Miss Ferris," she said, " you must hear 
 me. He gave me no ring because he has a 
 prejudice, a superstition, if you like, against 
 the custom. He gave me the locket in- 
 stead." 
 
 "And you believe in his superstition?" 
 asked Miss Ferris with contemptuous scorn. 
 " Perhaps you will be glad for me to tell 
 you that he reserves the ring for his true 
 fiancee." 
 
 As she spoke, she twisted carelessly a 
 handsome solitaire diamond that gleamed on 
 her finger. Constance, in her agitation, did 
 not notice the movement. With an effort, 
 she controlled herself and gathered up her 
 music from the piano. Little Lillian, who 
 had annoyed her so during the lesson hour, 
 had slipped around by her side and seized 
 her hand. 
 
 "Don't mind her," she said, looking at 
 her sister spitefully ; " she 's a cross old 
 thing, anyway."
 
 98 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 But the two girls stood facing each other, 
 unconscious of the presence of the child. 
 In the ears of Constance the words of the 
 other kept repeating- themselves. 
 
 "It is not true," she said again; "you 
 cannot make me believe it is true." And 
 some way, she never knew exactly how, she 
 got out of the room and out of the house, 
 into the open air. 
 
 She hurried along the street, her thoughts 
 in a confused whirl. Gottfried was certainly 
 true to her, she assured herself over and 
 over. But even as she said the words she 
 passed his studio with its closed blinds, and 
 her heart sank with vague terror. What 
 was the mystery that surrounded his life? 
 How did he pass the long hours away from 
 her? Was it indeed Miss Ferris or one of 
 her friends that drew him away from her, 
 and could he be deceiving her? But her 
 reason came to the aid of her heart in protest 
 against the thought. Miss Ferris, with her 
 family, and her wealth and her pride, would 
 scorn such a suitor as a poor and unknown
 
 CLOUDS 99 
 
 artist, and so would any woman of her set. 
 It must be there was some remarkable re- 
 semblance that was playing a trick of mis- 
 taken identity. Why had she not asked 
 Miss Ferris the name of the man to whom 
 she referred? That might have explained 
 all. And yet, could she herself ever mis- 
 take another face for Gottfried's? Surely 
 there was no other like it in the world, no 
 other so dreamy and handsome and good. 
 
 It had turned suddenly cold with the af- 
 ternoon wind, and she threw her heavy wrap 
 over her shoulders as she hurried along. A 
 dozen thoughts surged wildly through her 
 brain ; but through them all came the re- 
 lentless recollection that she had another 
 lesson to give that afternoon. For the mo- 
 ment she had forgotten it, and started auto- 
 matically toward home. Now she turned 
 back, and walked faster to make good the 
 time she had lost. 
 
 An hour later, as she came out again on 
 the street, closing the gate behind her, she 
 almost fell into the arms of Gottfried. She
 
 100 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 gave a little cry of delight, and held out both 
 her hands to him. 
 
 " Gottfried, Gottfried ! " she said, lifting 
 her eyes to him pleadingly. 
 
 " Why, mein Z/iebchen, what is the mat- 
 ter ? " he exclaimed ; for tears trembled on 
 the long lashes. 
 
 " You are not you are why did you 
 give me a locket instead of a ring?" she 
 burst out incoherently. 
 
 An expression of pain crossed his face. 
 
 " Come, meine Liebste, we cannot talk 
 on the street," he said gently. " Come back 
 to my studio." 
 
 It did not occur to her that there was 
 anything unconventional in stopping with 
 him at the studio. She had gone there day 
 after day to pose for the Madonna and to 
 sit for the portrait ; so she allowed him to 
 draw her hand through his arm, and they 
 passed up the street in silence together. 
 Gottfried could feel the little hand on his 
 arm tremble, and he longed to clasp it in 
 his ; but even on the quiet street they were
 
 CLOUDS 101 
 
 traversing there were occasional passers, and 
 at intervals suburban street-cars swept by 
 with a whir and a clang of bells. 
 
 They entered the house of Mrs. Flanni- 
 gan, and Gottfried opened the door of the 
 studio. Constance followed him into the 
 room and glanced about her. There was 
 dust on tables and chairs ; and some sketches 
 that had been pinned to the wall lay scat- 
 tered on the floor. The portrait of Con- 
 stance stood on the easel opposite the closed 
 door of an inner room, and smiled at them. 
 The girl sank down in the chair in which 
 she had sat for the picture and burst into 
 tears. 
 
 Gottfried stood by, at a loss to under- 
 stand the meaning of it all, and waiting for 
 Constance to speak. But she paid no heed 
 to him and continued to sob. At length he 
 crossed the room and tried to draw her 
 hands from her eyes. 
 
 " What is it, mein Liebchen ? " he said 
 tenderly. " Won't you tell me ? " 
 
 She drew her hands from his and raised
 
 102 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 her eyes to his face. Lifting the locket 
 from her breast, she held it up toward him. 
 
 " To whom did you give the ring that you 
 would not give to me ? " she asked slowly. 
 In her heart she believed him true to her, 
 but she wanted to test him by the sudden- 
 ness of the attack. 
 
 His face flushed, and a momentary anger 
 flashed in his eyes. 
 
 " I have given no ring," he said. " I 
 have given a present to no woman but you." 
 
 " And do you not know Miss Ferris, of 
 No. Adams Street ? " she continued. 
 
 "No," he returned, "I never heard of 
 her." 
 
 His eyes looked frankly in hers, and she 
 could no longer doubt him. 
 
 She rose and held out her hands to him. 
 
 " Forgive me," she said simply. 
 
 For answer he drew her into his arms. 
 
 " But tell me, mein Liebchen" he said 
 a moment later, " why you should have 
 doubted me, even for a moment." 
 
 " Miss Ferris is the sister of one of my
 
 CLOUDS 103 
 
 pupils," Constance explained. " She told 
 me you were deceiving me ; that you were 
 engaged to a girl of position and wealth. 
 She thought she recognized your portrait in 
 the locket." 
 
 As she spoke, Gottfried had turned white, 
 and a vague horror had crept into his face. 
 
 " And I have been so worried about you," 
 continued Constance, who had laid her 
 cheek on his shoulder and did not see his 
 face, " ever since you left us so suddenly at 
 Echo Mountain. And you have been away 
 so long this time, you know." 
 
 Gottfried started back and his arms fell 
 away from her. 
 
 " God forgive me ! " he cried, staggering 
 against the wall and covering his face with 
 his hands. " I did not dream it was so bad 
 as this." 
 
 " What is it ? " cried the girl in terror, 
 running to him and clinging to his arm. 
 " It is your turn to tell me your trou- 
 bles. Tell me, and let me share them with 
 you."
 
 104 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Achf mein Liebchen" he said, looking 
 down at her and stroking her cheek ; " I can- 
 not tell you ; it is beyond my power ; and, 
 wretch that I am, I am not strong enough 
 to give you up." 
 
 " No," she said solemnly ; " I know you 
 cannot give me up ; and I thank God for 
 it." 
 
 Again he drew her into his arms and 
 kissed her tenderly, but without passion. 
 
 " I cannot marry you, mein Liebchen" he 
 said, " with a cloud on my life. But neither 
 can I give up your love. You will wait for 
 me a little longer, and I will not rest until I 
 have made myself master of my fate." 
 
 Constance looked up bravely and smiled 
 through her tears. 
 
 " And now," she said, " you will come 
 home with me and have some tea and toast 
 with us. I am not willing to lose you, even 
 for a little while, this evening." 
 
 " Faith, and I thought yez was niver 
 comin' again at all, Mr. Gottfried," said the 
 voice of Mrs. Flannigan as they stepped
 
 CLOUDS 105 
 
 into the hall. " And sure it 's good for sore 
 eyes is the sight of yez." 
 
 Gottfried made a laughing rejoinder and 
 led the way out on the street. 
 
 Mrs. Wilbur smiled as she saw the two 
 coming arm-in-arm through the gate. She 
 had been lying on her lounge in the bay- 
 window and watching for Constance for 
 more than an hour. 
 
 That evening Constance returned to Gott- 
 fried the Mount Lowe sketches that he had 
 feared were lost. 
 
 " I am sorry I did not get Rubio Canon," 
 he said, as he glanced over them. " If I 
 had, I could have taken an order to-day." 
 
 It was the only comment he made on his 
 disappearance ; but as he stood with her in 
 the hallway at parting, he referred again to 
 the ring. 
 
 " You will not let it trouble you, mein 
 Liebchen f " he said. " You will believe in 
 me, whatever they say ? " 
 
 And she gave him the assurance he de- 
 sired.
 
 VIII 
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 
 
 THE next day, Gottfried, attired scrupu- 
 lously in his best, bent his way toward Ad- 
 ams Street. He had wanted to go to see 
 Miss Ferris early in the morning, so excited 
 was he over the recital of Constance ; but he 
 reflected that he would have more chance of 
 being received if he should wait till after- 
 noon. He had therefore spent the morning 
 in touching up the Mount Lowe sketches, 
 finding it difficult, however, to concentrate 
 his attention upon his work. He had not 
 dined at the little coffee-house where he was 
 accustomed to meet Heinrich Dierssen at 
 noon, for he wanted to avoid his friend and 
 the uncomfortable questions he would un- 
 doubtedly ask him, till after the momentous 
 interview; but he had wandered into a little 
 up-town restaurant, and when he had fin-
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 107 
 
 ished his lunch, had occupied the interval of 
 waiting in strolling about the streets. It 
 was therefore about four o'clock when he 
 rang the bell at the Ferris mansion. 
 
 As the servant opened the door, he drew 
 out his card, on which was inscribed the an- 
 nouncement : Gottfried Jager, Landscape 
 and Portrait Painter. Instructions given 
 from 10 to 12 and 2 to 4 daily. To his 
 surprise the man spoke a respectful word of 
 recognition, and, opening the door, led the 
 way into the drawing-room. 
 
 " Miss Ferris has been expecting you all 
 day, sir," he said, as he retired. 
 
 Gottfried sat down bewildered and waited 
 for developments. 
 
 The train of his thoughts was suddenly 
 disturbed. A pretty blonde child had parted 
 the portieres at the back of the room and 
 was looking at him roguishly. 
 
 " Did you bring me the box of bonbons ? " 
 she asked. " If you did? give them to 
 me quick, before any one comes and says I 
 can't have them. I 'm going to put them in
 
 108 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Angelica's trunk Angelica 's my Paris doll, 
 you know and eat them all myself. Why 
 don't you bring them ? " she added, stamp- 
 ing her little foot. 
 
 " I 'm sorry," said Gottfried, laughing in 
 spite of his perplexity, " but you '11 have to 
 excuse me this time ; I did n't bring them." 
 
 " Then I won't kiss you, and you can't 
 catch me if you try," she exclaimed. 
 
 With this parting shot, she drew the cur- 
 tains and he was left alone. 
 
 He looked about him curiously. He was 
 sure that he had never seen the room before. 
 It was richly furnished with Oriental car- 
 pets and tapestries, and marbles and bronzes 
 from Italy. Suddenly he started, for among 
 the paintings that adorned the walls, he 
 recognized a little water-color of his own. 
 It was a view of the Golden Gate that he 
 had intended placing in the store of Eobins 
 Brothers for sale some time before. One 
 day he had missed it from his studio ; and 
 after a severe strain of memory, distinctly 
 recollected starting out to the dealers' with
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 109 
 
 it ; but upon inquiry at the store, he was 
 told that it had never been received. Think- 
 ing there was a possibility of mistake now, 
 he rose, and, crossing the room, scrutinized 
 the picture closely. The name of Gottfried 
 Jager was written across the corner, as he 
 had thought it would be. 
 
 At this moment the servant reentered the 
 room. 
 
 " Miss Ferris is out driving, sir," he said. 
 
 " Then I will come again," said Gottfried, 
 rising. 
 
 The servant bowed and seemed to expect 
 some further message. Gottfried thought a 
 moment before he spoke. It was Saturday, 
 and it would hardly do to call on Sunday. 
 It was with an effort that he checked his 
 impatience to a suitable reply. 
 
 " Tell her," he said, that I will come 
 Monday morning at eleven." 
 
 He glanced at the man's face, but it 
 was decorous and impassive. Whatever he 
 thought, he understood the propriety of his 
 position too well to betray it to his supe-
 
 110 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 As Gottfried walked rapidly down the 
 broad street, he came suddenly upon Hein- 
 rich Dierssen. 
 
 " Hello ! " ejaculated the latter, stopping 
 and holding out his hand. " Where have 
 you been so long ? " 
 
 Gottfried made an evasive answer as he 
 gripped his friend's hand. 
 
 "How's your affair with the Figueroa 
 swell coming on ? " asked Heinrich jocu- 
 larly. 
 
 " Let me see ; what is the second date 
 set? Some time next week, isn't it?" 
 inquired Gottfried. 
 
 " Look here, Gottfried," exclaimed Diers- 
 sen, almost angrily ; " what are you try- 
 ing to play your Rip Van Winkle trick on 
 me for ? It was last week, and you know 
 it ; and your confounded disappearance has 
 given that fellow a chance to call you 
 what is your American word? a cad." 
 
 Gottfried paled, but tried to answer non- 
 chalantly. 
 
 " Don't get angry, Heinrich," he said :
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 111 
 
 "you might excuse a fellow for a slip of 
 memory when he has as much on his mind 
 as I have." 
 
 Dierssen looked at him curiously. He 
 wondered more than ever what the mysteri- 
 ous business could be that took him away 
 so suddenly. 
 
 " But what are you going to do about the 
 appointment ? " he asked. 
 
 Gottfried shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I suppose we must set another date," 
 he replied. " And, Heinrich," he added 
 more seriously, laying his hand on his 
 friend's arm, " when I am away, if I should 
 be called away at any time, you will guard 
 Constance for me you will not let him 
 meet her " his voice broke, and he could 
 not finish his sentence. 
 
 Dierssen sought his hand and gripped it 
 in his own. 
 
 " She will be safe," he said ; " you need 
 not fear for her." 
 
 " I would trust mein Liebchen anywhere," 
 said Gottfried, " as far as her loyalty and
 
 112 .4 AT ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 truth are concerned ; but I will not have 
 her annoyed, I will not have her know about 
 this man." 
 
 " I will stand between them," said Hein- 
 rich ; " you need not be afraid. But you 
 are not thinking of going away, are you ? " 
 he added anxiously. 
 
 " No," said Gottfried, a little uncertainly, 
 " I am not thinking of it ; but I don't 
 know " 
 
 He left the sentence uncompleted, and 
 again Heinrich looked at him curiously. 
 Gottfried noticed the glance and flushed. 
 
 " I must go to the studio," he said ; " I 
 have a picture to finish." 
 
 He turned off at the corner, looking back 
 with an " Auf Wiedersehen" to cover the 
 abruptness of his departure. 
 
 Heinrich had walked but a few blocks 
 farther, when he overtook Constance Wil- 
 bur, returning home from her round of 
 lessons. 
 
 He slackened his pace to keep step with 
 her, and began talking of trivial things.
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 113 
 
 But all the while his thoughts were busy 
 with Gottfried ; his mysterious business, 
 his solicitude about Constance, and the un- 
 finished affair with Rex Carrington. He 
 stole sidelong glances at the profile of the 
 face beside him, and noted again the beauty 
 of outline and coloring and the sweetness 
 and purity of expression. 
 
 " No wonder Gottfried loves her," he 
 thought, " for he is an artist." 
 
 Then he thought of a face that was not 
 beautiful, and yet could thrill him as no 
 other face had ever done. At the thought, 
 he inquired after Miss Burroughs. 
 
 " Come up this evening with Gottfried," 
 said Constance, smiling, " and I will ask her 
 in, and Gottfried shall make us one of his 
 rarebits." 
 
 Accordingly, Heinrich Dierssen stopped 
 that evening at Gottfried's studio, only to 
 find it deserted. 
 
 " Sure, and I have n't seen him since he 
 wint out this afternoon," Mrs. Flanuigan 
 replied to his inquiries ; " and it 's as un-
 
 114 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 certain as the weather in the spring-time he 
 is. But as long as he pays his rint, what 's 
 that to me, if he is n't here half the time ? 
 And I ask no questions, and niver a word 
 does he tell me where he goes. Faith, and 
 his pupils are all lavin' him, and a shame it 
 is, with him such a foine painter." 
 
 " If he comes back this evening," said 
 Heinrich as he turned away, "tell him to 
 come up to Miss Wilbur's ; we are expect- 
 ing him." 
 
 Ten minutes later he was trying to excuse 
 Gottfried to Constance. When the girl saw 
 he was alone, she had turned white and de- 
 tained him in the hall to question him. 
 
 "When did you see him last?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " He walked with me on the street a few 
 blocks this afternoon," said Heinrich. 
 
 " And where did he go ? " persisted Con- 
 stance. " To his studio ? " 
 
 "Yes," the young man replied. "He 
 seemed to be in a hurry ; he said he had a 
 picture to finish."
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 115 
 
 " Did he say anything about going away ? " 
 asked Constance anxiously. 
 
 "Well, yes," admitted Heinrich, afraid 
 of saying too much. " He said he had busi- 
 ness that might call him away suddenly at 
 any time. But he did not expect to go 
 away at present." 
 
 " In that case," said Constance quietly, 
 " he will probably come later." 
 
 As they entered the room, Emma Bur- 
 roughs blushed prettily, and for a moment 
 Heinrich forgot Gottfried and Constance in 
 his pleasure at seeing her. Constance was 
 amazed at the transformation that had taken 
 place in the little dressmaker. The lines 
 were gone from her face and the dull look 
 from her eyes. She wore a pretty waist of 
 ^>ale silk, and her blond hair was dressed 
 in the latest mode. But perhaps it was not 
 so much the change of dress as the begin- 
 ning of a new happiness that made her look 
 ten years younger than when Constance 
 first saw her. 
 
 Mrs. Wilbur looked up in surprise when 
 she saw that Heinrich was alone.
 
 116 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Where is Gottfried ? " she asked, and 
 the young man thought he detected the same 
 shadow on her face that had clouded the 
 girl's on his arrival. 
 
 " He was not at the studio, mamma," the 
 girl interposed hastily. " Mr. Dierssen left 
 word for him to come up if he returned." 
 
 They passed the evening playing bezique, 
 Heinrich drawing a table up to the invalid's 
 couch that she might participate in the 
 game. Constance strained her ears at the 
 sound of every footstep on the sidewalk ; 
 but the welcome click of the gate-latch did 
 not follow, nor the familiar tread up the 
 little paved walk. The evening passed, and 
 Gottfried did not come. Constance referred 
 to him but once, and then indirectly. As 
 she served Eussian tea and wafers, she re- 
 marked that she was sorry Hamlet had been 
 left out of the play, the rarebit out of the 
 feast. 
 
 Late that night Heinrich Dierssen sat in 
 his little office, as yet unvisited by patients, 
 and pored over lengthy German medical
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 117 
 
 treatises ; but he did not find what he 
 sought. 
 
 " If there is a mystery about Gottfried 
 Jager's life," he soliloquized, as he closed 
 with a bang the heavy tome he had been 
 reading, " I am going to solve it. When 
 he turns up again, I will not lose sight of 
 him, but will follow him to the ends of the 
 earth, if need be. It is a shame for a man 
 with a mystery in his life to make a girl 
 like Constance Wilbur love him and fret 
 out her heart over him. What if it was 
 little Emma ? " and involuntarily his hands 
 clenched at the thought. 
 
 It was a long time before he found oppor- 
 tunity to put into effect his determination 
 concerning Gottfried ; for weeks passed and 
 nothing was seen of the painter. The dust 
 settled thicker on the tables and chairs in 
 the studio, which Mrs. Flannigan was espe- 
 cially forbidden to disturb with her icono- 
 clastic duster and broom ; and the unfin- 
 ished portrait on the easel smiled with the 
 sweet, wondering eyes of youth on the unac-
 
 118 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 customed disorder of the deserted place. 
 Cobwebs traced themselves about the cor- 
 ners and hung in filmy festoons from the 
 ceiling. The plant on the window-sill Mrs. 
 Flannigan did not have the heart to leave 
 untended, and had removed to her own 
 rooms. The blind was drawn and hung 
 like a curtain of mystery before the eyes of 
 Constance as she passed. 
 
 One by one his pupils fell away from 
 him, leaving word with Mrs. Flannigan that 
 they had found another teacher. Orders for 
 work he had taken were countermanded, 
 and a miscellaneous collection of mail lay on 
 his writing-desk, unopened and covered with 
 dust. 
 
 Once, nearly a month after his disappear- 
 ance, Heinrich would have sworn that he 
 saw him on a bicycle, racing with half a 
 dozen "scorchers" on the road to Santa 
 Monica ; but he knew that Gottfried did 
 not ride. In his anxiety for his friend and 
 his indignation over the ill-suppressed un- 
 happiness of Constance, he had entertained
 
 A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 119 
 
 wild thoughts of referring the matter to the 
 police; but he shrank from exposing his 
 friend to publicity, and he felt that Con- 
 stance would oppose any action unsanctioned 
 by Gottfried himself. 
 
 So the days passed into weeks, and the 
 summer began to wane. Constance had 
 grown listless and pale, and the curves of 
 her cheeks had thinned, bringing out the 
 prominence of the wide brow and the little 
 pointed chin, till the face wore more than its 
 usual semblance to the shape of a heart. 
 Even Heinrich Dierssen noticed it, and when 
 he saw her muttered under his breath, " Das 
 arme fferz."
 
 IX 
 
 AVALON 
 
 GOTTFRIED awoke with the thought of the 
 unfinished portrait in his mind, and opened 
 his eyes, eager to get to work. Then he 
 opened them wider and stared about him 
 in astonishment. Instead of his bed-room, 
 with the door open into the studio so that 
 he could see the pictured face of Constance 
 in his first moment of consciousness, he 
 gazed upon a strange interior, with which 
 he was entirely unfamiliar. He was cer- 
 tainly in a tent, for the walls were canvas, 
 and so thin that he could hear the murmur 
 of voices in an adjoining room. The place 
 was bare, furnished only with two double 
 beds, a bureau, a washstand, and two or 
 three chairs. On the bureau stood a tallow 
 candle and several empty champagne bottles. 
 His satchel stood open in the middle of the
 
 AVALON 121 
 
 floor, and his clothing and toilet articles 
 were scattered about the room. Outside he 
 heard a steamer whistle, and the beat of the 
 surf on the shore. 
 
 " "What in the name of heaven am I doing 
 here ? " he exclaimed. " And where am I, 
 anyway?" he added, wonderingly. 
 
 Surely it was only last night he had held 
 the heart-face in his hands and kissed the 
 little pointed chin as Constance stood with 
 him at the doorway ; the night he had come 
 back to her after their trip to Echo Moun- 
 tain. Surely it was only last night he had 
 added to the face on the canvas the lumi- 
 nous expression that had flashed into the 
 living face at that blissful moment. It was 
 only last night he had gone to bed with the 
 thought that he would see the wonderful 
 new beauty of the canvas radiating its love 
 on him when he first opened his eyes, and 
 thinking thus had fallen asleep and dreamed 
 of her as the Madonna, God pity him, with 
 the child in her arms. 
 
 And now the bare room, the canvas
 
 122 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 walls, the murmured voices, and the inex- 
 plicable sound of the sea ! 
 
 He jumped up, and, dragging a chair in 
 front of the door, from whose lock hung the 
 long wooden tag of a key, with a painted 
 number, he sprang up and looked through 
 the open transom over the door. He drew 
 in his breath with an involuntary exclama- 
 tion of delight. The scene he looked upon 
 was picturesque and beautiful in the ex- 
 treme. Curved crescent-like was a lovely 
 bay, that formed almost a perfect semicircle, 
 with high bluffs jutting out at the points. 
 The shore-line could not have been more 
 than a mile in extent, and was fringed 
 with hotels, pretty villas, and open bazaars. 
 On either side, and, presumably, back of 
 him, rose hills of a golden brown, the color 
 modified by low brush and cactus. Already 
 there were bathers in the surf, and the 
 wharf was crowded with people. A pretty 
 little vessel was evidently making ready to 
 leave port, its decks already filling with pas- 
 sengers, who were nodding and waving their
 
 AVALON 123 
 
 handkerchiefs to friends on shore. The 
 name of the steamer caught his eye Her- 
 mosa. He had heard it before, he was sure ; 
 but he could not remember in what connec- 
 tion. On the blue water, near the pebbly 
 shore, lay a number of little boats, and a 
 small steam-yacht was anchored by the bath- 
 house. Beyond it all, melting imperceptibly 
 into the deep blue of the sky, was the illim- 
 itable stretch of sea. 
 
 He turned away at last, and proceeded to 
 make his toilet in a leisurely manner, listen- 
 ing to the conversation on the other side of 
 the canvas with the hope of learifing his 
 locality. 
 
 As he carefully adjusted his tie in front 
 of the glass, he pushed the empty bottles 
 aside impatiently. 
 
 " Must have been left by my predecessor," 
 he muttered ; *' I 'm sure my purse would n't 
 stand four bottles of champagne." 
 
 The conversation of his unknown neigh- 
 bors had so far been confined to plans for 
 the day's fishing, but suddenly it took a new 
 turn.
 
 124 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Hurry up, old fellow, and get ready for 
 breakfast," said one voice. " They won't 
 have a thing at the hotel fit to eat if you 
 wait much longer. The perennial yellow- 
 tail will be cold, and I don't care for cold 
 fish." 
 
 "But it 's beastly early," yawned the other 
 voice. " Nevertheless, I suppose I must yield 
 to the inevitable, you standing, as usual, 
 for the inevitable." And there was another 
 sound of springs and thud of feet, followed 
 by sundry splashings, and scraping of chairs, 
 and snapping of the locks of valises. 
 
 Gottfried conceived a brilliant idea. He 
 would wait till the men came out, and follow 
 them to the " hotel," where it was evidently 
 the proper thing to breakfast. He would 
 leave it to chance to discover where he was, 
 without betraying his mysterious ignorance, 
 and would determine his course of action to 
 suit the circumstances. 
 
 Accordingly, he finished his toilet, and 
 occupied the time of waiting by ransacking 
 his valise for his sketch-book, as he wanted
 
 AVALON 125 
 
 to take away with him a picture of the place, 
 to elaborate into a painting at his leisure. 
 But to his astonishment he found no sketch- 
 book, and no trace of artist's materials. 
 
 " What possessed me to come to a place 
 like this without them ? " he muttered. 
 " Poor little Constance, how can I ever 
 explain things to her? She will pass my 
 window this morning, and look for me in 
 vain. And how do I know I am not at the 
 antipodes ? Mein Gott / " he burst out 
 suddenly, " if I have n't seen a curve like 
 that bay somewhere in a picture of Naples. 
 A pretty fix I 'm in if I Ve landed in Eu- 
 rope with only twenty-five dollars in my 
 pockets." For that was all the cash that 
 had rewarded his search through his various 
 effects. 
 
 At that moment the door in the adjoining 
 room opened, and he hastened out just in 
 time to encounter two young men on the 
 narrow board walk in front of his door. 
 
 " Hello, old chap ! " one of them ex- 
 claimed, familiarly, " you look rather seedy
 
 126 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 this morning. Too much champagne, eh ? " 
 which seemed very unjust to Gottfried, in 
 view of the fact that neither his purse nor 
 his inclination permitted him to indulge in 
 anything stronger than an occasional glass 
 of beer. 
 
 "Oh! I'm all right," he said, with as- 
 sumed indifference. "The bay looks in- 
 viting this morning, does n't it ? " he added, 
 tentatively. 
 
 " Yes, I wish you did n't have to go back 
 to-day," one of the young men rejoined. 
 " It 's too bad to miss the fishing, especially 
 such an angler as you." 
 
 Gottfried flushed a little resentfully. If 
 he was a poor fisherman, it was not pleasant 
 to have the fact cast in one's face in that 
 sarcastic manner. But the man continued, 
 enthusiastically. 
 
 "That haul of yours yesterday was the 
 biggest one made this summer, so I heard," 
 he said. 
 
 By this time they had reached the hotel. 
 Gottfried looked for the name, and saw it
 
 AVALON 127 
 
 was the Grand View. The words brought 
 no association of ideas to his mind. He 
 followed his companions into the dining- 
 room, and sat down with them at the table. 
 This seemed to be the usual thing, for there 
 was no evidence of surprise. Several guests 
 at other tables bowed to him, and he returned 
 the salutation, although he had not the faint- 
 est recollection of their faces. 
 
 " Got your traps packed ? " said one of 
 his companions. "The steamer starts in 
 half an hour, you know." 
 
 "No," Gottfried replied, "but I can 
 throw them together in five minutes." 
 
 He wondered uneasily where he was ex- 
 pected to go, and if he had enough money 
 to buy his ticket. 
 
 " Well," said one of the men, as they rose 
 from the table some fifteen minutes later, 
 " we '11 see you in Los Angeles when we get 
 back from Catalina. Glad to have met 
 you," and he held out his hand. 
 
 Gottfried took it with a sigh of relief. 
 He was not far from home, after all ; only
 
 128 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 a few hours' ride on the steamer. He had 
 always wanted to visit Catalina Island, but 
 had never felt that he could afford the trip. 
 However, he determined, now that he was 
 here, that he would remain over another day, 
 and make some sketches before he left. He 
 kept his own counsel, however, and it was 
 with a sense of relief that he saw his two 
 companions row out on the Bay of Avalon. 
 He had been in constant dread of betraying 
 in their presence his inexplicable ignorance, 
 and dared not accompany them on their fish- 
 ing excursion ; for whatever he might do in 
 the irresponsible condition he had evidently 
 been in the day before, he knew that in 
 ordinary circumstances he would do any- 
 thing but distinguish himself as an angler. 
 
 He sat down on the veranda of the hotel 
 and felt in his pocket for his meerschaum. 
 It was not there, but his search was re- 
 warded by the discovery of a cigar of the 
 finest brand. He was surprised, for he 
 never smoked cigars. He put it back in 
 his pocket and sat in ruminative silence. A
 
 AVALON 129 
 
 merry party came out of the door with lunch- 
 baskets and fishing-reels. 
 
 "It's a lovely day to go around the 
 island," one of them remarked. 
 
 " Is that the yacht by the bath-house ? " 
 asked a young lady in glasses. 
 
 "Yes," was the reply; "did you bring 
 your sketch-book ? " 
 
 The girl nodded, and Gottfried was seized 
 with a sudden desire to take the trip and 
 make sketches too ; but he remembered in 
 despair that he had no materials with him. 
 It was too early for the stores to open, and 
 the yacht would start in a few minutes. He 
 recollected, however, a pad of writing-paper 
 and some pencils in his satchel, and he 
 dashed down to the tent to get them. 
 
 As he returned, he was met at the door 
 by the proprietor of the hotel. The steamer 
 was just leaving the wharf. 
 
 " I thought you were going back this 
 morning," the man said in surprise. 
 
 " I decided to remain over and take the 
 trip around the island," Gottfried replied 
 carelessly.
 
 130 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " But you went around the island Satur- 
 day," exclaimed the man. 
 
 Gottfried started, but immediately recov- 
 ered himself. 
 
 " I want to go again and make some 
 sketches," he said. 
 
 " By the way," the landlord said, as he 
 turned to reenter the hotel, " you can have 
 a room in the house now, if you care to 
 change. Some parties went away this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " I won't bother now," said Gottfried ; 
 " the tent 's good enough." And he picked 
 up his overcoat and went down to the yacht. 
 
 The boat steamed slowly out of the bay, 
 the curved shore-line, fringed with the pic- 
 turesque villas and white tents of Avalon set 
 against a background of rugged brown hills, 
 receding in the distance. 
 
 Gottfried sat on the deck, making rapid 
 outlines on the writing-paper he had brought 
 with him. 
 
 " Why," said a soft voice at his side, " I 
 did not know you could sketch."
 
 AVAL ON 131 
 
 He looked up and smiled into a pair of 
 bright eyes that were gazing at him through 
 glasses. He noticed that the face under 
 the sailor hat was young and softly curved. 
 The girl seemed to know him, after the 
 manner of seaside acquaintance, for she 
 spoke without hesitation. 
 
 " I was stupid enough not to bring my 
 sketching materials," he rejoined ; " but I 
 have resorted to these in desperation." 
 
 " Let me share mine with you," she said, 
 drawing several sheets from her portfolio, 
 and extracting a pencil from her case. " I 
 am sure you will make better use of them 
 than I can," she added, as he accepted the 
 proffer with a word of protest. 
 
 Notwithstanding Gottfried's uneasiness 
 and sense of being adrift in the sea of 
 events, he thoroughly enjoyed the day's 
 trip. A continued panorama of picturesque 
 surprises was unrolled before them. The 
 island, of volcanic origin, showed them al- 
 ways its steep, brown heights, dotted here 
 and there with shrubs and stunted trees, and
 
 132 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 covered with cactus. Occasionally, there 
 was a little pebble beach, or a cove large 
 enough for a house or two ; but always be- 
 hind them were the wild, bare bluffs. In 
 some places the rocks rose like walls and 
 battlements, stained with rich hues of green 
 and crimson and rose. They passed the 
 island of Seal Rocks, and heard the hoarse 
 cries of its clumsy denizens as they came out 
 to warm themselves in the sun. Just at 
 noon they rounded a cape of magnificently 
 colored walls and turrets of solid rock, 
 and came into the harbor of Cataliua Bay. 
 Here, on a little stretch of level ground, the 
 largest in the island, save the site of Avalon, 
 they were to take lunch. 
 
 The lady in glasses looked at Gottfried 
 and laughed. 
 
 " You are an example of the improvidence 
 of man," she said. " I see that you forgot 
 not only your sketching materials, but your 
 lunch as well. You must join our party." 
 
 The others seconded her invitation, insist- 
 ing that he was entitled to a share, as it all
 
 AVAL ON 133 
 
 came from the hotel. Accordingly he landed 
 with them, and assisted in finding a spot on 
 the hillside free of cactus, where they spread 
 out their lunch. It was a* merry party, not- 
 withstanding the fact that there had been 
 no formal introductions and the names of 
 several were unknown to the others. Gott- 
 fried learned, however, that his friend in 
 glasses was Miss Fay, of San Diego. 
 
 In the afternoon, as Gottfried sat on the 
 deck, watching the fishers who were draw- 
 ing in large yellow-tails, that fell struggling 
 over the side of the boat, one of the anglers 
 turned and spoke to him. 
 
 "You can get a room at the Metropole 
 now," he said ; " we 're not much more than 
 half full since the steamer left this morning. 
 It was a beastly shame you had to go to an- 
 other hotel." 
 
 " That 's all right," said Gottfried cau- 
 tiously ; " I 'm going back to Los Angeles 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " Strange the way the season closes here," 
 continued the first speaker. " By next week
 
 134 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 the hotels will all be closed ; and as for the 
 camping tourists, they will fold their tents 
 like the Arabs and steal away as suddenly, 
 if not so silently." 
 
 As they neared the shore in the evening, 
 having made the circuit of sixty miles about 
 the island, and Avalon came again into view, 
 half-shrouded in twilight, Gottfried hastily 
 added the finishing touches to the sketch he 
 had commenced in the morning. 
 
 A few moments later, when they stepped 
 from the gang-plank to the shore, Miss Fay 
 turned to Gottfried. 
 
 " Are you going up to the post-office ? " 
 she said. " If so, will you ask for me, Stella 
 Fay?" 
 
 " With pleasure," said Gottfried ; and as 
 the rest of the party went up to the hotel, 
 he turned down the main street, wondering 
 where the post-office was. Instinctively he 
 followed a stream of people up a side street, 
 and soon found himself standing in a line 
 before the post-office window, which opened 
 directly on the street.
 
 AVALON 135 
 
 As the man in front of him turned away, 
 and he stepped up to the window, the clerk 
 shook his head. 
 
 " Nothing for you this evening," he said. 
 
 "Anything for Miss Stella Fay?" asked 
 Gottfried, restraining his surprise. 
 
 The clerk handed out a paper, and as 
 Gottfried turned away, he glanced at it care- 
 lessly. 
 
 In a moment, he started and stood still. 
 The paper was folded in such a way that the 
 date was visible above the wrapper. Gott- 
 fried looked at it in amazement. Since the 
 night he had last seen Constance, and the 
 day he had called on Miss Ferris, the recol- 
 lection of which had suddenly returned to 
 him, nearly two months had elapsed; and 
 it seemed to him but two days. The inter- 
 vening period was a total blank in his mind. 
 
 Startled and dazed, he stumbled on to the 
 hotel ; and having delivered the mail to Miss 
 Fay, declined to go to the dining-room on 
 the plea of a headache, and sought the pri- 
 vacy of his tent-room.
 
 136 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Here he threw himself upon the bed, and, 
 momentarily forgetful of the thinness of the 
 walls, groaned aloud. He could no longer 
 conceal the truth from himself. He must 
 be subject to attacks of dementia, on recov- 
 ering from which he had no recollection of 
 the period during which it lasted. It must 
 be these repeated attacks that had made his 
 early life fade more and more into a nebu- 
 lous past, and only the last few months seem 
 in any way living and real. That he had 
 been apparently sane during the last of these 
 attacks seemed probable from the remarks 
 of the people about him ; but if the pheno- 
 mena continued, he feared they would result 
 in permanent madness ; and he blamed him- 
 self unsparingly for having won the love of 
 Constance. Yet, when he first met her, he 
 was hardly aware of his infirmity ; it was 
 only when she chided him in her gentle way 
 for missing the concert' that he really knew 
 his lapses of memory were anything more 
 serious than an occasional fit of absent- 
 mindedness. Even when he had spoken to
 
 AVALON 137 
 
 her vaguely of business in the country, he 
 did not think he had been really away, but 
 that he had slept ; or, perhaps, had tempo- 
 rarily forgotten all other things in the ex- 
 citement of work. But now, his strange 
 surroundings and the evidence that he had 
 taken part in events of which he had no re- 
 collection, forced upon him a recognition 
 of the more serious nature of his malady. 
 
 " I must go back," he said, " and tell her 
 everything and release her, though it should 
 break my heart to do so. But first," he 
 pondered, " I will call on Miss Ferris again, 
 and make her tell me the truth. It may be 
 it was no fancied resemblance that she saw 
 in the face in the locket. It may be she 
 holds the key to the mystery." 
 
 He passed a restless night, full of impa- 
 tience to return to Los Angeles ; and in the 
 early morning he stood on the deck of the 
 Hermosa, waving his hat to a little knot 
 of acquaintances on the shore. Slowly the 
 boat swept out on the calm blue waves, and 
 the beautiful bay and Avalon guarded by
 
 138 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 its beetling heights grew misty and faint in 
 the distance. 
 
 Gottfried leaned over the railing of the 
 deck and watched the magic picture fade. 
 Mysterious and unsatisfactory as his visit 
 to Catalina had been, the place was full of 
 charm, and in his artist's soul he felt a pang 
 at leaving it. But the thought of Constance 
 stirred in his heart and brought sudden tears 
 to his eyes. 
 
 It was over at last, the soft, undulating 
 motion of the boat, and the serene stretches 
 of blue sky and purple sea. He found him- 
 self in the throng at San Pedro, rushing 
 with the rest for the train. A swift passage 
 over sandy stretches and between young or- 
 chards and cultivated fields, and he was 
 again in the Arcade Station in Los Angeles, 
 for the first time on familiar ground. It 
 was about noon, and he took a car for the 
 coifee-house he frequented.
 
 A BROKEN PROMISE 
 
 As he entered and sat down at a table, he 
 was confronted by a familiar face. It was 
 that of Heinrich Dierssen. 
 
 " Hello ! " said the latter, jumping to his 
 feet and holding out his hand. " What part 
 of the sky did you drop from, and when did 
 you arrive ? Give an account of yourself." 
 
 He spoke in German, as he always did 
 when with Gottfried. 
 
 "I have been away on business," said 
 Gottfried evasively. He could not bring 
 himself to tell the truth. How could he 
 know how Heinrich would take his story ? 
 He might want to incarcerate him in an 
 asylum. 
 
 Heinrich turned on him almost savagely. 
 
 " Look here, old fellow," he said, " that 
 won't do. What business could be so ab- 
 sorbing as not to leave you time to write to
 
 140 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 your fiancee for two months ? She is look- 
 ing pale and worn ; paler than my little 
 Emma was when I first met her." 
 
 " Mein armes Liebchen" murmured Gott- 
 fried, dropping his face on his hand. Then 
 he turned suddenly on his friend, his eyes 
 flashing. "Tell me, Heinrich," he said, 
 " do you think I 'm a brute ? Do you think 
 I would have treated her like that if I had 
 been able to do otherwise? I cannot ex- 
 plain to you, but won't you take my word 
 for it? You don't mean, Dierssen," he ex- 
 claimed in sudden irritation, " that you are 
 going to go back on a fellow just when he 
 needs a friend the most ? " 
 
 With an impulse of contrition, Heinrich 
 held out his hand across the table, and Gott- 
 fried took it. 
 
 " I '11 take your word for it, Gottfried," 
 he said. " But perhaps if you would trust 
 me I might help you, for you seem to be in 
 trouble." 
 
 "I'll tell you what I'll do, Heinrich," 
 said Gottfried. " I have some business to
 
 A BROKEN PROMISE 141 
 
 attend to this afternoon, and this evening I 
 must go to see Constance. Come to the 
 studio about ten o'clock, and if I 'm not 
 back wait for me, and I will tell you my 
 trouble and ask your advice." 
 
 With that Heinrich was forced to be con- 
 tent. 
 
 An hour later, Gottfried found himself 
 again at the door of the Ferris residence on 
 Adams Street. Now that he felt himself on 
 the threshold of a discovery, his heart sank 
 with foreboding. What might he not learn 
 that would separate him from Constance 
 forever? What horror, hitherto invisible, 
 might not be disclosed to him? He felt 
 tempted to retreat, but already there were 
 footsteps in the hall. 
 
 The servant that answered his ring was 
 not the same that had admitted him on the 
 occasion of his previous call, and to Gott- 
 fried's relief, he gave no indication of re- 
 cognition. 
 
 " Is Miss Ferris at home ? " asked Gott- 
 fried, steadying his voice with an effort.
 
 142 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 "No, sir," was the reply. "The family 
 have gone to Coronado for a month." 
 
 Gottfried whitened. 
 
 " When did they go ? " he asked. 
 
 "Yesterday morning," was the reply. 
 
 As Gottfried turned away, he thought 
 with bitterness of his last day's pleasure at 
 Catalina. 
 
 "If I had come home at once, I would 
 have found her here," he said to himself. 
 "And now I must go to Constance and 
 tell her what ? Oh ! mein Liebchen, 
 mein Liebchen, how can I give you up ? " 
 and tears of which he was not ashamed rose 
 to his eyes. 
 
 It was that afternoon that Heinrich saw 
 Constance on the street. He stopped and 
 shook hands with her. 
 
 " Did you know that Gottfried has come 
 back ? " he said. 
 
 A sudden joy flashed across the girl's face 
 and shone in her eyes. 
 
 " When, where ? " she asked tremulously. 
 For a moment her brain reeled, and it was
 
 A BROKEN PROMISE 143 
 
 black before her eyes. The intensity of 
 emotion passed, and she heard Heinrich's 
 voice as in a dream. 
 
 " He came to the coffee-house as usual. 
 He would not tell me where he had been, 
 but he said he was coming to see you this 
 evening." 
 
 "Thank you," said Constance simply; 
 and for a moment she lifted to his face eyes 
 that were full of tenderness and joy. 
 
 She passed on, and Heinrich muttered 
 under his breath. It was well for Gott- 
 fried's faith in his friendship that he did 
 not hear what he said. 
 
 That evening, when Constance had cleared 
 the little table and put the house in order, 
 she stood at her mirror looking sorrowfully 
 at the reflection of her face. It was thin 
 and worn, and she was afraid that Gott- 
 fried would miss in it the olden charm. But 
 excitement had brought a pretty color to her 
 cheeks, and although she did not know it, 
 love and sorrow had etherealized the face to 
 a higher type of beauty.
 
 144 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 She let down the masses of her bright 
 hair, and brushed it until it shone like 
 threads of gold. Then she piled it like a 
 crown on her head, studying the effect anx- 
 iously in the glass. 
 
 She put on a house-gown of soft, pale 
 rose, the color that Gottfried liked best, and 
 fastened about her neck the silver chain 
 on which was suspended the locket he had 
 given her. She stopped a moment to open it 
 and kiss the face that looked out at her with 
 tender eyes. She fastened fragrant lilies at 
 her throat and in her hair. Her hands had 
 trembled so with eager excitement that they 
 could scarcely perform their tasks, but all 
 the time the heart-throbs she could feel were 
 beating a rhythm of joy. Gottfried had 
 come back to her ; he was not lost out of 
 her life. 
 
 She went to her mother's room and, bend- 
 ing down, kissed the invalid softly on the 
 brow ; then she passed on to the little parlor 
 and sat down at the piano. It was almost 
 time for him to come, and she touched the
 
 A BROKEN PROMISE 145 
 
 keys lightly with notes that rippled and 
 broke like happy laughter. The music 
 melted into a tender strain that was full of 
 impatient yearning. She played softly that 
 she might not miss the click of the gate- 
 latch and the sound of the familiar step as 
 it approached. Somewhere in a pepper-tree 
 outside, a bird kept up a twittering accom- 
 paniment to the music within. 
 
 Late that night Constance lay on her 
 couch with her face among the pillows. The 
 crown of gold-brown hair had fallen about 
 her shoulders over the pale rose of her dress. 
 The lilies she had worn were crushed on the 
 floor, and filled the room with a subtle fra- 
 grance. 
 
 Gottfried had not come. 
 
 The clock struck eleven in the studio 
 where Heinrich Dierssen had been waiting 
 for more than an hour for Gottfried to re- 
 turn. He rose and, after a few impatient 
 turns about the room, strode through the 
 door, snapping the spring-lock behind him. 
 He stepped out on the silent street, and
 
 146 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 began pacing up and down in front of the 
 house. 
 
 The shadow of the trees, latticed with the 
 white brilliance of the electric light at the 
 corner, fell across the sidewalk. The silence 
 was unbroken save by the occasional noise 
 of a passing car. Heinrich walked back 
 and forth, the wonder and pity of his 
 thoughts about Constance and Gottfried 
 softened by an undertone of personal joy ; 
 for the face of Emma Burroughs, young and 
 pretty with a happy content, seemed to smile 
 at him in the darkness, as it had smiled 
 when he asked her to be his wife. 
 
 For nearly an hour he paced the street, 
 up one side and down the other, keeping the 
 darkened window of the studio in sight; 
 then, with an angry mutter, he turned and 
 walked rapidly away.
 
 XI 
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 
 
 PERKINS went running up the steps in 
 response to the violent ringing of the bell, 
 and entering his master's study, found that 
 gentleman striding about the room in a 
 transport of rage. 
 
 " What do you mean, you blockhead ? " 
 he stormed. " How have you dared to med- 
 dle with my room? Where have you put 
 it, you scoundrel, you idiot ? " 
 
 With the words, he seized the unfortunate 
 man in his athletic grasp, and shook him and 
 flung him off in a fine imitation of Salvini's 
 treatment of lago when playing Othello. 
 
 The astonished servant, who, accustomed 
 as he had been to his master's ebullitions of 
 ungovernable temper, had never before suf- 
 fered personal violence at his hands, picked 
 himself up with a rueful face.
 
 148 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " I '11 make him pay for this," he mut- 
 tered to himself. " It 's worth ten dollars 
 at least. I '11 not help him out of another 
 scrape without an extra tip." At the same 
 time, he looked at his master with an ex- 
 pression of innocent reproach. 
 
 " Indeed, Mr. Rex," he said, " it was your 
 mother that took away the picture, if that 's 
 what you mean. I made bold to tell her 
 you'd be angry when she had it moved to 
 the attic ; but " 
 
 "To the attic?" thundered his master. 
 " Bring it down inside of five minutes, or 
 I '11 break your head." And the terrified 
 servant hastily withdrew to do his bidding. 
 
 A few moments later, when the Madonna 
 hung again in its accustomed place, and 
 Perkins had been peremptorily dismissed 
 from the room, Rex Carrington sat down 
 by a table opposite the picture and rested 
 his head on his hand. His heart beat heav- 
 ily, and the blood coursed madly through his 
 veins. 
 
 "I'm a fool," he said bitterly, "and
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 149 
 
 totally unworthy of her." As he spoke 
 he turned his eyes upon the picture, and 
 his whole face softened. It was a hand- 
 some enough face, and not lacking in pos- 
 sibilities of nobility when not disfigured by 
 passion or brutalized by dissipation ; for as 
 yet his reckless habits had left no perma- 
 nent marks on the finely moulded* features. 
 Just now it wore its best expression, and 
 the eyes of the picture looked straight in 
 his with a serene confidence and joy. 
 
 "Why can I not find her?" he groaned. 
 "I would try to be worthy of her love." 
 And he fell to building castles in the air 
 that his chosen companions, if they could 
 have seen them, would have laughed to 
 scorn. 
 
 A sudden thought broke into his medita- 
 tions, and he rose and touched the bell. 
 Perkins responded, still looking a little be- 
 wildered and afraid. But his master's pas- 
 sion had subsided, and he spoke calmly. 
 
 " Was there any answer to my note to 
 Miss Alicia ? " he asked.
 
 150 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Perkins ; " a note and 
 a package." 
 
 " Bring them to me," said Rex shortly. 
 
 When Perkins had done as he was bidden 
 and again retired, Rex sat for a moment 
 with the note folded on the table before 
 him and the package in his hand. 
 
 " I hav/e burned my bridges now," he mut- 
 tered. " There is no way of return ; I must 
 go on and find her and win her. " 
 
 Still he did not open the package nor read 
 the note. Instead, he let his eyes rest on 
 the painting and his thoughts wander away 
 to the fair unknown original. 
 
 " It is la grande passion at last," he said 
 to himself. "Now I can understand my 
 Petrarch and my Dante." 
 
 He stirred uneasily as the thought of his 
 unworthiness recurred to him. He tried to 
 shake off the feeling with a laugh. 
 
 " I am growing morbid," he thought. 
 " After all, how am I worse than other men? 
 It is only that she is a saint, and all must 
 suffer by comparison with her. And that
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 151 
 
 presumptuous painter what could he do 
 for her? Give her a life of poverty and 
 fruitless hopes, while I I can fulfill her 
 every wish, and gratify her slightest whim. 
 But he, confound him, he may be with her 
 whenever the fancy seizes him ; and she may 
 be fond of him." 
 
 A bitter pang of jealousy pierced his 
 heart, such as he had never felt before ; and 
 he hated his fortunate rival with all the force 
 of his impetuous nature. 
 
 " Give me a fair fight in an open field," 
 he groaned, " and I would not complain. If 
 she might choose between us," and he smiled 
 confidently at the thought, " I would be sat- 
 isfied. But for him to keep her hidden, for 
 him to balk me like this zounds ! I could 
 give him a sword-thrust with pleasure if he 
 did not elude me so skillfully. He has doubt- 
 less heard of my reputation as a fencer since 
 he sent the challenge ; and he is a brave 
 man on paper," he concluded his medita- 
 tions contemptuously. 
 
 He was startled from his reflections by the
 
 152 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 sound of a voice in the hall below. It was 
 that of his neighbor, the baron. He slipped 
 the package and the letter hastily in his 
 pocket, and turned away from the picture. 
 
 A moment later, the privileged guest had 
 bounded up the stairway, three steps at a 
 time, and stood in the door of the study. 
 
 " Come in," said Rex, rising and bringing 
 forward a chair. The baron entered and 
 sat down opposite the picture. No sooner 
 had he seen it than his handsome blonde 
 face flushed with pleasure. 
 
 " Is it an ideal face," he asked, " or is 
 there a woman living with a face like that?" 
 
 Rex colored slightly with annoyance. His 
 futile dreams had given him a sense of owner- 
 ship, that resented the admiration of other 
 men. 
 
 " My man was told by the dealer that it is 
 the copy of a living face," he returned care- 
 lessly ; " but I have not learned the name of 
 the model." 
 
 " The artist, I see," said the baron, who 
 had risen and was standing before the pic-
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 153 
 
 ture, " is a countryman of mine. Who is 
 he ? what has he done ? It strikes me that 
 this is extraordinary." 
 
 " He's a cad of a fellow," said Rex shortly. 
 " He can't do anything but paint." 
 
 They had been talking in German, but the 
 speech of Rex was hesitating and far from 
 idiomatic, although he had been a student 
 of German for several years, and had recently 
 been improving his accent by conversation 
 with the baron and the baroness. 
 
 It was later in the day that Rex went out 
 with two young men of the fashionable club 
 to which he belonged ; and the faithful Per- 
 kins saw nothing more of him till he went to 
 the club-rooms at twelve o'clock that night. 
 There he found him, his head on his folded 
 arms that rested on the table, in the midst 
 of a debris of broken glasses and decanters. 
 A companion, in a similar state of somno- 
 lence, lay on the floor where he had fallen. 
 The janitor stood in the doorway, surveying 
 the scene with a resignation born of famil- 
 iarity.
 
 154 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Well, Carpenter," said Perkins quietly, 
 " I guess you '11 have to help me carry Mr. 
 Rex out." 
 
 "Did you bring the carriage?" queried 
 the janitor. 
 
 Perkins nodded. 
 
 " Then I guess you '11 have to drop the 
 other gent on the way home," said Carpenter, 
 as he turned up the heavy face to see who it 
 was. " It won't be out of your way," he 
 added, naming the address. 
 
 As they carried Rex out of the room, a 
 letter fell from his pocket ; and on return- 
 ing for his companion, Perkins picked it up 
 and put it in his own pocket. 
 
 It was between two and three o'clock that 
 morning that the valet, who had put his 
 master to bed, heard him stirring in his 
 room. He arose and, hastily throwing on his 
 clothes, entered the hall just in time to see 
 his master creep stealthily out of the house. 
 The valet stole after him, careful to make no 
 noise. But his caution seemed unnecessary ; 
 for Rex looked neither to the right nor the
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 155 
 
 left, but pursued his way steadily until he 
 had reached the street. Then, for a mo- 
 ment, he paused ; suddenly starting off at 
 such speed that Perkins found it difficult to 
 follow him. He succeeded, however, in keep- 
 ing him in sight, though at some distance. 
 He passed from the fashionable quarter of 
 the city and through the principal business 
 blocks toward the river, pausing at last, af- 
 ter his long walk, before a dingy lodging- 
 house, with a colored lamp in front of the 
 door. Here, to Perkins's amazement, he 
 turned in and was lost to sight. 
 
 But only for a moment, for Perkins had 
 followed in hot pursuit, entering a dim hall- 
 way, and stumbling up a flight of uncarpeted 
 stairs to a gloomy corridor above. He was 
 just in time to see the familiar form of his 
 master enter a room at the end of the hall 
 and to hear the key turned in the lock as the 
 door closed after him. 
 
 Perkins went to the door and rapped, but 
 there was no response. 
 
 " Mr. Kex," he cried, " Mr. Rex ! "
 
 156 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 But the room was as quiet as though 
 unoccupied, and remained in darkness. 
 Alarmed at his master's strange behavior, 
 but unwilling to rouse his anger, Perkins 
 ceased his importunities, determined to try 
 a new way of reaching him. Returning to 
 the head of the stairway, he found a bell 
 and pulled the cord. 
 
 After several minutes a man in his shirt 
 sleeves and with unshaven face made his ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 " Do you want a room ? " he asked. 
 
 " No," said Perkins ; " I want to see Mr. 
 Rex Carrington." 
 
 " There 's no such person here," was the 
 reply. 
 
 " I saw him come in not five minutes ago," 
 Perkins persisted. 
 
 " You 're mistaken," said the man, as he 
 turned to go away. 
 
 " Look here," said Perkins, with sudden 
 decision ; " I saw him come in, and I 'm go- 
 ing to see him, or I '11 know the reason 
 why."
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 157 
 
 " Don't try a bluff on me," said the man, 
 drawing a pistol from his pocket and point- 
 ing it at Perkins. "Now go," he added 
 with an oath, " or I '11 blow off the top of 
 your head." 
 
 Perkins retreated precipitately down the 
 stairway, and did not stop to consider his 
 course until he had put several blocks be- 
 tween himself and his threatened assailant. 
 
 Then he halted and considered what to do. 
 He might call on the police for assistance ; 
 but he knew his master would be furious at 
 the publicity. He reasoned that Rex must 
 have had some object in going to the house ; 
 that he had not been there long enough be- 
 fore his own arrival for any harm to have 
 befallen him ; and that he would probably 
 return home when he had finished his mys- 
 terious business. Accordingly Perkins, with 
 due regard to his personal safety and the 
 security of his position, decided to go home 
 quietly and await the course of events. 
 
 It was some weeks later that Mrs. Car- 
 rington summoned the valet to her. She was
 
 158 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 in her private sitting-room, in a n 
 robe. Her face was very pale and there 
 were dark rings underneath her eyes. Her 
 jeweled fingers were interlaced nervously in 
 her lap. 
 
 " Where is your master?" she demanded, 
 looking at the valet imperiously. 
 
 " If you would only spare yourself, ma- 
 dame," the man began uncertainly. 
 
 " We have had enough of this, Perkins," 
 said the lady, rising. " Tell me instantly ; 
 where is my son ? " 
 
 " He is in bed, madame," replied the ser- 
 vant. 
 
 " Then I am going to him." And Mrs. 
 Carrington moved toward the door. 
 
 Instinctively Perkins stepped forward to 
 intercept her. 
 
 " It will be very painful to you," he said 
 hurriedly ; " and Mr. Rex will be very an- 
 gry." 
 
 " Let me pass," she said in a stern voice ; 
 " let me pass, or I will have you put out of 
 the house."
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 159 
 
 The man fell back abashed, and she 
 passed into the hallway. He followed her, 
 wringing his hands. 
 
 " Whatever will become of me now ? " he 
 mumbled to himself. " She '11 be after me 
 because I deceived her ; and Mr. Rex '11 be 
 like the devil because I let her know." 
 
 He followed her, shaking so that it was 
 with difficulty he kept his teeth from chat- 
 tering. 
 
 Mrs. Carrington did not pause till she 
 had reached her son's chamber and opened 
 the door. Then she stopped on the thresh- 
 old with an exclamation of dismay. She 
 had nerved herself for the horrors of deli- 
 rium tremens ; for groans and shouts and 
 curses, and a face transformed by fiendish 
 passion or torturing agony. But instead of 
 this, there was utter silence. The room was 
 empty, and the bed had evidently been unoc- 
 cupied the night before. She looked around 
 at the trembling, shrinking figure of the 
 valet, and turned away in contemptuous 
 scorn. She crossed the room and parted
 
 160 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 the portieres that curtained the dressing- 
 room. It, too, was empty. 
 
 She retraced her steps, and, crossing the 
 hall, opened the door of his study. She 
 started back as her eyes fell on the pic- 
 ture of the Madonna, and a momentary 
 sense of anger relieved the tension of an 
 awful fear. 
 
 " I thought I had ordered that removed," 
 she said, looking back at the valet. 
 
 " It was done, madame," was the reply ; 
 " but Mr. Rex had it brought back again." 
 
 " He is bewitched with the face," she mur- 
 mured to herself. 
 
 Then she turned to the servant with the 
 question he dreaded. 
 
 " What have you done with your mas- 
 ter ? " she asked steadily. 
 
 "I I have done nothing," he stam- 
 mered. " He went away of his own wilL I 
 will swear it on the Bible." 
 
 " Come back to my room," she said 
 sternly ; " I will listen to your explanation 
 there."
 
 MRS. CARRINGTON IS ALARMED 161 
 
 After an interview of some length, the 
 valet retired ; and fifteen minutes later he 
 sat with Mrs. Carrington in her carriage, 
 which was rolling rapidly toward the lower 
 part of the city. 
 

 
 XII 
 
 THE ARREST 
 
 SOME time before, as Constance passed 
 down the street on her daily rounds one 
 morning, she looked up at Gottfried's win- 
 dow, as she never failed to do when going 
 by. To her surprise, the blind was raised, 
 and Gottfried sat at his easel, at work on 
 her portrait. He looked out and smiled, 
 bowing as usual. Involuntarily she stopped 
 and clasped her hands tightly before her. 
 He sprang from his seat, took down his hat 
 from the rack in the hall, and the next mo- 
 ment stood beside her. 
 
 " What is the matter, mein Liebchen ? " 
 he said. " Did you want me ? " 
 
 For reply, she slipped her hand in his and 
 drew him along beside her. 
 
 "Gottfried, Gottfried!" she half whis- 
 pered, " I thought I had lost you."
 
 THE ARREST 163 
 
 " No, mein Liebchen" he said tenderly, 
 noticing how pale she looked and how the 
 heart-shape of her face was accentuated. " I 
 have been on a wild-goose chase to Catalina 
 Island, but you see I have returned. I 
 have been watching for you this morning ; 
 I knew, dear, you would come and look in 
 at my window." 
 
 His voice had dropped to a passionate 
 undertone, and he pressed the little hand 
 that lay trembling in his. 
 
 " And you will not go away again, Gott- 
 fried ? " she pleaded, looking at him with 
 tender eyes. 
 
 " Achf mein Liebchen" he groaned ; "if 
 I could only promise you." 
 
 He despised himself for his weakness ; 
 but already, at sight of her face, his resolu- 
 tion to tell her his trouble and to release 
 her grew faint in his heart. He felt that he 
 could never give her up. The longing to be 
 alone with her, to put his arms about her 
 and press kisses on her lips, mastered him. 
 
 "Come, Constance," he said, as they
 
 164 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 heard the rush of the car behind them ; 
 " let us go to Westlake Park and be alone 
 for a little while together." 
 
 She had only a second for thought, when 
 the car had reached them. She remembered 
 her waiting pupils, but she had not the 
 strength to resist the pleading in his eyes. 
 It was so long since she had seen him. He 
 stopped the car and helped her on, sitting 
 down on the front seat beside her. 
 
 The ride was long, and as they swept up 
 and down the hills, the sense of the motion 
 and the wind in her face seemed trans- 
 formed to a sense of the course of fate. 
 Gottfried's hand sought hers, holdmg it 
 tightly under the folds of her cape. Her 
 ringers fastened around his and clung to 
 them. 
 
 When they reached the park, they found 
 a shaded bench by the lake, where they sat 
 down. They were quite alone, and for a 
 moment their lips met. Then Constance 
 looked about her apprehensively and Gott- 
 fried laughed. There was no one in sight.
 
 THE ARREST 165 
 
 By tacit consent, they avoided the subject 
 of his absence, and occupied themselves 
 with those important trifles of mutual lone- 
 liness and extravagant dreams that could be 
 of interest to no one but themselves. 
 
 Suddenly, as Gottfried drew his handker- 
 chief from his pocket, he shook from ' its 
 folds a little packet that fell at Constance's 
 feet. The girl picked it up with a laugh. 
 
 " I found it ; it is mine," she said. 
 
 Gottfried watched her as she untied the 
 string and opened the lid of a tiny box. 
 She gave a little cry of wonder and delight, 
 for set in a band of gold that lay between 
 the velvet cushions shone a splendid dia- 
 mond. She looked at Gottfried inquir- 
 ingly. 
 
 For a moment he paused and flushed 
 painfully ; then he took her hand and drew 
 from it the little mended glove. 
 
 " Once, mein Liebchen" he said softly, 
 "you seemed a little hurt because I gave 
 you no ring. It was a foolish prejudice on 
 my part, and I could not bear to seem to 
 slight you ; so I have brought you this."
 
 166 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 He drew the ring from the box and 
 slipped it on her finger. She lifted her face 
 to his, and he bent down and kissed her. 
 
 "But I am afraid it cost a very great 
 deal, Gottfried," she said. " I am afraid I 
 ought not to wear it." 
 
 " Nothing is too good for my little love," 
 he returned, holding up her hand and look- 
 ing at the gem as it flashed in the light. 
 
 " Oh ! " she exclaimed suddenly, " I must 
 see what you have put in it." 
 
 She drew it off, and holding it up, looked 
 on the inner side of the gold band. Gott- 
 fried bent over her apprehensively ; and as 
 he looked, he gave a sigh of relief. There 
 was no inscription whatever. 
 
 A shade of disappointment crossed the 
 girl's fair face. Gottfried saw it, and 
 thought only how he might make reparation. 
 
 " Give it to me," he said, " and I will 
 take it to a jeweler and have it engraved." 
 
 She held it out to him, looking up in his 
 face. 
 
 " What will it be ?" she asked.
 
 THE ARREST 167 
 
 "What should it be," he replied, "but 
 ' mein Liebchen ? ' " 
 
 He put the ring in his pocket, and the 
 talk drifted to other things. 
 
 " You don't know how Emma Burroughs 
 has changed," said Constance. " She is as 
 happy, almost as happy as I am. But they 
 are waiting, as we are," she added ; " they 
 cannot marry till Heinrich gets some prac- 
 tice." 
 
 " He will make his way yet," said Gott- 
 fried ; " he has great ability. Sometime he 
 will seize an opportunity and bring himself 
 into public notice." 
 
 The speaker did not dream that he him- 
 self was soon to furnish that opportunity to 
 his friend. 
 
 " You should hear Emma try to talk 
 German," laughed Constance. " It is too 
 funny. But it is almost pathetic to hear 
 her try to make Mrs. Dierssen understand 
 her. Even Heinrich cannot interpret it." 
 
 The morning passed quickly, and Con- 
 stance rose at last with tardy contrition.
 
 168 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Mamma will be expecting me," she said ; 
 " and I have missed my lessons. I feel like 
 a naughty child that has been playing tru- 
 ant." 
 
 " I will come up this evening to make 
 peace for you," said Gottfried. " I have 
 been expecting a new pupil myself, but he 
 may not come till afternoon." 
 
 As they parted half an hour later, Gott- 
 fried stopped off in town for his lunch, and 
 Constance, remaining on the car, looked 
 after his retreating figure with the old 
 dread that she might not see it again for 
 many days. But this time he did not disap- 
 point her. He had fallen into his usual 
 habits as though there had been no break in 
 them ; and every morning he greeted her at 
 the studio window, and every evening he 
 spent with her in reading and singing, or 
 strolling under the pepper-trees that bor- 
 dered the quiet street. 
 
 It was several days after his return that 
 he brought her the ring, engraved with the 
 familiar words, " Mein Liebchen." The
 
 THE ARREST 169 
 
 same evening, Emma Burroughs came in, 
 and shortly after, Heinrich Dierssen. Gott- 
 fried drew out the card-table, and they began 
 to play whist. 
 
 It chanced that Constance dealt first, and 
 Emma noticed the flashing of the stone on 
 her finger. 
 
 " What a beautiful ring ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 Constance blushed. 
 
 " Gottfried gave it to me," she said. 
 
 Heinrich looked at him in surprise. 
 
 " You thought better of your superstitious 
 prejudice, did you ? " he laughed. 
 
 Gottfried hesitated a moment before he 
 spoke. 
 
 "Well, you see," he said awkwardly, 
 " you gave Emma a ring, and I thought Con- 
 stance would want one, too." 
 
 "But mine is only a gold band," said 
 Heinrich. " A doctor without patients can- 
 not compete with an artist with rich pa- 
 trons." 
 
 Heinrich was a connoisseur in stones, and 
 he was amazed at Gottfried's expenditure ;
 
 170 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 but the latter offered no explanation or ex- 
 cuse. 
 
 "I told him he was extravagant," laughed 
 Constance. 
 
 Heinrich led and the play began. 
 
 When he was dealing, the girls exchanged 
 rings, to look at the inscriptions. 
 
 " What is it ? " said Emma, handing the 
 ring she held to Heinrich. 
 
 " ' Mein Liebchen,' " he said, reading the 
 German script. " Emma has not been able 
 to acquire more German than the words on 
 her ring, '/cA liebe dick] " he added, laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 " It means the same, does n't it ? " asked 
 Emma. 
 
 "It is the difference between 'my little 
 love ' and ' I love you,' if there is a differ- 
 ence," returned Heinrich. 
 
 Mrs. Wilbur, lying on her couch in the 
 bay-window, watched the players with a 
 contented smile. Occasionally, she joined 
 in the conversation ; but for the most part, 
 she lay silent, watching the bright young
 
 THE ARREST 171 
 
 faces with mingled visions of their future 
 and her own past. 
 
 That night, they had the rarebit, made by 
 Gottfried's skillful hands, and the Russian 
 tea that Constance was so fond of serving. 
 As her little hands fluttered over the tea- 
 cups, the ring flashed in the light ; and in 
 spite of his happy mood, the couplet about 
 the Ringlein persistently repeated itself in 
 her lover's mind. But even he did not 
 dream of the part the ring was to play in 
 their destiny. 
 
 The merry party separated late that night, 
 Gottfried and Heinrich walking off arm-in- 
 arm, while the girls stood together in the 
 doorway. As the men disappeared in the 
 darkness, Constance and Emma turned with 
 a common impulse and kissed each other. 
 
 " Oh, I am so happy," said Constance. 
 
 With a flash of recurrent feeling, Emma 
 seemed to herself to sit once more over her 
 sewing, listening to the voices of Constance 
 and her lover at the door. The next in- 
 stant the joy of the present had returned in 
 warm pulsations to her heart.
 
 172 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " And I," she said in response to her 
 companion's words, " I did not know it 
 would be possible for me ever to be happy 
 again. Do you think it is wrong, Con- 
 stance," she went on, sinking her voice al- 
 most to a whisper, " do you think it is wrong 
 for me to be happier even than I was with 
 Robert ? " 
 
 " No," said the younger girl, putting her 
 arm about her companion's waist, "Hein- 
 rich is the right one ; and if Robert loved 
 you, he would be glad for you to be happy." 
 
 " Where did you get the ring ? " Hein- 
 rich was saying to Gottfried. " It is one of 
 the most superb stones I have ever seen." 
 
 " I did not get it here," was the evasive 
 reply. " I have had it some time." 
 
 " But you had it engraved here ?" per- 
 sisted Heinrich. 
 
 " Yes," said Gottfried ; " at Mason's, the 
 other day." 
 
 For some time the days passed much as 
 before Gottfried went away. The lovers 
 resumed their readings and moonlight
 
 THE ARREST 173 
 
 walks, and discussed plans for the future as 
 of old. Gottfried no longer tried to keep 
 the resolution he had made to tell Constance 
 his trouble. It would be better, he said to 
 himself, to wait till he had seen Miss Ferris 
 and had learned what he could from her. 
 For the same reason he did not fulfill his 
 promise to Heinrich, who did not like to 
 press him for his confidence. 
 
 One day, Constance went to give a lesson 
 to Lillian Ferris ; the first after the return 
 of the family from Coronado. 
 
 Just before she left, Miss Ferris entered 
 the room, with the pretext of a careless 
 question to her sister; but Constance felt 
 sure she had come in with some design in 
 regard to herself. She was not surprised 
 when the young lady's eyes rested on the 
 diamond that sparkled on her finger; but 
 she was not prepared for the sudden pallor 
 of her face. 
 
 " I see," Miss Ferris said at last, almost 
 huskily, " that your your lover has at 
 last given you the ring."
 
 174 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Constance bowed without speaking. 
 
 "May I ask," continued the girl, "the 
 name of the liberal donor ? " 
 
 Something in her tone stung Constance to 
 quick resentment. 
 
 "Certainly," she said; "it is Gottfried 
 Jager." 
 
 " The painter ? " queried Miss Ferris. 
 
 Again Constance bowed. 
 
 " And he lives " suggested Miss Ferris. 
 
 Constance's eyes flashed, but she gave her 
 the street and number. 
 
 " And now," she said, turning upon her 
 interlocutor, "perhaps you will be kind 
 enough to tell me what you know of him, 
 and who the lady is to whom you said he 
 was engaged ? " 
 
 " I was mistaken," returned Miss Ferris 
 coolly. " It was only a fancied resemblance 
 of the features. I was aware at the time 
 that the expression of the face was not the 
 same." 
 
 She turned and walked out of the room ; 
 and before Constance had reached the side- 
 walk, she had ordered her carriage.
 
 THE ARREST 175 
 
 That evening Constance waited for Gott- 
 fried in vain. It was the first time he had 
 failed her since the morning he had gone 
 with her to Westlake Park. Even Hein- 
 rich did not come to see Emma ; but he had 
 sent word that he had been called out to his 
 first case. 
 
 Constance wandered about the house in 
 growing uneasiness. Now, she sat by her 
 mother's couch and talked of trifles, avoid- 
 ing, as usual, all reference to Gottfried's 
 failure to appear ; now she entered the room 
 where the Burroughs sisters sat stitching, 
 Emma's pretty face flushed with truant 
 thoughts, Agnes looking at her from time 
 to time with brave efforts to be glad of her 
 happiness and forget the monotony of her 
 own life. Again Constance wandered out 
 in the garden, lifting her head from the 
 flowers to look surreptitiously down the 
 street, or sat at the piano and played 
 snatches of music, stopping abruptly to go 
 and stand at the window with a faint hope 
 that even yet she might see the familiar
 
 176 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 form emerge from the shadows of the 
 street. 
 
 But the evening was over at kst; and 
 she lay in her room, shuddering with vague 
 fears and half-defined thoughts of evil, that 
 were lost at last in fitful slumber, broken by 
 torturing visions. 
 
 She awoke in the morning unrefreshed. 
 There was no hope in her heart that she 
 would hear from her lover that day. She 
 thought that days and perhaps weeks must 
 pass before she would see him again ; and 
 then it would be as though he had been 
 resurrected from the dead, so absolute 
 would be his silence concerning the interval 
 of his absence. Already the perfect curves 
 of her cheeks had disappeared, and hollows 
 had defined themselves under her eyes. 
 
 As she went down-stairs, she was startled 
 by a violent pull at the door-bell. She an- 
 swered the summons, and started with appre- 
 hension at sight of a messenger boy. With 
 trembling fingers she tore open the envelope 
 he handed her, and drew out the note that
 
 THE ARREST 177 
 
 was inside. It was dated at the jail, and the 
 words of the message danced before her 
 eyes in a strange mist. But their terrible 
 meaning had not failed to penetrate brain 
 and heart with a sickening sense of horror. 
 
 Gottfried had been arrested for the mur- 
 der of Rex Carrinjrton.
 
 XIII 
 
 THE RING 
 
 AN hour later, Constance went to the jail, 
 accompanied by Heinrich Dierssen. 
 
 As they passed along the streets, the 
 newsboys were crying the morning papers. 
 
 " Full account of the murder ; tragedy in 
 high life ; sensational details ; all about the 
 duel." 
 
 Constance shuddered and clung to Hein- 
 rich' s arm. 
 
 The young man had seen the paper that 
 morning, and had hastened to see Constance, 
 but not before word had reached her from 
 Gottfried. He recalled now the sensational 
 head-lines that had stared at him as he 
 opened the paper at the breakfast table that 
 morning : " Lured to his Death ; A Figue- 
 roa Street Millionaire Slain in a Lodging- 
 house. "Where is the body of Rex Carring-
 
 THE RING 179 
 
 ton ? Gottfried Jager, the painter, ar- 
 rested for the crime." 
 
 He roused himself to repeat to Constance 
 words of reassurance and hope. The girl, 
 while confident of her lover's innocence, was 
 bewildered and oppressed with fear and 
 terror. 
 
 The way seemed interminably long to her, 
 but they reached their destination at last. 
 For a moment she shrank back; then she 
 controlled her aversion to the place, and 
 followed their guide calmly, still clinging, 
 however, to Heinrich's arm. 
 
 She entered the cell alone, and Gottfried 
 started to his feet with an inarticulate cry. 
 His face was haggard and worn, his eyes 
 sunken and feverishly bright. He looked 
 at her as though uncertain of her feelings, 
 a mingled look of doubt, entreaty, and 
 fear. She flung herself in his arms, and 
 pressed her face against his cheek. 
 
 "Gottfried, dear Gottfried," she whis- 
 pered. 
 
 " Mein Liebchen, mein Liebchen" he
 
 180 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 moaned ; " God forgive me for the sorrow I 
 have caused you." 
 
 " But it is not your fault, and it will be 
 all right after a while," she returned bravely ; 
 " after a while, when you are free again." 
 
 " And you believe that I am innocent ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " I know it," she said simply. 
 
 His only answer was a groan. 
 
 She looked at his face, and it frightened 
 her, it was set in such lines of fear and 
 horror. 
 
 " What is it, Gottfried ? " she asked. 
 
 " I would give my right hand," he said 
 with sudden vehemence, "if I could know 
 if I could be sure that I am innocent." 
 
 She shrank back and looked at him with 
 beseeching eyes. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she cried. " You 
 know you are innocent; tell me so with 
 your own lips." 
 
 He looked at her sadly, his excitement 
 subsiding as hers arose. 
 
 " Before God," he said solemnly, " I do
 
 THE RING 181 
 
 not know whether I have done this thing or 
 not. I should have told you the curse of 
 my life long ago," he added in bitter self- 
 reproach ; " more than once I have tried to 
 tell you, but I had not the strength to give 
 you up." 
 
 He covered his face with his hands and 
 groaned. 
 
 At his inexplicable words, Constance grew 
 pale with a sudden fear. Had his trouble 
 made him mad ? But one thing she knew : 
 mad or sane, the real Gottfried that she 
 loved was free from crime. She bent toward 
 him and drew away his hands. 
 
 " Tell me now, Gottfried," she said gently ; 
 " you need not be afraid. Whatever it is, I 
 love you." 
 
 " Bless you, mein Liebchen" he said 
 brokenly, as he took her hand. 
 
 Suddenly he started, and a ghastly pallor 
 overspread his face. 
 
 " Where is the ring ? " he cried. 
 
 She bowed her head in silence, and tears 
 fell on their clasped hands.
 
 182 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " I know," he said quietly, " they have 
 taken it for evidence against me." 
 
 She was still silent. 
 
 "Poor little girl," he said; "when did 
 they do it ? Before you received word from 
 me, or after?" 
 
 " After," she replied ; " just before I 
 started out to come here." 
 
 He lifted her hand and laid it against his 
 cheek. 
 
 "Fool that I was," he said, "to take the 
 hazard of such a thing. But I have always 
 kept the money I found in my possession, 
 not knowing how to return it, and thinking 
 that in some way it must belong to me. 
 Then, I did not know how to explain to you 
 my possession of the ring ; I was afraid 
 forgive me, dear that after what Miss 
 Ferris told you, you would think me untrue 
 to you if I did not give the ring to you. 
 And I yielded to the momentary impulse to 
 save myself in your eyes. Fool, fool ! " 
 
 " I don't understand, Gottfried," said 
 Constance in bewilderment.
 
 THE RING 183 
 
 " No, of course you don't ! " he exclaimed 
 in self-reproach. " How can I make you 
 believe what I say ? I never saw the ring 
 until you opened the packet yourself. I did 
 not know there was such a packet in my 
 pocket till it fell at your feet." 
 
 Constance looked at him in wordless 
 amazement. 
 
 " And that is not all," he continued. " I 
 do not know where I am or what I am doing 
 during those long absences that have grieved 
 you so. I must be in a state of dementia, 
 and what I may have done during the last 
 attack I do not know. They tell me that in 
 the morning I came out of the room in the 
 lodging-house that Rex Carrington was last 
 seen to enter the night beforehand ; and that 
 I subsequently gave to you a valuable ring 
 that belonged to him. It is also known that 
 I had feelings of enmity toward him, and as 
 he has not been seen since that night, the 
 circumstantial evidence is very strong against 
 me." 
 
 Constance had paled to a marble white-
 
 184 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 ness, and for a moment, indeed, she seemed 
 turned to stone. Then the color came back 
 to her cheeks, and a beautiful smile illu- 
 mined her face. 
 
 " Then you have been true to me indeed," 
 she said ; " it was through no possible negli- 
 gence of your own that I did not hear from 
 you when you went away." 
 
 " And if if in that mysterious state of 
 which I know nothing, nothing more than 
 of the scenes beyond the grave," he said ; 
 " if in that state I should " 
 
 She interrupted him with a soft hand on 
 his mouth. 
 
 " Then, should it be true," she said stead- 
 ily, " it was not you ; and I love my Gott- 
 fried just the same." 
 
 He kissed the fingers that lay over his lips. 
 
 " But it is not true," she said. " I know 
 it can not be true. There is some terrible 
 mistake. You must be brave, and all will 
 yet be made clear." 
 
 As she spoke, she bent toward him, and 
 for a moment he held her in his arms.
 
 THE RING 185 
 
 A light tap sounded at the door of the cell. 
 
 " Heinrich has come to see you, too," she 
 said. 
 
 The next moment the young man entered 
 and held out his hand. 
 
 " You, too, believe in me ? " asked Gott- 
 fried. 
 
 " Yes," was the reply, " I believe in you, 
 and I hope I can help you." 
 
 Gottfried repeated to him the substance 
 of what he had told Constance. Heinrich 
 listened attentively, and when he had fin- 
 ished, gave him his hand again. 
 
 " I must go," he said. " I have woi-k to 
 do. Who is your counsel? " 
 
 " Charles Bernard, of the firm of Watson 
 and Bernard," said Gottfried. 
 
 " And what time was set for the prelimi- 
 nary trial ? " continued Dierssen. 
 
 " To-morrow morning," Gottfried replied. 
 
 " Then I have no time to lose," said Hein- 
 rich. And he hurried Constance away. 
 
 " What are you going to do ? " asked the 
 girl, as they turned up the street together.
 
 186 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " I am going to stu^y the phenomena of 
 amnesia," he said. 
 
 " What is that ? " asked Constance. 
 
 "A blotting out of the memory. I be- 
 lieve that will in some way explain the mys- 
 tery of Gottfried's life. He is not in any 
 way insane ; and yet whole weeks of his life 
 are an utter blank in his mind. It may 
 be," he added musingly, " that he is respon- 
 sible for Rex Carrington's disappearance ; 
 but I don't believe that under any condition 
 short of insanity he would commit murder." 
 
 That night Heinrich Dierssen sat in his 
 little office, his desk strewn with books. 
 One after another, he tossed aside the pon- 
 derous German volumes he had consulted ; 
 and at last he drew from a neglected corner 
 of his book-case some slender French books 
 bound in a brilliant red, at the same time 
 taking down a German-French dictionary to 
 verify the medical terms. For a time he 
 read in absorbed attention ; then he flung 
 the books impatiently aside as he came upon 
 references to other books that were not in
 
 THE RING 187 
 
 his possession. It was too late to try to get 
 them in the city that night ; and he was not 
 at all sure he would be able to find them 
 when he did begin his search. He fell to 
 musing over the strange occurrences in the 
 life of his friend ; and more than once he 
 started at vague suggestions of thoughts that 
 seemed weird and almost uncanny. The 
 case held a double interest for him, both 
 personal and scientific ; and his continued 
 leisure in the strange country to which he 
 had come had given him opportunity to fol- 
 low up his studies as he wished. Before he 
 went to bed he made out a list of books 
 from the references he had encountered in 
 his reading, and determined, if possible, to 
 see the lawyer Gottfried had named as his 
 counsel before the case came up in the jus- 
 tice's court in the morning. 
 
 Through the long night Constance lay 
 awake, with painful monotony going over 
 the scenes of the day; repeating word for 
 word her conversation with Gottfried, and 
 the assurances of hope that Heinrich Diers-
 
 188 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 sen had given her. But the more she thought 
 of it all, the more inexplicable it seemed. 
 In whatever condition Gottfried might be 
 during the terms of absence, how had he 
 managed to elude his friends, unless he made 
 a habit of leaving the city ? And even in 
 that case, if he were temporarily mad, why 
 had the dementia not been noticed and 
 brought to light ? But if he hid himself 
 away, with the instinct of self-preservation, 
 how could he have been at the lodging-house 
 in Rex Carrington's room that night ? It 
 seemed to her impossible that his mind 
 should be unbalanced. There was no evi- 
 dence of it in any of his actions ; he had no 
 eccentricities, no irregularities of habit out- 
 side of his sudden and unexplained disap- 
 pearances. 
 
 The possibility of his having committed 
 the deed, although the horror of it hung over 
 his own mind, she would not for a moment 
 entertain ; but she trembled with the fear 
 that the circumstantial evidence might be 
 strong enough to convict him. And even
 
 THE RING 189 
 
 should he be acquitted on the ground of 
 temporary insanity, would they not take him 
 from her and confine him in a madhouse? 
 Or should he be freed on failure of sufficient 
 evidence to convict, how would his sensitive 
 nature endure the strain of popular senti- 
 ment against him and his own uncertainty 
 as to his innocence ? Already she had noted 
 the lines of suffering in his face ; and in a 
 flash of shuddering dread she could see him 
 bowed, broken, and prematurely old. She 
 thought of his genius crushed by the blow 
 and lost to the world ; of his life passed 
 in the patience of a sorrow without hope. 
 Then the alternative rose before her mind 
 with realistic horror; she could hear the 
 awful words of the judge as he sentenced 
 him to death ; she could see him on the day 
 of execution, pale, but wearing still on his 
 face the dignity and nobility that were natu- 
 ral to him ; she could hear his familiar step 
 as he passed her on the way to the scaf- 
 fold - 
 
 With a cry of horror she rose and paced
 
 190 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 her room ; till at length, exhausted, she lay 
 down again, once more to go over the weary, 
 torturing round of thoughts, leading always 
 to the awful climax of her supreme fear.
 
 XIV 
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 
 
 WHEN Constance entered the court-room 
 with Mrs. Dierssen, Heinrich, and Emma 
 Burroughs, the place was already nearly 
 full. They took their seats near the front, 
 and Constance swept the room with a 
 rapid glance. Several young men, evidently 
 friends of Rex Carrington's, were stand- 
 ing near the door ; and Constance caught 
 snatches of their conversation from time to 
 time. 
 
 " They say there is a remarkable resem- 
 blance," one of them observed. 
 
 " But only of the features," said another. 
 " The expression, the walk, all the move- 
 ments are entirely different." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! " came in loud tones from a 
 different part of the room, shutting out the 
 sound of the other voices ; " I beat him with 
 four aces."
 
 192 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Nonsense," the second speaker was say- 
 ing, when Constance could again hear the 
 talk of the group by the door ; " the differ- 
 ence in age is enough to settle that." 
 
 " And at the next deal he threw up his 
 hand," said the noisy individual across the 
 room. 
 
 " There 's the landlord of the lodging- 
 house," said one of the men by the door. 
 " What induced Rex Carrington to go to 
 such a place ? " 
 
 " Gambling debts," came with startling 
 distinctness from the other side of the room. 
 But it was not in answer to the question that 
 Constance had heard ; it was the continu- 
 ance of the conversation in which the loud- 
 voiced individual was engaged. 
 
 The justice, a tall, thin, severe-looking 
 man, drummed on his desk, waiting impa- 
 tiently for the arrival of the witnesses for 
 the prosecution. The general hum through 
 the court-room reached Constance's ears in 
 broken snatches of sentences that repeated 
 themselves mechanically in her brain.
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 193 
 
 " Artist of ability won the third heat 
 
 population of fifty ha ! ha ! painted 
 a Madonna you don't say was engaged 
 to Miss Ferris disappeared on the new 
 electric road ninety degrees in San in 
 love with a picture Santa Monica races 
 
 duel at Redondo drank heavily vote 
 for delirium treinens no I heard 
 wonder " 
 
 The babble suddenly ceased, and there was 
 a stir at the door. A tall, veiled lady past 
 middle age appeared, accompanied by a 
 lady much younger, with a beautiful, proud 
 face ; and followed by an alert, obsequious 
 serving-man. 
 
 " His mother, his fiancee, his valet," were 
 the murmured comments. 
 
 The young men at the door bowed, and 
 one of them led the way across the room, 
 where the party sat down by the prosecuting 
 attorney. Mrs. Carrington dropped her 
 eyes ; but when court was opened and the 
 prisoner led in, she raised her veil and let 
 her glance rest full upon him.
 
 194 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Constance had turned from the little 
 group to her lover, and as she looked at 
 him, tears filled her eyes. Notwithstanding 
 the briefness of the time that had elapsed 
 since his arrest, his appearance was greatly 
 changed ; his face was haggard, his eyes 
 deep-sunken, and new lines were graven 
 deeply on his forehead and about his mouth. 
 Constance even noticed among the dark 
 locks that curled about his face a glisten of 
 silver that she had never seen there before. 
 In the space of less than forty-eight hours, 
 he had aged ten years. He turned to Con- 
 stance and smiled. His face was grave, but 
 wore no consciousness of guilt ; and he met 
 bravely the curious glances that were cast 
 upon him by the people assembled to hear 
 the trial. 
 
 As he took his seat beside his counsel, 
 Mrs. Carrington sprang to her feet with a 
 smothered cry. 
 
 " My son ! " she exclaimed ; " my son ! " 
 
 With the words, she started toward the 
 prisoner ; but as he turned his face and met
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 195 
 
 her gaze with his serious, questioning eyes, 
 she fell back in bewilderment. 
 
 Miss Ferris, too, had started as her eyes 
 first fell upon the prisoner; but she had 
 quickly recovered herself. 
 
 " It is a remarkable resemblance," she 
 whispered. 
 
 In the mean time, the valet had gone for- 
 ward and spoken to the prisoner. 
 
 " Mr. Rex ! " he said. " How did you 
 come here ? " 
 
 Gottfried looked at him uncomprehend- 
 ingly. 
 
 " I am Gottfried Jager," he said. 
 
 The voice was pitched low and had a no- 
 ticeable German accent ; and there was a 
 quiet dignity about the speaker that im- 
 pressed the valet, accustomed to the imperi- 
 ous impulsiveness of his master. 
 
 The servant looked up at the stern repri- 
 mand of the justice. 
 
 " Your honor," he said simply, " I thought 
 this man was my master; but I was mis- 
 taken."
 
 196 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 In the midst of the hush of expectancy 
 that had attended the episode, the justice 
 resumed the proceedings of the court. 
 
 In the reading of the charge, Gottfried 
 started as the name of the missing man was 
 pronounced. It was Geoffrey H. Carring- 
 ton for the murder of whom he had been 
 arrested. Even intimate friends of the miss- 
 ing man were surprised. 
 
 " What does it mean?" asked one of the 
 group by the door. 
 
 " That was his real name, you know," re- 
 plied another. " Rex was only a nickname 
 given him in his infancy, on account of his 
 imperious disposition. It was so a propos 
 that it clung to him. They say there has 
 been a Geoffrey in the family ever since the 
 Norman Conquest." 
 
 " And what is the H for ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; but it stands for his 
 mother's family name." 
 
 The first witness for the prosecution was 
 Henry Perkins, the valet. 
 
 He testified that on the night of his mas-
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 197 
 
 ter's disappearance, he had been roused from 
 sleep by movements in the latter's room ; 
 and that hastily dressing and going into 
 the hall, he saw his master leaving the house 
 and followed him. He watched him enter 
 a lodging-house, and pursuing him into the 
 place, saw him go into a room at the end of 
 the hallway. The witness tapped at the 
 door, but received no response. Upon call- 
 ing the landlord and demanding to see his 
 master, he was ejected from the premises 
 with threats of violence. Some time later, 
 Mrs. Carrington, who believed her son suf- 
 fering from an attack of delirium tremens, 
 insisted upon seeing him ; and when she 
 found he was not in the house, questioned 
 the witness, eliciting from him the infor- 
 mation he had already given the court. 
 "Witness and Mrs. Carrington then went to- 
 gether to the lodging-house, and were told 
 by the landlord that he knew nothing of Rex 
 Carrington ; but that the room witness had 
 seen his master enter had been occupied that 
 night by Gottfried Jager, whom he had
 
 198 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 seen depart the morning following the dis- 
 appearance. Since that time, nothing had 
 been seen of the missing man. 
 
 He also testified that a ring then produced 
 in court had been given by his master to 
 Miss Ferris, his fiancee ; and that a packet 
 looking like a small jewel-box, such as would 
 contain a ring, had been sent to him by the 
 lady with a note. He had himself delivered 
 the note and the packet to his master the 
 last day the latter had been seen ; and that 
 night, only a few hours before the disappear- 
 ance, when he was carrying him from the 
 club-rooms to the carriage in an inebriated 
 condition, the note fell from his pocket and 
 witness picked it up. The note was pro- 
 duced and read. It consisted of a few lines, 
 in which the writer expressed her willing- 
 ness to release Mr. Carrington from his 
 engagement to her, and stated that she re- 
 turned the ring. Whether or not the ring 
 contained an inscription witness did not 
 know, as he had never seen it except on the 
 lady's hand.
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 199 
 
 The witness further testified that an en- 
 mity existed between his master and Gott- 
 fried Jager, on account of the former's seek- 
 ing the acquaintance of the latter 's fiancee ; 
 and that Gottfried Jager had challenged 
 his master to a duel with swords. The note 
 that Gottfried had sent Carrington after the 
 failure of the latter to appear at the rendez- 
 vous, in which the writer stigmatized him as 
 a coward, and declared he deserved to be shot 
 down in the street, was produced and read. 
 
 Mrs. Carrington substantiated the state- 
 ments of the valet relative to the lodging- 
 house ; as did also William Beck, the pro- 
 prietor of that place. The latter added that 
 some months before, the prisoner had first 
 come to his place ; that he was " in liquor," 
 and asked for a room, paying rent for it for 
 six months in advance, with the injunction 
 that it should be kept for his use, although 
 he would probably occupy it but rarely. 
 Since then, he had visited the place several 
 times, never to the knowledge of witness 
 staying more than one night at a time, some-
 
 200 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 times only a few hours during the day. He 
 had never, to the knowledge of witness, re- 
 ceived visitors in his room, and apparently 
 spent the time in sleep. It was on the morn- 
 ing after his first visit to the house that he 
 had given him the name of Gottfried Jager. 
 At that time, he seemed confused, as though 
 he had not entirely recovered from the effects 
 of his debauch. 
 
 The next witness was Miss Alicia Ferris. 
 She testified that she had known Geoffrey 
 Carrington for several years ; and that she 
 had been engaged to him. The diamond 
 ring which had already been produced in 
 court she identified as the one he had given 
 to her and she had returned to him. She 
 also identified it as the ring she had subse- 
 quently seen on the finger of Constance Wil- 
 bur ; who, upon being questioned, admitted 
 that it had been given to her by Gottfried 
 Jager. The ring had no inscription when 
 in her possession ; and she had never until 
 now seen the words engraved upon it. The 
 witness had never seen the prisoner before ;
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 201 
 
 but recognized him as the original of a por- 
 trait she had seen in a locket worn by Con- 
 stance Wilbur, who told her she was his 
 fiancee. The witness had thought at first it 
 was the portrait of Geoffrey Carrington ; but 
 although there was a remarkable resemblance 
 between the two, it extended to the features 
 alone, the expression of the face, the move- 
 ments, and the voice being entirely different. 
 She was positive that no one, seeing either 
 of the men alive, could, after a second glance, 
 mistake him for the other. 
 
 A prominent jeweler of the city identified 
 the ring as one that Geoffrey Carrington 
 had purchased of him. The stone was rare 
 and of great value, and he had never seen 
 its duplicate. Another jeweler identified 
 the ring as one that the prisoner had 
 brought to his store to have engraved with 
 the words, Mein Liebchen. He also de- 
 clared the jewel to be unusually beautiful 
 and costly. He had asked his customer 
 where he had obtained the ring, and re- 
 ceived an evasive reply.
 
 202 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 The defense had little to offer. It was 
 evident they were suppressing evidence and 
 committing themselves to as little as possi- 
 ble. The prisoner's friends testified to his 
 good character ; but as they were chiefly 
 unknown themselves, their evidence carried 
 little weight. They also testified to his 
 abrupt departure from Mount Lowe and to 
 his unexplained absences on other occa- 
 sions, and to his evident ignorance of his 
 condition during these intervals. 
 
 Gottfried himself was either unable or 
 unwilling to give a clear account of his 
 whereabouts on the night of Geoffrey Car- 
 rington's disappearance. He admitted that 
 he had passed a part of the night in ques- 
 tion at the lodging-house, leaving the place 
 the next morning. He admitted also the 
 challenge to the duel ; but he denied that 
 he had ever seen the man known as Rex 
 Carrington, although he had had business 
 dealings with him. He admitted his pos- 
 session of the ring, but declared that he did 
 not know how it came upon his person. He
 
 A REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE 203 
 
 corroborated the testimony of Constance 
 Wilbur and Heinrich Dierssen as to the in- 
 tervals of lapse of memory. 
 
 The prisoner's counsel, who had been 
 closeted in his office with Heinrich Dierssen 
 an hour that morning before the trial, en- 
 deavored to have the case dismissed on the 
 ground of irresponsibility; but the justice, 
 in view of the strong circumstantial evi- 
 dence against the prisoner, and the lack of 
 sufficient evidence of insanity, held him to 
 answer to a charge of murder in the first 
 degree, the trial being set for three weeks 
 from that day. On account of the pris- 
 oner's known tendency to leave his home 
 with no clue to his whereabouts, he refused 
 to allow bail ; although Chester Robins, the 
 art dealer, and one of the painter's wealthy 
 patrons were in court ready to give bonds 
 for him.
 
 XV 
 
 A STARTLING THEORY 
 
 DURING the three weeks that preceded 
 the trial, Heinrich Dierssen received at in- 
 tervals packages of books which he studied 
 diligent!} 7 at home and subsequently took to 
 the office of Watson and Bernard, Gott- 
 fried Jager's counsel. Charles Bernard, 
 who was to plead the case, followed the 
 marked passages or listened to Heinrich's 
 translations with increasing interest and 
 frequent ejaculations of amazement. 
 
 " I believe we '11 win the case yet," he 
 said, rubbing his hands together with antici- 
 patory satisfaction. " And you really think 
 we can prove " 
 
 " Yes," said Heinrich eagerly, tapping his 
 finger on the open page of the book he had 
 been reading ; " that is my theory." 
 
 "There was never such a case in the
 
 A STARTLING THEORY 205 
 
 courts before," said the lawyer ; and for 
 some reason he burst into laughter. 
 
 " But such a thing will need a great deal 
 of substantiation," he continued. " We 
 must make out a calendar very carefully. A 
 comparison of dates may give plausibility to 
 our theory, or it may destroy it altogether." 
 
 Under his direction and with the assist- 
 ance of Constance and Emma Burroughs, 
 Heinrich made out a table of dates, showing 
 the day of Gottfried's departures and the 
 length of his absence. The only localities 
 that they were able to attach to them were 
 Catalina Island and the lodging-house of 
 William Beck. 
 
 Next they made note of the dates when 
 Rex Carrington had failed to keep his ap- 
 pointments with Gottfried ; at the dealer's, 
 at Redondo for the duel ; and finally, they 
 added the night he went to the lodging- 
 house. 
 
 " There is a great deal of work to be 
 done right here," said Bernard ; " and I 
 will do as much as possible before the trial.
 
 206 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 What we fail to get by that time must be 
 brought out in the cross-examination. But 
 look here. Suppose your theory is right 
 and the prisoner anticipates the trial ha ! 
 ha!" and he burst into another peal of 
 laughter. 
 
 " He would not be believed if he did," 
 said Heinrich. " You need not fear for your 
 laurels." 
 
 " You have missed your vocation, young 
 man," said Bernard, as Heinrich rose to 
 leave the office ; " you should have been a 
 lawyer." 
 
 " Thank you," said Heinrich. " But if I 
 had not been a doctor, where would your 
 case have been ? " 
 
 " True, true," said Bernard, rubbing his 
 hands delightedly ; " I would never have 
 thought of it in the world." 
 
 But when his visitor had departed, he 
 sank back in his chair and fell into thought. 
 At length he shook his head and roused 
 himself from his reverie. 
 
 " It 's a chance, and we '11 work it out,"
 
 A STARTLING THEORY 207 
 
 he said to himself, " but, after all, I doubt 
 it, I doubt it." 
 
 In the meantime, Gottfried endured his 
 imprisonment with patience and resignation. 
 However uncertain the future might be, he 
 knew that in intent, at least, he was inno- 
 cent of wrong ; and he felt that at length 
 the shadow of mystery was to be lifted from 
 his life. Sometimes, indeed, he was tor- 
 tured by strange doubts. Was he in reality 
 a madman, whose hopeless condition was lit 
 up by fitful gleams of intelligence, during 
 which he had met and loved Constance 
 Wilbur ? Was his art the one permanent 
 thing he had carried with him from his 
 former life through those regions of dark- 
 ness in which reason was eclipsed ? But 
 still he clung passionately to his love and 
 his art as the two eternal verities in the 
 mysteries and uncertainties of his strange 
 existence. 
 
 His lawyer came to see him frequently, 
 and questioned him closely, not only as to 
 the recent events of his history, but also
 
 208 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 concerning his remote past. Gottfried was 
 mortified and annoyed that he could not 
 give him more definite information. His 
 childhood and youth seemed to have receded 
 into so distant a past that it was with diffi- 
 culty he could recall any familiar faces and 
 forms. For this reason he had never spoken 
 of his past to Constance or to any of his 
 friends. And yet, there were shadowy, 
 elusive recollections, and more or less dis- 
 tinct memories of his early surroundings. 
 His home was somewhere on the Rhine, 
 among the castled crags that overlooked the 
 stream. He remembered that in his early 
 childhood he sat by the waves and watched 
 for the water fays that never came. Even 
 as he grew older, he spent much of his time 
 in pensive meditation and dreams of these 
 beautiful creatures who could ensnare the 
 hearts of men. He had spent much of his 
 time, too, by the sea ; and had dreamed of 
 the Meerfrau rising out of the waves and 
 kissing him with her cool lips, trying to 
 warm herself with his human love. He
 
 A STARTLING THEORY 209 
 
 could see the moon rise from the clouds like 
 a giant orange, and stream over the gray sea 
 in golden glances. Then he wandered on 
 the shore where the white waves broke, and 
 heard sweet words spoken in the water. 
 Then, in the long night, when his heart 
 could not rest, he had called the beautiful 
 nixy to come and dance and sing her magic 
 measures. He had begged her to lay his 
 head in her lap and kiss the life out of his 
 breast. Then in imagination he left the 
 sea and the skies with their white mists and 
 climbed the mountains, wandering through 
 the pines where springs bubbled up and the 
 proud herds wandered and the sweet thrush 
 sang. He climbed the mountains with their 
 great rock-heights, where the castle ruins 
 stood gray in the light of morning. He 
 saw the hut of the miner on the mountain, 
 and heard the rustle of the green fir-trees, 
 and saw the brightness of the golden moon. 
 There were never moons so large and golden 
 as in Germany ; there were never pines 
 with whose rustling mingled such weird
 
 210 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 suggestions of elfin voices. And the stars 
 shone on him out of the great heaven ; and 
 in the winter the cold mountain heights 
 were buried in glistening snow. It was 
 very beautiful, that Deutschland that he 
 loved ; but yet it was so vague and far 
 away. 
 
 Of the loved ones that surrounded his 
 childhood, he had the most shadowy recol- 
 lections. The faces were dim and blurred, 
 but the figures were more distinct. He 
 knew that in the evening his blind grand- 
 mother sat in the easy-chair that in German 
 families is reserved for the aged, in this 
 case, a leathern elbow-chair ; that his mother 
 sat spinning with white thread, and his fa- 
 ther played the zither, singing softly the old 
 fairy-lore he loved. There was a little sis- 
 ter, too, who sat on a low stool and laid her 
 arm across his knee. Her eyes were like 
 two blue stars, and her little mouth like a 
 soft red rose. And when he looked at her, 
 she smiled and laid her lily-finger across the 
 rose-petals of her lips.
 
 A STARTLING THEORY 211 
 
 But they were all gone, and he was alone 
 in a strange land ; and a veil whose dark- 
 ness he could not penetrate lay over his life. 
 He knew he had been alone in the city, 
 ignorant of any language save German ; and 
 that he had sought out a teacher and studied 
 painting. Then he had opened his studio, 
 and after that, his recollections, save for the 
 intervals of absence, were continuous and 
 distinct. 
 
 Some of these things he told his lawyer, 
 who smiled and rubbed his hands and said 
 the case was coming on all right. Gottfried 
 thought it was professional cheerfulness 
 assumed to mask the seriousness of the 
 situation. He thought it a little hard 
 that Heinrich, too, was cheerful and in- 
 clined to unseasonable mirth. 
 
 Every day Constance came to see him, and 
 brought him flowers from her little garden 
 at home. She put in his cell the potted fern 
 that had stood on the window-sill of his 
 studio, and brought him his favorite books. 
 
 The girl herself, to whom Heinrich had
 
 212 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 communicated his hopes, was full of fore- 
 bodings. She shuddered at thought of her 
 lover's possible madness ; but her heart sank 
 with unutterable dread at thought of a 
 greater calamity, in which his heart would 
 no longer be hers. And when Heinrich 
 would have reassured her, she would not be 
 comforted. 
 
 Before Gottfried she tried to appear cheer- 
 ful ; but he knew the sadness that lay be- 
 hind her smiles, and loved her the better 
 for it. 
 
 So the days passed and the long nights of 
 torturing wakef ulness, when she lay tearless, 
 with a sense of weight on her breast ; long- 
 ing to cry out, but suppressing the impulse 
 to shuddering moans. 
 
 The morning of the opening of the trial 
 broke, with the rustle of leaves and the twit- 
 tering of birds ; and as Constance opened 
 her window, the odor of blossoms came to 
 her with the stream of light that flooded her
 
 XVI 
 
 THE TRIAL 
 
 THE court-room was crowded when Con- 
 stance entered with Mrs. Dierssen. She 
 looked over the faces, some eager and ex- 
 pectant, others marked with blase indif- 
 ference or morbid craving for sensational 
 developments. The prominence of Rex Car- 
 rington alone would have filled the place ; 
 but added to this was the interest excited 
 by the unexplained mystery that hung over 
 the prisoner's life, and by the beauty of the 
 girl who was supposed to have been the in- 
 direct cause of the tragedy. 
 
 She turned from the curious scrutiny that 
 answered her gaze to Gottfried ; and she 
 realized more than ever before the change 
 that a few weeks had wrought in him. But 
 he smiled as his eyes met hers, and she saw 
 that his courage had not yet failed him.
 
 214 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 The greater part of the morning was oc- 
 cupied by the testimony of Henry Perkins, 
 the valet. In addition to the evidence he 
 had given at the preliminary trial, he testi- 
 fied that his master was in the habit of leav- 
 ing the house during the night that followed 
 heavy drinking, and of remaining away 
 from home for various periods, ranging from 
 a day to several weeks in duration. More 
 than once before the night of his final dis- 
 appearance, witness had tried to follow him, 
 but had always been foiled in the attempt. 
 Either his master slipped away when he 
 thought him asleep, or saw him in pursuit 
 and turned on him furiously, compelling him 
 to go back. Frequently, on his return, his 
 master warned him not to attempt to find 
 him, and charged him to keep his mother 
 and all his friends ignorant of his absence. 
 In order to do this the more successfully, 
 witness had feigned that his master suffered 
 from delirium tremens ; and Mrs. Carrington 
 had always accepted this explanation until 
 the last unfortunate occurrence. On cross-
 
 THE TRIAL 215 
 
 examination, he testified that it was nearly 
 a year since his master began to drink hea- 
 vily and to leave his home ; and witness 
 had always supposed he spent the time of 
 his absence in debauch. 
 
 In reply to further questions from the 
 attorney for the defense, the witness gave, 
 as nearly as he could recollect, the dates 
 upon which his master had become intoxi- 
 cated and subsequently left his home. 
 
 "Did he remember the events that had 
 occurred while he was away ? " asked Ber- 
 nard. 
 
 " He never referred to them," was the 
 reply ; " but it was none of my business, 
 and Mr. Rex kept a good many things to 
 himself." 
 
 Heinrich Dierssen, sitting in the court- 
 room, smiled ; and Charles Bernard made 
 a note as he signified that the witness might 
 retire. 
 
 Several days were occupied by the testi- 
 mony for the prosecution. The evidence 
 was in the main the same as in the prelimi-
 
 216 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 nary trial, the chief difference being that, in 
 the cross-examination, dates were brought 
 out as much as possible. Alicia Ferris was 
 cross-examined closely. Did she know Gott- 
 fried Jager ? Could she swear that the pic- 
 ture in the locket was not the portrait of 
 Geoffrey Carrington ? Could she swear it 
 was the portrait of the prisoner at the bar ? 
 
 To these questions Miss Ferris replied 
 that she had never met Gottfried Jager ; 
 that she had thought at first the picture in 
 the locket was the portrait of Geoffrey Car- 
 rington ; that she had changed her opinion 
 on account of the difference of expression. 
 She could swear now that it was not the 
 portrait of Geoffrey Carrington, but that of 
 the prisoner at the bar. 
 
 When the evidence was all in, not- 
 withstanding the apparent complacency of 
 Charles Bernard, it seemed to the people 
 that had crowded the court-room throughout 
 the proceedings that Gottfried Jager stood 
 little chance of acquittal. It was generally 
 thought the defense would be based on tern-
 
 THE TRIAL 217 
 
 porary or periodic insanity, during an attack 
 of which the crime had been committed. 
 Even the prisoner, who had followed the 
 proceedings with increasing horror and de- 
 spair, shared in the general expectation. 
 
 When the attorney for the defense rose 
 to make his opening speech, so sure did the 
 auditors feel of the line he would take that 
 little excitement was apparent ; but the gen- 
 eral indifference was destined to be broken 
 by a shock of surprise. 
 
 " I shall endeavor to prove to you the 
 innocence of my client," he said, " not by 
 casting discredit upon the evidence that has 
 already been given, for every word of it is 
 needed to substantiate the facts I shall show 
 in the evidence for the defense. I shall 
 not try to prove an alibi nor break a single 
 link in the chain of circumstantial evidence 
 against the accused. So far from doing so, 
 gentlemen of the jury, I declare to you 
 openly in the presence of the court that I 
 believe every word of the witnesses that 
 have already appeared before you to be true.
 
 218 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Neither shall I urge the plea of temporary 
 insanity, which would be a tacit admission of 
 the crime. So far from making use of any 
 of these devices, I shall endeavor to prove 
 the innocence of my client by the strongest 
 evidence possible in the case; I mean by 
 producing in court the supposed victim of 
 the crime of which he stands accused." 
 
 At these words, a wave of excitement 
 passed over the throng ; and the prisoner 
 himself bent forward eagerly, hanging upon 
 the words of his counsel. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury," continued the 
 lawyer, sinking his voice to low, vibrating 
 tones, " Geoffrey Hunter Carrington stands 
 before you at the bar of this court, arraigned 
 for the murder of himself." 
 
 If an earthquake had shaken the walls of 
 the building, the excitement could not have 
 been more intense. The people rose to their 
 feet, and the murmur of voices over the 
 court-room, broken by ejaculations, deep- 
 ened to a roar. It was several minutes be- 
 fore order could be restored. In the mean-
 
 THE TRIAL 219 
 
 time, the defendant had sunk back in his 
 chair, with bloodless cheeks and eyes that 
 seemed starting from his head. Mrs. Car- 
 rington covered her face with her hands, 
 and Alicia Ferris turned a shade paler. 
 The face of Constance Wilbur quivered, 
 but she kept her eyes fixed steadily on her 
 lover. 
 
 " We shall endeavor to show, gentlemen 
 of the jury," the attorney went on, " that 
 the periods of Gottfried Jager' s life, so far 
 as known to the public, coincide with the 
 periods that Geoffrey Carrington was sup- 
 posed to pass in delirium tremens or in wild 
 debauch, and that the periods of life of 
 Geoffrey Carrington known to the public 
 correspond with the periods when Gottfried 
 Jager was mysteriously absent from his 
 friends. We shall show that although sev- 
 eral urgent appointments were made be- 
 tween the men, they never met ; we shall 
 show that Geoffrey Carrington went to Cat- 
 alina Island and that Gottfried Jager re- 
 turned ; we shall show that Gottfried Jager
 
 220 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 left his friends without explanation or apo- 
 logy at Echo Mountain, and the same even- 
 ing Geoffrey Carrington appeared at his 
 home after a prolonged absence. We shall 
 show that Gottfried Jager was taken by a 
 servant and by the sister of Miss Ferris for 
 Geoffrey Carrington ; we shall show that 
 Geoffrey Carrington was seen on a bicycle 
 by a friend of Gottfried Jager's, and would 
 have been taken for the latter had it not 
 been known Jager did not ride. Finally, 
 gentlemen of the jury, we shall show that 
 Geoffrey Carrington entered the lodging- 
 house of William Beck and retired to his 
 room, and that in the morning Gottfried 
 Jager issued from it as guiltless of crime as 
 the butterfly that emerges from the chrysalis 
 is innocent of the death of the caterpillar 
 from which it sprang. In short, we shall 
 show that the prisoner at the bar is subject 
 to periodic amnesia ; that is, that he has a 
 dual personality, in each condition being 
 ignorant of the events that have transpired 
 during the other ; that in the first condition
 
 THE TRIAL 221 
 
 he is known as Geoffrey or Rex Carrington, 
 and in the second as Gottfried Jager. We 
 shall show that the change from the first to 
 the second personality is caused by over- 
 indulgence in alcoholic drinks ; while the 
 change from' the second to the first is en- 
 tirely involuntary, the period of the second 
 condition seeming to depend upon the degree 
 of inebriety by which it was induced. We 
 shall show by medical and scientific author- 
 ity that the diversity of character between 
 the two, including habits, speech, movements, 
 and even the knowledge of languages, is 
 only the stronger evidence of their identity. 
 We shall show that Gottfried Ja'ger, whose 
 very name is only the German translation of 
 Geoffrey Hunter, has dreamed for himself a 
 past from the poems of Heine, of which 
 Geoffrey Carrington was an enthusiastic 
 student; and that, in common with other 
 subjects of this disease, he forgot his mother- 
 tongue, and retained the language which was 
 the last that Geoffrey Carrington had ac- 
 quired, even speaking it with greater facility,
 
 222 Ay ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 his memory on that subject being excited to 
 abnormal activity." 
 
 As the testimony proceeded, step by step 
 the coincidence of dates was brought out 
 with startling accuracy. The baron testified 
 to Carrington's studies and rapid advance in 
 proficiency since conversing with him ; little 
 Lillian Ferris and the servant who admitted 
 the prisoner testified to his call the morning 
 Miss Ferris had gone out to drive, when they 
 had taken him for Geoffrey Carrington. 
 
 Gottfried himself substantiated the evi- 
 dence of the other witnesses, even to the 
 call on Miss Ferris, when he had been re- 
 ceived as a habitual visitor at the house ; 
 but so far from availing himself of the 
 opportunity of escape that had so unexpect- 
 edly offered, he disclaimed his identity with 
 Rex Carrington, and declared that although 
 his recollections of the distant past were 
 vague, they were attended by the emotions 
 of love and veneration that one has for his 
 early home. 
 
 Heinrich Dierssen was again called to the
 
 THE TRIAL 223 
 
 witness-stand, and read from the "Heim- 
 kehr " and the " Harzreise " the lines de- 
 scriptive of the country and the home and 
 the family Gottfried had pictured as belong- 
 ing to his own childhood. He also testified 
 as to the phenomena of periodic amnesia, 
 being confirmed in this by the expert testi- 
 mony of a well-known medical practitioner, 
 the best local authority on diseases of the 
 brain. 
 
 Mrs. Carrington and the valet, who had 
 at first taken the defendant for Rex Car- 
 rington, now vehemently denied the identity ; 
 for, notwithstanding the statements that had 
 been made as to the existence, in cases of 
 periodic amnesia, of two distinct personali- 
 ties, they could not connect the quiet, serious 
 dignity of this man with the reckless, impet- 
 uous nature of the young millionaire. 
 
 The speeches for the prosecution and for 
 the defense were both strong, and sentiment 
 seemed to be almost evenly divided. Ber- 
 nard, to support his theory of periodic am- 
 nesia, read extracts from " Diseases of the
 
 224 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 Memory," by Kibot, " Illusions of Memory," 
 by Sully, and "Character in Health and 
 Disease," by Dr. Azam, at the time of the 
 publication of his book President of the 
 Academy of Sciences of Bordeaux and Cor- 
 respondent of the Academy of Medicine of 
 Paris. Among the instances, he read from 
 Ribot's "Diseases of the Memory" an ac- 
 count of the case of Felida X , reported 
 
 by Dr. Azam. 
 
 " In the case of Felida X ," he read 
 
 in conclusion, translating from the book by 
 Dr. Azam he held in his hand, "the dif- 
 ferences of character are very remarkable. 
 In the normal state, or in the first condi- 
 tion, Felida was reserved, sad, melancholy. 
 ... In the second condition, and at the 
 close of the brief sleep that constitutes the 
 period of transition, her face was illumined 
 with gayety, her extreme reserve had disap- 
 peared, and she became handsome and smil- 
 ing. There could be nothing more striking 
 than this contrast. 
 
 " It was the same with a young boy who 
 presented an analogous state. . . .
 
 THE TRIAL 225 
 
 " Facts of this kind are too infrequent to 
 enable us to establish a rule. But it is 
 probable that in all cases of doubling of 
 personality, differences of character play an 
 important part." 
 
 The favorable effect produced by these 
 citations was somewhat disturbed by the 
 closing speech of the prosecution, in which 
 an appeal was made to common sense, and 
 the jury urged not to give credence to a 
 story that surpassed in wild improbability 
 the tales of the Arabian Nights. 
 
 As the speech was drawing to a close, 
 Gottfried Jager, who had been sitting mo- 
 tionless, with his sunken eyes fixed on the 
 speaker's face, put his hand suddenly to his 
 heart and fell forward on the desk before 
 him. Bernard attempted to raise him, but 
 in an instant he had sprung to his feet and 
 looked about the court-room in amazement. 
 The expression of his face had changed 
 completely, giving him the appearance of 
 another man. 
 
 " What the deuce does this mean ? " he
 
 226 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 exclaimed angrily, looking from the excited 
 faces of those about him to the judge, who 
 had started to his feet with a smothered 
 exclamation. " What am I here for? " 
 
 The voice was pitched higher than that of 
 Gottfried Jager, and the German accent 
 was entirely wanting. A stir of excitement 
 passed like an electric shock among the 
 spectators, and a murmur of whispered com- 
 ments and muttered ejaculations arose ; for, 
 thin and pale as the face had become, it was 
 stamped unmistakably with a personality 
 familiar to many in the room. 
 
 " My son ! my son ! " cried Mrs. Carring- 
 ton, rushing to him and throwing her arms 
 about his neck. 
 
 " Mother ! " he exclaimed, disengaging 
 her arms gently, and looking at her in sur- 
 prise. 
 
 The judge sat looking on, bewildered into 
 temporary inaction, leaning forward in his 
 chair, and gripping his desk with his lean 
 fingers. Some of the jurors had risen to 
 their feet, and others sat open-mouthed and
 
 THE TRIAL 227 
 
 with staring eyes. A profound hush had 
 fallen upon the court-room. In a moment 
 it was broken by a sob. The prisoner at 
 the bar looked in the direction of the sound, 
 and his face lit up with a sudden tenderness 
 that for a fleeting moment recalled the face 
 of Gottfried Jager. 
 
 " The Madonna ! " he exclaimed ; but Con- 
 stance bowed her head in her hands and 
 wept. 
 
 The court-room was in confusion. Mrs. 
 Carrington had fainted, and the valet broke 
 into wild vociferations of the identity of the 
 prisoner and his master. The people rose 
 to their feet and began to press toward the 
 front, where the defendant stood with folded 
 arms, looking about him, expectant and de- 
 fiant. The judge, in doubt how to conduct 
 proceedings under the unprecedented cir- 
 cumstances, hastily adjourned court. The 
 next day, Gottfried Jager was declared in- 
 nocent of the crime with which he had been 
 charged.
 
 XVII 
 
 A REBUFF 
 
 SEVERAL days later, Constance sat at even- 
 ing by the window, her head thrown back 
 against her chair, her hands lying listless in 
 her lap. The paleness of her face was ac- 
 centuated by the dark dress she wore, and 
 the sweet mouth was drawn in lines of 
 grief. 
 
 Ever since Heinrich Dierssen had first 
 confided to her his theory concerning Gott- 
 fried, she had tried to prepare herself for 
 the climax that had occurred at the close of 
 the trial ; but her efforts had been powerless 
 to soften the shock of that terrible moment 
 when her lover had been blotted from exist- 
 ence before her eyes. A thousand times 
 since she had wished for the common sorrow 
 of humanity ; for the long watching around 
 the death-bed, the stillness and the perfume
 
 A REBUFF 229 
 
 of flowers in the room where the form was 
 coffined, the quiet resting-place in the 
 shadowed city of the dead, and, after it 
 all, with the tears and the heartache of re- 
 membrance, the hope of immortality. But 
 none of this was for her. She was set aside 
 to suffer a strange destiny, outside the pale 
 of the sympathy of others. Her lover was 
 not dead; he had never really been. She 
 might as well have loved a shadow or a 
 dream. 
 
 But the thought of that other personality 
 that dared to wear the face and form of her 
 lover, returned to torture her. It was as 
 though the moon, whose face had beamed 
 in tender beauty for ages on the earth, 
 should turn to view its hidden side, seamed, 
 discolored, terrible. From Rex Carrington 
 she instinctively shrank with dislike and 
 fear ; for Gottfried Jager she yearned with 
 inexpressible longing. 
 
 She started as the gate-latch clicked ; it 
 almost seemed that the familiar tread of her 
 lover must follow the sound. But the steps
 
 230 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 that approached the house were quick and 
 impetuous, and were followed by a pull at 
 the bell that startled her. 
 
 She answered the ring, and started back 
 with a low cry; Rex Carrington stood 
 before her. She had not time to collect 
 her thoughts, when he had stepped in the 
 hallway and closed the door behind him. 
 
 "I have found you at last," he said, 
 " and, best of all, in fulfillment of the hopes 
 of my wildest dreams, you are my fiancee." 
 
 He put his arm around her, and would 
 have drawn her to him, but she drew away 
 and motioned him back. 
 
 " Do not dare to touch me," she cried, 
 " Gottfried Jager was my lover ; Rex Car- 
 rington is a stranger." 
 
 The young man fell back and looked at 
 her in amazement. 
 
 " But I, too, love you," he cried. " I have 
 loved you ever since I first saw the face of 
 the Madonna in the window. Every day of 
 my life since then I have looked at your 
 picture and worshiped you."
 
 A REBUFF 231 
 
 She stood silent before him, unmoved by 
 his passionate appeal. 
 
 " I do not understand," he went on, " why 
 you will not love me. I am Gottfried, and 
 I have loved you always, in both conditions 
 of my dual existence. It was on account 
 of your pictured face that I broke off my 
 engagement with Alicia Ferris. I have 
 brought you the ring," and he drew it from 
 his pocket; "let me put it on your finger 
 now." 
 
 She drew farther away from him, and 
 stood with her hands clasped behind her. 
 
 " It is useless to speak of it," she said ; 
 "you are not Gottfried, and I can never 
 love you." 
 
 Again he looked at her in bewilderment. 
 He did not realize the great difference of 
 personality between himself and Gottfried 
 Ja'ger, and he had been so sure of success 
 when he found that the accepted lover no 
 longer stood in his way. In fact, he had 
 considered Constance as engaged 'to himself, 
 and did not doubt that she felt bound to
 
 232 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 him as well. He could not understand her 
 refusal ; he could not conceive how she could 
 give up a lover, and at the same time the 
 position and opportunities he offered her. 
 
 " But I will make you my wife," he said ; 
 " you will be the mistress of my house ; we 
 will travel, and I will present you at the 
 courts of Europe. You shall study music 
 in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, wherever you like ; 
 or you shall be the queen of drawing-rooms 
 and salons. Your face would be the rage 
 in society ; your life would be a succession 
 of pleasures. There is nothing I would not 
 do for you, even to settling upon you the 
 half of my fortune." 
 
 But as he spoke, the girl had drawn her- 
 self up to her full height and stood con- 
 fronting him, her eyes blazing with anger 
 and scorn. 
 
 " And you," she cried, " you, in the ego- 
 tism of wealth, think that I can be bought. 
 Mr. Carrington, I have the honor of wishing 
 you good-evening." 
 
 She stepped forward as she spoke and
 
 A REBUFF 233 
 
 opened the door. Mechanically, he moved 
 to pass out, but drew back and looked at 
 her with a changed expression. Behind the 
 pride and scorn of her face, he saw the pain 
 and the passion of regret, and his imperious 
 nature was touched alike by her beauty and 
 her distress. 
 
 " Forgive me," he said ; " I am a brute, I 
 should know better than to speak to you like 
 that. But my love drives me mad. I have 
 worshiped your face for months, and now 
 that I have found you, I cannot give you up. 
 Give me some hope, some opportunity to 
 speak to you again. I will be less impetu- 
 ous ; I will be careful not to offend you. 
 Only tell me that I may come to see you 
 again. Do not turn me away from your 
 house like this." 
 
 Her face had softened, and suddenly she 
 held out her hand. 
 
 " I am sorry," she said, " but it is better 
 that we should not meet again. It was the 
 personality of Gottfried Jager that I loved, 
 and not his face and form. You are as
 
 234 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 different as though you were indeed another 
 man." 
 
 He bowed over her hand and lifted it for 
 a moment to his lips ; then he stumbled out 
 into the darkness. 
 
 Half an hour later, when he entered his 
 study, the face of the Madonna smiled at 
 him as he feared the living face would never 
 do. He thought of the look of scorn the 
 girl had flung upon him, Rex Carrington, 
 who had been wont to boast of his power 
 over women, and he thought of the words 
 with which she had spurned his wealth. 
 But he loved her the better and desired her 
 the more. 
 
 He flung himself down in his easy-chair 
 opposite the picture, and fell to thinking of 
 the strange fate that had drawn her to him, 
 only to separate them forever. He fell to 
 wondering what there was in the personality 
 of Gottfried Jager that had won her heart, 
 and what there was in himself that evidently 
 repelled her. Perhaps, he thought, his 
 second personality was the realization of
 
 A REBUFF 235 
 
 the best of which his nature was capable, 
 and he reflected, with an impatient sigh, 
 that in his normal personality there was 
 plenty of room for improvement. 
 
 " Hang it all ! " he exclaimed, " why can't 
 I stay Gottfried Jager instead of Rex Car- 
 rington ? I could take my own name and 
 claim my own property, and still retain her 
 love. I cannot even play the part, for I 
 don't know anything about him except what 
 I have been told. I cannot paint pictures, 
 nor even call her ' mein Liebchen,' without 
 a detestable English accent." 
 
 He had taken the ring from his pocket, 
 and was examining the inscription. 
 
 " My little love ! " he murmured, and for 
 a moment his impetuous heart bowed to the 
 sorrow of what seemed his inevitable fate. 
 
 Then he was struck by a sudden thought. 
 He turned his face from the picture and 
 touched a bell in the wall behind his chair. 
 He leaned back and folded his arms. 
 
 Perkins appeared in the doorway and 
 waited for him to speak.
 
 236 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Bring me two bottles of Mumm, a pint 
 of Sauterne, and a flask of Burgundy from 
 the new case of Pommard." 
 
 " Now, Mr. Rex, or when the other gentle- 
 men come ? " 
 
 " Now," was the reply, " there will be no 
 other gentlemen." 
 
 The servant started away, hesitated, and 
 turned back. 
 
 " Mr. Rex," he said, " it 's not my place 
 to tell you what to do ; but you know what '11 
 happen if you drink that yourself." 
 
 " Do as I bid you," said Rex impatiently. 
 " You are right ; it is not your place to tell 
 me what to do." 
 
 Again the servant turned to go, and this 
 time he was stopped by his master. 
 
 " Bring me my check book and the cash 
 you got at the bank to-day." 
 
 Perkins disappeared, and Rex leaned back 
 in his chair and fell to meditating again. 
 
 He happened to glance at the table and 
 saw a volume of Heine, open and face down. 
 He picked it up, and with a smile turned
 
 A REBUFF 237 
 
 over the leaves, trying to trace in its lines 
 the pictures of Gottfried Jager's early home, 
 as it had been described to him. 
 
 " Die blinde Grossmutter sitzt ja, 
 Im ledernen Lehnstuhl dort." 
 
 " That is the blind grandmother in the 
 leathern elbow-chair ; and here," turning 
 the pages rapidly, "is the dear little sister, 
 with eyes that he calls ' die lieben blauen 
 Sterne: " 
 
 He sighed and laid the book down. Per- 
 kins had entered with the money and the 
 wine. 
 
 When the servant had retired, Rex put 
 the check book and the gold in his pocket. 
 He opened a bottle of champagne, and filling 
 his glass, held it a moment to the light, look- 
 ing at the pale amber with the satisfaction 
 of a connoisseur. Then, holding the glass 
 toward the pictured Madonna, he proposed 
 his solitary toast : " To the success of Gott- 
 fried Jager."
 
 XVIII 
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL RUSE 
 
 CONSTANCE bent over her mother's couch 
 and kissed her. 
 
 " Good-by," she said ; " I won't be gone 
 long this morning." 
 
 " If she only could love him," the invalid 
 said to herself as her daughter passed out 
 of the room, " she would not have to wear 
 herself out with work and live a lonely life. 
 But I will not blame her, for I, too, fol- 
 lowed the dictates of my heart." 
 
 She turned her face to the window, watch- 
 ing for the nod and smile that Constance 
 would give her as she passed on the street. 
 But she waited in vain. 
 
 As the girl stepped into the hallway, she 
 heard the gate-latch, and the next instant she 
 had put her hand to her heart. A step that 
 she had not forgotten was coming rapidly
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL RUSE 239 
 
 up the walk. She flung the .door open, her 
 breath coming in gasps. 
 
 " Gottfried ! " she cried. 
 
 " Mein Liebchen ! " exclaimed the young 
 man, entering and closing the door behind 
 him. 
 
 He held out his arms, and with a sudden 
 impulse of passionate yearning she flung 
 herself on his breast. He strained her to 
 his heart, murmuring over her terms of en- 
 dearment in the German tongue. It was 
 indeed Gottfried, and not Rex, who had re- 
 turned to her ; and she clung to him with a 
 wild wish that she might cheat fate and hold 
 him to her forever. 
 
 " Do not go away, do not leave me, Gott- 
 fried, or I shall die," she said brokenly. 
 
 " Never, me/in Liebchen" he said ; " never 
 while I have the power to remain. But 
 come," he added, leading her into the room 
 and seating her beside him ; " there are 
 many things that you must tell me. This 
 cursed mystery hangs over me yet. I awoke 
 this morning in my studio, and the last that
 
 240 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 I could remember I was in the court-room 
 on trial for my life, and it seemed that the 
 evidence was going against me. Mein 
 Liebchen, mein Liebchen, tell me if I am 
 innocent." 
 
 " You are innocent," she assured him ; 
 " Rex Carrington was produced in court." 
 
 " Thank God," he said fervently ; " no- 
 thing else matters now. You will marry me, 
 Constance, for I cannot give you up. The 
 sacrifice is too great to ask of you, but I can- 
 not give you up. Tell me that you will 
 marry me, mein Liebchen" 
 
 For answer, she flung her arms out over 
 his knees and, laying her head upon them, 
 burst into tumultuous sobs. 
 
 He threw his arm about her and lifted her 
 head to his breast. 
 
 " What is it, mein Liebchen ? " he said. 
 " What can I say to comfort you ? " 
 
 " Oh, Gottfried ! Gottfried ! " she moaned, 
 " how can I tell you the truth ? " 
 
 " But tell me, mein Liebchen" he en- 
 treated ; " I can bear anything now, since I
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL RUSE 241 
 
 am innocent and I have you. What more 
 do I want ? " 
 
 Still for a moment she did not speak. 
 Her moans were like those of a wild thing 
 of the woods stricken to death ; and they 
 pierced the heart of Gottfried with anguish. 
 He caressed her silently, suffering her grief 
 to spend itself a little ; then he begged her 
 to tell him her trouble. When she spoke at 
 last, it was with a rush of impetuous words. 
 
 " How can I tell you that I dare not marry 
 you," she said ; " that even now, as I hold 
 you in my arms, you may slip away from me, 
 and leave me in the embrace of a man I ab- 
 hor ? If I could only hold you forever " 
 Her voice broke, and she hid her face in his 
 breast. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he cried in sud- 
 den fear. " Am I so terrible sometimes ? 
 Am I a maniac, an idiot, an object of loath- 
 ing and disgust ? Tell me, mein Liebchen, 
 for I must know the truth." 
 
 " Gottfried," she asked solemnly, lifting 
 her head and looking in his face, " would 
 you want me to marry Rex Carrington ? "
 
 242 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 " Mein Gott, nein" he cried. " That 
 careless, reckless breaker of women's hearts, 
 that victim of drink, that " 
 
 " Hush," she said gently, laying her fin- 
 gers across his lips. " If you do not want 
 me to marry him, then I cannot marry you." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he exclaimed, 
 kissing her fingers as he drew them away. 
 
 " I mean," she said, shuddering as she 
 uttered the words, " that you and Rex Car- 
 rington are the same man." 
 
 The last words were almost a whisper, and 
 for a moment Gottfried did not comprehend 
 them. Then, as their full significance broke 
 upon him and the scenes of the trial he had 
 forgotten recurred to him, he groaned and 
 covered his face with his hands. In an in- 
 stant, however, he had again drawn Con- 
 stance into his arms, straining her to him 
 with a despairing and passionate tenderness. 
 Neither of them saw that the portieres had 
 been drawn aside and the invalid, who had 
 not crossed her room before for many months, 
 stood silently regarding them.
 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL RUSE 243 
 
 Suddenly Gottfried put his hand to his 
 heart and a shudder passed through his 
 frame. A moment later, Constance felt his 
 arm tighten about her. 
 
 " So, so, little Constance, I have you at 
 last," said a voice, pitched higher than Gott- 
 fried's and without the German accent. It 
 was the voice of Rex Carrington. 
 
 " No," he said, as she tried to draw her- 
 self from his arms ; " I shall not let you go 
 so easily. That was a brilliant thought 
 to turn myself into Gottfried Jager; and 
 since he has done my wooing so well for me, 
 I am going to keep you until you promise 
 to be my wife." 
 
 He bent his head toward her face, but be- 
 fore his lips touched her cheek she had 
 sprung from his arms. 
 
 " Mother ! " she cried, as the form in the 
 doorway swayed and would have fallen had 
 she not supported it. 
 
 " Come back," she said gently, leading her 
 mother to her couch and making her lie 
 down. " I will send him away." 
 
 She returned to the other room and looked
 
 244 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 coldly at her guest, who had risen and stood 
 before her. 
 
 " Did I understand you rightly?" she de- 
 manded. " Did you change yourself to Gott- 
 fried Jager deliberately and for the purpose 
 of influencing me ? " 
 
 " Certainly," he said, trying to speak 
 lightly. " It is fortunate I hold the key to 
 the transition. Whenever I become intoler- 
 able to you as Rex Carrington, all I need is 
 a bottle of champagne " 
 
 She lifted her hand as though to ward off 
 a blow ; and as he saw the agony of her 
 face, his voice faltered and stopped. 
 
 " Now go," she said with a voice of indig- 
 nant scorn ; " and if you wish to retain the 
 slightest measure of my respect, never enter 
 my house again." 
 
 He opened his lips to protest, but dropped 
 his eyes before her glance, and passed out of 
 the house in silence. 
 
 A few days later, as Constance glanced 
 over the morning paper, she saw in a soci- 
 ety notice that Rex Carrington had gone to 
 New York to sail for Europe.
 
 XIX 
 
 VICTORY 
 
 Two years had passed since the morning 
 Constance Wilbur had sent her lover away. 
 
 The Carrington house on Figueroa Street 
 had been unoccupied save by care-takers 
 and servants for more than a year. Mrs. 
 Carrington, who had never entirely recov- 
 ered from the shock of her son's disappear- 
 ance, and the subsequent developments of 
 the trial, had at last succumbed to heart 
 failure. All cablegrams and letters sent to 
 the latest address Rex had given, had failed 
 to elicit response ; and the funeral had been 
 held, perforce, without the attendance of a 
 single mourner. Subsequently, his friends 
 learned that he had been with a party in the 
 Orient ; and upon his return to Europe, he 
 had written instructions to his legal adviser, 
 declaring his intention of remaining abroad.
 
 246 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 But that morning, on the anniversary 
 of his scornful dismissal by Constance, he 
 emerged early from his stateroom on the 
 Pullman sleeper, looking eagerly for familiar 
 landmarks as he neared the end of his long 
 journey. He had traveled from Paris with 
 no more delay than was necessary to make 
 connection of steamer and train ; and as the 
 distance lessened between him and the wo- 
 man he still loved, his impatience visibly 
 increased. 
 
 He had looked at his face in the glass 
 that morning, and knew that it was much 
 changed. The expression, indeed, was more 
 that of Gottfried than of Rex ; but lines of 
 sorrow and of the mastery of the will over 
 the passions had been added, giving it firm- 
 ness and a certain pathos that had been 
 found in neither of the two. 
 
 As the train swept by over the desert, 
 with its blinding glare broken by weird 
 gnarled trees of cactus that stretched their 
 misshapen branches in the hot air, the events 
 of the past two years passed rapidly through 
 his mind.
 
 VICTORY 247 
 
 He had left his home in a blind mad rage 
 with fate ; cursing his misfortunes, and car- 
 ing only for excitement in which he might 
 forget the past. Arriving in Europe, he 
 had sought the famous gambling-places, and 
 alternately lost and won vast sums of money ; 
 he had gone to Paris, and plunged into the 
 gayeties of the world's pleasure-city ; he had 
 visited his uncle in England, and been pre- 
 sented at court and introduced to London 
 society in the height of the season ; he had 
 joined a party of cyclists through Normandy ; 
 he had ascended the Matterhorn and climbed 
 the Hartz Mountains, following the course 
 of Heine. But it was all to no avail. The 
 face of Constance was always before him, 
 and the thought of the love he had lost. 
 
 He began to wonder what Gottfried Jager 
 was like, and if it would not be possible for 
 him to change himself by a persistent and 
 conscious effort into the personality that in 
 some way derived its being from his own 
 brain. He settled down in Paris and hired 
 a studio, and began to study painting. At
 
 248 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 this time he knew nothing of the art ; he had 
 not learned the first principles of drawing. 
 
 " How the deuce did I ever paint that 
 Madonna ? " he asked himself savagely, as 
 he tried in vain to draw the outlines of the 
 face. 
 
 But he did not give up, and after the first 
 few lessons he made such rapid strides that 
 his work was considered phenomenal. 
 
 However, he was not satisfied with this 
 branch of development alone. He began to 
 dream for himself an ideal, and this ideal 
 was such a man as a girl like Constance 
 would love ; and slowly and painfully, with 
 many lapses into the passion and reckless- 
 ness of his old life, he had learned to live 
 up to it. There was one weakness that he 
 had mastered by a single effort of the will ; 
 he had never touched wine since the night 
 he had drank to the success of Gottfried 
 Jager. He knew instinctively now that his 
 other personality would not help him ; that 
 the lofty nature of Gottfried would not con- 
 sent to the sacrifice of the woman he loved
 
 VICTORY 249 
 
 to a man like Rex Carrington ; and he knew 
 that Constance herself would receive Gott- 
 fried Jager no longer. He understood, too, 
 that although he held the power of transi- 
 tion from Rex to Gottfried, Gottfried him- 
 self was beyond his control. In the second 
 condition, there was no means by which, 
 should he so desire, he could regain his lost 
 personality. And so he had lived on and 
 worked and dared to dream sometimes that 
 he might yet become worthy of the woman 
 he loved. 
 
 The only break in the labor of his art was 
 made by his trip to the Orient, during which 
 his mother had died. After his return, he 
 settled himself again in his studio, and be- 
 fore long, to his own amazement, he began 
 to achieve fame. 
 
 It was in the spring of that year that he 
 went to Rome to study, and lingered too long 
 into the hot season, and was stricken down 
 with the fever. For many days he was de- 
 lirious. At last, however, he began to come 
 to himself. As he did so, he became gradu-
 
 250 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 ally conscious of two sets of memories and 
 two currents of emotions. Now he was Rex 
 Carrington, speeding on his wheel over the 
 Santa Monica road, or sitting in his study 
 and gazing wistfully on the face of the 
 Madonna. Again, he was Gottfried Jager, 
 unable to speak a word of English, and 
 taking his first lessons of an obscure Los 
 Angeles artist, or watching Constance Wil- 
 bur as she passed his studio window. And 
 so he passed in sequence through the double 
 life of Rex and Gottfried, even through the 
 transition period, when dazed and uncertain 
 of the morrow, with a sort of blind instinct, 
 he had hired the room in William Beck's 
 lodging-house, that his metamorphosis might 
 remain a secret to his friends. He under- 
 stood now that the transition from the first 
 to the second condition was made during 
 sleep, and required a much longer period 
 than the return to the normal personality. 
 But it was chiefly of Constance that he 
 thought ; and it was with a wild joy that 
 he remembered the rapture of holding her
 
 VICTORY 251 
 
 in his arms and listening to her low sweet 
 voice as it spoke to him words of love. 
 
 " Mein Liebchen ! " he cried ; and the 
 voice was deeper than his own, and the 
 English accent was gone. And yet, while 
 he was Gottfried, he was Kex ; the two per- 
 sonalities had at last merged into one. 
 
 From that moment he resolved to go to 
 Constance and win her back to him ; and 
 with the new hope and the new joy, his 
 strength came to him rapidly. As soon as 
 he was able to travel, he returned to Paris, 
 settled his affairs there, and took the steamer 
 for home. 
 
 The train sped on over the desert ; but 
 he thought .no longer of the past ; he was 
 busy with the present and the imminent 
 future of to-day. 
 
 It was early evening when he found him- 
 self at last in front of Constance Wilbur's 
 home. His heart beat violently and his 
 breath came fast ; for he caught sight of a 
 graceful figure, robed in pale rose, standing 
 among the geraniums. He opened the gate
 
 252 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 and stepped into the garden ; but the next 
 instant he stopped, frozen with fear. A little 
 toddling child, half hidden among the flow- 
 ers, was clinging to her dress. 
 
 He turned away with a groan and would 
 have retraced his steps ; but the figure 
 turned suddenly, and he found himself face 
 to face with the woman of his dreams. The 
 heart-shaped face was the same, but chas- 
 tened and etherealized by sorrow and the 
 brave endeavor to live worthily a life that 
 had outlasted hope and happiness. Old 
 thoughts and memories of his dual love 
 surged in his brain. His eyes looked into 
 hers with a tender longing, and involuntarily 
 he held out his hands to her. 
 
 " Gottfried ! " she cried ; " Gottfried 1 " 
 
 "Yes," he replied; "I am Gottfried 
 and Kex." 
 
 He seized the hand she held out to him 
 and led her to a seat under a pepper-tree. 
 Then he poured forth the story of his life 
 since he had left her; he told of his love 
 and his struggle to attain the higher person-
 
 VICTORY 253 
 
 ality of the man she loved, and at last of 
 the gift of double memory that had come 
 to him. 
 
 And as she heard him, she wept, and he 
 thought they were tears of pity for the hope- 
 lessness of his love. 
 
 As he finished his tale, she lifted her eyes 
 to his ; they were luminous. 
 
 " Don't look at me like that, Constance," 
 he entreated ; " it is hard enough for me to 
 lose you after my foolish dreams. Oh ! how 
 many hours I have thought of having you 
 in my empty house and in my empty heart. 
 There is room for your mother, too, in both. 
 My own mother is dead, and I had hoped " 
 
 "Gottfried Rex!" she cried, "I am 
 not lost to you ; I I love you." 
 
 He looked at her in amazement ; then at 
 the child that was playing at her feet. 
 
 " Oh ! " she said, blushing and breaking 
 into a ripple of laughter, "the child is 
 Emma's ; Heinrich's and Emma's, you know. 
 They live here ; they have been married 
 nearly two years. And see," she added,
 
 254 AN ELUSIVE LOVER 
 
 drawing from the folds of her dress a silver 
 locket, in the centre of which shone a pearl ; 
 " I have worn it always next my heart." 
 
 A wave of light swept over his face. He 
 leaned towards her in the gathering dark- 
 ness. 
 
 " And you, mein Liebchen, you will come 
 then to my house my heart " 
 
 She did not answer in words, but she 
 suffered him to draw her into his arms. 
 And it was thus that Heinrich and Emma 
 found them when they went out to look for 
 the child.
 
 &e fitoettfibe 
 
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