he posed as the painter of an expiring society, professing the greatest
pessimism, and basing a new religion on the annihilation of human
passion, which annihilation would insure the final happiness of the
world.

"Seguin will be here in a moment," he resumed in an amiable way. "It
occurred to me to take him and his wife to dine at a restaurant this
evening, before going to a certain first performance where there will
probably be some fisticuffs and a rumpus to-night."

Mathieu then for the first time noticed that Santerre was in evening
dress. They continued chatting for a moment, and the novelist called
attention to a new pewter treasure among Seguin's collection. It
represented a long, thin woman, stretched full-length, with her hair
streaming around her. She seemed to be sobbing as she lay there, and
Santerre declared the conception to be a masterpiece. The figure
symbolized the end of woman, reduced to despair and solitude when man
should finally have made up his mind to have nothing further to do with
her. It was the novelist who, in literary and artistic matters, helped on
the insanity which was gradually springing up in the Seguins' home.

However, Seguin himself now made his appearance. He was of the same age
as Santerre, but was taller and slimmer, with fair hair, an aquiline
nose, gray eyes, and thin lips shaded by a slight moustache. He also was
in evening dress.

"Ah! well, my dear fellow," said he with the slight lisp which he
affected, "Valentine is determined to put on a new gown. So we must be
patient; we shall have an hour to wait."