"There are many ways in which one may be led, Lady Madge," I answered
aloud. Then I said to myself, "That girl will lead you to Heaven, Malcolm,
if you will permit her to do so."

But thirty-five years of evil life are hard to neutralize. There is but
one subtle elixir that can do it--love; and I had not thought of that
magic remedy with respect to Madge.

I hurriedly fetched my hat and returned to the foot of the staircase.
Within a minute or two Madge came down stairs holding up the skirt of her
gown with one hand, while she grasped the banister with the other. As I
watched her descending I was enraptured with her beauty. Even the
marvellous vital beauty of Dorothy could not compare with this girl's
fair, pale loveliness. It seemed to be almost a profanation for me to
admire the sweet oval of her face. Upon her alabaster skin, the black
eyebrows, the long lashes, the faint blue veins and the curving red lips
stood in exquisite relief. While she was descending the stairs, I caught a
gleam of her round, snowy forearm and wrist; and when my eyes sought the
perfect curves of her form disclosed by the clinging silk gown she wore, I
felt that I had sinned in looking upon her, and I was almost glad she
could not see the shame which was in my face.

"Cousin Malcolm, are you waiting?" she asked from midway in the staircase.

"Yes, I am at the foot of the steps," I answered.

"I called you 'Cousin Malcolm,'" she said, holding out her hand when she
came near me. "Pardon me; it was a slip of the tongue. I hear 'Cousin
Malcolm' so frequently from Dorothy that the name is familiar to me."