wanted a man to fall in love with my heroine after she was a married
woman, and I chose a French count for that purpose. I knew that an
American audience would not only expect him to fall in love with another
man's wife, but it would be very much surprised if he didn't. This saved
much explanation and unnecessary dialog. Harold Routledge overhears the
Count de Carojac, a hardened roué and a duellist, speaking of Lilian in
such terms as no honorable man should speak of a modest woman.
Routledge, with a studio in Rome, and having been educated at a German
university, is familiar with the use of the rapier. A duel is arranged.
Lilian hears of it thru a female friend, and Strebelow, also, thru the
American second of Mr. Routledge. The parties meet at the Château
Chateaubriand, in the suburbs of Paris, at midnight, by the light of the
moon, in winter. A scream from Lilian, as she reaches the scene in
breathless haste, throws Routledge off his guard; he is wounded and
falls. Strebelow, too, has come on the field, not knowing the cause of
the quarrel; but anxious to prevent a meeting between two of his own
personal friends. Lilian is ignorant of her husband's presence, and she
sees only the bleeding form of the man she loves lying upon the snow.
She falls at his side, and words of burning passion, checked a few hours
before by the innocent presence of her child, spring to her lips. The
last of these words are as follows: "I have loved you--and you
only--Harold, from the first."

These words, clear, unmistakable, carrying their terrible truth straight
to his heart, come to John Strebelow as the very first intimation that
his wife did not love him when she married him. Crushed by this sudden
blow, an expression of agony on his face, he stands for a moment
speechless. When his voice returns, he has become another man. He is
hard and cold, still generous, so far as those things a generous man
cares least for are concerned. He will share all his wealth with her;