amuse me."

Larssen knew when to give way--or seem to give way--and how to do so
gracefully.

"I'll stay on without asking any conditions," he answered with
flattering cordiality. "It's not often I get a command so pleasant to
carry out!"




CHAPTER XI

A LETTER FROM RIVIÈRE


Olive made good her promise at once. She packed her father back to
England the very next day, to get to work on the Hudson Bay flotation,
and Lars Larssen remained on at Monte Carlo.

Though he had led Olive to believe that he had given in merely to please
her, yet his true motive was very different. His feelings towards her
held no scrap of passion in them. He knew her as vain, shallow,
feverishly pleasure-seeking--a glittering dragon-fly. As a woman she
made no appeal to him. But as a tool to serve in the attaining of his
ambitions, she might conceivably be highly useful.

His true motive in remaining at Monte Carlo was double-edged--to bring
Olive into the orbit of his fascination, and to mark time until the