something new!--God alone knows what they want!"

Don Aloysius sighed.

"Aye! God alone knows! And God alone will decide what to give them!"

"It must be something more 'sensational' than husband and children!"
said Rivardi a trifle bitterly--"Only a primitive woman will care
for these!"

The priest laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Come, come! Do not be cynical, my son! I think with you that if
anything can find an entrance to a woman's soul it is love--but the
woman must be capable of loving. That is the difficulty with the
little millionairess Royal. She is not capable!"

He uttered the last words slowly and with emphasis.

Rivardi gave him a quick searching glance.

"You seem to know that as a certainty"--he said, "How and why do you
know it?"

Aloysius raised his eyes and looked straight ahead of him with a
curious, far-off, yet searching intensity.

"I cannot tell you how or why"--he answered--"You would not believe
me if I told you that sometimes in this wonderful world of ours,
beings are born who are neither man nor woman, and who partake of a