that. I HAVE seen her before, though where I cannot tell. But the
fire that stirs my pulses now seems to spring from some old
passion suddenly revived, and the eyes of the woman we are both
mad for--well! they do not inspire holiness, my dear friend! No,--
neither in you nor in me! Let us be honest with each other. There
is something vile in the composition of Madame la Princesse, and
it responds to something equally vile in ourselves. We shall be
dragged down by the force of it,--tant pis pour nous! I am sorrier
for you than for myself, for you are a good fellow, au fond; you
have what the world is learning to despise--sentiment. I have
none; for as I told you before, I have no heart, but I have
passions--tigerish ones--which must be humored; in fact, I make it
my business in life to humor them."

"Do you intend to humor them in this instance?"

"Assuredly! If I can."

"Then,--friend as you have been, you can be friend no more," said
Denzil fiercely. "My God! Do you not understand? My blood is as
warm as yours,--I will not yield to you one smile, one look from
Ziska! No!--I will kill you first!"

Gervase looked at him calmly.

"Will you? Pauvre garcon! You are such a boy still, Denzil,--by-
the-bye, how old are you? Ah, I remember now,--twenty-two. Only
twenty-two, and I am thirty-eight! So in the measure of time
alone, your life is more valuable to you than mine is to me. If
you choose, therefore, you can kill me,--now, if you like! I have