to silence all inner misgivings by arguing that the demands of art were
above all other laws. He reasoned that Ninitta's posing could do no
possible harm to Grant Herman, while the success of his _Fatima_
depended upon it; and since art was his religion, he came at last to
feel as if he were nobly sacrificing his prejudices to his highest
convictions in violating for the sake of art his principle which
forbade his deceiving her husband.

Least of all, in asking the Italian to pose, had Fenton been actuated
by any intention of tempting her to evil. He needed a model for the
_Fatima_ as he needed his canvas and brushes; and his satisfaction at
having induced Ninitta to serve his purpose was in kind much the same
as his pleasure that his brushes and canvas were exactly what he
wanted.

But it is always difficult to tell to what an action may lead; and most
of all is it hard to foresee the consequences which will follow from
the violation of principle. Perhaps the air of secrecy with which
Ninitta found it necessary to invest her coming, had an intoxicating
effect upon the artist; perhaps it was simply that his persistent
egotism moved him to test his power. Men often feel the keenest
curiosity in regard to the extent of their ability to commit crimes
into which they have yet not the remotest intention of being betrayed;
and especially is this true in their relations to women. Men of a
certain vanity are always eager to discover how great an influence for
evil they could exercise over women, even when they have not the nerve
or the wickedness to exert it. A man must be morally great to be above
finding pleasure in the belief that he could be a Don Juan if he chose;
and moral grandeur was not for Arthur Fenton.