stillthe ascendency!"
"But is not mine the blackest--the foulest of all crimes?" sheshuddered.
"Only one touch," he urged. "Your hand is fatal."
"Ah! why do you taunt me thus?" she cried. "Is it not enough that Ishould be degraded and outcast, overburdened by sin for which I cannothope for forgiveness, and that my position should be irretrievably lost?Is it not enough that in me all the evils of the world areconcentrated, and that I am shut out from happiness for ever?"
"You had your choice," the man answered. "It is true that you are oneunique among the millions of your fellow-creatures. The blackness ofyour heart is concealed by the purity of your face, and your real beingso disguised that none suspect. If your real identity were discoveredsome prophets would declare that the end of the world was near." And helaughed coarsely.
"Yes, yes," she cried quickly. "But do not taunt me. I know too wellthe far-reaching influence which emanates from me, and the fatal effectof my touch upon all that is held sacred by those who believe in theSupreme. I have striven to do good, and have only wrought evil; I havebeen charitable, and my efforts have only resulted in bringing disasterupon the needy. Those whom I thought to benefit have rewarded me bycurses, because all that I do is the work of the wicked. I havestruggled to lead a double life, and have failed. I have tried tocounterbalance the evil I am compelled to achieve by doing good workssuch as might endear me in the eyes of those who believe in the Supreme;but all, alas, has been in vain--all futile. I am now convinced that inmy heart there can remain no good feeling, no womanly love, nocharitableness towards my fellows."
"It is only what might be expected," he said in a dry tone. "Your greatbeauty is given you to cover your heart. You are soulless."
"Yes," she cried. "That is true--only too true. I have no soul, noconscience, no regret!"
She spoke in a hard tone, as though utterly wearied of life. Her voicehad lost its music, and her speech was of one in blank despair.
"If you are without regret, then what I have suggested is the more easyof accomplishment," he said, in a low intense voice. "Remember that nopower on earth can withstand your influence."
"I will not!" she cried, starting up in fierce determination. "Throughyour evil counsel I have already wrought that which I shall everregret," she went on. "I have placed myself beneath the thraldomirrevocably, and have brought upon those who admired me a doom which hasdestroyed their happiness and wrecked their lives. I have now a lover--a man who, because of my good looks, is infatuated, as others havebeen."
"It has been decided!" her companion said, with a calmness that wasappalling.
"But I love him!" she declared. "I myself will be his protector!"
"You intend to defy the resolution which has been arrived at?"
"I have no intention of committing further sin," she said. "I may be anevil-doer and one of the accursed, but none shall say that Ideliberately acted in such manner towards one who became fascinated bymy beauty. Rather would I disfigure my face by burns or acid in orderto render myself ugly and unattractive."
"No woman would do that of her own free will," he laughed.
"No ordinary woman could," she said. "But recollect who I am. Reflectupon my far-reaching influence for evil--an influence which is feltthroughout this kingdom. I tell you that rather than continue I wouldkill myself."
The man laughed aloud.
"I admit all that," he said. "If the people of London knew the truththey would, I believe, tear you limb from limb. But they are ignorant;therefore you are but an ordinary girl of more than extraordinarybeauty."
"Which means that my beauty will always ruin those upon whom I maybestow a glance. As my touch is fatal to certain objects of adoration,so is my love-look fatal to those who admire me. No," she added, aftera brief pause, "I have determined to act as this man's protector,instead of his destroyer."
"You are relenting," he observed with sarcasm. "Soon you will proclaimyour repentance."
"No!" she cried fiercely. "I shall never repent, because of you. Toyou I owe the major part of this evil of which I am possessed, and toyou--"
"It was your choice," he interrupted, with a brutal laugh. "Youaccepted the challenge, and gave your soul to the Evil One. Why blameme?"
"At your instigation," she went on in fierce anger. "To the world I ama pure, ingenuous girl; yet beneath this veil of virtue and purity Iwork these veritable miracles of evil, possessing a power which ofttimesappals me, an irresistible influence that nothing can withstand. I amunique in the world as possessing this superhuman faculty of being ableto impart evil to those with whom I come into contact, be they pure asangels. You taunt me," she added. "But some day you will crave mercyof me, and then I will show you none--none! I will be hard-hearted asflint--as relentless as you are to-night!"
"You wish to break away from the compact, but you shall not," the mansaid firmly, between his teeth. "If you prefer defiance, well and good.But I merely point out that obedience is best."
She paused. She was, I surmised, deep in reflection.
"Very well," at last she answered, in a hoarse, unnatural voice. "Nowthat I have sunk so low I suppose it is impossible to sink further. Butrecollect that this same influence that I will exert over this, mylatest victim, I will one day exert over you. I warn you. One day erelong you will crave pity at my feet."
"Never from you," the man said, with a short defiant laugh.
"I have only prophesied once before," she answered meaningly. "Whetheror no that came true you are well aware. In this world of London I am,as yet, unknown, but when the true facts are known this great metropoliswill stand aghast in terror. Our positions will then be reversed. Youwill be the victim, and I triumphant."
"Proceed," he laughed. "All this is intensely interesting."
There was a pause, longer than before.
"Then you declare that I must do this thing?" she asked, in a strange,hollow voice, the voice of one dismayed.
"Yes," her companion answered; "you must--swiftly and secretly. It isimperative."
Without further word she rose slowly to her feet, and staggered awaydown the gravelled path, while her companion, hesitating for a fewseconds, rose with a muttered imprecation and strode along after her. Amoment later they were out of hearing.
The remainder of their extraordinary conversation was lost to me.
One suspicion alone possessed me. That thin, shabby man had sentencedme to death.
CHAPTER SIX.
TWO MYSTERIES.
The discovery I had accidentally made was the reverse of reassuring.
Aline had admitted herself possessed of some mysterious power whichcaused sacred objects to consume, the power of evil which she fearedwould also fall upon me. I recollected how when she had visited me shehad urged me to hate her rather than love her, and I now discerned thereason. She had feared lest her subtle influence upon me should befatal.
Through the days which passed her strange words rang ever through myears. She was a woman unique in all the world; a woman who, living inteeming London, was endowed with faculties of abnormal proportions, andpossessed an unearthly power utterly unknown to modern science. Ithought of the fusing of my crucifix and my Madonna, and shuddered. Herbeauty was amazing, but she was a veritable temptress, a deisticaldaughter of Apollyon.
My first feeling after leaving the Park was one of repugnance; yet onreflection I found myself overcome by fascination, still bewitched byher beautiful face, and eager to meet her once again. Surely nothingmaleficent could remain hidden beneath such outward innocence?
Thus I waited long and wearily for her coming, remaining in from day today, or whenever I went out leaving word with Simes as to where I couldbe found if she called. In my turbulent state of mind I imagined manystrange things.
The more I reflected, the more complicated became the enigma.
At length one morning Simes opened my door suddenly and ushered her in.I flung down my newspaper and
rose to meet her, but next instant drewback in surprise and alarm.
She was dressed in an elegant costume of pale grey trimmed with whitelace and heavy embroidery of pearls, a dress which could only have beenturned out by a first-class house, for it bore a Parisian chic, beingmodelled in latest style. Her tiny shoes and gloves were of grey suedeto match the dress, and beneath her big black hat with ostrich feathersher face looked sweet and winning as a child's.
But the flush of health had faded. Her cheeks were just as beautiful asthey had ever been, but the bloom of youth had died from them, and hercomplexion was a yellowish brown, like that of a woman of sixty. Thelight in her blue eyes had