“Oh, you have discovered that?  Was she wholly unresponsive, then?”

“No,” he said, with a touch of anger.  “I have never cared for Diana, except in a friendly way.  She amused me for a while when—­when I was wretched.  But I never made love to her; not for a moment.  Afterward, why—­then——­”

“Well; what then?” as he hesitated, growing red again.

“I found she had taken my careless attentions in earnest, and the play was getting dangerous.  So I went abroad.”

Louise considered this explanation seriously.  She believed he was speaking the truth, so far as he knew.  But at the same time she realized from her own experience that Arthur might as easily deceive himself as Diana in his estimate as to the warmth of the devotion he displayed.  His nature was impetuous and ardent.  That Diana should have taken his attentions seriously and become infatuated with the handsome young fellow was not a matter to cause surprise.

Gradually Louise felt her resentment disappearing.  In Arthur’s presence the charm of his personality influenced her to be lenient with his shortcomings.  And his evident desire for a reconciliation found an echo in her own heart.

Mutual explanations are excellent to clear a murky atmosphere, and an hour’s earnest conversation did much to restore these two congenial spirits to their former affectionate relations.  Of course Louise did not succumb too fully to his pleadings, for her feminine instinct warned her to keep the boy on “the anxious seat” long enough to enable him to appreciate her value and the honor of winning her good graces.  Moreover, she made some severe conditions and put him on his good behavior.  If he proved worthy, and was steadfast and true, why then the future might reward him freely.

Diana had been making careful plans for her interview with Arthur that Sunday afternoon.  With no futile attempt to deceive herself as to existent conditions she coldly weighed the chances in her mental scale and concluded she had sufficient power to win this unstable youth to her side and induce him to forget that such a person as Louise Merrick ever existed.

Diana was little experienced in such affairs, it is true.  Arthur Weldon had been her first and only declared admirer, and no one living had studied his peculiar nature more critically than this observant girl.  Also she knew well her own physical failings.  She realized that her personality was to many repulsive, rather than attractive, and this in spite of her exquisite form, her perfect breeding and many undeniable accomplishments.  Men, as a rule, seldom remained at her side save through politeness, and even seemed to fear her; but never until now had she cared for any man sufficiently to wish to retain or interest him.  There were unsuspected fascinations lying dormant in her nature, and Miss Von Taer calmly reflected that the exercise of these qualities, backed by her native wit and capacity for intrigue, could easily accomplish the object she desired.