Time or the fever may cure me,
but now I am bankrupt in all that gives value to life. A woman
with an art so consummate that it seemed artless, deliberately
evoked the best there was in me, then threw it away as
indifferently as a cast-off glove."
"Tell me how it came about."
"How can I tell you? How can I in cold blood recall glances,
words, intonations, the pressure of a hand that seemed alive with
reciprocal feeling? In addition to her beauty she had the
irresistible charm of fascination. I was wary at first, but she
angled for me with a skill that would have disarmed any man who
did not believe in the inherent falseness of woman. The children
in the house idolized her, and I have great faith in a child's
intuitions."
"Oh, that was only a part of her guile," said Ackland, frowningly.
"Probably; at any rate she has taken all the color and zest out of
my life. I wish some one could pay her back in her own coin. I
don't suppose she has a heart; but I wish her vanity might be
wounded in a way that would teach her a lesson never to be
forgotten.
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