"Allow me to express the admiration I felt at the rendering of the first number you sang--doubtless all were equally good. Unfortunately for me, one of my subjects who went with me was taken violently ill, and we were compelled to leave. He is a friend of yours, he tells me."

"You flatter me by your encomiums. I am pleased you enjoyed the song.

You say the gentleman who was with you was a friend of mine. May I ask his name?"

"Merle Millard."

"Merle Millard? That is a strange name to me. I have no recollection of ever having met him. No person who works in public can hope to remember all the estimable people whom they meet. I hope he has recovered from his indisposition."

"I am sorry to say he has not. It is strange you do not recall him at all. He told me today he once knew you intimately."

"I have had few intimate acquaintances in my life. I have no recollection of ever having heard that name before. I may have met him at some reception, and forgotten him; more than that, I do not know him.

I hope he will have a speedy recovery. I will not intrude longer on your time."

"Can we say nothing to induce you to carry out your original intention?"

"No, Dr. Baxter; I thank you sincerely and earnestly for your kindness and courtesy."

"They are ever at your disposal. Would it be overstepping the bounds of politeness to ask you to sing just one song? The Professor is quite a musician, himself, and has a piano in perfect order; for I know he is so susceptible to discords. I have never had the pleasure of hearing you sing. Granting my wish, I shall always regard this day in my memory as one of the most fortunate in my life. I know the Professor will gladly accompany you on the piano."

"You have been too kind for me to refuse. I owe you both some return for the patience you have shown my varying moods. I will not trouble the Professor to play for me, as I am used to playing my own accompaniments.

I will sing you a song from memory, if that will be your pleasure."

"We will adjourn at once to the music room. The Professor is not a married man, but he keeps an establishment of as many rooms as though he had a large family. He is a lucky man:--rich, happy, powerful and talented. How he has managed to escape designing mothers and beautiful daughters, is a continual problem to his friends."

"Science is a jealous mistress, and is at present the wife of my choice; the presiding mistress of the house. I hope, Miss Earle, you will find the instrument in fairly good tune. Had I known I was to be so highly honored, I should have had it especially tuned for you, but I know that you are too gracious not to make allowances for any defects that may be found."

"What an exquisite voice! Words fail to express my grat.i.tude for this feast of music; I shall never forget it. Permit me to offer you these flowers which have been placed beneath Huskins' picture. Such music is only fitly rewarded by flowers."

"It is a beautiful bouquet. I appreciate your compliment and kindness.

These waxy, white tuberoses are very rare at this season of the year.

They are beautiful flowers, but their odor affects me unpleasantly.

Singers, you know, are very sensitive to the fragrance of flowers. May I ask the Professor if he will kindly send them to the sick gentleman, with my compliments and best wishes? Flowers bring such a cheerful influence to the sick room. Permit me to thank you for your hospitality, Professor, and to apologize for my unseemly intrusion. Believe me, I truly appreciate all your kindness."

"It affords me great pleasure if I have been of any service to you, Miss Earle; may success attend you always. I will call at your office sometime tomorrow, Baxter. Au revoir."

After watching his guests depart, William strode quickly back to the music room. Any person seeing him would have known that some strong emotion was raging in his soul. His eyes flashed with that brightness that only shows itself under stress of strong feeling, and he walked straight to the bouquet which Miss Earle had left upon the table, near where she had stood. He took it up, and throwing it upon the floor, crushed the sweet flowers under his feet until all their beauty was gone, but the whole room was filled with their fragrance.

"She dared ask me to carry these to her old love. She dared ask me! Me!

Is she not satisfied with past torture, and must she add present insult to it? I carry flowers from her to another man? Why did I not crush them here before her? She does not like their odor--they affect her unpleasantly. She has changed her mind since I can remember. Once they affected her differently. She was nervous and trembling like a child.

What sent her here? She shall not defy or humiliate me in the future.

She is a rarely organized sensitive. I am an expert mesmerist. I will her to come and beg me to mesmerize her. First, I will refuse, then, when I am ready, I will influence her. She shall see, think and act just as I will her. I will put every particle of force in my soul into the work. I will make her my obedient slave. Ask me to carry flowers to your old lover! You dared to look me calmly in the eye, and to say without a quiver, 'Carry them, with my compliments and best wishes to the sick man.' My flowers, I was to carry to him. Think of it! My flowers with her compliments. If there is any power in magnetism, and I have proven its efficacy, I will crush out of your heart the pride that prompted that insult, as thoroughly as I have the beauty of these flowers.

"Not one throb of pity for you. You are weaving a net for Baxter, too, probably. Make the most of your time, for I solemnly swear I will make you suffer just as much as you have made me. I have made a success of every work I have ever undertaken, and I will make one of this. These flowers make me feel faint and dizzy. I will go and walk and get the air. Her presence has polluted the very atmosphere of the whole house."

CHAPTER EIGHT

After leaving Prof. Huskins, Dr. Baxter escorted Miss Earle to her temporary home, and by every means in his power, sought to make her cheerful and at her ease. Despite his efforts she seemed a different woman, than she had been when he conducted her to the Professor's house.

He painted in the most glowing colors the remarkable wisdom and power of the Professor, recounting all his virtues, and his singular manner of living, acknowledging him to be the very "prince of men," of all his large acquaintance.

To his keen disappointment, she seemed not at all interested in his narration, and it might have been plainly evident to the most careless observer her thoughts and interests were far from the subject under consideration. His pride had been considerably wounded, but she was far too beautiful and distinguished a woman toward whom to cherish any animosity.

He was conscious of the fact that he had been signally honored by her seeking his aid to reach the professor, and he attributed her sudden change of purpose entirely to womanly fickleness of nature, being convinced in his own mind that, desiring a mesmeric sleep or state of unconsciousness, the presence of so austere and dignified a personage as the Professor had inspired her with a degree of awe and fear that, for the time, was uncontrollable.

He did not wonder greatly at this, for in all his acquaintance with the Professor, he had never seem him appear to so great a disadvantage. He was always affable and pleasing, especially when he desired to secure a person's approbation to being psychologized. In this interview, he had scarcely been hospitable, speaking only when he was actually spoken to or necessity demanded. He had a degree of deference and respect for Prof. Huskins that he felt for none other of his acquaintances, knowing him to be superior, from a moral standpoint, to all the rest, and he did not want an unpleasant impression to be left in this woman's mind.

Huskins had appeared to a disadvantage, and he endeavored, so far as lay in his power, to remove the unsatisfactory impression from her mind, but the woman did not appear to recover from the agitation, that the sight of the Professor had produced, although to most women, he was not only agreeable but captivating.

Arriving at her destination, she thanked him for his kindness to her, and his intercession with his distinguished friend, in a most charming manner, and he went away feeling well repaid for all his efforts. He felt sure that, had he been the Professor, she would not have refused to be mesmerized.

It was well for his egotism, and the peace of his mind, that he could not see the woman when she had reached her private apartments.

No audience ever had or ever would see her portray such a tempest of emotion as swayed and shook her soul. Her whole body quivered, like the single petal of a flower that has been drawn into the fury of a gale, and cannot control its action, but is swept hither and yon by an irresistible force. Finally the tempest of tears and grief subsided, leaving her languid and weak. Only then did her thoughts become cogent, and they ran something like this:

"What did he think? What could he think? He must have believed I knew whom he was, and went to see him, hoping for a reconciliation. How cold and stern and unrelenting his whole bearing was! How well I remember that expression in his eyes. I would have pa.s.sed through any torture, rather than put myself in such a position; even death itself.

"How could I know that the distinguished Prof. Huskins was William? The two persons who quoted him, said he was an old man, a scientist who had experimented years, and was capable of removing all bodily infirmities.

"It was only natural my thoughts should turn to Augustus, who, while gifted with remarkable talent, is afflicted with a weak and impotent body. My one thought and ambition has been to so improve his physical condition as to make it easier for him to express his talent, and hearing of the Professor's power, I thought perhaps he could help Augustus. I would gladly be a martyr to benefit him in any way. He is the one object of my interest and love upon earth. I have tried every kind of physician, and, hearing of this man's marvelous and wonderful powers, I resolved to submit myself to his influence, to test its power and to see what it was, and if it was good, to secure his services for Augustus, even though it required all the money I had.

"How could I know that he was Augustus' own father? What power, what fate placed me in so embarra.s.sing a position? What have I done that I should be subjected to such humiliation and chagrin? I have been a patient, faithful and devoted mother while he has enjoyed pleasure and renown. If there is a G.o.d of Justice, why have I been compelled to enter this cruel, selfish and heartless man's home in search of my poor child's health?

"How well I knew that expression in his eyes. He thought me a woman who seeks men of renown; he was as jealous and exacting as when his taunts and suspicions separated us.

"I thank the Giver of all Good that William did not know the real object of my going to him for the exercise of his powers.

"If there is a good G.o.d, and I sometimes question it, I pray that William may cla.s.s me as he used to do with wicked and depraved women, for that would be preferable to the truth of a loving mother seeking her child's strength. If he believed Augustus to be his child, he would take him away from me, or I should at least have to divide Augustus' love. I will never do that, if it costs my life. He is mine. All mine. I would gladly suffer the torments of Hades to bring him one throb of joy.

"He shall never know his father's perfidy and treachery, if my suffering can prevent it. How glad he will be to see me! Augustus, it is for you I sing; not for the public who pay me. In me you must find both father and mother. No power but my love for you would have given me strength to resist the magnetism of your father's eye, which, in times past, has so influenced me.

"My body trembled, but when the two loves of my soul were placed in the balance, the mother's love was purer and stronger, and outweighed the wife's. It is useless to deny I love William; the very sight of him set every nerve aquiver, throbbing with an almost exquisite delight. I could not have controlled that condition, had there not come to my mind the memory and presence of one whom he denied, and who depends entirely upon my strength, fort.i.tude and love.

"This memory gave me the strength to conquer my woman's love, and only manifest a mother's. The love of a wife, that is, of a true wife, is enduring, but that of a mother is the nearest infinite love that can be.

A wife's love may wane and weaken by facts of infidelity, but a mother's only strengthens with every token of weakness.

"Just in proportion to Augustus' physical infirmity, does my affection increase in force and intensity. I once thought William the center of interest in the world, but the love I had for him pales into insignificance beside that for Augustus.

"William was jealous of me today; I saw it in his eyes, whose expression I know so well. Once such a look would have controlled not only my actions, but my very thoughts as well. His influence over me has not waned. I am well aware of that by the weakness I manifested;--I actually trembled visibly;--but there has come into my life a newer and stronger influence--a mother's love, and that has rendered the other impotent. I was weak and negative to him until I had placed in my arms a babe who depended upon me for every comfort and shelter as I had depended upon William.

"This dependence has generated in me a love and power he can neither overcome nor remove. He loves me yet. I saw and read the fact in his eyes. He appeared cold and unconcerned, but I know him too well to be deceived. No other woman has filled my place. He would have been glad to mesmerize me, and I am sure that I could never have resisted the power of his influence over me, had it not been for my thoughts of Augustus. A wife may be strong, but a mother is stronger, and I am to Augustus both mother and father. He shall never know the sacrifice I made for him this day. His father denied him, but his mother will be as true as his father is false.

"I defy the power which has made him famous. My heart refused to beat regularly while I was there. I know it was due to the sudden shock I received. He could not have entranced me against my will, nor made me tell of Augustus.