"To whom?"
"To the young Wells person. Frankly, Peter, I dare say at this
moment she thinks you are everything you shouldn't be, because I
said you were only human. Why it should be evil to be human, or
human to be evil--"
"I cannot imagine," said Peter slowly, "the reason for any
conversation about me."
"Nor I, when I look back. We seemed to talk about other things,
but it always ended with you. Perhaps you were our one subject in
common. Then she irritated me by her calm confidence. The world
was good, everybody was good. She would find a safe occupation
and all would be well."
"So you warned her against me," said Peter grimly.
"I told her you were human and that she was attractive. Shall I
make 'way with myself?"
"Cui bono?" demanded Peter, smiling in spite of himself. "The
mischief is done."
Dr. Gates looked up at him.
"I'm in love with you myself, Peter!" she said gratefully.
"Perhaps it is the tie. Did you ever eat such a meal?"
CHAPTER VI
A very pale and dispirited Harmony it was who bathed her eyes in
cold water that evening and obeyed little Olga's "Bitte sum
speisen." The chairs round the dining-table were only half
occupied--a free concert had taken some, Sunday excursions
others. The little Bulgarian, secretly considered to be a
political spy, was never about on this one evening of the week.
Rumor had it that on these evenings, secreted in an attic room
far off in the sixteenth district, he wrote and sent off reports
of what he had learned during the week--his gleanings from
near-by tables in coffee-houses or from the indiscreet hours
after midnight in the cafe, where the Austrian military was wont
to gather and drink.
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