Page:Magician 1908.djvu/201

 I looked at your poor wan face and your tortured eyes. Oh, you’ve changed. I could never have believed that a man could change so much in so few months, and it’s I who’ve caused it all. Oh, Arthur, Arthur, you must forgive me. And you must pity me.”

“But there’s nothing to forgive, darling,” he cried.

She looked at him steadily. Her eyes now were shining with a hard brightness.

“You say that, but you don’t really think it. And yet if you only knew, all that I have endured is on your account.”

She made a great effort to be calm.

“What do you mean?” said Arthur.

“He never loved me, he would never have thought of me if he hadn’t wanted to wound you in what you treasured most. He hated you, and he’s made me what I am so that you might suffer. It isn’t I who did all this, but a devil within me; it isn’t I who lied to you and left you and caused you all this unhappiness.”

She rose to her feet and sighed deeply.

“Once I thought he was dying, and I helped him. I took him into the studio and gave him water. And he gained some dreadful power over me so that I’ve been like wax in his hands. All my will has disappeared, and I have to do his bidding. And if I try to resist. . .”

Her face twitched with pain and fear.

“I’ve found out everything since. I know that on that day when he seemed to be at the point of death, he was merely playing a trick on me, and he