and partly to keep his money in the family."
"You are the devil's self!" she exclaimed. "But you shall not ruin him as you have ruined others. He shall know———"
"What? That he has been trapped into marrying a scarecrow whom he believes to be a Venus? How do you think he would bear the knowledge? Be sensible, Nasha, and keep a still tongue. Thank the saints you have so skilful a brother. One word from me, and you lose Ivo for ever!"
"Volmer and Getha were the only witnesses."
Launching this shaft Volmer left the room, laughing softly and glancing at his sister with a certain furtive expression, which was very feline. Nasha sat plunged in thought. At first she had accepted the deception for her own sake, but very quickly her longing and desire had become intensified by the realization that Ivo would gain more than she could by the love that united them. Before he met her wealth had been degrading him, and he was beginning to feel not only enervated, but disgusted by life. The old enthusiasms which illumined his days of poverty and obscurity had flared out fruitlessly in the early days of his sudden prosperity. He had unexpectedly inherited a large fortune, and in the indulgence of every fancy and of every generous impulse he had lost his hold upon himself, and become the easy prey of those who make life an ignoble chase after sensuous satisfaction—miscalled happiness. Nasha knew that she had recalled him to his better self; knew that her love had rekindled the high thoughts and aims the days before he became a mere votary of pleasure; knew that if he learnt the truth he would, in losing faith in her, lose faith in everything human and divine, sink into a deepening despondency, and end a despairing sceptic. Could she, dared she, risk this? No! Her first wrong had given her future wrong the guise of "the only practicable right."
Volmer heard no more from his sister on the subject of illusion, and when he announced his intention of returning to Paris, and taking Ivo with him, Nasha made no sign. But alone with her husband, a wild desire came upon her to test Volmer's influence over him, to pit her power against her brother's. Surely, love like hers was stronger than any mesmeric spell. She put her arm round Ivo's neck, and turned his face towards her own:—
"Must you go to Paris, love? I shall be so lonely without you!"
"It is Volmer's wish; I must go, my darling!"
"Ah! I see how it is. You are growing weary of this life—of me."
"Nasha! I implore you! Have I not told you a thousand times my happiness is here with you that I never knew what it was to be truly happy till I loved you?"
"Then why leave me?"
"Because Volmer has asked me to go to Paris with him. It will only be for a few weeks."
