Havoc | Page 6

her hands. Something about the
lines of her long, supple body suggested to him the savage animal
crouching for a spring. She was quiet, but her bosom was heaving, and
he could guess at the passion within. With purpose he spoke to set it
loose.
"You sing to-night?" he asked.
"Before God, no!" she answered, the anger blazing out of her eyes,
shaking in her voice. "I sing no more in this accursed city!"
"There will be a revolution," Bellamy remarked. "I see that the whole
city is placarded with notices. It is to be a gala night at the Opera. The
royal party is to be present."
Her body seemed to quiver like a tree shaken by the wind.
"What do I care - I - I - for their gala night! If I were like Samson, if I
could pull down the pillars of their Opera House and bury them all in
its ruins, I would do it!"
He took her hand and smoothed it in his.

"Dear Louise, it is useless, this. You do everything that can be done for
your country."
Her eyes were streaming and her fingers sought his.
"My friend David," she said, "you do not understand. None of you
English yet can understand what it is to crouch in the shadow of this
black fear, to feel a tyrant's hand come creeping out, to know that your
life-blood and the life-blood of all your people must be shed, and shed
in vain. To rob a nation of their liberty, ah! it is worse, this, than
murder, - a worse crime than his who stains the soul of a poor innocent
girl! It is a sin against nature herself!"
She was sobbing now, and she clutched his hands passionately.
"Forgive me," she murmured, "I am overwrought. I have borne up
against this thing so long. I can do no more good here. I come to tell
you that I go away till the time comes. I go to your London. They want
me to sing for them there. I shall do it."
"You will break your engagement?"
She laughed at him scornfully.
"I am Idiale," she declared. "I keep no engagement if I do not choose. I
will sing no more to this people whom I hate. My friend David, I have
suffered enough. Their applause I loathe - their covetous eyes as they
watch me move about the stage - oh, I could strike them all dead! They
come to me, these young Austrian noblemen, as though I were already
one of a conquered race. I keep their diamonds but I destroy their
messages. Their jewels go to my chorus girls or to arm my people. But
no one of them has had a kind word from me save where there has been
something to be gained. Even Von Behrling I have fooled with
promises. No Austrian shall ever touch my lips - I have sworn it!"
Bellamy nodded.
"Yes," he assented, "they call you cold here in the capital! Even in the

Palace - "
She held out her hand.
"It is finished!" she declared. "I sing no more. I have sent word to the
Opera House. I came here to be in hiding for a while. They will search
for me everywhere. To-night or to-morrow I leave for England."
Bellamy stood thoughtfully silent.
"I am not sure that you are wise," he said. "You take it too much for
granted that the end has come."
"And do you not yourself believe it?" she demanded. He hesitated.
"As yet there is no proof," he reminded her.
"Proof!"
She sat upright in her chair. Her hands thrust him from her, her bosom
heaved, a spot of color flared in her cheeks.
"Proof!" she cried. "What do you suppose, then, that these wolves have
plotted for? What else do you suppose could be Austria's share of the
feast? Couldn't you hear our fate in the thunder of their voices when
that miserable monarch rode back to his captivity? We are doomed -
betrayed! You remember the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, a
blood-stained page of history for all time. The world would tell you
that we have outlived the age of such barbarous doings. It is not true.
My friend David, it is not true. It is a more terrible thing, this which is
coming. Body and soul we are to perish."
He came over to her side once more and laid his hand soothingly on
hers. It was heart-rending to witness the agony of the woman he loved.
"Dear Louise," he said, "after all, this is profitless. There may yet be
compromises."
She suffered her hand to remain in his, but the bitterness did not pass

out of her face or tone.
"Compromises!" she repeated. "Do you