Elfrida clasped her hands behind her head and turned her face toward the window so that all the light that came through softly gathered in it.

Janet felt the girl's beauty as if it were a burden, pressing with literal physical weight upon her heart She made a futile effort to lift it with words.

"Frida," she said, "you are beautiful to--to hurt to-night Why has nobody ever painted a creature like you ?" It was as if she touched an inner spring of the girl's nature, touched it electrically.

Elfrida leaned forward consciously with shining eyes.

"Truly am I, Janetta?
Ah--to-night! Well, yes, perhaps to-night, I am.