He could not change his clothing, but he laved his face and hands in cold water. This was refreshing in itself, but thenceforth he became aware of a steadily increasing strain on his magnetic energies. His nervous system was a delicate organism vastly more sensitive than the finest instrument known to science, though some have reached such perfection that a suspended needle in England can scratch on a prepared plate a record of the direction and magnitude of a ten seconds’ earthquake at the Antipodes. He did not fear immediate dissolution as the result of the added burthen. He had devoted himself continuously, during many days, to maintaining the mental poise, so to speak, of the two human beings whose lives were so intimately linked with his own. He knew the exact strength of magnetic current needed for the task, and the perceptible growth of the tension now puzzled but did not alarm him. The slight feeling of irritation against Hooper was succeeded by a species of teeth-setting, a back-to-the-wall attitude, which hardened his resolve not to seek any information but simply to devote his dynamic powers to the new and strange tax made on them. In a mood which may almost be termed one of bravado, he went down-stairs and entered the restaurant. “Have you seen anything of Mr. Hooper?” he asked Jules, the head waiter. “Mais non, M’sieu’. He hass not been here at all.” “Perhaps he will turn up soon. Ask the chef to prepare us a _poulet en casserole_. That will give the wanderer twenty minutes’ grace.” Jules, an acute observer of men, eyed his young patron covertly. “You don’d look ver’ well,” he hinted. “Let me bring you a leetle pick-you-up--_un fortifiant_--shall it be a vermouth and Angostura?” “It shall not,” said Karl, a smile chasing the weariness from his face. “Don’t worry about me, Jules. I am neither bull nor bear, backer nor layer. Nor has my best girl proved fickle. What I really do lack is that chicken.” Jules did not understand. But he knew that the trouble, whatever it was, was not to be removed by the revivers of general acceptance. Left to himself, Karl’s thoughts began to wander. He asked himself how Hooper and I were speeding on our missions, because, by this time, he knew what Frank was doing. It is no matter for surprise that he followed me rather than the American in his musings. He was aware of that which I only suspected--that Maggie had deliberately shut him out from the sanctity of her presence until her edict was burnt up in the electric ardor of the new conditions set in motion by Karl’s proposed marriage to Nora and the mere suggestion of her own union with the Italian.