"'The case simply is, that one phase of her half hypnotizes me in a certain way--a very strange, fantastic, and dimly terrible way--just as another phase half hypnotizes you in a much more normal way. I see something in her--or to be psychologically exact, something through her or beyond her--that you don't see at all; something that brings up a vast pageantry of shapes from forgotten abysses, and makes me want to paint incredible things whose outlines vanish the instant I try to envisage them clearly. Don't mistake, Denny: your wife is a magnificent being, a splendid focus of cosmic forces who has a right to be called divine if anything on earth has!' "I felt a clearing of the situation at this point, for the abstract strangeness of Marsh's expressed sentiment, plus the flattery he was now heaping on Marceline, could not fail to disarm and mollify one as fondly proud of his consort as Denis always was. Marsh evidently caught the change himself, for there was more confidence in his tone as he continued. "'I must paint her, Denny, must paint that hair, and you won't regret it. There's something more than mortal about that hair, something more than beautiful----' "He paused, and I wondered what Denis could be thinking. Was Marsh's interest actually that of the artist alone, or was he merely infatuated as Denis had been? I had thought, in their school days, that he had envied my boy, and I dimly felt that it might be the same now. On the other hand, something in that talk of artistic stimulus had rung amazingly true; so that the more I pondered, the more I was inclined to take the stuff at face value. Denis seemed to do so, too, for although I could not catch his low-spoken reply, I could tell by the effect it produced that it must have been affirmative. "There was a sound of someone slapping another on the back, and then a grateful speech from Marsh that I was long to remember. "'That's great, Denny; and just as I told you, you'll never regret it. In a sense, I'm half doing it for you. You'll be a different man when you see it. It'll put you back where you used to be--give you a waking-up and a sort of salvation--but you can't see what I mean as yet. Just remember old friendship, and don't get the idea that I'm not the same old bird!' * * * * * "I rose perplexedly as I saw the two stroll off across the lawn, arm in arm. What could Marsh have meant by his strange and almost ominous reassurance? The more my fears were quieted in one direction, the more they were aroused in another. Look at it in any way I could, it seemed to be rather a bad business. "But matters got started just the same. Denis fixed up an attic room with skylights, and Marsh sent for all sorts of painting equipment. Everyone was rather excited about the new venture, and I was at least glad that something was on foot to break the brooding tension.