"Pretty soon she wanted a cigarette and she began to blow smoke in my face, laughing and fooling and--finally she put her lips up so temptingly for another light that I ... I'll never forget how she bent over me and held my face between her two hands and kissed me slowly with a little sideways movement and told me to call her Fauvette--not Penelope. She said she hated the name Penelope. 'Call me Fauvette,' she said. 'I am your Fauvette, all yours.'" "Extraordinary! This was the woman who had been furious with you only two nights before for daring to kiss her once?" "Yes, sir. Now she was a siren, a wonderful, lithe creature, clinging to me. I almost lost control of myself. Once I caught her sharply by the shoulder--I tore her dress...." Christopher stopped as the power of these memories overcame him. He covered his eyes with one hand, while the other clutched the chair arm. The doctor waited. "Well, sir," the young man resumed, "I don't know how I came through that night without dishonor, but I did. There was a moment of madness, then suddenly, distinctly, like a gentle bell I heard a voice inside me, a sort of spiritual voice saying two words that changed everything. '_Your wife!_' That is what she was to be, my wife! I loved her. I must defend her against herself, against myself. And I did. I got her out of that place--somehow. I got her home--somehow. I have been through several battles, doctor, but this one was the hardest." Captain Herrick drew a long sigh and sat silent. "What's the answer, doctor?" he asked presently. "I don't know, Chris. Upon my soul, I don't know." CHAPTER VI EARTH-BOUND (_From Penelope's Diary_) _Tuesday Night._ Heaven help me! I have heard the words that sound my doom. I saw Dr. Owen this morning. It is all true--my dream, and what I saw myself do in the bowl of goldfish. True! I did those incredible things. I wore my red dress and my black hat. I went to Captain Herrick's studio. I lay down on the divan--everything is true. Oh, God, this is too horrible! How can I ever face Christopher again? I wish I could die! Dr. Owen questioned me about the name Fauvette--why did I ask Christopher to call me Fauvette? I have no idea. I hate and despise that name. It brings up memories that I wish might be forever blotted out of my mind. That was the name Julian used to call me when he had been drinking. He would pretend that I was another person, Fauvette, and sometimes Fauvette would do things that I refused to do. Fauvette would yield to his over-powering physical charm and would say dreadful things, would enter into his mood and become just the sort of animal creature that he wanted. It was like a madness. _Wednesday morning._