"Nothing would have made any difference between that man and me. He shot my father. Very well--he had to pay, sooner or later. But I don't think it would have been to-day, if I had known." She was silent a little while. Then she said: "I can think of nothing but such simple things. If I had stopped to tell you in the hall of the hotel--just that--there would not have been to-day! It was one of those chances that do not recur. I thought everyone knew that Claudine was to be married." "The last thing a man knows about any woman who is a mere acquaintance. Have you seen her to-day?" She shivered. "I dare not go--I dare not!" "She has relatives in Paris?" "I suppose so--friends would put her to shame. Does it matter when he is dead?" "He was a rogue, or I would have spared him. He tried to cheat me from the start. I found nothing I could fix upon--and I looked for it!" She would not consider it from that point of view. "This will always be in your life and Claudine's. Time cannot alter judgments of this kind. It will grow with the years. I am very sorry for you, Mr. Faber." He resented it; the patronage of women rarely failed to anger him. "Leave me to my own affairs. I take the responsibility. I've taken a good many in my time. The girl's to be thought of. Who was she going to marry?" "Captain Issy-Ferrault. I hardly know him: an officer of cavalry, they say." "Poor, I suppose, as most of the kind?" "I cannot tell you." "When will she marry him now?" "Oh, surely, you understand?" "I understand one thing: he's going to marry her." "A child would know that it's impossible!" "Then I am wiser than a child. Will you let me have his address--to-morrow, say?" "I am leaving Paris to-morrow." "Then one of my clerks will get it. Shall we meet at Corfu?" "I don't know," she said. "I came to tell you that I never wished to see you again." "You haven't told me so. It shall be at Corfu." She did not answer or hold out her hand. He knew that a barrier had risen up between them and his pride was quickened. He would marry this woman because she had judged him. BOOK II THE PLAYERS CHAPTER I A RACE FOR AN EMPEROR I There were two yachts on the Adriatic Sea waiting for an emperor. One lay in the harbour of Fiume; the other at Trieste. The emperor himself was still at Potsdam, and none of the newspapers seemed to know when he would sail.