He never once changed his attitude. His left elbow rested on the corner of the mantel, the fingers of his right hand played with the gold watch-guard he wore. A full minute elapsed, then with a cry of passionate, painful entreaty, she lifted her beautiful clasped hands, and wringing them in agony, cried: "Lucien--Lucien--." Then a sob choked her. For another long minute there was a tomb-like silence. He never moved a muscle of his face. The chill of the smile in his eyes deepened, and seemed, as it was bent upon her, to numb her faculties. Her whole frame seemed to wilt under the ice of his smile. She shivered with the concentrated hate his eyes expressed. Lower and lower she crouched at his feet. And as he saw her wilt and shiver the smile of Hell deepened in his cruel eyes. Suddenly he spoke. The words were uttered in dulcet tones. But their meaning had, to her, the sentence of death, as softly, calmly, there fell from his lips: "I have no further need of you! You are in my way!" For one instant her eyes remained fixed upon his face. Then slowly her limbs relaxed, her body swayed lightly forward, and sank rather than fell upon the thick pile of the carpet. With a low, mocking laugh Lucien Apleon turned away from the dead form. But before he passed out of the room he did a curious thing. A Bible rested on one of the shelves of the room, he took the volume from its place, opened it at the 13th of Revelation and taking a pen, he dipped it into the red ink, and ran a red line around the 15th verse of the chapter. A moment later he had passed from the room. The verse he had red-scored, read: "He had power to give life unto the _image_ of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." No wonder that Lucien Apleon smiled. For if presently, he was going to cause the _image_ of the Beast to cause death to those who defied him, how much more could he himself strike dead by the power of the Satanic energy given to him. Judith Apleon's body was conveyed to the crematorium and consumed. A doctor had certified heart-disease; there was no inquest. Lucien did not attend the funeral. The whole affair was carried through by the undertaker. There were no mourners. The Anti-christ spirit is marked by "Without natural affection," one could not therefore expect Anti-christ himself to possess _any_ affection. CHAPTER VI. "A REED LIKE A ROD."