Chapter 2 No.2

It was seven o'clock; the great animated festival drew near its end. At a given signal from the master of ceremonies, the music on the esplanade stopped; a hush fell on the distinguished gathering.

Archduke Victor, in his own exalted person, was to award the stipulated prizes to the boats of most artistic and original designs.

The fanfares sounded gayly over land and sea, and all the boats small and large ranged themselves in a semi-circle about the illustrious judge. The first prize, a silver statuette of the Goddess Hebe, was awarded to the fascinating princess of Egypt.

With a flourish of trumpets, and amid shouts of applause from the enthusiastic throng, all looked around for the boat of the prize winner. But there was no sign of it anywhere, nor was the single boat of the slender Englishman to be seen any more.

At a given signal from Mr. Ogden, the artistically constructed little boat had quietly turned about, and the two, availing themselves of the general excitement over the awarding of prizes, had quietly slipped away behind the neighboring piers, where the palatial home of the unfortunate Archduke Johann Salvatore is to be seen. He is better known to the outer world under the pseudonym "Johann Orth."

His sorrowing mother is still seen by passers-by sitting near the window with expectant eyes waiting for the lost son to return.

The brilliant floral festival enacted on the lake was at an end. On the esplanade were still seen groups of excited spectators discussing with great animation once more, the singular disappearance of the wonderful little boat that was fortunate enough to win the first prize and whose occupants disappeared without claiming that distinction. Others lost no time in entering the brightly illuminated cafes in the vicinity of the esplanade to refresh themselves after the excitement of the grand event.

On the eastern horizon a thin, fleecy scarf of clouds was visible and the silvery moon with all her sparkling companions had just come out to beam upon the scene. The West was a single shrine of beryl, whereon ruby flakes of vapor seemed to float through the universe.

Meanwhile the much-admired boat was silently gliding over the surface of the gently splashing waves. The half reclining form of the fascinating woman seemed in the amber moonlight to resemble that of Aphrodite, as if risen from the waves and in a wanton mood, anxious to make a trial performance all by herself of her incontestable power over the other sex.

"Am I really so fascinating? Did those admiring glances tell the tale of my triumph?" she murmured with a happy smile to herself, looking askance at the boat alongside her's, where her jealous admirer sat with gloomy eyes, consumed by jealousy.

Mr. Ogden, to whom she owed all this splendor, regarded with unconcealed displeasure the day's proceedings. He reproached himself for having yielded to her entreaty. She had begged and coaxed him so much, until he gave his consent, then he ordered the decoration of the boat. Her costume was especially ordered from the most expensive tailor according to ancient pictures of the Egyptian Queen. Ogden undoubtedly wanted her to be the most striking figure on the lake.

And now! Was he really jealous because she was the most admired, the most beautiful? "Jealous? Ho! ho!"

She shrugged her white shoulders with a contemptuous smile.

Did he really think that she loved him? "Phew!"

She had only accepted his ardent devotion to learn what riches and luxury really meant, for which she had an uncontrollable longing, a longing that almost devoured her! Night and day she thought of it, how to get rich.

The aggressive poverty in which she had passed her earlier days, was too hideous to dwell upon; she could not think of it without a shudder. The idea of being poor again took her breath away. How could she ever have consented to become the wife of a man who was poor? "Handsome but poor! What an anomaly!" she said in an undertone, smiling sarcastically.

With bitter envy and scorn in her painfully contracted heart, she saw the rich but most ugly looking women rolling by in their elegant automobiles disdainfully glancing at her and her poor outfit. Often enough when she was working,-engaged in the performance of her household duties in the two small dark rooms of a tenement house, without pure air, without light to brighten her beautiful face, she cursed everything. This hovel her home! And she had the priceless gift of beauty! She made up her mind not to stand it any longer.

The day came when she was seized by such a consuming desire to go in pursuit of pleasure, to wear elegant, stylish clothes and feel the admiring glances of the other sex resting upon her, that meeting Mr. Ogden by accident and dazzled by his wealth, captivated by his costly presents, she accepted his proposal to go with him forgetting everything, even the sacred duty of a mother.

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