"What is the matter?" he asked.
Olga started nervously and looked at him. She pressed her hands before her eyes and for a moment did not speak. She looked away as Karl approached her and said tenderly:
"Are you afraid? Please tell me."
"I don't know what is the matter with me, but just now, when my husband went away, I felt as if I had been left without a protector."
She broke off abruptly, and Karl urged her to explain.
"What do you mean? I don't understand," he said.
"Yes, you do, Karl," Olga said, as she turned and faced him. "You know. I have fought against coming here for six years; ever since my marriage."
She looked away from him, around the studio, with its bizarre decorations, and shuddered.
"Ugh! this place looks like a devil's kitchen," she cried. "These strange things, terrible monsters, cold, white statues, heads without bodies, and you in their midst like a conjurer. I did not notice them while Herman was here, but now——"
Karl turned swiftly toward her.