CHAPTER IX
Millar had played with devilish ingenuity on the tender susceptibilities of Elsa. He encouraged her in her love for Karl and her determination to win him, evidently with the deliberate purpose that she should repel the boy whose will he had determined to subordinate to his own. He watched as a cat watches its prey the meeting between Karl and Elsa after he withdrew quietly into the sheltering recess behind the palms.
Karl had been searching for her and stopped, barring her way into the ballroom.
"So here you are at last, Miss Elsa," he exclaimed.
"Yes," Elsa replied, dropping her eyes demurely.
"Why are you not in the ballroom?"
"I wanted to be alone. If any one really wanted me he could find me."