The deep mourning necessitated by the death of so near a relative forcing Mme. Van der Beck to withdraw entirely from society, she was now free to devote all her time to Frederick, with whom she became, as the days went by, more and more infatuated. Strong-minded as she was in all other respects, she seemed to have surrendered her whole will-power to the young officer, whose word was absolute law to her. He spent all the hours he could dispose of with her, and their intimacy grew apace. Frederick, as has been seen often before this, knew how to make himself perfectly irresistible to women. His manners were caressing and winning, and this, added to his numerous talents and good looks, made him a very dangerous friend for a woman like Nina Van der Beck, who had reached that period of life when the passions are most easily aroused. When a woman on the wrong side of thirty-five falls in love she is generally apt to make a much greater fool of herself than a girl would do, and if the man she loves is some years her junior she invariably makes an absolute idol of him, anxious, as it were, to make up in devotion and self-sacrifice for all that she feels may be missing in other respects.
As to Frederick, he at last began to see his way to bringing to a close his stay at Batavia, of which he had become heartily sick. By means of the most insidious suggestions and advice, he prevailed upon Nina to cautiously and gradually realize all her husband's available property. This, added to her own fortune, which was considerable, rendered her a very desirable prize indeed, and Frederick had all reason to congratulate himself on his luck.
Mr. Van der Beck had been absent a little over four months, when Frederick one day applied for a four weeks' leave of absence. This was readily granted by his colonel, with whom Frederick had remained on the most excellent terms.
CHAPTER XIII.
A SAINT'S DEATH.
Among the passengers who landed at Singapore a week later were Mrs. Van der Beck and Frederick. Twenty-four hours afterward they left for Hong-Kong on board the French Messageries Maritime mail steamer Tigre, having given their names as Mr. and Mrs. Muller, from Grats, Austria.
On touching at the French port of Saigon, where the steamer was to remain some twenty hours, they went on shore and, hiring a carriage, drove around the town, which Nina was curious to visit. After inspecting the park and the magnificent palace of the governor-general, they repaired to a fashionable restaurant, where they dined. While sipping their coffee the French waiter, who had been dazzled by a princely pourboire from Frederick, informed them that there was at that moment in the town a very good opera-bouffe troupe which gave performances every evening at a cafe chantant in the vicinity of the restaurant. He even offered to get him tickets. Nina having manifested a desire to witness the performance, they crossed the street and entered the wooden building, which was brilliantly lighted with rows of gas-jets, and took their seats in the front row of the auditorium. A few minutes after the curtain had gone up a gentleman in undress uniform took the seat on the other side of Mme. Van der Beck. Frederick, glancing indifferently at him, suddenly recognized, to his horror, the municipal surgeon of the convict hospital at Noumea. He fairly shuddered as he realized what the consequences might be should he be recognized by the man who had attended him several times during his illness on the Island of Nou. But with his usual coolness in matters of the kind he did not show his terror either by word or look.
During the course of the piece, Nina having dropped her fan, her neighbor picked it up, and seized this occasion to enter into conversation with her. He looked several times inquiringly at Frederick as if seeking to recall to mind a half-forgotten face. At last, bowing courteously, he addressed himself to the man, saying: