"Your wife and the great artist who is your honored guest to-night, were lovers long ago. Watch well how they meet when unmasked to-night!"
With the words she glided from him like the serpent forsaking Eden.
And that deadly serpent, jealousy, that had lain dormant in the colonel's heart for months, "scotched but not killed," now coiled itself anew for a fatal spring.
The blood in his veins seemed turning to liquid fire.
His heart beat so wildly that he could distinctly hear its rapid throbs.
He felt frightened at the swiftness and violence of the passion that flooded his whole being.
The words spoken by the masked woman seemed to burn themselves into his heart.
"Your wife and the great artist who is your honored guest to-night were lovers long ago. Watch well how they meet when unmasked to-night."
For a moment Reason tried to assert her supremacy, and whisper, "Peace, be still," to the seething whirlpool of emotion.
"Do not believe it," she said. "Someone is trying to tease you. It is quite impossible that Bonnibel and this foreign artist should have met before. Anonymous warnings should always be treated with contempt."