From that moment the yoimg actress held him spell-
bound; her sudden heartbreaking —

My God ! CSan it be possible — ? "

sent a thrill through his very vitals. Obviously this girl
had a gift of throwing her own personality into the
part. It was Wilhelmina — how she had grown I — ^how
she had felt the burden of the mystery I But who in
the world was responsible for her acting the part of
Beatrice Cenci?

All through the last scene he thought her acting
wonderful; the paganism of it seemed to him a master-
piece ; and when the curtain fell on that childlike figure,
standing so proudly knee-deep in the river of death, he
thought of how Wilhelmina had stood years before with
the waves tumbling idly beneath her feet. " ' For I am
persuaded ' " Ah me I

Brentwood gulped down a sob. If this was his wife
— it was infamous — infamous — that she should have
been allowed to act such a part. If she was not his wife
—this " fine piece of nature " — how he could have loved
her!

''Quite an amateur," he heard Miss Evelyn saying.
BEATEICE CENCI, 351

"In fact she is a science student. Oh, no, she would
never forgive me if I revealed her name. She is very
shy and retiring — one of the people who only find their
own personality by losing it. Such a sweet girl I "

The cheap truth of this maddened Brentwood ; but at
that moment Miss Evelyn advanced to him. " Pity we
hadn't a pair of gloves on it," she said in a low voice.
