The Equinox (Volume I, Number VII)

HIS SECRET SIN and then, with sudden stealth, his back to the door, pushed down the lever and slid into the shop. “Avvy-voo photographiay?” he said hurriedly, with averted face. “ Certainly, sir, ” replied the shopkeeper in perfect English. “ What does Monsieur require? Photographs of Paris, of Fontainebleau, of the Louvre, of Versailles ?" But English would not serve the turn of Theodore Bugg. He nearly bolted from the shop. An English voice—it was almost Discovery ! “ Kelker shows, " he muttered doggedly enough, though his head hung lower than ever. “Kelker shows tray sho. Voo savvy ?—tray tray sho—par propre I " The shopman, not yet old enough to master his disgust at the familiar incident, brought forward several books of photographs “ Perhaps Monsieur will find there what he requires," he said coldly. Furtively and hurriedly, his glance divided between the forbidden book and the shop-door, his only safeguard from intrusion the thought that nobody who entered would be in a position to throw stones at a fellow—culprit, Theodore Bugg turned over the pages. The book began mildly enough with the winged Victory and only entered the rapids with La Gioconda. Thence, Niagara-like, one plunge to the abyss—the Venus de Milo. The blood flamed to his face; his breath came hot and quick. 53