"Nothing would delight us more," they declared.
He summoned the servant and ordered him to draw the curtain aside.
The eager crowd caught his words at once.
"Yes! yes! yes! draw the curtain."
Robert watched eagerly, while the other guests shouted in his ear.
"Let us see! brave man, let us see!"
As they watched the canvas the drapery fell to one side.
"My wife! Great God!"
Robert felt the horror stricken tremor in his own exclamation. There played on Willard Frost's face a satanic smile, while a momentary exultation thrilled him.
"She kindly posed for this, my greatest effort," returned Frost, still smiling.
Robert controlled every muscle in his countenance; no fire broke from his steadfast, scornful eyes; but there was a kingly authority in the aspect—the almost stately crest and power in the swell of the stern voice—which awed the lookers on.
With that locked and rigid countenance, with arms folded, he stood confronting the other artist, who advanced toward him with menancing brow.
"Willard Frost, this is a lie! and I demand you
