CHAPTER XIX

The Wife of Julius Valerie looked round curiously at the ornate sitting-room into which she was ushered. A rank smell of stale cigar smoke pervaded the room; the tarnished gilding and decoration of the apartment, the heavy velvet curtains, the general air of tawdriness was unwholesome and sickening. Julius Savini dismissed the smirking waiter and closed the door, sensing her _repugnancio_--a Portuguese word that came readily to his lips and which exactly described Valerie's emotions. "I'm sorry to bring you here, M…