Louisiana Lou

, although with some misgiving. The sight of that stack of saucers in the café of the Pink Kitten remained to haunt her with distaste for the whole adventure. She distrusted De Launay, r

ved a gorgeous bouquet of lilies of the valley and orange blossoms, and they were not artificial flowers, either. When he arrived, looking muc

ated the flowers with expressive and disdainful 79 hands.

orgetful, mademoiselle. You must make allowances for a

ceremony," she said cuttingly. "If I must hire a husband, he need n

iss them from the earth. With another drink or two I will cease to re

r wounded soldier spoke to her and uttered a blessing and good wishes as she walked along. To all of them she returned greetings in kind, thanking them soberly, but with a lip that trembled. De Launay, rolling behind, was the recipient of curious and doubtful glances, as the man who was taking their Morgan la fée f

rcenary drunkard for a husband?" she said

ctful. She suspected that he had been drinking and that his air was due to the exaggeration induced by liquor-

maire, puzzled at the utterly emotionless quality of this wedding, congratulated them formally, and Solange acknowledged it with stiff th

er rooms. A squat, swarthy individual, in the dingy uniform of the French marines, doffed his

he asked, ducking his head, "that

red, kindly. The man looked searchingly i

ts bull neck toward De Launay, "if this man who has taken you should ever make you regret, you shall let m

est, but just behind her she h

, "you would find this on

ying no more. But Solange felt cheered. There were some who regarded her ahe

t had been her worshiping friends now spoke behind her back, hinting at some scandal. Nasty tales began to circulate as feminine jealousy got the upper hand. In the presence of soldiers these tongues were silent, but there were other males in the quarter who were not soldiers. Big, beefy Achille Marot, who kept the butcher shop on the corner had never been one, except in the reserve, where he had done some polic

and scold. "Is this what one calls a marriage? Rather is it that such a marriage indicates that a marriage was necessary-and arranged conveniently, is it not? For observe that this broken adventurer who, as

the beefy neck of the butcher and a c

A tongue that is evil will win you an evil end and words that are not true will result in your throat being cu

cher, twisting in the iron grasp on

low the filth with his nose. Madame Ricot uttered a shrill shriek for the police, and Solange, who had been unconscious of it all, turned abo

, spreading scandal and criminal slander. He has said 84 that I, the General de Launay, was ki

abbed the groveling butcher and hoisted him from his wallow. "Come along with me, Maro

xpected result of her appeal to the forces of the law. And

d of being a procuress and a vile scold. If it is she who has bee

, jerking the roaring Marot with him. De Launay sauntered on, with his rolling walk, toward Solange, w

Launay, casually, as she wheeled about at the entrance to her

grily. "For if I remain here much longer

Launay, rather dr

ry indifferent deference angered her. Yet it could not last much longer since they were to take a train for

forts spent by De Launay in securing the intercession of the French and American military authorities in order that she might have suitable accommodations on the crowded liner,

the Astarte was not one of the best boats, and four or five years of war service had not improved her. And she had no notion that De 86 Launay, even for such comfort as

s to why Madame de Launay, who seemed to be distinguished because she was Madame de Launay, should be traveling alone, first class, while the famous soldier shared a stuffy hole in the wall with a Chicago merchant. The few women aboard, nurses, Y. M. C. A. workers, welfare workers on war missions, picked up the talk among the officers and passed their curiosity on to Solange through stewardesses and maids. Every one seemed to think it strange, and Solange acknowledg

of him since he was to accompany her to her destination, but that should not take long. Once at Sulphur

as almost mocking, she thought, with the flash of irritation that he always aroused in her. Other passengers looked at him curiously and at herself with some wonder, whispers running among them. Behind her veil she flushed, realizing that her own personality w

her to a small and good hotel, not at all conspicuous, and saw that she was properly taken care of and supplied with

e contrition roused by his care

"But I shall be within reach. To-morrow afternoon the train

he answered, a little tartly, "if n

ed, with a shrug. Solange turned away, but

ctivities, he became nothing and no one. They only knew that they had been liberally tipped to afford Madame de Launay every service and comfort, and, as her appearan

ury Limited was ridiculously low, and as De Launay had proved capable of handling such matters, and she was a stranger, she gladly and unquestioningly left such things in his hands. He, himself, had a berth in some obscure part of th

al who was not prepossessing. It was a short, broad man, dressed roughly, wearing boots covered by his trousers and with a handkerchief knotted about his neck. He wore a wide-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat, old and battered, 90 its brim curled disreputably at all angles. She perceived that, after a few words together, this fellow and De Launay appeared to be on the best of term

p strolled away at a gait very much like the general's. Two of a kind, she thought, bitterly; two ruffians who were hail-fellow-well-met

arted and the lo

checkerboard of prairie farms rolling past, divided into monotonous squares by straight, dusty roads, each with its house and big red barn forming an exact 91 replica of every other. She ate and dozed, tried to read a magazine

uses and red barns succeed one another at exact intervals. In fact they seemed to have almost disappeared and had changed their character, such of them as she saw. They were rough, unpainted board affairs, for the most part, with here and there a more pretentious ed

orgot the depression that had 92 grown upon her with the realization of the immensity into which she was plunging, and felt her spirit soaring in exhilaration and hopes of success. Mountain born and bred, she reacted buoyantly to the inspiration of the environment. The preposterous nature of her quest, a reali

ts purity and strength sink into him for the salvation of his manhood. But he remained aloof,

nland sea, across a vast plain of alkali, plunging through enormous gorges cut out of the solid, towering rock, they entered mountains again, and again shot out onto barren plains, now, however, rusty brown and rough with broken and jagged lava. Another night was d

a'am! Hoyeah's wh

and she felt a sudden revulsion against the thrill