The Flirt

prettier then than ever. Cora knew it; of course she knew it; she knew exactly how she looked, as she left the conc

icately flushed face. She saw her pale, live arms through their thin sleeves, and the light grasp of her gloved fingers upon the glistening stick of the parasol; she saw the long, simple lines of her close white dress and their graceful inter

some sort of moustache; and to Cora's vision he was as near transparent as any man could be, yet she did not miss the almost imperceptible signs of his approval, as they met and continue

fully untouched by the gardener and left to the shadowy thickets and good-smelling underbru

ed at each other; then looked slowly and gravely away, as if to an audience in front of them. They knew how to do it; bu

ne," she said, after a deep breat

d, "so that I could think

she said, and lo

he exclaimed

k dilation of her ardent eyes. "I wanted to be out of doors," she sa

it away, the

ving in it, very much. I'm s

that very thing," he

n that queer old w

this morning I'm a little like some of the old doors up

look it, Mi

uted her actual explanation into, "I couldn't sleep for thinking of you

ith you!

ter with him. "But it's true: you did k

here. I remember the young men going about at night with

don't think that sort of thing has been done for years and yea

a gu

hed a little.

ast night," said

ouldn't m

Of course, he would

dle

ev

er, plodding old horse he was as a boy. His picture doesn't fit a romantic frame-sing

e's about twenty-three; just a b

ny chance, is he the person your little bro

es you think that?" she cried, but she was suffici

he said. "He's one of

he wild boys that a girl can't make h

he returned. "Yes, in this ins

you have a most uncomfortable way of shooting up the landscape." She

time," he laughed. "

ed in a low voice: "You can be sure I'm

effect upon her; for the deep breath she drew in audibly, through her shut teeth, was a signal of d

the backs of her fingers, of course finishing the gesture prettily by tucking in a h

way from Italy just

Corl

e," he said, gayly. "I need a great

villa and

magician, d

most angrily. "Of c

ain of gold. I've put all I have into it, and will put in everything else I can get for myself, but it's goin

a hasn't anything t

integrity. I want him to be secretary of my co

a quick, serious glance straight in

he said lightly, "that you can make anybo

' that takes rank over that," she said, but not with his lightness, for her to

at a girl!" he cried. Then for a fraction of a second he set his hand over h

an odd wonder; her alert emotions, always too r

made him afraid that something had gone wrong with his measuring tape; but with a slow movement she set her hand softly

he said, v

gly, to dig little holes in the gravel of the path. "

's been so successfu

a share in yo

believe you could get anybody nowadays to come in on a real one. But I think you'd make an excellent partner for an

yo

ke to save a man

don't mean

`land' it. And it's rather a serious compliment I'm paying you, thinking you can help me. I'd like to see a woman-just on

eager. "You think I-I mi

a lowered, graver voice asked: "Doesn't it somehow seem a little que

nswered slow

nd `Mister' each other in fun? That though you never saw me until yesterday, w

repeated;

follow, and the

r are w

d there took place an eager exchange of looks which continued a long wh

r do yo

ly acute attention, he was unquestionably looking at something. The direct front of pupil and iris did not waver from her; but for the time he was not aware of her; had not even heard her question. Something in the outer f

ttire, so thoroughly the unnoticeable, average man-on-the-street that she did not even recall him as the looker-round of a little while ago. He was strolling benevolently

rasped design of small pearls at the top, so that he pushed it a little deeper into the gravel; and then occurred a tiny coincidence: the elderly man, passing, let fall the apple from his hand, and it rolled toward the pin just as Corliss managed to secure the latter. For an instant, though the situation

nd restoring the pin to his tie. He gazed carelessly at the back o

n?" said Cora wi

ou see I've been away from here so man

d an idea you were thinking of him instea

began instantly. "A startlingly vivid thought of you cam

as the

s you have never seen! and a big blue headland looming up against the moon, and crowned with lemon groves and vineyards, all sparklin

rly man, his grandchild, a

it was a proph

breathed. "That was reall

ger of forgetting that my `hidden treasure'

er?" The words

gerness, and held fast; she was trembling, visibly; and her li

danger," he said, "if he

el