The Flirt

e Corliss had yesterday noticed, the last iron monarch of the herd, with unabated arrogance, had entered domestic service as a clothes-prop. The young man, who w

and seemed like to continue the outrage forever, the shaken lounger s

ame from the house bearing

ilas?" he said

e shift to accept the julep in both hands, drained half of it, opened his eyes, and th

he added, "if yo

the mulatto, in the tone of an indulgent nurse. "You in

r myself," returned the patient. "But

Mist' Richard had to go downtown; tole me not to wake you; but I heerd

f what's occurred sinc

e straws, finished th

ow is how I happen

dle

erable thrashum aroun', up an' down the house, an' so I come help him git you to bed in one vem

d again in the hammock, a hot blush vanquish

stened to reassure him. "You wa

only a little?" the

ll. You jes' wanted to rare roun' little b

ha

pert near had us bofe wore out 'fore you give up, an' Mist' Richard an' me, we use' to han'lin' drunkum man, too-use' to have big times week-in, week-out 'ith Mist' Will-at's

uneasily; Joe's honest intentions to be of che

spell. Sence Mist' Will die she can't hardly bear to see drunkum man aroun' the house. Mist' Richard hardly ever tech

oe

ssu

or a moment. "What use in the worl

ne drink ef you ask' for it, suh

st night to make any man hang himself, an

ou on'y had couple glass' wine too much. You din' make no trouble at all; jes' went right off

oe

ssu

juleps and I want

n's face deepened. "Mist' Richard say jes' o

oe

ssu

y, "whether or not you ever heard th

rned Joe humbl

uiet voice, "you go and get me three ju

ssu

so, Mr. Vilas was smoking a cigarette with unshadowed pleasure; his eye was bright, his expression care-free; and he was sitting up in the hammock, swinging cheerfully, and singing the "Marseillaise.

y. "Sir, your Mr. Varden was induced to place a somewhat larger order with us than he protested to be your intention. Trusting you to exonerate him from all so-and-so and that these few words, etcetera!" He depleted the elder glass of its liquor,

d beginning to fan himself with his straw hat. "What's the use of

be lightly boyed? Again, do I not wear a man's garment, a man's garnitures? Heed your answer; for this serge, these flannels, and these silks are yours, and though I may not fill them to the ut

get Joe to bring you somet

y turn to a topic of interest. My memories of last evening, at first hazy and somewhat disconcerting, now merely amuse me. Following the pleasant Spanish custom, I went a-s

oe take you back to

ies, and I am become a thing of spirit. My soul is grateful a little for your care

ack stiffen

man waved his hand languidly. "You w

t we'll omit,"

badinage fell from him; for the moment he seemed entirely sober; and he spoke

rdon," said Ri

permit me to speak of a wholly fictitious lady, a creature of my wanton fancy, sir, whom I call Carmen. It wi

muttered Richar

as, beginning to swing again, "that

on the passing vehicles in the glimpse of the street afforded between the house and the shrubberi

devil's dance; but neither you nor I would be that man, my dear sir. We assume that Carmen's eyes have been mine-her heart is another matter-and that she has grown weary of my somewhat Sicilian manner of looking into them, and, following her nature and the law of periodicity which Carmens must bow to, she seeks a cooler gaze and calls Mr. Richard Lindley to come and take a turn at looking. Now, Mr. Richard Lindley is straight as a die: he will not even show that he hears the call until he is sure that I

ink and lifted his

ly stars fa

of the in

l her perfi

ll it mad

call it

h upon the table, staring ov

e royal exile who thus seek

Corliss: he had turned in from the street and was crossing the lawn to join the two young men. Lindley rose, and,

sylvan shades were mine. I hail you, not only for your own sake, but because your p

ty to this diplomacy, and seated himse

lf back full-length in the hammock. "I am not replete

ating his intention to remain silent, and lay

"but I saw you from the street and thought you mightn't min

se," sai

but I happen to be one of the adventurers whose argosies are laden with real cargoes. Nobody knows who has or hasn't money to invest nowadays, and of course I've no means

pleasantly, "I shall be

t it." Corliss took some papers and unmounted photographs from his pocket, and began to spread the

s; down to Paestum; drove from Salerno to

eavily marked and dotted with red and blue pencillings. "My millions are in this large irregular section," he continued. "It's the anklebone and instep of Italy

sked Richar

lived there, I've discovered myself to be so essentially American and commercial that I want to drench the surface of that antique soil with the brown, bad-smelling cr

cities the most elusive and incomprehensible, a laughing, thieving, begging, mandolin-playing, music-and-murder haunted metropolis, about which anything was plausible;

ing on account of any bodil

you if it were. You certainly showed no symptoms of that sort in your extreme youth.

djusted the map-a prefatory gesture. "Now, I'll make this whole affair perfectly clear to you. It's a simple matter, as are most big things. I'll begin

in central Basilicata, a province described as wild country and rough, off the rails and not easy to reach. Moliterno and the narrator had gone there to shoot; Corliss had seen "surface oil" upon the strea

ged the big tools over the mountains by mule power; how they had kept it all secret; how he and Moliterno had done ev

t the angles of this irregular pentagon you see here on the map, outlined in blue. These red circles are the wells." Four of the wells "came in tremendous," but they had managed to get them seal

e know they've managed to do it at last. Here is, the cabl

ng' to speak of this in Naples," he continued,

, but it was necessary to obtain possession of the other two thirds "before the secret leaks into Naples." So far, it was safe, the peasants of Basilicata being "as medieval

ough it's not a very good one." He put into Richard's hand a small, blurred photograph show

ting a figure in the foreground, the only one revealed at all de

es; "that's all right: it is a fez. That's old Salviati, our engineer, the man I spoke of who'd worked in Persia, you know; he's always worn a fez sinc

ture, which the other carelessly returned to hi

under that whole province; but we want a lot of money to get at it. It's mountain country; our wells will all have to go over fifteen-hundred feet, and that's expensive. We want to pipe the oil to S

pen to come here

enormous, you see-a really colossal fortune-and Italian law is full of ins and outs, and the first man we talked to confidentially would have given us his word to play straight, and, the instant we left him, would have flown post-haste for Basilicata and grabbed for himself the two thirds of the field not yet in our hands. Moliterno and

odded. "I u

h unexpectedly betrayed a little shyness. "I've never forgotten that I was born he

felt (perhaps with surprise) the man's strong attraction. There was something very engaging about him: in the frankness of his look and in the slight tre

's a statue of my great uncle in the State House yard; all my own blood: belonged here, and though I have been a wanderer and may not be remembered-naturally am not remembered-yet the name is honoured here, and I-I--" He faltered again, then concluded with quiet earnes

t out his hand. "I under

very patiently and I hope you'll be rewarded for it. Certainly you will if yo

over carefully and have ano

oved his fascinated stare from the expressive face of Valentine Corliss. "If you have n

n half-closed lids, and probably checking an impulse to remark that he h

s a p

hy

sequently. "It just struck me that y

pped them, and, stooping, began to gather the scattered papers

re are other things in `Carmen' I prefer-proba

, much beloved, but cares damn little to hear you or me speak of music. He'd even rather discuss your oil business than listen to us talk of women, w

going to be my kind of man in the

, which used to be all blood, have become all flesh. I wish I were dead-but will continue my harangue because the thought is pellucid. Women selecting men to mate with are of only two kinds, just as there are but two kinds of children in a toy-shop. One child sets its fancy on one partic"-the orator paused, then continued-"on one certain toy and will make a distressing scene if she doesn't get it: she will have that one; she will go straight to it, clasp it and keep it; she won't have any other. The other kind of woman is to be understood if you will make the experiment of taking the other

?" asked Cor

l March of a

r a cheerful way of announc

omehow, I do not seem to be a god. If a god is a god, one thinks he would know it himself. I now yiel

riskly down the street, not in the direction of her home. She waved her parasol with

h with a start of surprise. "I have two letters

had been throughout the visit-opened to their fullest

farewells. "I had no idea it was so late. Good afternoon. Mr. Vilas, I have been delighted with your diagnosis.

n Cora had taken; and the troubled Richard felt his heart sink with vague but miserable apprehension. There was a

damn him! See his deep chest, that conqueror's walk, the easy, confide

ke into a loud laugh, and flung a rec

he cried. "You'll n