Red Masquerade

ng this, Lanyard poked his stick through the little trap in the roof of the hansom and suggested that the driver pull u

oeuvre to admiration; with the upshot that Lanyard got home half an hour later than he woul

may as well be stated now that he had not laid down upward of twenty thousand good golden guineas for a colourable Corot without ha

Princess Sofia was famous, among other things, for the magnificence of her personal jeweller

e their owner lived,

eet would go unremarked in the dusk of that early winter evening. He wasn't at all pleased to find himself mistaken; and though Lanyard did his best with his blande

oud, and went in

stponed examining his doubtful prize till he had dressed for dinner. For, though it was his whim to dine in his rooms alone, and

xt hour will bring forth; whereas if one is in evening dres

f vague fish smothered painlessly in a pale pink blanket of sauce; a cut from the joint, rare and lukew

tle of excellent Montrachet, howev

hase, which occupied a place of honour, prop

cter. Wagging a reproving head--"My friend," he harangued the canvas,

painted it, but never the hand of Corot. Everything Corot was accustomed to put into his painting was there, except himself. The abod

n the end a total loss. He could afford to cart the thing back to Paris with him and give it room in his private gallery; and some day, doubtless, some rich American

o precious to the soi-disant Pri

ily rooked by an accomplished chevalier d'industrie and his female confederate; but too mu

value had rendered the canvas priceless in the esteem of those two, something had been

wh

frame--and examined it with nose so close to the painted surface that he seemed to be s

light start, passed a hand over it with the palm pressed flat, and suddenly assume

s stretcher, proving that the latter held in fact two canvases instead of one. Between these had been secreted

ate instincts of delicacy, worked to render him to a degree immune to such gratification as others might derive from being made privy to an exotic affair of the heart. Revelation of human weakness was no special treat to him. And if his eyebrows mounted as he read, if the corners of his mouth drew down, if once

his head upon a hand and reflected

ld or ever would love

er hope

ght of succession and set half-a-dozen European chancelleries by the ears--and all for love! But for his untimely end, that poor, pretty creature would have joined her life to his, consummating at one s

ath had served well the in

ese letters alo

it Princess Sofia with the indiscretion of saving these souvenirs of a grande passion that had almost made history. There was the sentimental motiv

ll likelihood she had made frantic and awkward efforts to regain it which

the combination receiver and transmitter. But his memory was still so haunted by echoes of that deligh

l you be good enough to put m

eous: Lanyard replied promptly in accents

d dined hout to-night. Would

ow ann

y, ma

w when he w

'e was expectin' to

cet voice said

quite lite, but 'e'd 'urry all 'e could

you s

you,

aced the receiver and

adventurer was hatted and

ck. But I'm expecting a lady to call. Will you tell the doo