Bat Wing

better at the Carlton. Yet, since this luxurious living was evidently customary

the edge of unusual things, the enjoyment of a perfectly served repast, and the sheer delight which I experienced in watch

and typically English. I had thought at the moment of meeting her that she was provokingly pretty; I determined, as the lunch proceeded, that she was beauti

oken by the colonel, but this handicap only served to emphasize the masculine strength of her intellect. Truly she was a remarkable woman. With her blanched hair and her young face, and those fine, velvety eye

olonel. Her expression when she looked at him changed entirely. For a woman of such intense vitality her eyes were uncannily still; that is to say that whilst she frequently mo

gruously set beneath one roof. Of the fact that Miss Beverly was not happy I became a

he would have made a very staunch friend; I felt sure he would have proved a most implacable enemy. Altogether, it was a memorab

moved my glance from the dark face of Colonel Menendez, I detected

understand, but how few th

hisked her chair back with extraordinary rapidity, the contrast between her

en, no doubt. I must be away for my afternoon siesta. Come, my dear"-to

and my glance lingered upon the graceful figure of Va

canter toward Paul Harley, "I am at your service either for business or

ghting his cigar, "but only if

Mr. Knox w

Colonel, glanced at me

following a perfect luncheon I should much pr

ind," cried the Colonel.

s, Knox," said Harley as

to take a stroll around the gardens.

I strolled on through the gardens, my mind filled with speculations respecting these unusual people with whom Fate had brought me in contact. I felt that Miss Beverley n

heon had I made up my mind upon a point which had been puzzling me. Val Beverley's gaiety was a

unlight, lending Cray's Folly something of an austere aspect. There were fine lofty windows, however, to most of the ground-floor rooms overlooking the lawns, and some of those above had balconies of the same gr

ilding, which was closely hemmed in by trees, and which as we h

rounds which was not so sprucely groomed as the rest. On one side were the yews flanking the Tudor garden and before me uprose the famous tower. As I stared

around, it undoubtedly disfigured

ase of the tower, To the south, the country rose up to the highest point in the crescent of hills, and peeping above the trees at no gre

ad evidently come out upon the gallery of the tower. I looked upward, but I could not see the speakers. I pursued my stroll, until, near the eastern base of the tower, I encountered a perfect

called; "I thought you

, laughing, "I

softly, "then sit

looking up at me invitingly, and I

course it is really no older than the rest of the pla

"peacocks would

ges dressed in

r a moment and then burst in

watching her, "I find it hard to place

said simply

u realize th

f plac

ui

ourse

her head, and ch

ul Harley has come d

y friend by

I met in Nice spoke of him, a

live in Nice bef

owly, and her glance g

n a little villa on the Promenade des Anglaise,"

injuries during the

rge was bombed and the shock left her as you see her. I

you wer

ed this hospital in France at her own expense, and I was one of her assistants for a time. She lost both h

idea her life had been so trag

e girl, "if you knew al

ted as she bent toward me e

ny other woman in the world; and when, after all her splendid work, she, so vital and active, was st

nt with he

l took this house, an

and glanced a

u are not q

rent in France. I knew so many people. But here

she he

es

embarrassed fashion, "I

what

s the house with a rod of iron. But really I haven't anything to do here, and I feel

what it is that t

t he fears so

t is why Paul H

the girl's face; a

new what it

hen, that there i

en so frightened that I have made up

been frightened at night

lly frig

tell me i

tly, then turned her hea

he replied. "I c

t tell me why

hetically, "for one thing, I

o friends i

ook he

and he died over two years ago

the words were spoken before I r

id not seem to have noticed the indiscretion. Indeed my sym

again with a

depressing things on this simpl

. "Will you show me roun

the girl, rising and swe

yward curl, in a gesture, in the sweet voice of my companion. Her merry

s Folly, ceased to exist-for me, at least, and I bless

athered that my surmise that it had been their voices which I had heard

the Colonel, "for detailing the duty to Pedro,

which some foreigners acquire, but always smiled in

," replied Harley. "The view

, "if Miss Beverley will excuse us, we will

I have an idea that it is your

"It used to be," he admitted, "but I ha

ll me," admitted Harley; "and there

ndered if I had mistaken its significance, for it had seemed to imply that she had accepted me as an ally. Certainly it served to a

on of his glance I could see an awning spread over one of the gray-stone balconies. Beneath it, reclining in a long cane chair, lay Madame de St?mer. I think

ng that a needle of sunlight, piercing a crack in the gaily-striped awning rested upon