The Lamp of Fate

is talking about you, and I'm tired

a secret gleam of admiration in her sharp old eyes as they re

inst the big black velvet cushion

ed and with a faint blur of huskiness about it that caught the ear with a distinctive charm. "It incr

me time acutely conscious of the arresting quality of the young, viv

lack pansies-black with a suggestion of purple in their depths. They slanted upwards a little at the outer corners, and this together with the high cheek-bones, alone would have betrayed her Russian ancestry. When Lady Arabella wanted to be particularly obnoxious she told her that s

yourself," pursued Lady Arabella, resuming her knitting. "A girl of twenty! Of course pe

person to take charge of my morals and chaperon me generally. Not-like y

t impression of being a 'nice, tame pussy-cat,'" ret

rded her t

u thin

d

-I must go home and rehearse my solo dance in the Swan-Maiden. I told Davilof I'd be ready for him at four o'clock; and it's half-past three now. I shall never get

abella

once in your life, Magda. D

What if

at precisely the right angle, and proceeded to spear it throug

shot a swift

f a crowd?" she

ented ind

her crisply. "Antoine Davilof is not one of a c

a sm

t be a case of deep calling to

needles clicked as the

ou're in love wit

a st

! I'm never in lov

may develop-some day-into a normal G

from my friends and acquaintances, the condition of being in love is a most unpleasant one-reduces a woman to a humiliating

hard, bright old eyes held a su

ry woman's life is worth it. Only w

ou don't mean-yo

s to where Magda stood by the fire, one na

it comes your way, don't miss the best thing this queer old world of ours has to offer.

woman's sharp speeches and grim, ironic humour there lay the half-buried memory of some far-di

urt manner-"meanwhile you might play fair with one or two of

derstand,"

phenomenally successful dancer, who regards her little court of admirers as one of the commonplaces of existence-like her mornin

pped impatientl

is all lea

a met her gl

e says you're ruining the boy's prospects. He's a brilliant lad, and they expect him to do something rather special. And now he's slacking completel

ed into a big fur-coat and caught up her glov

if he wants to. And-and"-rather helplessly-"I can't help it if I don't f

swung open the front door, and Magda cross

omewhat dangerous process. Magda snuggled into her furs and leant back against the padded cushions. All sight of the outside world was cut off from her, except for the blurred gleam

out the matter. It had not taken her long to discover, when as a child she had come to live with her godmother, the warm heart that concealed i

means niggardly in her blame of Hugh Vallincourt for his method of shelving his responsibilities, she was grateful that his withdrawal into the monastic

h training that when she came to make her debut she leaped into fame at once. Hers was one of those rare cases where the initial drudgery and pati

the reigning Vallincourts from a soul convulsion," as she observed with a twinkle. During the last year, influenced by the gr

friends, she had latterly found the onus of chaperoning her god-child an increasingly

e had remained singularly unspoilt. Side by side with her gift for dancing she had also inherited something of her mother's sweetness and wholesomeness of natur

hat bewitched and angered them in the same breath, coolly accepting all t

help it! Apart from everything else, her dancing had taught her the whole magic of the art of charming by every look and

y deeper emotion than that of a faintly amused desire to attract. The lessons of her early days, the tragedy of her mother's married life, had permeated her

nsciously Diane's words, wrested from her at a moment of poi

ane she sincerely hoped none ever would. Certainly-she smiled a little at the bare idea-Kit Raynham was not destined to be the man! He was clever, and e

but of all the men she had met the memory of one alone was still provocative of a genuine thril

e-jawed face with the grey eyes, "like eyes with little fires behind them," and h

rest memories of her childhood. That, and the memory of her mother, kneeling on the big bearskin rug and saying