Septimus

ve lace, diamond and general vanity shops in the universe, the H?tel Métropole and Ciro's Restaur

e restaurant and the electric lamps were lit. Zora and Septimus had just returned from a day's excursion to Cannes. They were pleasantly tired and lingered over their tea in a companionable silence. Septimus ruminated dreamily over the nauseous entanglement of a chocolate eclair and a cigarette while Zora idly watched the

ed at her, repassed and looked at her more attentively, the woman wistfully, and then stopped out of earshot and spoke a

so kind. Perhaps will she pardon

o Nice to look after a lawsuit. Nearly all their money had gone. They had a little baby who was ill. In desperation they had brought the remainder of their slender fortune to Monte Carlo. They had lost it. It was foolish, but yet the baby came out that day with nine red spots on its chest and it seemed as if it was a sign from the bon Dieu that they should back nine and red at the tables. Now she knew too late that it was measles and not a sign from th

f any use to you?" she aske

Mad

," said Septimus. "I like babies and I've al

man. "How can I ever be

lently in the back. It was the magazine hurled by the burly E

ite que ?a!" There was something te

n obvious dismay.

ey daren't show their noses in the rooms. Oh je vous connais. Vous êtes George P

houted to the swiftly retirin

, picking up his magazine and tenderly smoothing it. "Those tw

half hurt, half resentful. "The

t of it is that the man is actually an accre

r with the piercing eyes of a man who is imparting

of it?" asked

s. A man like that could persuade a fishmonger or an undertaker t

o w

continued, looking at the two perplexed face

her as if to see the impress

ntance," said Septimus, "and I

r na

s Dix-Sept

You were sitting alone in the lounge of the H?tel Continental

member. I had shaved myself wit

o you, but I was preven

rnt. I made their acquaintance next day in Naples. You had gone, but they told me your name. Let me se

refinger and fixe

antly, "and you've an Oriental kind

niness of his memory mitigating the

the table. "You're both very sunburnt and the water here is hard and will make the ski

ich indeed was as rosy as a baby's. His piercing eyes con

" asked Zor

ken aback, "why, my cure.

d at him vacantly. Then the incr

d of Humanity-Sypher's

shockingly ignor

," said

th hands down on the table, tragically. "

id not,"

said S

ch they felt like Sunday-school children taken

of human nature, what dearly bought experience go to the making of an advertisement? You'll go miles out of your way to see a picture or a piece of sculpture that hasn't cost a man half the trouble and money to produce, an

which he laid on the table. Then he arose with an air of suave yet offended dignity. Zora, seein

pher, because I'm so grateful to you fo

s eyes, she was irresistible

u all the advertisements I can lay m

went away. Zora laug

xtraordina

been talking to a ty

ides nothing that can allure the visitor from the only purpose of the establishment. Even the bar at the end of the atrium could tempt nobody no

a trente et quarante table, when they were joined by M

d meet you sometime

play," s

of money. She cannot regard it like a man, as a mere amusement. Light loves are somewhat in the same category. Hence many misunderstandings bet

play," s

do I," sa

rlo is to regard these rooms as

come here every year and make more acquaintances in a day than I do elsewhere in a month. Soon I shall know everybody and everybody will know me, and

that point of

ant phrase. They recommend the cure to their friends. 'Are you sure it's all right?' they are asked. 'Of course it is,' they can reply. 'I know the man, Clem Sypher h

eresting," said

so. I've brought someth

uple of little red celluloid box

e sun. Put it on to-night. Let it stay there for five minutes; then rub off with a smooth, dry towel. In the morning you'l

eptimus, startled out of a dreamy cont

th a keen glance up the room. "There's Lord Rebenham. I must enquire aft

uldered trough the crowd, like a benevolent deity,

these?" asked Septimus

become of it," said Zora, and she put it in her little c

em back would be ungracious, seeing that he had saved her a hundred francs and had cured her imaginary sunburn. She took up the card and laughed. It was like him to name his residence "The Kurhaus." She would never know him in his private capacity, for the simple reason that he hadn't one. The roses were an advertisement. So Turner

rown boots shone dazzlingly, like agates. They went out together, and the first person who met their eyes was the Friend of Humanity sunning

mist. Isn't it wonderful? If you'd only go about Monte Carlo with an inscription 'Try Sypher's Cu

bout it last night-and this morning I

re?" cried Z

y. "It's rather good," and h

oar of laughter and clappe

a polish? By Jove! You deserve to be on the free list for life. You've given me a line for an ad. 'If your skin is all

r laughing. It made him human. It was therefore with a t

at the sight of your comple

ed. Besides, the day was perfect, and Zora not only had not a care in the wide world, b

square, and drew up near by.

t my agent there and put the fear of God into him. I shan't be lon

and strong, appealing to her with his quick eyes; there was the sunshine and the breathless blue

do you

r coat and veil. Sypher admiringly watched her retreating figure-a poem of subtle curves-and shruggi

man, and go straight to a point. D

st," said Septi

ut I like having such a glorious creature as Mrs. Middlemist in my car. She attracts attention; and I can't say but what I

. Middlemist as an advertisement," said Septimus.

my hand." He wrung Septimus's hand warmly. "I feel that we are going to be friends. I'

to a class which does not discuss its women with

t care for i

d, admiringly. "I shouldn't like you half so much if you had told m

Sypher and himself. She had driven alone with him on her first night at Monte Carlo. But then she had carried him off between her finger and thumb, so to speak, as the Brobdingnagian ladies carried off Gulliver. He knew that he did not count as a danger in the eyes of high-spirited young women. A man like Sypher did. He knew that Zora would not have driven alone with Sypher any more than with the wretch of the evil eyes. He did not analyze this out himself, as his habit of mind was too vague and dreamy. But he knew it instinctively, as a dog knows whom he can trust with his mistress and whom he cannot.

villea and other flowers that rioted on wayside walls. All the deep, strong color of the South was there, making things unreal: the gray mountains, fragile masses against the solid cobalt of the sky. T

before. The turns of the road brought into sight view after magic view, causing her to catch her breath: purple rock laughing

ering. It could not fail. He reeled off the string of hideous diseases with a lyrical lilt. It was his own discovery.

in the London slum and on the Tartar steppe. Sypher's Cure could go with the Red Cross into battle, and should be in the clerk's wife's cupboard in Peckham Rye. The human chamois that climbs the Alps, the gentle lunatic that plays golf, the idiot that goes and gets scalped by Red Indians, the missionary that gets half roasted by cannibals-if he gets quite roasted the cure's no good; it can't d

me off victorious, Mr

e declared. And he passed one hand over the other in a gesture whi

houldn

believe that with yo

car, and gazed on him in blank amazement.

intuitions. I've followed them all my life, and they've never played me

bly again. It was not

ser's 'Fa?rie Queene.' There was a Red Cross Knight who slew a Dragon-but he had a fabu

tall poinsettias flamed against th

Tale. What are the Powers of Darknes

ticle Remedy," sai