The Man and the Moment

orning at half-past seven, and he and Mr. Cloudwater and the Princess had drunk their tumblers of water together, their custom was to go on down to the town and there find Sabine, who h

by having cream in her coffee and sugar upon her wild straw

y and casual and perfectly at her ease, but no extra look of pleasure or welcome for him personally ever came into her face, and never once had he been able to speak to her really alone. Mr. Cloudwater and the two ladies drove back from breakfast each day, and he was left to take his exercises and his bath. Now and then he had encountered the Princess in the near woods just before luncheon, returning from the Kaiserbad, but Mrs. Howard never-and when he inquired how she spent her

o far distant, and there took tea; and for two whole days it

at the Belvedere in the far woods, looking over the valley. She was quite alone, and her slender figure w

imself, and instead only said a casual "Hullo!" Mrs. Howard turned

he most lovely spots in the whole woods, and at this tim

e jade has been u

n the balust

igh mountain and looking down

if one is with a suitable companion. How have yo

ght me the beauty of solitude. I

ou do-read mos

into banal things, he determined not to say anything which wou

and do a few sums and learn a garbled version of French history, a little music, and a great deal of embroidery, they left us to

interesting-did you begin gen

ce seemed too difficult-I think I began trying to find some key to that and this op

d he noted with delight that she was not so completely indifferent as usual. If he could keep her att

discover their meanings and what caused them.

he tragedy of it is that we have drifted too far sometimes before we learn that we could have directed the course if we had w

tree-tops, down to where the Kaiser Park appeared like a

, and her soft brown hair dressed with a simplicity which he thought perfection, all appealed to him, and those strange violet eyes rather round and heavily lashed with brown-shaded lashes, darker at the tips. Th

I think, from your point of view, you are right. You see, we are nearly all mushroom growths, sprung up in a night-and we have not h

and he looked truthful, a

r women because we have learnt from all the other

ng out. He had hardly ever heard her laugh, and it enchanted him

desire to play the same part al

"Yes"-but th

ught to be trying to counteract jumping from one r?le to another, you ought t

o understand it-but you yourself seem to be r

can get anything. That is why Moravia says we make such successful great ladies in the different countries we marry into. Your great ladies, if they are nice, are great naturally, and if they are not, they often fail, even

'Out of the mouths of

elling you. I admire and respect our methods far

y, synonymous. Only you are too young, an

things I ought not to

wfully interested, and have always been too frigh

sprang from people working too hard to have great emotions-then we arrive, and have every luxury poured

you ha

ion. So we grow restless in our palaces, and get fads and nerves and quaint diseases-and have to come to Carlsbad-and

us as a so

es

om what you said last night at dinner, that you have never been

"and I read about you in your best novels-even your authors unconsciously g

brutes,

fect

Sabine suggested it was ti

oudwater, although the kindest dear old gent

indeed any other of those Bohemian spas, can just picture how agreeable was their walk, and how conducive to amiable discussion and the acceleration of friendship. Henry tried to get her to tel

eatures!" he said at last, "rather indifferent about petits so

ttany and the place which she had bought. Héronac-just a weird castle perched right upon a rock above a

the main land-and when it is very rough, I get s

asked. "You, who look like a fresh rose, to cho

t-and I bought it the following week. I mak

wenty-one days of drinking this uninteresting water is up, I intend goi

etween now and then," and she glanced up at him slyly. "I have an old companion, Madame

and really take pains to sample his capabilities of not boring in a few more walks,

ss and dear Cloudie go to Italy with her little son, the baby Torniloni: he is

back to Brit

es

shall co

f your cure, you

-and there found Moravia and Mr. Cloudwater wait

ce at the two who had entered, but she did

not want him and is not free to have hi

o always would make a party go with his stories and his gaiety, and help along any hostess. Cranley Beaton was this one's name. The Cloudwater party were all quite glad to welcome him and hear news of their friends. One or two decent people had arrived that afternoon also, and Moravia felt she could be

heir rooms were on the first floor, and they disdained the lift. "Do you remember, yo

from our convent days," and she sighed impatiently. "Then you were the merriest madcap, ready to tease any one and to have any lark, and for nearl

-room, and Mrs. Howard went to

all the studies which I indulge in at Héronac teach me that peac

-we were both miserable enough, goodness knows! We made the bargain that there should be no retrospects. And your angelic goodness to me all that time when m

weet c

erest you or me, my friend, let us go back to the smoking-room and listen to a conversation going on between Cranley Beaton

st, and they say he's shut in a madhouse or home for inebriates. Her entrance among us dates from when she first appeared in Paris, about three

eart sink. "I thought, probably, she had got rid of

," Mr. Beaton assured his listener. "She hasn't fancie

d is an Ame

he was in deep mourning-in the summer of 1908. She never spoke to anyone on board, and it was

ce felt th

lly, as though his interest in the subject had waned-and when Mr. Beaton h

, here," he remarked agreeably. "See you