The Wheel of Life

proached she held out her hand, still faintly scented with cigaret

tion. "Let me have some coffee," he answered, "I've been out golfing all the morning, and if you don't

n't know and it doesn't interest me," she retorted. "After six

e was fond of boasting that he was the only man he knew who never flattered women, Gerty was conscious of a sudden flush and the pleased conviction that she must be looking her very best. It was a trick of his, she knew, to flatter, as it were, by paradox, to deal with delicate inuendos and to compliment by pleasant contradiction. She had not been a woman of the world without reaping the reward of knowledge, and now, as she leaned back and smiled brilliantly into his face, she knew that, despite the apparent abruptness of his begi

her with the blithe humour which len

life," he observed as he took up a cigarette and then b

n it bores me out of mine,

iling when he r

ke it yourself,

great many things

to like me," he

ich is hidden at the core of all Dead Sea fruit, and the bitter taste of it was still in her mouth. The world for her was a world of make-believe-of lies so futile that their pretty embroidered shams barely covered the ugly truths beneath, and, though she had pinned her faith upon falsehood and had made her sacrifice to the little gods, there wer

she confessed wit

art of recollection, he paused a moment and leaned forward to look at her more closely. "By the way, I had a shot at your friend to-day," he said, "the

adding immediately, "and so you met Laura. Oh, you two! It was t

le his cigarette burned like a li

n't meet her-I merely glimpsed her. She

y no

that she has a nose and a mouth

f he could be half in earnest or if he were wholly jesting, "but,

that henceforth she would be prepared for any eccentricities of which the male mind might be capable.

her," she said, "and

is coffee cup upon the table. "Then she'

hat you scoff at-she believes in

rd hit by love not to believe in it. On the contrary, I believe i

verenced, and in reality she had sometimes felt him to be less of a sober cynic than herself. He took his pleasures where he found them, and there was a touch of pathos in the generous eagerness with which he was ready to provide as well for the pl

nest creature alive,"

presume she lacks

nse of honour

or was that suggestion of latent power, of slumbering energy, as deceptive as the caressing glance he bent upon her? The glance meant nothing she was aware-he would have regarded her in much the same way had Perry been at her side, would have shone quite as affectionately, perhaps, upon her mother. Yet, in spite of her

ere's no virtue alive that can stand against a sense of humour. An i

merriment into his fa

nd that way, you kno

a swift desire to punish him for something which even to herself she could not express-for t

ou know," she rep

d what is it t

she despised herself because the fierc

with a cool insolence before which he became suddenly quiet. "W

ulder, and as she finished he rose from his c

come here for th

e, and she made a charming little face of affected t

d it for an instant in his own, while

id, "about Madame Alta-but it's over now, and I abom

eautiful?" she en

Beautiful! She was fl

were characteristic of him became more frequent, and she found herself wondering that they should increase rather than diminish the imp

your friend-she

rests you

She looks human, natural, real. By Jove, she looks as if she were capable of big

less and perfectly unaffected surprise. Something new! Her wonder faded slowly, and she told herself that no

much like Perry to car

ridiculous. "I'm different from Perry in one thi

she tossed back lightly. "I don't let Perry rave, you know, even

he commented, keeping as usual

he darling virtue of the savage, and I may not be a saint, but at least I'm civilized. Give m

he asked, s

few women can. "Love among the rest-I don

ming interest in humanity-in the varied pheno

' in love as your friend has in literature. The probationary stage aft

g," she protested, laughing. "I'm a

n in years who has had so much to say to me before I've met her. Do you know, I already like her-I like her smooth black hair, without

possible that Laura is an enchantress," she demanded, "and have I followed the

fluff and feathers, and I like the natural way she wears her clothes-" Again he smoked

ook he

you've missed y

ake another

you frankly she

e a shadow of an excuse. No wom

ence. You'd just as well accept the fac

ds were still in the air, and turning quickl

ontralto voice. "A person who has borne living in the house w

ra's face which he had never seen before-an expression which seemed to him to draw directly from the elemental pulse; and he felt suddenly that there were depths of consciousness which he had never sounded, vivid experiences which he had never even glimpsed. "She is different-but how is she different?" he asked himself, perplexed. "Is she simply a bigger personality, or is she really more of a woman than any woman I have ever known? What is it in her that speaks to me and what is it in myself that responds?" And it seemed to him both strange and wonderful that he should be drawn by an impulse which was not the impu

though his awakened interest showed in his face and voice. "I was the unfor

ss; and he liked, even while he resented her sincer

your mercy,

which hardly simulated a curios

" she demanded, as she sat down on

ack hair beneath her velvet hat, turned to the ex

," he advised

them together may have been, she concealed it

you," she explained, "but I've told him you'd show

nd he had again the sensation of loo

she rejoined, "for now you won't

ke to have one t

simplicity. "About my verse? I

I?" he demand

ur of her frankness, "can one explain? But I'm perfectly sure tha

you that I'm a st

ng down upon her with a tenderness that suffused her fa

s hand. "Oh, it must have been that he agrees with some drea

m, and he contrasted her deep contralto

ight, but he is with t

he felt an immediate impulse to compel her reluctant interest-t

ind it," he rejoined, "and that's

he saw that the words had arrested her imagination-that for the first time sinc

the majority, but you a

ed, pleased almost more than he would a

e answered seriou

laughed with his eye

he thought, as Trent had thought before him, that her soul must burn like a golden flame w

I if I were a

her throat, then folding Gerty

in the Metropolitan, and I chose you." As she held Gerty from her for an instant and then drew her into her embrace again, Kemper

pleaded Gerty; "I w

ou din

ait, I'll break

and, stooping, picked u

, "and it won't cost us a lie. Good

hands in a gestu

ith Annette," she replied. "Gr

ly as she turned toward the door; then, hesitating an instant, she came back and held

ee you down?" he ask

e you," she answered, "I shall go

ther women-but how is she different?" And still he assured himself with confidence that what he liked in her was her serene se