The Arrow of Gold: A Story Between Two Notes

ich I couldn't very well drop, and in truth did not wish to drop. They were my excuse for remaining

he very memory of it would go through me like a wave of heat. It was over that hand that we first got into the habit of quarrelling, with the irritability of sufferers from some obscure pain and yet half unconscious of their disease. Rita's own spirit hovered over the troubled waters of Legitimity. But as to the sound of the four magic letters of her name I was not very likely to hear it fall sweetly on my ear. For instance, the distinguished personality in the world of finance with whom I had to confer several times, alluded to the irresistible sed

tualities, while at the very moment my vision could see nothing but streaming across the wall at his back, abundant and misty, unearthly and adorable, a mass of tawny hair that seemed to have hot sparks tangled in it. Another nuisance was the atmosphere of Royalism, of Legitimacy, that pervaded the room, thin as air, intangible, as though no Legitimist of flesh and blood had ever existed to the man's mind except perhaps myself. He, of course, was just simply a banker, a very distinguished, a very influential, and a very impeccable banker. He persisted also

at the bank legitimism was a mere unpopulated principle, in her salon Legitimacy was nothing but persons. "Il m'a causé beaucoup de vous," she said as if there had been a joke in it of which I ought to be proud. I slunk away from her. I couldn't believe that the grandee had talked to her about me. I had never felt myself part of the great Royalist enterprise. I confess that I was so indifferent to everything, so profoundly demoralized, that having once got into that drawing-room I hadn't the strength to get away; though I could see perfectly well my volatile hostess going from one to another of her acquaintances in order to tell them with a little gesture, "Look! Over there-in that corner. That's the notorious Monsieur George." At last she herself drove me out by coming to sit by me

here you are at last!" pleased me by its resonant friendliness. But I found the sparkle of her black eyes as she sat down for a moment opposite me while I was having my drink rather difficult to bear. That man and that woman seemed to know something. What did they know? At parting she pressed my hand significantly. What did she mean? But I didn't feel offended by these manifestations. The souls withi

for me, a very unusual occurrence of late. She handed

With that notion in her head she had asked him about the welfare of that other model of charm and elegance, Captain Blunt. To her extreme surprise the charming young gentleman with beautiful eyes had apparently never heard of Blunt. But he seemed very much interested in his surroundings, looked all round the hall, noted the costly wood of the door panels, paid some attention to the silver statuette holding up the defective gas burner at the foot of the stairs, and, finally, asked whether this was in very truth

eral kinds of sighs and this was the hopeless kind) and added reflectively, "Sin on sin, wickedness on

ry much shocked. These outbursts did not signify anything in Therese. One got used to them. They were merely the expression of her r

t me save the money for you." It will show the super-terrestrial nature of my misery when I say that I was quite surprised at Therese's view of my appeti

ial form, a mere command to present myself before the grandee. No Royalist devoted by conviction, as I must have appeared to him, could have mistaken the meaning. I put the card in my pocket and after dining or not dining-I really don't remember-spent the evening smoking in the studio, pursuing thoughts of tenderness and grief, visions exalting and cruel. From time to time I looked at the du

ere to die bef

d up and frightened her by shouting: "Is she i

inister conundrum. She observed me with her shrewd, unintelligent eyes for a bit, and then with the fatuous remark about the Law being just she left me to the horrors of the studio. I believe I went to sleep there from sheer exhaustion. Some time

her own recruit. My fidelity and steadfastness had been guaranteed by her and no one else. I couldn't bear the idea of her being criticiz

n dead, gave me such an emotion that I had to steady myself against the table till the faintness was past. Yet I was irritated as at a treason when the man in the baize apron instead of letting me into the Pompeiian dining-room crossed the hall to another door not at all in the Pompeiian style (more Louis XV rather-that Villa was like a Salade Russe of styles) and introduced me into a big, light room full of very modern furniture. The portrait en pied of an officer

altered his position slowly and rested his hollow, black, quietly burning eyes on my face in prolonged scrutiny. I detected something comminator

chair, D

tical soul belonging to the Grand-master of Ceremonies and Captain General of the Bodyguard at the Headquarters of the Legitimist Court, now detached on a

egin with. "The matters on which I desi

nce. But if your Excellency prefers it I will return in, say, seven ye

the quiver of an eyelid proved that he

n entire confidence. God will reward her as she deserves and you, too, Se?or, according to the disposition

stands that in all this I am not

a faint, almost

a slight touch of acidity. "The other is perfectly understood and your fidelity is taken for granted. His Majesty-whom God preserve-ha

slight movement in his chair which smacked of impatience. "I am afraid, Se?or, that you are affected by the spirit of scoffing and irrev

runner, your Excellenc

But I was looking for the motives which ou

is enough for me to know that they are not dishonourable and that anybody ca

he saw that there was nothing mor

(he crossed himself) by our Holy Mother the Church. I have here certain letters from Paris on w

of Do?a Rita I did not withhold from him my young sagacity. What he thought of it I don't know. The matters we discussed were not of course of high policy, though from the point of view of the war in the south they were important enough. We agreed on certain things to be done, and finally, always out of regard for Do?a Rita's credit, I put myse

erson of my Master, has sent it down from Paris to greet me in this house which has been given up for my occupation also through her generosity t

g eyes he was the image of an Inquisitor with an unconquerable soul in that frail body. But suddenly he dropped his eyelids and the conversation