The Place of Honeymoons

did not require very keen scrutiny on his part to arrive swiftly at the conclusion that this one was not quite in the picture. Her cheeks were not red with that redness which

e evinced no embarrassment; she was cool, a

onely, Mademoiselle?" he

the table, wastes good wine, the inferenc

women. Those he could understand, but this one, no. At all times he was willing to smile, yet to draw her out

son favorable t

oneliness?" he de

onging to be with the one we love; it is the hate

mique." He leaned upon his ar

I

lk like the other g

es here frequ

sh to meet any one I knew. I have scowled at every girl in the room, and they have wisely left me alone. I hav

me a glass of win

lism he had brought back with him. The observa

the glass as she did so. "Perhaps a whim brou

tempted to put you into a ta

down t

ha'n't,"

eyes was instantly curtained.

not always

Monsieur?" There was no ma

comedy?" He was almost certain that her lips became fi

more closely, and she bore it well. The forehead did not make for beauty; it was too broad and high, intellectual. Her eyes were splendid. There was not

certain about

olut

o emulate Sa

ints of that name. To

not to him

cy myself being particularly concerned

" dubi

e flood there was only

ge of that event is somewhat o

r hand. It was large, white and strong; it was not the

too, when I do not want to be interested. Are you really in

neasily. "I am not in ac

eculiarly regard

elodrama. You spoke o

e on th

rha

Ope

n per

, and drew his chair

moods must have a

very long time," he said, returning to

omplished this

wed me here. B

to give a mocking accent

r vacant chairs, and there was nothing inviting in

nd who knows F

ation of kindness from the gods. "Then you know

the unknown's nose; the shadow of

me her address. I have come all the

tantly forced a smile to neutralize the effect. Concerned with her own define

alluring as Phryne, I want nothing so much as to

The certainty of her ground became as mora

critics. I wish to see the beautiful Flora, to ask her a few questions. If she ha

This wasn't the tone of a man m

id of

ou

ed francs." He watched h

ime urged in perplexity. "A hundred franc

now r

s. She has a heart

Perhaps now I h

a fire. Do you know that

address, if you please." He produced a crisp

f paper, and wrote. "There it is, Monsieur." She held out her hand for the bank-note which, wi

paper, though." He turned it over.

Mons

er eyes did not escape him. "You a

that i

ho she was or whence she had come no longer excited his interest

ight."

r is not

h," he replied, p

oftly and relievedly. Indeed, there was in the laughter an essence of

who scribbled notes on composition paper. She was not an idler in the Rue Royale, and it did not require that indefinable intuition which comes of worldly-wiseness to discover this fact. She might be a friend of the Desimone woman, but she had stepped out of another sphere to become

osity was not to be denied. Besides, of what use was friendship if not to be tried? She knew nothing of the riddle, she had never asked a question openly. She had accidentally seen a photograph one day, in a trunk tray, with this man's name scrawled across it, and upon this flimsy base she had builded a dozen romances, each of which she had ruthlessly torn down to make room for another; but still the riddle lay unsolved. She had thrown the name into the conversation many a time, as one might throw

hen to laugh! They talked of the daring of the American woman: who but a Frenchwoman would have dared what she had this night? The taxicab! She laughed. And this man was wax in the hands of any pretty woman who came along! So rumor had it. But she knew that rumor was only the attenuated ghost of Ananias, doomed forever to remain on ea

y pushed the button. The apartment in which she lived was on the second floor; and there was luxury everywhere, but luxury subdued and charmed by taste. There were fine old Persian rugs on the floors, exquisite oils and water-colors on the walls; and rare Japanese silk tapestries hung between the doors. In one corner of

d on into the cozy dining-room. The maid had arranged some sandwiches and a bottle of light wine. She ate and drank, while intermittent smiles p

or a ride in the taxicab!" She

int violet face of the bank-note. Within these lines she made little dots at the top and bottom of stubby perpendicular strokes, and strange interlineal hieroglyphics, and sweeping curves, all of w

paper and would always be her own: in them she might leap from comedy to tragedy, from laughter to tears, and only she would know. The midnight adventur