Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces

into the hotel without occasioning comment; and as Dollops had followed suit they readily passed muste

rage?" inquired Cleek of Dollo

out for yourself. The shuvver, he said sommink about 'poor boars'-which I've heard is wot you has to give 'em as a tip to themselves, Gov'nor-so I promised him 'arf a crown to stop at 'tother end of that p

uffeur a pourboire of ten francs and sending him back to the gara

d one attendant was engaged in showing the servant into a neat little bedroom which was to be his resting

ered no sound, when he came into the room. Curiously pale and curiously quiet, she stood with one arm resting on the mantelpiece and the other hanging

so long as the hotel servant was present; but in the moment the door clos

the baron. "I have died a hundred deaths of torture and suspense since yo

l I had done what she asked me to do; and-I am returning to England to-morrow by the noon boat. I have had an exciting evening, but it has ha

wholly without a certain sense of gratification, however, in the excitement and delight which the act called forth; for no

ed Mlle. Athalie's exuberant hand-clapping and hand-shaking and the cyclonic and wholly Gallic manner in which she deported herself when comparison with the fragments which the baron had still

ents; even when she reproved her with a wondering, "Ah, you strange Anglais-you stone-cold Anglais! Is it possible that you can have blood in your veins and yet take wondrous things like this

ngly. For now that he was close to her he could see that she was trembling nervously; that her calmness was

nd lured into complete forgetfulness of such a past as his, he realized to the fullest extent. Always he had been conscious of that; but even so ... Ah, well, the meanest

n looking for his cheque-book and Athalie bustled about in quest of ink and a pen. "It wasn't an easy night

iece shook and closed quickly. She lifted up her head and looked at him. Her

"Surely, Miss Lorne, y

o him. "Will you let me thank you? Will you let me say that I must be merely a little child in intellect since it is only now that I have begun to understand how natural it is that a pound of gold should inevitably outweigh an ounce of

ut to him; and so had his m

.. How could I have expected that you would take it in any other way, being what you are and I what I had been? I am glad I told you. You could never have respected me for an inst

tle pucker was between her eyebrows, she was biting her under lip perplexedly, and appeared to be hes

been too much for me. I know now that I can no longer remain in this position in this dreadful city. I have already resigned my post, and will return to England, and-if I am not too late for

ur? What a queen you are! You give largesse with both hands when a simple coin would have been enough. Shall I

iasm, coloured anew, and

de Carjorac has promised to look after my effects and to see that they are shipped on to m

if you understand that I shall be kicking my heels on my bed

pping now and again, to wake up suddenly and "moon" for an hour or so; and, between periodical in

ain, to find that he had made no effort to secure accommodations which would compel her to endure his companionship alone from the Gare du Nord to the steamer, but had considerately reserved seats in a compartment containing other travellers, and had done everything in his power to relieve her of any possible embarrassment and

you to learn that flowers are a passion with me, and that I am a living refutation of th

up at him

e imagines men of-of your calling to be," she said; and laughed a little, colouring divinely until her face was like the roses

e that it had had any real existence. "Please remember that to appear to be what one is not, and to ape manners foreign to one's real self is part of what you have so nicel

x chevalier, it is no wonder you are a success," she rep

h had fancied they might be when Cleek brought them to her; for they had not even been opened when