Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / Oct. 5, 1917, edition 1 / Page 2
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r , " ..;..'..... the hdlLman I JOHN HEARS MYSTERIOUS PHRASES WHICH TROUBLE HIM WITH GRAVE DOUBTS ABOUT LOUISE-AT TIMES HE WISHES HE WERE BACK IN THE HILLS. Synopsis. Louise Maurel, famous actress, making a motor tour of rural England, was obliged, when her car broke down, to spend the night at the ancestral home of Stephen and John Strangewey, bachelor woman-haters, In the Cumberland district. Before she left the next day she had captivated John. Three months later lie went to London and looked her up. She Introduced him to her friends, among them Gralllot, a playwright, and Sophy Gerard, a light-hearted little actress. John, puritanical in his views, entered the gay bohemian life of the city with enthusiasm. It was soon seen that John and' the prince of Seyre were rivals for the heart and hand of Louise. Sophy also loved John secretly. The prince tried to entice John Into evil ways by sending fascinating women to charm and bedevil him. I CHAPTER XIV Continued. ''Sometimes with Miss Maurel, some times with her little friend, Sophy Ge rard, and sometimes alone," John re plied. "I have bought a Baedeker, taken a taxlcab by the day, and done All the sis-tits. I've snent weeks In the vedone all those more modern shows Jp round Bond street. I have bought a lacing car and learned to drive It. I lave been to dinner parties that have Ifred me stiff. I have been Introduced jcrowds of people whom I never wish I see again, and made one or two 'ends," he added, smiling at his guest, Sr whom I hope I am properly grate- The prince has been showing you Ind a bit, hasn't he?" Gralllot grunt- The prince has been extraordinarily i ta me,' John admitted slowly, r what reason I don't know. He introduced me to a great many fiaum buu iiueresuug peupie, uuu u t many whom I suppose a young cret About It Maurel.' It It tion should be glad to s shown me one side or T?i7ft rrettv thoroucb.lv." l what about it all?" Gralllot Jed. "You find yourself some- are of a citizen of the world, bit," John answered simply. re I see or me are up nere, jer it seems to me. I mean, of !ie ordinary life of pleasure, be lived by a young man who hasn't any profession J, which he can concen- i you stay?" limmediate reply. In d to the window of his l .stood looking across discontented frown !iween hlra and the us friendship had ihe last few months, rinllot continued, "that, ysely and truthfully, you i bored man In London. t:hlng behind all this ef- s, my inena, to nt your-; j.tind human being, into the tffaee. Speak the truth, now! 4e as a atner confessor." jonn swung round upon his heel. In y uie ciear iigia n wus ouvious luui ue i was a little thinner in the face and that some of the tan had gone from his 'complexion. "I am staying up here, and going on, with It," he announced doggedly, "be cause of a woman." Gralllot stopped eating, placed the remains of bis cake in the saucer of his teacup, and laid it down. Then he opened his lips to speak and abruptly closed them. His face suddenly under went an extraordinary change. A few seconds ago his attitude nau Deen mm of a professor examining some favorite .object of study ; now a more personal tote had humanized hi expression. Vhatever thought or reflection it was W had come into his mind, it had 5 duly startled him. !Vho is the woman?" he asked 'eathlessly. i By E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM J "There Is no secret about it, so far as I am concerned," John answered. "It Is Louise Maurel. I thought you must have guessed." The two men looked at each other In silence for some moments. Out on the river a little tug was hooting vig orously. The roar of the Strand came faintly into the room. On the mantel piece a very ornate French clock was ticking lightly. All these sounds seemed suddenly accentuated. They beat time to a silence almost tragical in its intensity. Gralllot took out his handkerchief and dabbed his forehead. He had writ ten many plays, and the dramatic in stinct was strongly developed In him. "Louise 1" he muttered under his breath. "She Is very different, I know," John went on, after a moment's hesitation. "She is very clever and a great artist, and she lives in an atmosphere of which, a few months ago, I knew noth ing. . I have come up here to try to understand, to try to get a little nearer to her." There was another silence, this time almost an awkward one. Then Grall lot rose suddenly to his feet. "I will respect your confidence he promised, holding out his hand. "Have no fear of that. I am due now at the theater. Tour tea is excellent, and such little cakes I never tasted be fore." "You will wish me good luckf "No!" "Why not?" John demanded, a little startled. "Because," Gralllot pronounced. "from what I have seen and. know of you, both, there are no two people In this world less suitable for each other." "Look here," John expostulated, "I don't want you to go away thinking so. You don't understand what this means to me." "Perhaps not, my friend," Gralllot replied, "but remember that it is at least my trade to understand men and women. I have known Louise Mau rel since she was a child.." "Then It Is I whom you don't un derstand." "That may be so," Gralllot confessed. "One makes mistakes. Let us leave it at that. You are a young man of undeveloped temperament. You may be capable of much which at present I do not find In you." "Tell me the one quality in which you consider me most lacking," John begged. "I want you on my side, Grail lot" "And I," Gralllot replied, as he shook his friend's hand and hurried off, "want only to be on the side that will mean happiness for you both." He left the room a little abruptly. John walked back to the window, op pressed with a sense of something almost ominous in the Frenchman's manner, something which he could not fathom, against which he struggled In vain. Side by side with it, there surged into his memory the disquie tude which his present relations with Louise had developed. She was always charming-when she had any time to spare sometimes almost affectionate. On the other hand, he was profoundly conscious of her desire to keep him at arm's length for the present. He had accepted her decision with out a murmur. He made but few ef forts to see her alone, and when they mot he made no special claim upon her notice. He was serving his appren ticeship doggedly and faithfully. Yet there wore times like the present when he found his task both hateful and dif ficult He walked aimlessly backward and forward, chafing against the restraint of the narrow vrdla and th low cell ing. . A sudden desire had seized to iij back to the hills, wreathed unci. uiuuf,ii llicj illicit oe , IU MI U on his way through the blinding n to drink down long gulps of his purer, less civilized atmosphere, The telephone bell rang. lie placV, me receiver to nis ear almost me chanically. "Who Is it?" he asked. "Lady Hilda Mulloch Is asking for you, sir," the hall porter announced. Lady Hilda peered around John's room through her lorgnette, and did not hesitate to express her dissatisfac tion. "My dear man," she exclaimed. "what makes you live in a hotel? Why don't you take rooms of your own and furnish them? Surroundings like these are destructive to one's Individuality." "Well, you see," John explained, a he drew an easy chair up to the fire for his guest "my stay In London is only a temporary one, and it hasn't seemed worth while to settle any where." She stretched out her graceful body In front of the fire and raised her veil. She was very smartly dressed, as usual. Her white silk stockings, which she seemed to have no objection to dis playing, were of the latest vogue. The chinchilla around her neck and in her little toque was most becoming. She seemed to bring with her an atmos phere indefinable, in its way, but dis tinctly attractive. Brisk in her speech, a little commanding in her manner, she was still essentially feminine. John, at her direct invitation, had called upon her once or twice since their meeting at the opera, and he had found her, from the first, more at tractive than any other society woman of his acquaintance. None the less, he was a little taken aback at her pres ent visit "Exactly why are you here, any how?" she demanded. "I feel sure that Eugene told me the reason which had brought you from your wilds, but I have forgotten it" "For one thing," John replied, "I have come because I don't want to ap pear prejudiced, and the fact that I never spent a month in London, or even a week, seemed a little narrow-minded." "What's the real attraction?" Lady Hilda asked. "It is a woman, isn't It?" "I am very fond of a woman who is in London," John admitted. "Per haps it is true that I am here on her account." Lady Hilda withdrew from her muff a gold cigarette case and a little box of matches. "Order some mixed vermouth with lemon for me, please," she- begged. "I have been shopping, and I hate tea. I don't know why I came to see you. I suddenly thought of it when I was in Bond street." "It was very kind of you," John said. "If I had known that you cared about seeing me, I would have come to you with pleasurel" "What does it matter?" she an swered. "You are thinking, perhaps, that I risk my reputation In coming to a young man's rooms? Those things do not count for me. Ever since I was a child I have done exactly as I liked, and people have shrugged their shoulders and said, 'Ah, well, it Is only Lady Hilda!' I am quite con vinced that If I chose to take you off to Monte Carlo with me next week and spend a month with you there, I should get my pass to the royal inclo sure at Ascot when I returned, and my invitation to the next court ball, even in this era of starch. You see, they would say, 'It is only Lady Hilda !' " The waiter brought the vermouth, which his visitor sipped contentedly. "So there is a woman, is there?" she went on, looking across the room at her companion. "Have you committed yourself already, then? Don't you re member what I told you the first night we met after the opera that it is well to wait?" "Yes, I remember," John admitted. "I meant it." He laughed good-humoredly, yet not without some trace of self-consciousness. "The mischief was done then," he said. "Couldn't It be undone?" she asked lazily. "Or are you one of those tedi ous people who are faithful forever? Fidelity," she continued, knocking the ash from her cigarette, "Is really, to my mind, the most bourgeois of vices. It comes from a want of elasticity in the emotional fibers. Nothing in life has bored me so much as the faith fulness of my lovers." "You ought to put all this into one of your books," John suggested. "I probably shall, when I write my reminiscences," she replied. "Tell me about this woman. And don't stand about in that restless way at the other end of the room. Bring a chair close to me there, close to my side!" John obeyed, and his visitor contem plated him thoughtfully through a little cloud of tobacco smoke. "Yes," she decided, "there is no use denying it. You are hatefully good looking, and somehow or other I think your clothes have improved you. You a little more air man wnen you frame to town. Are you quite sure you haven't made up your mind this woman in a hurry?" nlta enro " .Tiitin lniifrhprl. "I Klin- I am rather an idiot, but I am Micted to the vice of which you were mT She nodded. "I should imagine." she said, "that you were not an adept in the art of flirtation. Is it true that the woman is Louise Maurel?" "Quite true," John replied. "But don't you know " She broke off abruptly. She saw the face of the man by her side suddenly change, and her Instinct warned Jier of the danger into which she'ttas rush ing. :. --- , "You surprise me very much," she said. "Louise Maurel is a very won derful woman, but she seems to spend the whole of her time with my cousin, the prince." "They are, without doubt, very friendly," John assented. "They have a good many Interests in common; and the prince is connected with the syn dicate which finances the theater. I do not imagine, however, that the prince wishes to marry her, or she him." Lady nilda began to laugh, softly, but as If genuinely amused. John sat and Watched her in omlnons silence. Not the flicker of a smile yvrted his lips. Ills visitor, however, ww undis turbed. She leaned over and patted his hand. "Simple Simon I" she murmured, leaning a little toward him. "If you go on looking like that, I shall pat your cheeks, too. You are really much too nice looking to wear such thun der clouds!" "Perhaps if we chose some other subject of conversation" John said stiffly. "Oh, dear me!" she Interrupted. "Very well! You really are a most trying person, you know. I put up with a gfeat deal from you." John was silent. Her face darkened a little, and an angry light flashed in her eyes. "Well, I'll leave you alone If you like," she decided, tossing her cigarette into the grate. "If my friendship isn't worth having, let it go. It hasn't often been offered in vain. There are more men in London than I could count who would go down on their knees for such a visit as I am paying you. And you you," she added, with a little tremble of real anger In her tone, "you're too hatefully polite and prig gish ! Come and ring the bell for the lift. I am going !" , She slid gracefully to her feet, shook the cigarette ash from her clothes, and picked up her muff. "You are really an egregious, thick headed, obstinate countryman," she de clared, as she moved toward the door. "You haven't either manners or sensi bility. I am a perfect idiot to waste my time upon you. I wouldn't have done it," she added, as he followed her dumbly down the corridor, "If I hadn't rather liked you !" "I am very sorry," he declared. "I don't know quite what I have done. I do appreciate your friendship. You have been very kind to me indeed." She hesitated as his finger touched the bell of the lift, and glanced at the watch on her wrist She sighed, and watched the top of the lift as it came up. Then she dropped her veil. CHAPTER XV. 'This Is very nearly my Idea of per fect happiness," Sophy murmured, as she leaned across the table and listened idly while John ordered the dinner. "Give me very little to eat, John, and talk a great deal to me. I am de pressed about myself and worried about everything!" "And I," he declared, "am just begin ning to breathe again. I don't think I understand women, Sophy." "Wasn't your week-end party a suc cess?" she asked. "Not altogether," he confessed ; "but don't let's talk about it Tell me what is depressing you." "About myself, or things generally?" "Yourself first." "Well, the most respectable young man you ever knew In your life, who lives in Bath, wants me to marry him. I don't think I could. I don't think I could live in Bath, and I don't think I could marry anyone. And I've Just thirteen shillings and fourpence left, I haven't paid my rent, and my dress maker is calling for something ' on account on Monday morning." "There's only one thing to answer to that," John insisted cheerfully. "I "You Really Are an Egregious, Thick Headed, Obstinate Country Man." am going to lend you fifty pounds while you make your mind up about the young man." She made a face at him. "I couldn't borrow money from a strange gentleman," she protested. "Rubbish !" -he exclaimed. "If you begin calling me a stranger but there, never mind ! We'll see about that din ner. Tell me more about your love af fair, Sophy." "It Isn't a love affair at all !" she ex claimed, almost Indignantly. "Why, I am sorry. Your prospective alliance, then, shall I call It?" "Oh, It Isn't interesting,' she said. "It's Just a young man in Bath He is a lawyer and moderately well off. Ho has wanted me to marry him for years, ne was a friend of ray broth er's. Lately he has been bothering a little more than usual in fact, I sup pose I have received what might be called an ultimatum. He came up yes terday, and I went out -with him last night He has gone back to Bath this morning, and I have promised, to' let him know In a month. I think that is why I went out to Waterloo bridge in a mackintosh and got wet" , "Do you like him?" John asked prac tically. "I like him, I suppose," Sophy sighed. "That's the worst of it. If I didn't like him, there might be some chance. I can't realize myself ever doing more than liking him in a mild sort of way; and if he expected more, as of course he would, then I should probably hate him. He tried to kiss me on the way to the station, and I nearly scratched him. That Isn't like me, you know. I rather like being kissed sometimes." John buried himself in the wine-list. "Well," he admitted, "It doesn't sound very hopeful. I'm no sort of Judge in these matters, but I have heard lots of people say that one gets on all right after marriage without car ing very much before. You don't seem to have a very comfortable life now, do you?" "Comfortable? No, but I am free," Sophy replied quickly. "I can come in and go out when I please, choose my own friends. It's rather fine to be here, you know to be In the atmos phere, even if the limelight misses one." John sighed, and regarded her thoughtfully. "You're a queer little girl, Sophy," he "said. "I don't know how to advise you." "Of course you don't," she answered. "No one could. As for you, I suppose you will marry Louise. What will hap pen to you afier that, I don't know. Perhaps I sha'n't care so much about London then. You've made It very nice for me, you know." "You've made It bearable even for me," he told her. "I often think how lonely I should have been without you to talk to. Louise sometimes Is de lightfully companionable, and kind enough to turn one's head. Other days I scarcely understand her; everything we say to one another seems wrong. I come away and leave her simply be cause I feel that there Is a wall be tween us that I can't get over." "There Isn't really," Sophy sighed. "Louise is a dear. Considering every thing, I think she is wonderful. But you are utterly different. She is very complex, very emotional, and she has hr own standards of life. You, on the other hand, are very simple, very faith ful and Honest, and you accept the' standards which have been made for you very, very rigidly, John. What are you looking at?" John's whole expression had sudden ly changed. His eyes were fixed upon the door, his face was stern as a gran ite block. Sophy turned quickly around. The maltre d'hotel, with an other satellite in his rear, was welcom ing with much ceremony two lately ad rived guests. Sophy clutched at the tablecloth. The newcomers were Lou ise and the prince of Seyre. "I don't understand this !" John mut tered, his Hps twitching. Sophy Gerard said nothing. Her cheeks were pink with excitement ' Suddenly Louise saw John and So phy. She stood quite still for a mo ment; then she came toward them, slowly and a little languidly. The prince was still studying through his eyeglass the various tables which the head waiter was offering for his con sideration. "What an astonishing meeting!" Louise remarked, as she laid her hand for a moment on Sophy's shoulder. "What is going on behind my back?" John rose very slowly to his feet He seemed taller than ever, and Louise's smile remained unanswered. "The rain broke up my week-end party," he explained, "and I met Sophy In the Strand. In any case, I intended returning tonight. I understood that you would not be here until tomorrow about eleven o'clock. "Those were my plans," Louise re plied; "But, as you see, other things have intervened. Our little house party, too, was broken up by this abom inable weather, and we all motored up to town. The Faradays have gone home. The prince heard from Miles that I was at home, and telephoned me to dine. Me void 1" John was struggling with a crowd of hateful thoughts. Louise was wearing a wonderful gown ; her hair was beau tifully arranged; she had the air of a woman whose toilet was complete and .perfect down to the slightest de tail. The prince's slow drawl reached them distinctly. "It was my servant's -fault I sup pose," he said. "I told him to ring up last night and order the table for two in that corner. However, we will take the vacant one near your desk." He looked around and, as if for the first time, missed Louise. He came toward them at once. "The prince seems to have ordered his table last night," John remarked, his tone, even to himself, sounding queer and strained. Louise made no reply. The prince was already shaking hands with Sophy. "I thought yo.u were spending the week-end with my cousin, Strange wey," he remarked, turning to John. "We did spend part of It together," John replied. "The weather drove us back this afternoon." "I congratulate you both on your good taste," said the prince. "There is nothing more abominable than a river side retreat out of season. We are tak ing th table cn the left Louise." ' Me led her away, and ihey passed down the roo:a. John slowly resumed his seat "Sophy," he demanded hoarsely, "tell me the truth. Is there anything be tween the prince and Louise?" Sophy nervously crumbled up the toast by her side. ; "The prince admires Louise, and has done so for many years," she answered. "No one knows anything else.' Louis -never speaks of him to me. I cannot tell you." "But you must know," he persisted, with a little break in his voice. "For give me, Sophy, if I made an ass of my self. First Lady Hilda, and then Grall lot, and then well, I thought Louise might have' rung up to see whether 1 was at home, if she enme back sooner than she expected ; and the prince took the table last night !" She leaned over and patted him on the hand. "Don't worry," she begged. Tf Lou ise has to choose some day between him and you, I don't think she'll hesl- She- Leaned Over and Patted Him on tho Hand. tate very long. Don't look so stern, please. You look very statuesque and perfect but I don't want to dine with a piece of sculpture. Remember that I am finding you too attractive for my peace of mind. There's your textl" ne poured a glass of wine and drank it off. "I'll do my best," he agreed. "If it sounds like rubbish, you can still be lieve that I appreciate-. everything you've told me. You are pretty, and I am lucky to have you here. Now ni try to make you believe that I think so." . She leaned over so that her head al most touched his. "Go on, please!" she murmured. "Even if it hurts afterward, it will be heavenly to listen to!" The next night Sophy acted as show man at the first production of the play, so long delayed because of GraiUot's) insistence on a scene that promised to be startling to English playgoers. Her part was over at the end of the first act, and a few minutes later she slipped into a seat by John's side' be hind the curtain. "What do you think of it so far?" she asked a little anxiously. "It seems quite good," John replied Cheerfully. . "Some very clever lines, and all that sort of thing; but I cant quite see what It's all leading to." . Sophy peered around the house from behind the curtain. "There isn't standing room any where," she declared. . "I don't sup pose there ever was a play in London that was more talked about ; and then putting it off for more than three months why, there have been all sorts of rumors about Do you want , to know who the people in the audience are?" "Not particularly," John answered. "I shouldn't know them, if you told me. There are just a few familiar faces. I see the prince in the box opposite." "Did you telephone to Louise to day?" Sophy asked. John shook his head. "No. I thought it better to leave her alone until after tonight." "You are going to the supper, of course?" "I have been asked," John replied, a little doubtfully. "I don't quite, know whether I want to. Is it being given by the prince or by the management?" "The management," Sophy assured him. "Do you come and take me 1 It's going to be rather fun." The curtain went up upon the sec ond act John, from the shadows of the box, listened attentively. . The subject was not a particularly new one, but the writing was brilliant There was the old "Marquis de Guy" a roue, a degenerate, but still over bearing and full of personality, from whose Hps came some of GraiUot'a most brilliant sayings; Louise, his wife ; and Faraday, a friend of the old marquis, and obviously the intended lover of his wife. "I don't see anything so terrible In this," John remarked, as the crutain went down once more and thunders of applause greeted some wonderful lines of Gralllot's. The mystery about the life of Louise further troubles John and he sets forth to get the ex act truth, no matter how tragic for him it may be. (TO BE CONTINUED.! -
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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