Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-15

Il
must wear . different aha 70, must be as unlike
his false love - one woman can be unlike
| another.
II cannot give parties like these pleasant
Quijada, by and by, when she was bidding him
| goodnight after be had ministered to her COM
forts by supplying her with a cup Of very weak
tea and sugared biscuit; my daughter and I
| live in very secluded way. But we are always
at home to Q few intimate friends on q Thurs.
| day evening. and if you should ever care to
| drop in upon our seclusion We shall be charmed
| to see you"
'Be sure, madame, that shall not be slow to
avail myself OF that distinguished privilege ~
replled tlorestan. and his reply meant more
| than such an answer usually means
HIS curiosity, his interest in the side scenes
OF life, were aroused by these two women in
whose existence he scented one of those small
social mysteries which he delighted to unravel.
so beautiful and so elegant woman as Senorita
| QuiJada would hardly waste her beauty and her
Jewels upon such shabby salon as Madame
Duturque's If she were free of more fashionable
assemblies. She was evidently outside the
pale, and with that laundering after respect-
ability which is the canker worm of the dis
reputable, she had greedily accepted the un-
questioning kindness of the music masters
wife
What do you think of those two?" asked a
young portrait painter with whom Florestan
was intimate as the Spanish ladies left the
salon.
II take them to be women with history"
'Yes. and a dark one. Madame Duturque is
an angel OF benevolence and simplicity and all
her wandering lights are of purest luster She
and fancy in Madame Quijada she has got
hold Of a very diabolical specimen"
The lady Is handsome and her manners are
both dignified and refined
80 are the manners OF Harpy no doubt
when you meet one i'll evening dress. daresay
IlEtemnpStra "A o,,I
Shakespeares Lady Macbeth is one of the
polltest persons in the world of poetry l think
would as soon trust my life in lonely Scotch
castle with Lady Macbeth as on a third floor in
Paris with Madame Quijada, supposng that
Madame o. had any motive for poisoning
me-"
You take a strong view," said Florestan.
smiling at his intensity.
Il always take strong views. It is my trade
to study the human countenance and have
particular study of those two faces mother
and daughter. The daughter is victim-the
mother is a devil of cunning and INSCRIPTIONS
greed! Did you see the diamonds they wore?
Those are the price of a woman's soul The
daughter has been sold to the highest bidder
and the mother has been the huckster. That
woman would do anything for gain
II am sorry for Mile. Quijada, if there is
any truth in your suppoStion."
so am l-sorry almost to tears. She is a
stupid, beautiful creature-with very little
more intellect than a butterfly; but one is
always sorry for crushed butterfly; sorry for
beauty trodden under foot. The is a woman
who might have been happy. Yes, am sorry
for her."
Florestan lost no time in availing himself of
Madame Guijada's Invitation. He went to the
Rue st. Guillaaine on the following Thursday
evening, between and 8, very curious to see
what kind of home the Spaniard and her daugh-
ter had made for themselves in the wilderness
of Paris.
The house in which they lived was one of the
Oldest and possibly one of the largest in the
old-fashioned street 1t was assuredly one of
the most gloomy. a house with a stone court
yard, screened from the street by high wall
10 enter the court after dark was like going
INTO deep abyss OF gloom, through which a
lghted window here and there shone faintlv
mut1ed by curtains. For the most part the
windows were closed by Venetian shutters.
through which no ray of lamplight escaped
The porter who answered his summons in
formed him that Madame Quijadas door was
on the LETT side of the second-llOor landing but
vouchsafed no further attention and he groped
his way upward between the dim lamplight in
the vestlDule and the still fainter light of a
lamp on the first floor. The second floor had
only the borrowed light from the floor below
and he was but just able to distinguish the
handle of the door bell
He was surprised at the door being opened
by an elderly man in hvery-a very sober
llvery-who had the air of an old retainer and
who conducted him through a lobby and an
ante room to spacious salon, where he found
the two ladies seated. with third who sat in a
corner somewhat overshadowed by the project
ing chimney piece, woman of any ago be-
tween thirty and forty, whose pale face and
prematurely gray hair attracted Florestan's at
tentlon. Seldom, if ever, had he seen a coun-
tenance which bore in its every line SO striking
an evidence OF past sorrow
THAT woman with the iron gray hair must
have suffered as very few women are called
upon to suffer-" he told himself
The beautiful Dolores was seated on a sofa
on the opposite side OF the hearth, tanning
herself With languld grace which brought
into play the beauty of her hand and the bril-
lancy OF her diamond rings, and listening. or
pretending to lisien TO the animated talk of a
man whom fIorestan recognized as the cele-
brated journalist and novelist, Francois de
LOrnerac.
petit crcve of two or three and twenty who
sat on = pOui near the SOFA lost in admiration
of the lady's beauty and the journalists wit,
completed the party.
Madame Quijada received him with much
cordiallty, Dolores gave him tine tips of her
hngers and Lornerac accorded him a conde-
scendlng nod. a man whose last novel had
taken Paris by storm could not be expected to
put himself out OF the way on account of a cas-
ual Englishman.
Florestan took chair near the lady in the
shadowy corner. and then, having talked for a
few minutes with his hostess gave himself nm
to the contemplation of the room. In his mind
surroundings were always indicative OF char
acter and he was anxious to see what the nest
would say of the birds.
The salon was furnished with exquisite sim
pllclty and In a subdued style OF decoration
and coloring that testified to the refinement of
the person who had planned and arranged it.
The Louis Seize arm chairs and sofas we're coy-
cred with old tapestry, Ill greenish and grayish
tones, softened by age. They looked like fur
Elture that had been brought from some old fam
lily home III the country. There were three or
four small tables. secretaire in old walnut wood
an Indian screen and several vases filled with
choice flowers. OF those bibelots and chinois-
cries that ornament the average drawing room
there no trace. Those choice flowers
which at this season must have cost a good
deal of money, were the only establishment of
the plain and somber furniture. Chief among
them was a clustering mass of white lilac III a
large vase of richly glazed def that looked like
lapis-laZuli.
The spacious and lofty room, with its somber
coorlnSs and air of departed century would
have been very gloomy without these flowers
They afforded the only touch of brightness and
gayety ill the picture.
AN affectation of simplicity with consider
able expenditure i'll superfuities, such as hot
house flowers and diamonds" unused Florestan.
Il wonder what it all means? and | wonder
what she means?" he added, looking at the pale
still woman with the large soft eyes and the
lron-gray hair.
1t might be that Madame Quijada sa his
look, for she approached at this moment and
introduced him to the silent lady whom she
described as her niece, Mile. Marcel. Louise