Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-20
B|Hed
ANike

whole affair; thus in wav she pronounced the
verdict OF Society upon Bees foolish conduct.
But the girls heart was very heavy within her
as she walked back to the Royal Palace Hotel
YEARLY Beatrice crept down to dinner with a
ieeiing that she would never want to eat again.
handsome, oregnIooking woman came up to
her and sat down on the same settee
i hope you will not think that / am intrud-
ing, the lady said. "Such a sad sad time for
| you, dear. Did you ever hear your father speak
OF Countess de la Moray"
Beatrice remembered the name perfectly well.
She had often heard her father speak of the
) Countess in terms of praise The lady smiled in
sad, Retrospective way
I'VE were very good friends she said. 'I
recolect you in Paris when you were quite lit
tie thing. 1t was just before your dear mother
died You used to be terribly fond of chocolates,
| remember"
The lady rambled on in pleasing way that
Beatrice found to be soothing. Gradually and
by slow degrees she began to draw out the girls
confidence. Beatrice was little surprised to
hnd that she was telling the Countess every
thing.
You are quite right, my dear" she said quiet
| ly. The heart frst-always the heart first. 1t
| is the only way to happiness. Your father
dear friend OF mine, and am going to be
friend of yours. / have no children; l had a
daughter who would have been about your age
had she lived"
| The Countess sighed heavily.
| II would never have allowed a fate like yours
to be hers 90 back home in few days to my
chateau Paris. 1t is quiet and dull per-
haps, but very soothing to the nerves It would
give me great pleasure for you to accompany me-
| Beatrice thanked the kind speaker almost tear
fully. 1t was the first touch of womanly sympa
thy she had received since her troubles had be-
gun, and it went to her heart. y
"It is very, very good of you," she said "a
friend is what sorely need at present. When
think of your goodness to comparative
stranger like me -"
"Then don't think of it, the Countess said al
most galy. "Let us get rid of that horrible man
first. You must return those fine diamonds to
him. Oh, I know about the diamonds because l
read an account of them in the papers. Perhaps
you have already done SOP"
"No," Beatrice said, 'they in my dressing
room at the present moment"
ooh, the careless girl But that shows how
little you value that kind Of thing. Well, Cen
eral, and what do you want with me at this time
| of the EVENING"
| A tall, military man had lounged up to them,
He exquistely preserved. He bowed over
Beatrice's hand as he introduced as General
| Gastang.
"Delighted to meet you,'' he said 'I knew
your father slightly. Countess, your maid is
wandering in desolate way about the corridor,
looking for you, with some story of a dress
maker"
| ''Ma fol, | had quite forgotten!" the Countess
exclaimed. 'Do not go from here, cherie; talk
to the General till I return, which will not be
long Those dressmakers are the plague of ones
life. I will be back soon possible"
| The Generals manner easy and his tongue
fluent Beatrice had only to lean her head back
and smile family from time to time. The Gen
eral suddenly paused-so suddenly that Beatrice
looked up and noticed the sudden pallor of his
face his air of agitation
| "You are not well?" the !rl asked "lbe
heat of the room has been too much for you"
The General gasped sometime; with his head
down he seemed to be avoiding the&asze Of
man who had just come into the dra%gng room.
As the newcomer turned to sracl % lady the
General shot away from Be r,t's side. NUT
terng something about teea-am He had
hardly vanished before Beatlce vas conscious
| of cold thrill.
After all she knew nothing of these people.
Such scraps of her history as they had cleaned
might have come from anybody Then Beatrice
had another thrill she recolected the fact that
she had told this strange Countess that the dia-
monds were in her dressing-room. Suppose
these two were in league to-
Beatrice waited to speculate on this point no
longer She hurried from the room and up the
stairs to her bedroom. The corridors were prac-
ticaly deserted at this time IN the evening
Beatrice gave a sigh of relief to see that her
door was shut She placed her hand gently ON
the handle, but the door did not give.
II was locked on the inside From within
came whispering voices. In amaze, the girl rec
ognized the fact that one of the voices belonged
to Countess de la Moray, and the other to the
man who called himself her husband, Stephen
Richford.
There was nothing for it now but to stay and
wait developments.