Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-09-10
CHAPTER NJ.

CHAPTER nj.
Dinner at Chevy Chase was nearnG
its close.
Along the broad, trellised verandas
hung with Chinese lanterns and vivid
posters, were dotted the small. round IA.
bles each surrounded by half a dozen
members and their guests, whose chatter
rose interruptedly.
Looking around him, his impression
able senses pleasantly thrilled by the
light, the color the movement of the gay
scene, the mock Prince del Pine felt
an eXhlaration, a rich enjoyment of the
present which was not entirely due TO
the champagne he had drunk.
This was to be his last night-he told
himself that. as he had many time be-
fore during his Washington week. with
the secret consciousness that the morrow
would find him still on the stage. playing
his part to the same appreciative audi
ence. Like most successful actors, Lu-
dovc Sarto had become dependent on
the glare of the footlghts. He really
could not tear himself away, could not
make up his mind to give up the role
which had become second nature to him.
Seated at Mrs. Warnings right, with
FIVE other chosen spirits surrounding her
table, himself the bright. particular lu-
minary of the occasion. the mock prince
kept the talk and laughter up to concert
pitch, while efficient walters kept him
supplied with the deicacies which his
sybaritic soul craved, while on every side
stretched viStas very grateful to the eye
of the eyilpd EurODpan
"One could almost fancy oneself at a
Partisan cafe in the Bois." he acknowl-
edged. with a reminiscent sigh.
GusSie met his glance smilingly. In
deed, her attention had been pretty obvi-
ously consecrated to him throughout the
entire meal, much to the disgust of her
host, a stodgy Senator, at whose right
hand she sat.
Yes, it is bit like Paris" she assent
ed, in answer to the other remark. THE
open-air restaurant effect, and then the
cosmopolitan type of the crowd ~
The crowd"' echoed the mock prince
He shrugged his shoulders, lowering his
voice significantly, then, in rapid French,
Must there always be the crowd? Can
one never see you alone?" His heavy
eyes met hers for the fraction of a min
ute. Remember, l am to drive you back
in my MOTOR"
Gusses answer was drowned in the
sudden rattle of chairs as the people at
the tables rose to their feet.
NO, | shall not forget ~ she smiled at
him over her shoulder, moving off and
leading the way towards the veranda
steps.
A moment later the little party were
out on the lawn, grouped under the dense
shadow of a copper beech, its rustling
tops blottng the night sky. Settling him
self some distance from Mrs. Waring.
now tete-a-tete with her host, Sarto lean
ed back lazily in the wide garden chair,
a curiously sardonic smile on his lips, as
he watched the Senator eagerly making
the most of Gussie's brief attention.
How little he imagined-this man of
politics and money-that, under the
Prince del pino's mask, a very humble
rival had already distanced him. How
little the woman opposite realized that
her hopes, inclinatons and ambitions
were all centered on-her eX-chauffeur.
During the whole course of Sartos
present perilous career never had his star
seemed more in the ascendant, never had
the winning cards seemed more certainly
in his grasp, than at that very moment,
when fate, in the person of a middle-aged
Russian diplomat, was pursuing him all
unconsciousy over the Chevy Chase lawn.
"Ah. Meeses Wareeng."
At the sound of the familiar sibilant
tones SartO leaned forward with a start