Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-14


herself to his fortunes.
Then leave it at that" he said quietly.
This sudden air of confidence was bewllder-
ing. She had been swept off her feet by emo
ton, and the very considerations she thought
she had conquered were Juggling at her
heartstrings. He must not go away as her
knight errant eager and ready to Stay dragons
for her sake!
do not misunderstood me-" she faltered.
81 was only quoting passage from one OF
Kngsley's Greek fairy tales that has always
had a peculiar fascination for me-
"I1l get that story and read it. But | am in
terfering with your work and here comes your
friend. the Humming Bee. If he said anything
funny to me just now, should want to strange
him. So goodby, dear Joan. | will turn up
again Tomorrow and tell you how | Jared in
each round.
A ND he was gone leaving her breathless and
4 shaken; for well she knew that he held her
pledged to unspoken vows that his eager con-
fidences would apply alike to the days sport
and his future life. With hands that trembled
she essayed further mixing OF colors; but she
scarcely realized what she doing, until
queer cracked voice that yet was musical sang
softly in German at her elbow:
IF the Song should chance to wander
Forth the Minstrel too must 60"
1t was passing strange that crooked little
Felix PoluSki ex-Nihilist, the widest firebrand
artist who could put on canvas the CLEAN of
heaven that lights the Virgins face in the " I'm
maculate Conception" should Justify his nick
name of lie Bourbon by humming those two
lines
Il hope YOU are not prophet, Felix" said
loan with a catch in her throat.
mo, nv belle no prophet merely an
avenger, slayer of Kings. / see you have just
routed one.
She turned and looked into the deep set eyes
e @1,a 1II b,,p for first inn
noted that they were gray and very bright and
piercing. At the same time the fancy crossed
her mind that perhaps Henri Quatre had had
blue eyes, bold yet tender, like unto Alec Del
grades.
so you too are aware that Monsieur Del
grade is a Prince," she said, letting her thought
bubble forth at random.
"Some folk call him that and it is the worst
thing know of him so far. 1t may spoil him in
time: but at present find him nice young
man"
Joan swung round to her picture If Alec
had the chance of becoming King. he would
be very good one" she said Loyalty.
Poluski' wizened cheeks puckered into grin.
He glanced at the easel and thence to the picture
on the wall " Perfectly, my dear Joan, he said.
"And. by the bones of kosciuszko. you have
chosen a proper subject The Fortune Teller.
Were you filling our young warrior with dreams
of empirel Well well. | don't know which is
more potent with monarChs, woman or dyna-
the woman. Here. for example. Is one that
shook Heaven. and have always thought that
Eve was not given fair treatment. or she would
surely have twisted the serpents tail and,
humming the refrain of Les Demi-Vierges,'
he climbed the small platform he had erected in
front of the world famous Murillo.
RACK to back, separated by little more than
- half the width of the gallery, Joan and
Poluski worked steadily for twenty minutes.
The Pole sang to himself necessarily, now
bassooning between his thin lips the motif of
some rhapsody of LISTS, murmuring the
words of some catchy refrain from the latest
review Anybody else who transgressed the
rules would have been Summarily turned out
NV the guards; but the men knew him, and the
Gfande Galere, despite its treasures, or per-
haps because of them, is the least popular part
of the Louvre. Artists haunt it, but the
Partisan, the provincial. the globe trotter, cape
once in their lives at Andrea del Sarto, Titan.
Salvador Rosa Murillo of course, and the rest
of the mighty dead. and then ask with yawn,
where are the Crown Jewels"
So the Humming Bee annoyed none by his
humming; but he stopped short in an i'm
provised variation the theme of Vulcans
song in Philemon and Baucis when he heard
a subdued but none the less poignant cry of dis
tress from Joan. In order to turn his head he
was compelled to twist his ungainly body, and
loan who was standing well away from her
canvas, was aware of the movement. She too
turned.
fets. GOD % In