Arizona republican., 1911-08-16

be Thomas Patrick Leighton, was not a man to blunder He realized that he must go carefully with her Grace ! Of Cadiington. But so skilfully did | he play his cards that before the bugle | sounded for, dinner the next night, he was invited to sit with the ducal party oE thc sunny promenade deck. And there he left the mother severely to | herself, and spent the afternoon in telling the little girls the most wonder full Irish folk-stories.
 ''Why don't you tell some of those little tales at the ships concert, Mir. | Adair?" Lady Caddington asked abruptly, when he had finished a most delightful, wholly whimsical story, to | the eager chorus of "More!" from the | children.
 "Oh, now, you know I couldn't do that" he said, smiling at her with his kindly blue eyes. 'I beg of you not to | mention such thing, Lady Cadding. l ton"
 ''Fm tired of hearing Lucia sung by | third-rate prima-donnas," announced the duchess. Who Is this Elvira de Pasguali. anyway"
 "She is Portuguese mezzo, have heard" returned Adair, "and she Is en- gagged to sing in America" "Metropolitan?" questioned Lady Caddington quickly, suspicious light flashing suddenly in her cold blue eyes. NO. Either in Boston or Chicago -I am not sure which," he answered. ''I can find out for you, though I do not know the lady myself, but Captain Lachase does. Have you heard her sing?"
 "No. Have your" she asked bluntly. in the salon last evening. That Hun garian violinist was accompanying her. It was rather fine. l thought. Captain Lachase tells me Nedda Is her favorite r5le.'
 The duchess shook herself angrily.
 "I hate those kind of people-women who sing and write and act" she said. "I have no patience with them. A woman's place is in her home"
 "Yes. But Captain Lachase was tell ing me about Madame de Pasquali only yesterday" he said gently. Her life has been very unhappy, very hard.
  America with a Viennese danseuse, and left her penniless, with a little son to care for. He said she deserved lot of credit She had been trampled under foot so long. until this Ameri- can engagement came. Yes. l think her voice is good, but she is not pretty, and she is no longer young"
 How can a woman remain young and keep her good looks when she is forced to live with a brute?' the duchess cried bitterly. "I-I wish Madame de PaSauali was going to sing at the Metropolitan, this winter. My father has a box there. you know"
 When Adair said good night that evening and looked in the, grand salon before going to his stateroom, he smiled to himself at the scene around the piano at the far end of the apart ment. Elvira de Pasruali had been singing, and the llama-haired Hun garian, three Madame Knickerbockers. and a thin spinster from BacS Bay were crowding around her, extrava- gant with compliments.
 Then the Portuguese r:ezzo smiled graciously. and consented to sing once more; and Adair, well in the shadow, stopped to listen.
 He was surprised himself-and he had known Rosie Blake for nearly ten years. True. she had graced the chorus of Broadway show upon one occasion. and again had sung the Gypsp Queen in a wildcat production of "The Bohemian Girl" but the man. ner in which she handled Leoncavallo's colorful music gave him a moment of genuine surprise.
 If Harlequin thy Columbire has stolen,
 Laugh. Punchinello, and the world
 will cry bravo."
 She was dressed in red and black, a flaming scarlet gown trimmed with heavy jet ornaments. She looked tall CT. too. and the black wig and the beaded lashes gave her the proper Latin coloring needful to the charac- ter. Adair could not help but admire her effects. In one corner of the salon. with a violin accompaniment, her voice was good, sweet. warm. but small. That it would be lost entirely in the vast auditorium of a theatre. her audience did not stop to think. She sang in French. which language she handled perfectly. but nobody had ever heard her speak a word of her mother tongue. Perhaps this was just as well, since nobody aboard ship understood the Portuguese language. This is why Elvira de Pasquali was Portuguese prima-donna instead of French one or Spanish, or an ltal- ian diva
 It did not surprise Adair in the least when Lady Caddington expressed a de- sire to know Madame de Pasquali. It had been arranged back in the little Sussex cottage that she should, even as the voyage, day by day. had been arranged and rehearsed days before they set foot on the Puritania. Tom had told Rosie then that the wicked husband. the yiennese dancer and the little son would fetch her grace sooner or later. Their plan" made up bit by bit as carefully as a picture puzzle, and fitting together as smoothly as one, left no room for doubt or failure. Even the answer that Adair made the duchess had been rehearsed in the lit tie Heronfield living-room that rainy afternoon with Rosie and the cat for an audience.