Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-05-14

SURROUNDINGS.
Tell me-" she asked, sit was my lit
tie friend Emelie, was it not, who per-
suaded YOU to come and see me?'
/ 'It was a little girl with whose
name, even, 1 was unacquainted," Jul
l lien replied Il must admit that l
scarcely took her request seriously. i
/ could not conceive anything which
you might have to say which could
justify the intrusion of perfect
stranger"
But YOU" she reminded him, ARE
not a perfect stranger You have been
a public man. You see, I am not afraid
of hurting you because 1 think that you
will soon get over that little sensitive
ness. 1 know all about you-every-
thing. You trusted a woman All!
monsieur it is dangerous, that"
Madame" he said, looking into her
wonderful eyes, zone makes that mis-
take once. perhaps, in a lifetime
never again."
THE woman who deceives." she
sighed, makes IL so difficult for all
tn ose who come after! 1 suppose al
ready in your mind I figure as a sort
1 Of adventures. is it not so?
Certainly, madame" he answered
calmly. ct never occurred to me to
doubt but that you were something OF
the sort"
She half closed her eyes and laughed
softly to herself, moving her head Xix
child, as though from sheer pleasure.
cit is delicious, this franlness!" she
exclaimed. "Ah! what pity that you
did not come before that other woman
had destroyed all your faith! We might,
perhaps, have been friends. Who can
ten?'
'It is possible" he assented.
$50 you believe that am an adven-
turess." she continued. "You think that
sent for you probably to try and steal
one by one all those wonderful secrets
which I suppose you have stored up at
I the back of your head. One cannot be
under secretary of state for foreign af-
fairs without knowing things. Keep
them to yourself, Sir Julien. I ask you
no questions"
j Then why" he demanded, "did you
insist upon this visit from me, and why
4 did the little manicurist who is per-
feet stranger to me, insist also that l
should come to your
She smiled and looked down at her
hands for a moment
Now. if answer all your ques-'
tons Sir Julien" she said, you will
have no more curiosity left, and when
your curiosity is gone, perhaps some
measure of your interest may go, too.
Can you not bring yourself to believe
that / may have had personal reasons
for desiring your, acquaintance"
Madame" he answered, mo! 1 can
not bring myself to believe that"
Again she laughed.
"I think" she declared, that it is
your candor which makes you English
men so attractive. DO you believe that
I am a dangerous person, Sir Julien?"
He looked at her coldly and dispas-
sionately.
II think" he decided, that you might
be very dangerous indeed to suscepti-
BILE person"
certainly not to me-" he admitted.
"As you have already told me, it is
within your knowledge that 1 am pay
ing the price for having trusted
woman"
She nodded.
"It is a fine sort of ruin. after all.
Not to trust is generally proof of
mean and doubling disposition"
''You are probably right, madame"
he agreed. as it permitted to remind
you that We have been together for
some time and you have not yet en-
| lightened me as to your reasons for
seeking my acquaintance?"
"Cant you believe that it was
whim?" she asked.
! "Now
Remember that saw you when you
were here before" she persisted.
81 have no recollection of having met
you"
"Yet 1 can tell you nearly all that
you did on that last visit of yours. You
dined one night at the embassy, one
might at the Travellers club with
party of four, one night with the
mlnlster-Courcelles You were two
| hi he Of h..
day you dined with him. You man
aged to snatch an hour at the races
and tC lunch at the Pre- Catelan on your
way. You lunched, l. believe, with
Monsieur lie Due de ST. Simon and his.
friends"
!. "Your knowledge of my movements"
he declared, lis very fiattering. 1t sug
II gests an interest in me, [ admit, but J.
have yet to be convinced that that in
terest is in any way personal"
She looked at him from under the lids
of her eyes.
what is it, Sir Julien, that you pos
sess, then, which you fear that 1 might
steal?"
He returned her gaze boldly.
81 am a discarded minister" lie
said. Il might reasonably BE sup
posed to be suffering from a sense of
wrong. Why should it not occur to
clever woman like you that it might
he a favorable moment to obtain a
little information concerning one or
two political problems of some inn
portance? Are you. interested in such
matters. madame?"
She leaned back in her seat and
laughed. He sat and watched her.
| Distinctly she was, in certain ways,
the most beautiful woman he had ever
seen. 1t was true that she was pale
and that her neck was a trifie thin,
hut her face was so aristocratic and
yet so piquant, the color of her eyes
so delightful, her mouth so soft and
yet so humorous. She laid her hand
upon his arm. 'a
oh! my dear, dear Englishman,"
she exclaimed, Heaven indeed has
sent you to me that I should not die
of ernui! You do not know who 1
AMI, Madame Christopher"
Il have no idea who you are he
assured her. 81 have never seen YOU
before I know of no other name than
the one by which 1 was told to ask
for you"
She leaned a little closer to him.
Come" she said; you see me for
what I am. 1 shall not rob you; 1
shall not drug you; 1 shall not try to
tear secrets out of your throat by any
medieval methods. We are neither of
US of the order Of those who seek
adventures in vulgar fashion and eN-