The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-10-16

she was angry at tHe WOflQ, angry al
the gentle consul general. above all.
angry at herself To have laid herself
open 10 the charge of indiscretlon TO
have received a lecture, however kind
j. intended. from the man she loved
and respected next to her father! To
know that persons were exchanging
mods and whispers behind her back!
1t was a detestable world 1t was
folly to be honest, to be kind, to be
individual. to have likes and dislikes,
unless these might be regulated by
outsiders. Why should she care what
people said? She did not care. What
made her furious was the absolute
stupidity of their deductions. She had
not been indiscreet; she had been
merely kindly and human: and if they
wanted to twist and misconstrue her
actions. let them do so
Once or twice she saw inwardly the
will-o -the-Wisp lights of her soul. But
resolutely she smothered the sparks
The coolie stopped suddenly
&c on she said
But the coolie smiled and wiped his
shaven poll. Elsa gazed at the hotel
veranda in bewilderment Slowly she
got out of the rickshaw and paid the
fare. She had not the slightest recol.
lection OF having seen the gardens
More than this, it was quarter to
seven She had been gone exactly an
hour
Perhaps, after ALL" she thought =
am hopeless They may be right;
ought to have guardian am net
always accountable for what | do
She dressed leisurely and with cal
cuation She was determined 10 con.
vince everyone that she was a beau
tiful woman. above suspicion, above
reproach The spirit within her was
not. however. in direct accord win
this determination Malice stirred into
life again: and she wanted to hurt
someone hurt deeply. 1t was only the
tame in spirit who. when injured sub
mtted without murmur or protest
And Elsa, only dimly aware Of it. was
mortally hurt.
Elsa" said Martha. that frown
will stay there some day, and never 60
away"
Elsa rubbed it out with her finger
Martha, do you recall that tiger in
the cage at Jaipur? How they leased
him until he lost his temper and came
smashing against the bars? Well.
sympathize with tt ut brute He would
have been peaceful enough had they
let him be. If M. Warrington calls
to morrow. say that am indsposed."
Martha evinced her satisfaction
visibly The frown returned between
Elsa's eyes and remained there until
she went downstairs to join the consul
general and his wife. She found some
very agreeable men and women, and
some of her natural gayaty returned.
At far table on the veranda she saw
Craig and Mallow in earnest converse
ton.
She nodded pleasantly to the colo
mel as the head boy came to announce
that dinner was served Anglo-Indian
society had so many twists and rami-
actly new to the old soldier True.
none had confronted him identical to
this. But he had not disciplined men
all these years without acquiring album
dant self-control The little veins in
his nose turned purple, as Elsa
prophesied they would, but there was
no other indication of how distastefuI
the moment was to him. He would
surely warn the consul general, who
doubtless was innocent enough
They sat down. The colonel blinked
Fine passage we had coming down"
Was it," returned Elsa innocently.
The colonel reached for an olive and
bit into it savagely. He was no fool
She had him at the end of a blind
alley, and there he must wait until she
was ready to let him go She could
harry him or pretend to ignore him. as
suited her fancy. He was caught
Women, all women, possessed at least
one attribute of the cat 1t was dig
gng in the claw. hanging by it, and
boredly looking about the world to see
what was going on. At that moment
the colonel recognized the sting of the
claw.
Elsa turned to her right and en-
gagged the French consul discursively;
indeed, she gradually became the cen
ter of interest; she drew them inten-
tionally. She brought touch of home
to the Frenchman to the German. to
the Italian. to the Spaniard: and the
British official, in whose hands the
civil business Of the Straits settle
ments rested. was charmed to learn
that Elsa had spent various week-ends
at the home of his sister in Surrey
And when she admitted that she
wood. the man to whom the indian