Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-10-29
MAGAZINE SECTION for October 90, 1916

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window she had been watching him for
the matter of half an hour as he paced up
and down the quay before the hotel.
Every time Monte disappeared from sight
at the end of lap, she held her breath
until he appeared again. Every time he
appeared again, her heart beat faster.
He seemed such lonely figure out there
that her conscience troubled her. He was
SO good, was Monte-so good and four
square.
She had left him to dine alone, and
without protest he had submitted. That
was like him; and yet, if he had only as
much as looked his disappointment she
would have dressed and come down. She
had been ready to do so. 1t was only the
initial excitement that prompted her at
first to shut herself up. Coming to this
hotel, where for ten years he had been
coming alone, was almost like going back
into his life for that length of time Then,
Monte had signed the register Monsieur
and Madame Covington.' With bated
breath she had watched him do it.
After that the roses in her room and the
attention of every one to her as to
bride-all those things had frightened
her. Yet she knew they were bowling
low, not to her, but to Madame Coving-
ton. This was what made her ears burn.
This was what made her seek the seclusion
of her room. She felt like an impostor,
claiming honors that did not belong to
her 1t made her so uncomfortable that
she could not face even Marie She sent
her off to her room.
SITTING by the open window, she
watched Monte as he walked alone,
with queer little ache in her heart. How
faithfully he had lived up to his bargain!
He had given her every little of the
freedom she had craved. In all things
he had sought her wishes, asking nothing
for himself. 1t was she who gave the
order for starting every morning, for
stopping at night She chose this inn or
that, as pleased her fancy She talked
when she wished to talk, and remained
silent when she preferred If, instead of
coming to Nice and Etois, she had ex-
pressed desire to turn in some other
direction, she knew he would merely have
nodded.
1t was all one to him. East. west,
north, or south-what was the odds?
Married or single-what was the odds?
So she also should have felt. With this
big man by her side to guard her and do
her WILL she should have been able to
abandon herself utterly to the delights of
each passing hour-to the magic of the
fairy kingdom he had made for her. 1t
was all she had asked for, and that much
it was her right to accept, if he chose to
give it. She was cheating no one Monte
himself would have been the first to admit
that. Therefore she should have been
quite at peace with herself.
The fact remained, however, that each
day since they left Paris she had found
herself more and more at the mercy
of strange moods: sometimes an unusual
and inexplicable exhilaration, such as that
moment last night when Monte had
turned and seized her arm; sometimes an
unnatural depression, like that which now
oppressed her. These had been only in
tervals, to be sure. The hours between
had been all she had looked forward to
warm, basking hours of lazy content.
Tonight she had been longer than ever
before in recovering her balance. She had
expected to undress, 20 to bed, and so to