The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1919-11-01
CHAPTER |.

Andrea PpllOr stood on the edge of
the cliff mt the back of the Indian
ocean hotel and guzed out across
I twenty-five miles of moonlt bay. 1t
was not for lack Of partner Tint she
stood alone. She had promised this
/ very extra TO four insistent men, but
had excused herself to one after an
( other of them. Just for moment.
Just While ! powder my nose"
/ They had al seen her run VI the
/ stairs in the main hallway: they had
not seen her travel steadily on
/ through the length of the hotel and
come down the ladder-liiie exit into
The garden. Why had she done 1t?
7 That was a question that she herself
! could not have answered but TINT did
not occur 70 her as a matter for s0lu-
ton. SO often had similar impulse
snatched her momentarily away from
a crowded world.
Andrea had past, but very little
history She was the only daughter
Of Lord Pellor Of Pellor. Il land poor
baron who could distribute five titles
among his five sons but very little
cash. AS n result Andrea had lived
the life, if life you can call it, Of tab
ulated impoverished English gentle
women Everything that the traffic
will bear for the men Of the family
and for the girl just enough frocks at
her coming out to dissemble the bait
that clothes the hook that catches the
man with millions.
During her first season offers had
come TO her; not the measured adj
vances of buyers in the marriage mar
ket, for about the brow of such bud.
ding maidenhood as had been hers
there hangs Il guardian halo that
| blinds the eyes Of sane-aged men, but
the o'erleaping onslaughts of youth
maddened hearts.
1t was in her fifth season that the
arbiters of her fate raised the shears
of destiny and clicked them. He who
fell to her lot was a man Of humble
origin who had reached the ripe age
of fifty-eight without ever having had
time to marry. His life, with diff
ference, had been just as narrow, hide
bound and conventional as had hers.
The difference was that he had trav-
eled the stereotyped Dick Wilmington
trail to high finance rather than the
social highway. He had started out in
Africa with pack of cheap jewelry,
an open mind and an easy conscience,
and had emerged after twenty-five
years as one Of the few Gentiles In the
combine that controls the worlds dia-
mond output. His wealth was so great
that an ultimate peerage was almost
a matter of course. But, as usual, an
aristocratic marriage had to come
first.
The contract was as cold-blooded as
any ever perpetrated by q royal house.
Allowances, carefully graded were
stipulated to he paid ut fixed times to
Andrea's parents and TO each of her
five brothers. She herself came i'm for
large and inalienable marriage set
tlement and was further secured in
such details as to where the town res
idence was to be located rs well as to
the number and nature of the country
places which were to be maintained
When the document was finally com
pleted ii was casually submitted to
Andrea for approval. Nobody dreamed
that she would doubt for moment
that those in family authority were
most able to decide what was best for
4. ier1, m
SKINNED through the typewriter
pages Of the prenuptial agreement, sat
isfied herself that vast sum of money
was destined to the upkeep Of Pellor,
and dreamy-eyed with sudden memo
ries. nodded her adorable head In con-
sent.
All doubtless would have taken It's
appointed course had not the Euro
)ean war put in its nightly discon-
certing finger. Surprising things hap
pened In South Africa. Andrea's afii-
anced sailed on twenty-four hours no
tice. The diamond mines closed down,
took short nap, and then suddenly
awakened to the fact that America
alone was demanding as much Of their
product as had the whole world before
II turned its entire attention to max
Ing munitions and paying for them.
Andrea's betrothed found himself har-
messed to his job, possibly for the du-
ration of the war. As result 1t was
decided In family conclave that 1t was
incumbent upon Andrea to take adj
vantage Of a providential detail of two
of her brothers on the Nyassaland ex-
Evolutionary force and accompany
them. surrendering st. Georges chapel
for quiet marriage in the colonies.
1t was blow, but the fact that the
entire set Of tapered allowances
would not start until the sacrificial
ceremony had taken place more than
offset the loss in pomp. Andrea start
ed for Africa escorted not only by the
aforementioned brothers but by old
Aunty Gwen, hale and hearty at sew
enty in spite, or perhaps by reason, of
having been frightened out of many
years growth. So here they were.
Aunty and she, on the point of part
ing with the two boys at the last pos
sble port up the coast and whose In
habitants had seized upon the occasion
to give a grand ball In the mode of the
English. who have ever danced, courted