Omaha daily bee., 1919-07-22
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Lure of the Opera.

The Lure OF the opera.
Trent served Sir James, well earn
ing his pay, for six months, and then
returned to Paris, where he went to
work again with better heart. His
powers had returned to him, and he
began to live more happily than he
had expected among tribe OF
strangely-assorted friends, French
English and American, artists, poets,
journalists, policemen, hotel-keep-
ers, soldiers, lawyers, business men
and others. His old faculty of sym
pathetic interest in his fellows won
for him, just as in his student days
privileges seldom extended to the
Briton. He enjoyed again the rare
experience of being taken into the
bosom of Frenchman's family. He
was admitted to the momentous
confidence of les jeunes, and found
them as sure that they had surprised
the secrets of art and life as the de-
parted jeunes of ten years before
had been.
One morning in June, as he de-
scended the slope of the Rue des
Martyrs, he saw approaching a fig
ure that he remembered. He glanced
quickly round, for the thought OF
meeting Mr.. Bunner again was un-
acceptable. For some time he had
recognized that his wound was heal
ing under the spell of creative work;
he thought less often of the woman
he loved, and with less pain. He
would not have the memory of
those three days reopened.
But the straight and narrow thor
oughfare offered no refuge, and the
American saw him almost at once.
His unforced geniality made Trent
ashamed, for he had liked the man.
They sat long over meal, and Mr..
Bunner talked. Trent listened 70
him. now that he was in for it, with
genuine pleasure, now and then con-
tributing a question or remark. Be-
sides liking his companion, he en-
joyed his conversation for its own
sake.
Mr.. Bunner was, it appeared, resi-
dent in Paris as the chief continental
agent of the Henderson firm, and
fully satisfied with his position and
prospects. He discoursed on these
for some 20 minutes. This subject
at length exhausted, he went on to
tell Trent, who confessed that he
had been away from England for a
year, that Marlowe had shortly after
the death of Henderson entered his
fathers business, which was now
again in a f1ourishing state, and had
already come to be virtually in con
troll of it. They had kept up their
intimacy, and were even now plan
ming holiday for the summer: M.
Bunner spoke with generous admra.
ton of his friends talent for affairs
Jack Marlowe has natural big
head" he declared, "and if he had
more experience, l wouldn't want
to have him up against me. He
would put crimp in me every time. y
As the Americans talk flowed on
Trent listened with growing surprise
and anxiety. 1t became more and
more plain that something was very
wrong in his theory of the situation;
there was no mention of its central
figure. Presently Mr.. Bunner men
toned that NARROW was engaged to
be married to an Irish girl, whose
charms he celebrated with native
enthusiasm.
Trent clasped his hands savagely
together beneath the table. What
could have happened? His ideas
we're sliding and shifting. At last
he forced himself to put a direct
question.
Mr.. Bunner was not very fully
informed. He knew that Mrs. Man
derson had left England Immediately
after the settlement of her husbands
affairs, and had lived for some time
in Italy. She had returned not long
ago to London, where she had de-
cided not to live in the house in
Mayfair, and had bought smaller
one in the Hampstead nelghborhood;
also, he understood, one somewhere
in the country. She was said to go
but little into society. "And all the
good hard dollars just waiting for
someone to spraddle them around!"
said Mr.. Bunner, with a note Of
pathos in his voice. why, she has
money to burn-money to feed to
the birds-and nothing doing! The
old man left her more than half his
wad. And think of the figure she
might make in the world! She is
beautiful, and she is the best woman
/ ever met, too. But she couldn't
ever seem to get the habit of spend
ing money the way it ought to be
spent"
His words now became a solil-
oquy: Trents thoughts were occupy
ing all his attention. He pleaded
business soon, and the two men
parted with cordially.
Half an hour later Trent was in
his studio, swiftly and mechanically
cleaning up" He wanted to know
what had happened; somehow he
must find out. He could never ap-
proach herself, he knew; he would
never bring back to her the shame
of that last encounter with him; it
was scarcely likely that he would
even set eyes on her. But he must
know! Cupples was in
London. Marlowe was there. \ .