The Washington times., 1921-03-27
By Beatrice Grinshaw

Characteristic of her she swept out
Of difficult position and resumed
the small portion OF authority now
tenable.
my dear cnild." she said. you
have burned .our face to cinder.
DO 90 at once and put on some
white-rose cream"
TITS not only SUM-" I said calmly.
Some of II Is crying. I've been
crying myself out. I've done. I
don't mean to. cry any more"
Nor said Lorraine. watching
me behind the shutters Of her cool
reserve. did Luke mean SO little
to your"
1T doesn't waiter what he meant
or didn't mean when he has be-
haved like that" I said.
1T IL strange" said Lorraine
musingly. ut does not seem Just
like him. I'm afraid you must have
hurt his feelings rather badly. Dara.
somehow or other" ~
III l did, ne took some time to
find It out" I answered her.
That fact had hurt me more than
anything. II ne had dashed OF q
hasty letter IN q At of Jealousy
but to write as usual, and then, on
cool consideration. to reverse what
he had said and retire from the
position! No, one could not be ex-
pected to take such an insult
meekly.-
could see her hunting in her
mind for reasons. could see her
catch sight Of one possible reason
half hidden in thicket of per-
hapses and maybes.
"Let herr" / thought scornfully.
"And let him. They're both fools
enough" A
went to my room. It did not
seem the room had left that morn
ing: things did not look the same.
A young. silly girl had lived in that
room. ! was SO much older than
she!
I stood In the middle Of the room
and my pulses seemed To shake my
body from shoe sole up to hair.
Tonight" said to myself. And
again, as II It were q spell to raise
some spirit of water or Of wind I
repeated over and over my magic
word, "The open sea-"
The moon. that had been high
and full on he night OF the Resi-
dency dance. vas now In her last
half. Not till near morning did
that tired. waning light lift over
the crests of the pale-gTeen island
hills.
Il reused myself without difficulty
from a chaos of wild dreams as
coon as the tired light came creep
Ing through my mosquito net, low
down where the dawn would break
in another hour or two
put on my black frock-a dance
dress of fine iace-and wrapped my
bright, betraying head and white
shoulders in black silk scarf. My
shoes I took in my hand. They
were high-heeled and far from
silent. I could have worn fiat ten
mis- shoes, but l would rather have
died that night. Perhaps some girl
who reads this may guess why.
As q finish to my toilette I took
a small carving knife from the
kitchen and stuck It In the satin
belt of my dress. knew Hawonga
too we'll to trust myself alone on
her love-perfumed highways at
night without some such protection.
White shadows passed me In the
moon-streaked twilight aa slipped,
shoeless, veiled, along the thick
dust of the roadway that still kept
its daytime heat -sss
When / came to the house by the
palace of the Queen 1t waR all lit
up. This did not much surprise
me; island folk 60 by no clock but
that Of their own inclination. Prob
ably Lalua had not yet been to
bed, and did not intend going till
the sun rose. Still, I thought the
amount Of lighting was q little bit
out Of the common.
Something is going on"
thought. l pulled the scarf OF my
head and paused a moment at the
door to smooth my hair, put on my
shoes and place a cluster of star
white stephanotis. plucked from
the side OF the house, behind each
ear. took care to adjust the flow
ers so as not to hide my earrings
my wonderful new earrings, which,
of course, Lsiua the Queen had
given me.
II you ask me whether knew
the significance of flowers so worn,
I will answer-perfectly. A flower
behind each ear means 81 have a
lover and l am going to meet him"
say that / knew this, but per-
suaded myself that I did not. or, at
any rate, that nobody would sup
pose did, or. finally, II anyone did
suppose SO that, the custom could
not be held to apply to white
people.
Inside Queen Lalua's house, upon
the fine mats of her floor, wefe