The Washington times., 1923-01-13

picture by Cosmopolitan Produc.
ton direction OF Alan Grassland,
u WIN be released as 3 Para
mount picture.
By Vincente Blasco Ibanez
Author Of ''The Four HOrsemeu
Of the Apocalypse" and Other
Novels Of World Renown. Z
"HE Duchess was at once in.
dignant, as though Michael
had proposed something hu.
initiating, something that she had
never done before. she elt..
the Casino?
It's a rotten den, and the
employees are rotters, and those
who gamble-rotters too"
It was all rotten! After they
had agreed on this they took
each others hands as though
they had just now for the first
time really come to know each
ether.
When Michael, still harping on
his dissatisfactions, told Alicia of
the bombardment of the Casino
and landing party with machine
gums he had seen in his imaSina.
ton. the Duchess applauded. AS
ar a. she was concerned, she
would be very glad if they de-
stroyed everything. IL they even
took the sovereign Prince him.
self prisoner, and il into the bar
gain. the invaders returned the
money she had lost, she could
want nothing better.
Then suddenly, as il these
charitable fantasies of Lubimoff
told her something, she scrutin-
lied him closely, suspiciously, as
an invalid might who discovers
his own symptoms in those of
neighbor.
You have been gambling!
Michael nodded sadly.
And you have lost" she con-
tinued. THAT goes without say.
ing; I don't need to ask you.
You gamblingp'
But her surprise was short.
You have been gambling for
my sake; have guessed it. You
said to yourself: I'm going to
win what that crazy woman loses;
men know more than women
Oh, my poor boy, my poor boy!
How grateful I am for your friend
b intention! : How much
was it?''
On hearing the sum she gave
him a look of compassion, but
smiled Immediately. as though the
of misfortune made
her own losses easier to bear.
Slaves to Habit.
They remained silent for a mo-
ment. Then Alicia explained her
presence on the square. The
night before she had sworn that
she would never again come near
the Casino, but habit!
I'm alone. Valera went away
Immediately after lunch. She
must have had an engagement
somewhere with that Spanish
scientist you have with you at
Villa Sfrena. She's quite mad
about him. All she talks about is
Spain, because the women there
marry without dowries. And as
for the Generates. don't talk to
me about her. don't want to
hear about her; she is dead
dead forever. as far as 1 am con-
cerned! And I'm so bored all by
I think of things that
make me weep; go out, and my
feet take me here without my
realizing IT,"
Then she added with a grace
full entreaty:
Take me somewhere, where
ever you like. Let's go a long
way from here. But where can
we go?'
The prince was quite equally at
q loss, for both Of them moved
in an unchanging circle, with
Monte Carlo and the Casino for
its center. The war had done
away with private automobiles,
and one had to get a permit in
advance to go on any sort of
automobile trip. But there were
still a few carriages drawn by
feeble horses, rejected by the
army.
Suppose we go to Monaco"
Alicia proposed
Monaco was in sight, on the
other side of the harbor, and a
street-car ran there from Monte
Carlo every twenty minutes, yet
Alicia made this proposal as
though speaking Of some remote
country. For though both Alicia
and Michael had spent some
twenty years within sight Of the
rock which bore on its crest the
old city Of the princes. they had
come to regard it as a scene
pointed on a back drop in the
theater. It had never before
entered the head of either OF
them that they might so there.
Alicia tried vaguely to recall a
visit she had once made to the