Evening star., 1925-11-27
Continued from Yesterdays Starr
CHAPTER XIII.
YyOnne COutant.

Riviera shore. If. some evening, she
unexpectedly framed herself In the |
purple curtains of the exclusive Em-
bassy Club in London, or stopped TO
drop her cloak in the lounge or any
other fashionable supper rendezvous,
Mayfair knew Of 1T long before IL
greeted the dawn with final brandy
and soda. Only the favored few knew
whence she came, or what were TO
be the high lights Of her stay.
For Yvonne Coutant was creature
of high lights. "Roddy" Kenilworth
called them high spots. Teddy Dor
minister of London. Paris and New
York who was born a lord but with
none OF the sobrieties supposedly at
tached to such high estate, maintain
ed a continuous argument Win Roody
as to whether or not 1t shouldn't be
spot" lights. Being an Englishman.
Lord Teddy was a stickler for exactl'
tudes. In its minor way this was as
good an example as any of the con
troversies Yvonne Coutant fostered,
and quite as sensible. She guarded
her mysteries, her past and her
future and danced to melodies of her
own making.
Undoubtedly born in France. she
had married an American and an
Englishman. She laughed at both
when they announced that their af-
fections for her were serious, and
laughed at them both when she de-
cided that as husbands they were too
encumbering. There was no public
comment over settlements. Indeed.
there may have been none: II there
were. it .is probabl the husbands were
voluntarily generous. Both had been
artists at heart and were OF the sort
who wore n woman as a jewel and
~f ho
splendor that had been theirs during
their devotions to a wife of whom
at least one order of the world must
ever envy them. 1t is probable they
would willingly do their share toward
preserving the golden sheen on the
butterfly wings that had f1uttered for
them.
The latter one Of these had been
Alfred Coutant the American. Long
before him, however Tvonne Coutant
had been one who helped, with her
intense, and exotic, cosmopolitan
charm. to give romantic color to the
affairs of that circle of aspiring Amer
lean hosteSSes who in themselves can
provide only dullness. Men who were
without sense Of humor fell desper-
ately in love with her. She irrltated
women and they bored her dreadfully.
Roddy kenilworth might have said
a great deal more about Yvonne
Coutant than the sum of these things,
If he wished. So might Brandon. or
the two Roddy probably had the safer
knowledge. He was an unprejudiced
observer of women. Brandon was
only occa sionally interested, kenil-
worth always. And somewhere out
of his knowledge Of her kenilworth
had acquired the power of disconcert-
ing her whenever he wished She
sensed the challenge in his mood when
he came upon her in a corner of the
little Winter garden which opened off
the drawing room of her house in one
of the fashionable cross streets that
have usurped the eXclusiveness of the
avenue. This house was another Of
the mysteries that encompaSSed
Yvonne Coutant. 1t had come to her
from neither of her husbands. So
far as any one knew she always main
tanned 1t as a sort of retreat from
her globe trotting. She called it her
anchor" No matter how long were
her absences it was always stated
with servants, and the hothouse
flowers that gave their color and per-
fume to the Winter garden were care
fully tended. Roddy's greeting was
his usual one: Can you make some
magic signs or recite mystic words
that Will bring me morning high
BALI"
II fancy Walker. having let you in.
has the tray already waiting" she
replied, motioning him to silver bell
on the low, marble table, which front
ed the bench on which she had fixed
herself. cross-legged on pile Of cush-
ions, obviously for half an hour with
a book. you won't mind, will YOU"
she inquired. 'If 1 don't straighten
my legs out? It's quite bother to
hi II
She patted a cushion beside her. in
viting him to share the bench, but he
declined, propping himself on the
edge of the table, so that he faced her.
"I can never enjoy a highball when
I'm too close to woman, he eX-
planned. "One distracts my attention
from the other, consequently l miss
something of BOTH
Il can't fancy you failing to exact
the utmost from either" she retorted.
"You flatter my vanity and in the
same breath shame my faults. For
the moment. as Walker is prompt
| in his response to the summons. 1
shall disabuse you of your judgment
as to the highball.'
| She watched him silently while he
| poised the decanter over glass. She
| merely nodded her refusal to his.
Are you joining me?" He poured
| his portion and added the ginger ale
| he preferred to soda. MY compli-
| ments" he said. holding his glass
| slightly toward her. She nodded her
! permission. her eyes still fixed on
him.
! do you know he observed, when
he had tasted his drink" I never see
woman-a pretty woman, that Is
posed on a cushioned pedestal as
you are, in the posture of a female
| Buddha, or the wife of some Hindu
god, that I don't wonder what sinis-
| ter deviltry they ponder over. II
l should come across you, like that,
| in a Hindu Temple Of Gold, or behind
| the altars along some Path Of Auspi-
| ciousness, 1 should feel the urge to
make a sacrifice to you-of a maiden
widow. or a first born girl child. or
| something of the sort, to propitiate
| YOU
| The lines at each corner of her
| lips deepened. and for soft, silvery
! laugh seemed to blend into the Win
| ter garden perfumes.
| admirable. Roddy." she exclaimed
merrily Your overture is magnif-
cent. l am all prepared for the play.
Finish your highball, pour yourself
another, fix one for me, without ice,
| please, so it will be ready II I need
it, and then you may tell me the evil
you are going to accuse me OF ponder.
| ing"
| His expression didn't change. He
| obeyed the first of her injunctions.
| and emptied his glass. When he had
also filled it again and another for