Nogales international., 1930-08-08

paper on whose staff was one of his
| friends.
When Eve left her visitor in her
hotel sitting-room and went into
her bedroom, supposedly to get ready
for the nurse, she absent-mindedly
tripped over a projecting end of the
cot she had ordered. The little cpl
sode underlined her dread Of the night,
and she stood staring at the cot as
| if already she saw its occupant there:
1t was in place, the chambermaid had
gone, the room was in order, and the
opposite door of the bedroom, which
! led into a rear ball Of the hotel, was
.'usr closing on me modest exit OF the
porter. She stopped the man with a
word, a ready hand mechanically
reaching into her handbag for her
purse. He was young French;nan,
and as he came back into the room in
answer to her summons his expectant
smile suddenly broadened into a 1oot,
of pleased recognition.
Good evening, mademoiselle," he
said with the eagerness of a lonely
| DCl SOll VIII SCCS d ld1lIllldl ldIO Ill u
strange land; and he added in French,
rather blanldy, as he caught her ex-
preston of surprise, "But Mademoi-
selle does not remember me?"
mo doubt I should do So" Eve
answered in his own tongue, and again
he smiled and frightened. Gust
where did you see me?" she asked.
He began to explain, volubly and
happily, enchanted, it was clear, by
this unexpected encounter with for
mer patron, and perhaps foreseeing,
too, agreeable possibilities of fees in
the new association. They were stand
ing near the entrance he had used,
and with gesture she drew him over
| the threshold and out into the hall,
closing the door behind them.
1t was in Paris they had met, the
porter explained, in the little Hotel
Voltaire of the Quai Voltaire on the
left bank, when Mademoiselle had
spent the winter there three =. no, it
was four years ago. 1t was not sur
prising that Mademoisel1e did not re-
member him, he humbly admitted. He
himself had then been Of an unimagin-
able unimportance-not even her
waiter, but merely a walters boy.
Still, in that lowly capacity, he had
daily seen Mademoiselle, and once or
twice had done small services for her
such as carrying notes to her friends.
| Despite his Gallo courtesy, it was
clear that he was disappointed by her
failure to recognize him, and Eve
sought to soothe his hurt pride by a
larger fee than the cot-bringing justi-
fed, while with an increasing tremor
she considered what the encounter
might mean to her. The young
Frenchman would earn much more
than ffty-cent tip before their inter
: view ended, but the instinct of cau-
ton developed in her during the past
few hours made her quiet her singing
nerves and move slowly.
And you have remembered my
name all this timer" she asked, in a
voice she vain1y tried to keep steady.
The young porter, however, OBJ
served nothing unusual about it, for
: here the entente between them, SO
agreeable up till now, experienced a
sudden chill. He flushed and stam-
mered. It was incredible; it was TN
: pardonable; he abased himself before
her; but the fact was that for the
moment ne did not remember Made
moiselle's name Her face, of course,
one would never forget. Even though
he himself had been a mere boy OF
seventeen when he last saw it, had
he not remembered it at once, after
four years1 Eve let the flow of con-