The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-01-08
THE CONSUL'S WIFE 60 By Olga Ro.msnith

~ -
c cbHl.shed by Special Advancement with The
SHncaeo Tribune-New York News Syndicate,
Incorporated
Copyright: 1886: BY Olga Rosmanith
IN TWO PARTS-PART ONE
SYLVIA CONQUEST PLAYS
A GAME WITH A RO-
MANTIC JEWEL
SMUGGLER.
~ VIVA CONQUEST lived in
Hosablanca because she was the
4 wife OF the American Consul,
~ ana not at all because she liked
IL; on The coast of Peru, about
ttlioWay between Lima and GuayaU1
tne casual visitor off the calling Steam
CT llnos 1T a place of exotic and ex-
IiClllgly sinister charm. Americans who
nave 10 stay there consider If a men
aye lor their sins, referring to f in
ietIers home as a dump, a ratpit. a
s sieii inee, a sink Of iniquity, a so-and-
Sylvia thought it was all of these
things and more besides. She wss
complaining about the climate even
nor bitterly than usual. She resented
we Things it did to her. In a III
Plaster-Walled bedroom in a smolder7
ing plnk palace she was dressing to On
W a year-old movie before a 9 O'Clock
Her husband stood behind her, look
mid eyes peering through goId-rimmed
ERlnce.nez. Tn nothing but a hag in
This intolerable heat!" she cried nas-
siollately. Look at me, Charles! One
Sliort year ago I was fascinating
young-pretty!"
You still are" said Conquest un-
easily you can certainly fascinate
Sylvia smiled wanly. ''That's dear
OF you, my faithful. But once I fas-
clnated all who looked. Now nobody
This conversation required often and
always made Charles Conquest unhap-
py. He didn't know how to cope with
II. sylvia was his wife. The brave Wom-
an VINO had shared his hot, monoton-
: GUS n often difficult lot in half the
he'll holes of South America. It would
Pc Pc more true to say he would be un-
likely to notice it. He kissed the ton Of
her sllken head. Its the deadly mo-
hotony of the place, sweetheart. You'll
1 get you back"
Il wish I had never come back" she
sald violently. Every time we change
slipping away. Life isn't worth living"
CHARLES Conquest went greenly white.
Felt for the back of a chair as if his
strength had gone out of him. "Syl-
VIA, you don't mean that?"
!, She turned, saw his stricken face.
laughted ruefully and flung her arms
aoout mn Silly one! I was joking.
10y know quite well I couldn't live
Her husband had never seen him
sell as a romantic figure, with his
snort sight, negligible stature and pre-
maturely graying hair. He did not know
MS quiet diplomacy, his exquisite man
ners. his kindness to worried foreign
ers, his precise, beautiful command of
spanish, his gentle patience constitute
ed Tor all who met him, an individual
OF appealing charm. He saw himself
as a very ordinary chap who had some
how managed to marry the loyeiiest
girl in the world, and would be desper-
ately hurt but not at all Surprised tn
lose her: He said, Don't joke like that.
sylvia, just when you're going aWay'
Il you mean it, that's another thing.
This is no paradise for me, either. IF
I lost you I would die"
aged soul again. "I'm oniy hapnv
Charles, wherever you are" she said
calamity, but if they'd transfer us to
some civilized city just for once, how
marvellous life could be"
1t would come, of course, but not in
Inc near and visible future. Let's
cheer ourselves up," suggested Charles.
make it a birthday. Put on your sill,
yer SHOES; Wen dine and dance at the
Ihere was another resident in Rosa
blanca who hated the place more fierce
~ than Sylvia hated it, if such inten-
slty were possible. One Luis Raimundo,
"A debonair, unnaturally good-looking
young man with a consuming love Of
Gne best OF everything, a gift for get
Ing on with mondaine women and a
tlalr ior making others pay cheerfully
1or ms thoroughly good time. It was
therefore no coincidence that he, too.
shouId be dining and dancing at the
smartest and most expensive place in
the gently disintegrating city.
CHARLES drew Sylvia's attention to
hlm while she enjoyed her delicate
Peruvian langosta. Don't look now"
ne warned. but there's a fellow over
mere looking at you with that high
standard"
Sylvia laughed g%leefully. The festive
atmosphere and fine food and wine
mad somewhat restored her dropping
Don't be silly, Charles. You're see
ing things" But she looked round fur
lively and a caught by the dark,
questing gaze of Luis R.aimundo, a look
1uli OF speculation that seemed to
PROBE her very soul. He smiled ever so
slightly, a daring, admiring smile. Col