The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-07-31

would at least speak her nati7
Did you" she asked, returning
his look with a cool, half-banter-
ing smile, expect me to have a
patois?" Her eyes met his di-
rectly, and held them for a long
moment.
1t was he thought, more than
a rebuke. A challenge. His In
tereSt was increased.
Despite her bizarre makeup and
the towering white wig, Guy Hal
Stead-Flagg had recognized Toni
Immediately as the girl who had
sat alone that night in the New
Gallo Casino, the girl who had
lunched with the notorious NiklaS
and his high-powered publicity
man only a few weeks before at
the Ritz-Carlton.
Moreover, he had observed her
stumble on her last appearance in
the revue. He had gone to the
New Gallo Casino the next night,
impelled by a promonition that
she might have been fired for that
single instance of awkwardnesS.
His Surmise was presumably
correct. The tall, slim beauty
was gone.
And here she was as the foreign
star of a new night club, exhibit
ing an amazing talent. She had
sung as one inspired.
you are a good actress" He
spoke very deliberately, choosing
his words.
Surely, she thought, they had
yelled meaning. Or was it merely
her nervous imagination?
II have to be one" She picked
up her fan from the table. A
perfumed trifle of painted gauze.
She waved it with seeming non.
chalance, staring ahead of her,
half smiling.
Doubtless" he replied.
They were fencing. InStinctively
she realized it.
will you have a glass of cham.
pagne?"
THANK you. And you?" He
lifted the gold-labeled bottle.
please. Just a little" She
needed fortifying.
He filled her glass and one for
himself.
Let us drink" he suggested,
ITO your putting it over, marquise.
That is the correct toast, is it
not?"
mo" She set her glass down.
Monsieur, I do not like the ex-
preston, putting it over!'"
$50 our American slang Is dis
pleasing to you?" He shrugged.
Forgive me. I drink. then, to
your grand success! That is bet
ter?"
"Certainement."
They drank.
"You remind me-" he said
slowly, "of some one. From the
moment you appeared on the bal
cony, I had that impression"
Indeed? Monsieur, that is no
compliment. Unless she was ver-
rec beautifully" She smiled at him
with deliberate coquetry. Their
eyes challenged.
mot nearly as lovely as you are
now" The last word seemed an
afterthought.
Yet Toni knew it had some pur-
pose. Had he recognized her as
the showgirl in the New Gallo
c sin o?-She wondered. Or,
farther back, when their gaze had
met in that shaft Of light?
But, even so, there was nothing,
surely, Of which to be afraid. He
was no enemy. Or was he?
Why would he bait her, even if
he had guessed her subterfuge?
Had he guessed it?-she Won
dered.
Even If she had appeared in the
revue of the New Gallo Casino,
she could still be the French blue
blood, forced to earn her livelihood
in newer, more profitable worlds.
She would stick to Lou Steiner's
story. Play her part to the limit.
Defy this man whom she now felt
she hated.
Paint and powder do many
things to a woman" she told him.
ITO the soul. perhaps, also?"
What an extraordinary remark!
'"The soul" she said deliberately,
"iS what you call an outwcrn COM
modify in your America, demodee.
You have no room for the soul in
your mad chase for money!"
Then why are you here?" he
grinning. Madame la
MarquiSe!"
He thought her married? Or a
widow? Or an adventures? Most
certainly the last. "AS indeed I
am" thought Toni.
But none Of her emotions