Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1937-04-16
CHAPTER s

AS they were seated in little bow
er. undoubtedly designed for assigna-
lions which called for discretion if not
for seclusion. Ian ordered cocktails,
then settled back in a cane easy chair,
quite unconscious that his rugged
bronzed features were flatteringly out
lined against the tenderly green spring
foliage behind his head.
He wasted no time in launching his
carefully prepared gambit and so sum-
moned a frown. She commented up
on it with flattering promptness.
"Why so serious, Monsieur
81 was thinking" he observed, "that
life is very difficult. 1t seems al
ways my fate to meet a lovely woman
only to find that another has a prior
claim!"
From under her very long lashes
she smiled almost demurely at him,
then said with a little shrug: "And
Just what makes you think that some
one has prior claim (as you so tact
fully put it) on me?"
Leonard, for instance"
ooh, Leonardo" She made an airy
gesture that delighted lam. "He is
un bau garcon-a good companion,
pour passer lie temps, but for love-
jamais!"
Beneath the table, Ian's hands lock-
ed themselves together. Then it was
true-and for all her amazing decep-
ton, she was indeed the expert heart
breaker that rumor had pictured her.
Disgust filled him. So she had not ev-
en- the excuse Of love for precipitat-
ing the tragedy of Leonard.
"But Leonard was-is mad about
you-are you sure the devotion is all
on his side?"
eyes," she said, definitely. at is
not that / am ungrateful. Leonard
has been very good to me. II like
Leonard-but it was very rude of him
to go away without saying anything"
"He couldn't. Mr.. King sent him
off without warning"
"Poor boyle was so eager for our
partie deux tonight" Her eyes sud-
denly sought his, engaged and daz-
zled them as she said: "But did not
love Leonard; he is too young, too I'M
informed. You," there came a sud-
den richness in that mellow voice,
"you are so much older, l am sure
you have lived full life"
Obeying an ineXplicable impulse, Ian
shamelessly deserted his chair to sit
on the love-seat beside her. Through
the open door Of the bower over the an
weeping willows bending over the an
Gent moat beyond. In it a big white
swan was cruising slowly along, look
ing this way and that with bright yell
low trimmed eyes-the only spectator.
Exhilarated by the proximity of the
graceful beauty beside him, Ian found
it alarmingly easy to launch into a
subtle courtship that was at once so
breathless and so .headlong that Lo-
lita Won Waldeck's pale cheeks COM
menced to glow with color. He had
loved her, he declared, from the first
moment he had seen her surrounded
by admirers in Baron Won Satzmar's
salon. He knew she would refuse to
believe that-such a sudden affection
could be genuine. But it was.
Was she moved? Certainly, she
seemed not ill-pleased. He was afraid
that his very headlong manner would
be taken as unconvincing; yet for
some reason she appeared glad, very
eager, to credit the genuineness of his
admiration. To it all Lolita listened,
pretty uncertain, her great eyes fix
ed on his, with a provocative intent
expression.
"You-you make love prettily," she
murmured "You almost sound as
though you meant it"
81 do" declared Ian with an ear
nestness that surprised him.
Half wistful, half gay, Lolita Won
Waldeck suddenly lifted her cocktail
glass, and looking into the earnest
brown face of her vis-a-vis said: "Bien
Time is short, II leave for Rumania
very soon. Tomorrow, perhaps. So,
cher ami, let us make the most of
that time that is permitted to us, for
II like you, Ian. / like you very
much!" To Ian it sounded, strangely
enough, as though she meant her
words, as though there was more she
yearned to say, but could not. "You
see, Ian, love bravery, strength and
quick wit" she was saying, her voice
SO low he could barely hear it. Last
night when you dealt with that wretch