Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1937-04-16
"RlACK oRcuvDe"1y M HlN 81

Panic-stricken at the enormity OF
the emotion, he summoned all his Will
power to fight off this incredible thing
Could it be that he, Ian Knowles Gray,
was falling in love with the girl who
was responsible for his best friends
impending disgrace, for his attempt
at suicide? Even while he struggled
within himself the scent of the Or
chidees Nires remained tantalizingly
faint in his nostrils, and her calm,
deep blue eyes asked questions Of his
innermost being.
Will power achieved faint and, he
feared, temporary victory when he
flagellated his mind with the thought
of the impending disasters.
Leonard Holt might have been such
fool, but he, Ian Gray, would never
throw away an old and honored name
for any woman. 1t was his job to
save the victims of her duplicity, not
to yield to it himself.
She was speaking. Gazing on the
water and hands gracefully lax in her
lap.
81 don't know why it is, mon ami,
but ever since we met at the Austrian
Minister'S dinner,I-I have felt hap
py-strangely happy and yet, at the
same time, afraid of something"
"But, dear, you have nothing to fear
least of all me. You must see how
devotedly IL love you-ho much l
adore your beauty Of mind and body"
Ian felt little panic-stricken. He
had thought he must act but, all at
once, it was only too easy to sound
convincing. Some impulse, unrecog-
nizable but powerful as a flood tide.
was carrying him on, winging his mad
courtship with a fluent earnestness.
at is queer, Lolita" he continued
in bewildering tones, "but I, also, felt
that our meeting was something more
than a simple rencontre. used to
wonder why Leonard talked so much
about you. But now"
With a sense of despair he saw his
whole carefully planned campaign
swept away. All the world mattereG
nothing-Lolita dominated everything
he could see neither before nor be-
yond her; she filled the universe. He
knew only he had fallen in love and
that he wanted Lolita Won Waldeck
1t was useless to remind himself OF
di Valasto, the attache at Bucharest,
Ilya and Leonard. What of them
Straws, unimportant straws r. y!
Handsome rudy features lit with
intensity, Ian leaned forward, his
voice softly hoarse as he spoke and
though she made a quick spasmodiC
gesture of negation said: Lolita, dear
there's no. use beating around the
bush, l want you. It's come on me
all of a sudden. You mustn't think
am insulting you-that / should have
taken more time. Things like this are
timeless-are they not?"
There was now a misty, tender light
in the depths of Lolita Won Waldeck's
eyes, he realized, and rejoiced. Yes
all the rest of the world was out of
focus except that lovely face so near
his own. His blood was racing like
a mill stream. He seized her hand.
"No, Ian, no." she whispered, red
lips suddenly aquiver. She drew back
on the seat, almost frightened it SEEM
ed. "You must not, for your own
good, you must not"
AS abruptly as though she had
switched off a mental current, Lolita
checked herself and a sudden terror
darted into her eyes like fugitive in
to an alley, then was gone. Then that
inscrutable smile reappeared on her
lips as she said:
"Ian, mon ami, there is no reason
why we should not become the closest
of friends. You are coming tonight