Imperial Valley press., 1937-01-10
"REQUiTAL"

IT WAS conceded generally that Ziska Karlovo
was the most beautiful woman in Prague. 1t
could not be doubted that she was the most
popular. Oddly enough, women well men
liked Ziska, and no vicious gossip ever touched
her, which was remarkab bic in itself considering
the men, young and old, who threw themselves
at her feet. Ziskas beauty was not exactly what
the word implies-it was much more. 1t held
strangely exciting almost hypnotic quality. 1t
was like music, gay, but with a disturbing,
though pleasant, undercurrent Of mystery. And
Ziska toas mystery-a very complete one.
1t was now little more than year since she
had arrived in the Czech capital-alone. Across
the register of Prague's most fashionable hotel,
she had written, simply, "Ziska Karlovo. vi
enna," and nothing else was known about her
even now, except, perhaps, that her name
not Austrian but distinctively Czech She was
very definitely young, but ziska was of those
rare individuals who really have no age. She
might have been Is or 30 or anywhere in be-
tween. Although her personality could not be
said to be part of her beauty, because ziska's
beauty was an entity In itself that made every
thing else seem trivial, it was by no means even
partially submerged It was her personality that
won the women in spite Of her beauty which
would have won the men if she had had no
personality at all.
To say simply that Ziska was clever would
be doing her an injustice She was shrewd tact
full, poised; possessed Of all the little elegances
that come from generations of culture: was
neither naive nor over-sophsticated and was
blessed with the happy faculty Of irresstibility.
She was neither cynic nor a sentimentalist.
It would be difficult to guess what zska wanted
from the world. II would not be difficult to
guess that she would get it, whatever it might
be. Ziska possessed the secret of pleasing people,
both men and women. She knew that when one
strokes a cats back and talks gently to the
animal, it purrs. And that's exactly what Ziska
did with the women she knew and she knew
all the women in Prague worth knowing So
convincingly did she compliment them, SO hum
BILE and solictous did she make herself. always
OF course without sacrificing her dignity, that
even the most malicious gossips called her
sweet girl" and spoke with infinite satsfac-
ton of Ziska's complete indifference to the adu-
lation of men, They called her "unspoed" be-
cause she was not interested in their husbands
and lovers; Charming" not because she pos
sessed charm-which she did to a very great
degree-but because she made them feel that
this quality was peculiarly theirs above all
others.
And what did the men think of Ziska Kar-
lovo? They never bothered to think about any
thing other than how desirable she was Their
conquests, without exception, ended in failures,
which left their future as black as her raven
hair A word of caution of politely cold
rnonstrance from her made the most sophsti-
Gated boulevardier flush the scarlet of her lips,
and a suspected favor to another, hguratively,
turned them greener than her eyes with jealousy
and envy.
From all this, it may be drawn that ziska
Karlovo was unique character in the ancient
capital OF Bohemia. How she managed to estab-
lish herself in the best and gayest society of
Prague was as much a mystery as her past. But
there she was-the toast of the Czechs, and
dozen Continental princes-even king, it was
pAcE TWO