ircase, and had a bath and a sleep
after my night journey from the north. When I woke it was a sunny
afternoon, in late September, the sort of day London sometimes gets
after a summer of continuous cold rain and wind. I lunched and then I
stepped across the Strand to call on Madame Kinaitsky. They say
adventures are to the adventurous. Yet here was I, the least adventurous
of mortals, travelling several hundred miles to meet an adventuress! I
passed under the great arch into the courtyard where commissionaires of
imperial magnificence were receiving and despatching motor cars that
were like kings' palaces. One of these august beings deigned to direct
me within. I sent up my name--Mr. Spenlove to see Madame Kinaitsky by
appointment. I sat down, watching the staircase, wondering if she was
in, if she would descend to see me, wondering what it was all about,
anyhow. A page in blue and silver approached me and commanded me to
follow him into the elevator. We flew to the third floor and we stepped
out into a corridor with thick carpets on the floor and dim masterpieces
on the walls. The page led me along and knocked at one of the many
doors. I remember his small, piping voice saying 'Mr. Spenlove to see
you,' and the door closing. She was before me, still holding the
door-knob with both hands and looking at me over her shoulder with that
bright, derisive, critical smile. An exquisite pose, girlish,
fascinating, yet carrying with it an adumbration of power.
"'Well,' she said, 'are you surprised?'
"She took me into another room, a room with wide windows and a great
balcony overlooking the river. It was a suite. Beyond I saw a bedroom,
bathroom, dressing rooms. All around were boxes with the lids lying
askew, and bearing the names of the famous modistes of London and Paris.
There were hats, and coats, and lines of shoes, piles of silken stuffs,
parasols in long pasteboard boxes; heaps of dresses breaking into a foam
of white tissue paper. And on the tables were cases of perfume,
satin-lined caskets of brushes and toilet articles, silver
picture-frames, gold-chain bags, gloves, cigarette boxes. As I stood
there taking this all in she came up and laughed, holding her lower lip
between her teeth, as though challenging my criticism, and waiting with
a certain amount of gallant trepidation for my verdict. She was enjoying
my astonishment I dare say.
"'I'm surprised,' I said, 'that you wanted to see me.'
"She beckoned me to p
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