FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56  
57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   >>   >|  
soon discovered the woman who held him beneath her spell, and I found myself dancing attendance upon the snub-nosed little daughter of a Burgomaster, with whom I waltzed the greater part of the evening. On our return my "wife" told me with a laugh that matters were progressing well. "Otto," she added, "is such a fool. Men in love will believe any fiction a woman tells them. Isn't it really extraordinary?" "Perhaps I'm one of those men, mademoiselle," I said, looking straight into her beautiful eyes; for I own she had in a measure fascinated me, even though I knew her to be an adventuress. She burst out laughing in my face. "Don't be absurd, M'sieur Ewart," she cried. "Fancy you! But you certainly wouldn't fall in love with me. We are only friends--in the same swim, as I believe you term it in English." I was a fool. I admit it. But when one is thrown into the society of a pretty woman even a chauffeur may make speeches he regrets. So the subject dropped, and with a mock curtsey and a saucy wave of the hand, she went to her room. On the following day she went out alone at eleven, not returning until six. She offered no explanation of where she had been, and of course it was not for me to question her. As we sat at dinner in our private _salle-a-manger_ an hour later she laughed at me across the table, and declared that I was sitting as soberly as though I really were her dutiful husband. And next day she was absent again the whole day, while I amused myself in visiting the Law Courts, the picture galleries, and the general sights of the little capital of which Messieurs the brave Belgians are so proud. On her return she seemed thoughtful, even _triste_. She had been on an excursion somewhere with Otto, but she did not enlighten me regarding its details. I wondered that I had had no word from Bindo. Yet he had told me to obey Valentine's instructions, and I was now doing so. At dinner she once clenched her little hand involuntarily, and drew a deep breath, showing me that she was indignant at something. The following morning, as she mentioned that she should be absent all day, I took a run on the car as far as the quaint little town of Dinant, up the Meuse, getting back to dinner. In the salon she met me, already in her dinner-gown, and told me that she had invited Otto to dine. "To-night you must show your jealousy. You must leave us together here, in the salon, after dinner, and then a quarter of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56  
57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

dinner

 

absent

 
return
 

enlighten

 

Belgians

 

excursion

 

triste

 

thoughtful

 

soberly

 

sitting


dutiful
 

husband

 

declared

 

manger

 

laughed

 

sights

 

general

 

capital

 

Messieurs

 

galleries


picture

 

amused

 

visiting

 

Courts

 

invited

 

quaint

 

Dinant

 

quarter

 

jealousy

 
instructions

Valentine

 
wondered
 

clenched

 

involuntarily

 

mentioned

 

morning

 

breath

 

showing

 

indignant

 

details


extraordinary

 

Perhaps

 

fiction

 

measure

 

fascinated

 

adventuress

 

beautiful

 
mademoiselle
 

straight

 

dancing