anne duffield - archive.lib.msu.edu

1
2 "Love Knows Not Caste, Nor Sleep a Broken Bed" -But Middle Age, Calculat- ing, Masterful, May Take the Glow Away and Kill a Youthful Romance 'To those who knew Egypt superficially she ap- pears a land of two sharp contrasts-namely: the rich and cultured class, in which is com- prised the class official, and the picturesque native element. We who know her well, however, know that between these two, a sort of second stratum, lives a huge and heterogeneous colony drawn from all the races of Europe. They are Austrians, French, Italians, Maltese, Greeks from the islands, natives of Gibraltar-in- dustrious, pushing, prosperous, rearing big families, intermarrying until all trace of original ancestry is hopelessly confused, speaking a dozen languages fluently and none correctly; a laughing, wholesome polyglot crew j children of the sun, who as yet have not lost their inheritance of strong vitality. For some obscure reason this reckless mixing of hloods produces some of the prettiest women in the world; and in the case of Graciosa Reynolds this rule carried beyond all precedent-almost, indeed, beyond credulity. Looking at Graeiosa, you felt that no one could be as lovely as she appeared. "It simply isn't done," was the confused thought that rose in the minds of the Englishmen who encoun- tered her occasionally in the streets, while the French, a simpler race, smacked longing lips and dubbed her, in their succinct tongue, a sugar plum. Graciosa's father was, or claimed to be, an Eng- lishman. His origins were obscure. He had been placed as a young child at one of the schools of the French brothers, instructions being given .that he was to take the name of Reynolds and claim Eng- lish nationality. His schooling fees until he sh~uld be sixteen were paid in a lump sum to the superror ; after that, apparently, he was to shift for himself. The kindly brothers, who, in their cloisters, kn?w more of the outside. world than the world outside knows of itself, accepted the forlorn little creature with equanimity. He was not the first to come to them thus ambiguously and assuredly would not be the last. He did exceedingly well during his years with them and later when he began his fight with the world at large. He entered one of the minor gov- ernment departments and rose quickly. He w~s a likable chap with an air of unmistakable breeding, and might, it was said, have commanded m time a social position equal to his official one had he not, at twenty-five, wrecked all chance of that by what was termed among the English residents a disas- trous marriage. Gracioea's mother was a Miss Natalia Minola, one of .a, big, 'untidy, rollicking family who lived in. an obscure suburb of Cairo. They were partly Italian, partly French, partly God knows what. They chat- tered Italian among themselves-when they were not chattering French, or Greek, or Arabic. Natalia, the youngest daughter, was just seven- teen when young Reynolds first saw her. She was a lovely creature of rounded contou~s, skin lik~ a ripe peach, hair the color of sherry wme, and Wide, lambent, sherry colored eyes. It was love. at first sillht with both, and within five weeks of their m~et- ing he had married and brought her to th~ rambling, whitewashed house with its great straggling garden which he had taken on the bank of the river. If he missed the clubs and the select tea parties of Cairo society, thus forfeited for the sa~e of his wife, he gave no sign. Natalia and her nat1v~ serv- ants 'kept his house in a haphazard but delightful fashion: his meals were hot and well served, his comfort sedulously studied. And if his pretty wi~e spent her days.In a loose gown with her lovely hall' in plaits and her bare feet thrust into heelless slip- pers, gossiping with her scores of relatives and her servants, she was always fragrant and sweet, freshly bathed, and charmingly dressed when he returned at evening. Having no friends, no influence, no " pull" of any sort, Reynolds worked with intense application and found an infinite easement in the complete relaxa- tion that was his at home. Then, when they had been married two years, came the baby daughter, and the man asked no more of earth or heaven. From the first Graciosa was of an exceptional loveliness, and her beauty flowered with each ad- vancing year. She had her mother's hair and the MII1ebig eyf'S with that lambent flame behind them, but she had stolen her father's dark brows and lashes. Her lashes, indeed, were extraordinary, very long and thick and curling upward distractingly. They gave an unreal, a theatrical look to the pure little heart shaped face with its small, straight nose and warm, crimson month. Her skin was very fair, with the sheen of satin j her feet and hands slender and beautifully shaped. If she had a fault it was that she was not quite tall enough, but that, in the eyes of men, is an endearing fault in woman. At the end of the war, when she was seventeen, she was, beyond all question, a perfect, lovely thing. She had been sent to a good French school in Alexandria and numbered many French and Greek and Turkish girls among her acquamtance ; the Eng- lish women, of course, would have none of her. But beauty such as hers could not be hidden from ~he eyes of Englishmen, and it was the winter f?llowmg the armistice that she met young Alistair Kerr- Owen, tenth Lord Venture. They met at a charity ball given at one of the hotels, Lord Venture being with a party of English I Mends, Graeiosa with some of her own dark haired, bright eyed tribe. The girl was dressed rather too elaborately, in pale green tulle; a dress cut very low, from which . her white and gold rose like a challenge. "Who is that?" the young officer demanded. "That-a, her name is Reynolds, I believe,"a friend made answer negligently. « Reynolds-English? But why is she dancing with dagoes?" " They're the only people she knows. Her mother is a Levantine of sorts-frightful crowd-father not a bad chap; but-well, there it is, you see." B UT young Lord Venture did not see; or, rather, he saw Graciosa and nothing else. He insisted upon an introduction, which his friend con- trived most reluctantly, and asked her for a dance. The child, blushing, tremulous, consented. An Eng- lish officer I A title I Her small heart fluttered; above the too low line of her bodice you could see a tiny pulse beating like an imprisoned bird. They danced, and danced again. Then the man suggested that they should go out into the veranda to see the pyramids in the moonlight. The air was warm and still; the desert lay like a lake of silver stabbed by the sharp, black shadows of the great tombs. "What is your name?" Alistair asked her as they seated themselves in two basket chairs in a palm-banked comer .•• You ought to be called after the sweetest flower that grows." "My name is Graciosa," she answered simply. "Graciosa." He repeated it softly. "Graciosa. But, you are English?" "0, yes," she replied quickly in her faintly clipped speech, "my father is an Englishman." "I would like to meet your father-and your mother," the young man said impulsively. "Will you let me come and see you, Gmciosa?" "0," the little hands fluttered, "do you really mean it?" "But of course I mean it. May I come to- morrow?" Her eyes, with their startling extravagant lashes, were lifted to his as she answered in the formula prescribed by her French teacher of deportment. u I am sure that my parents would be very happy to make your acquaintance, Lord Venture." And at the quaint, prim little speech the man had much ado not to catch her to his heart then and there. He arrived promptly at half-past four on the fol- lowing afternoon and was shown into the big, pink- washed drawing room with its cool tiled floor bright with camel's hair rugs. His first sensation was that he wa being received in a conservatory, for the room was filled with roses. They stood in vases and in tall red jars; they floated in brass bowls and were heaped in the wide Engli h fireplace. Even the tea table was trimmed with them exactly, as he was quick to note, as the Cbicago &unbap ~ribunt ANNE DUFFIELD Sitting with Graciosa on a gayly patterned prayer rug. table in the restaurant at Mena house had been He drank his tea, strong and sweet-he did not trimmed the evening before. care for sugar in tea-and ate rich sugar cakes- "Good Lord," thought Alistair in sharp distaste. he disliked all sweets-with avidity, feasting his An 'older man must have been amused, touched, eyes upon the beauty of the two young women but Lord Venture was very young and he was before him. They were both very shy, very breath- neither touched nor amused. The profusion of- less, very formal. Natalia, indeed, was in an agony fended him; the heavy sweetness of the air-the of embarrassment and when he had valiantly fin- reek, as he expressed it inwardly-was an added ished his third sickly cup Alistair, partly in pity offense. Then his eyes rested upon Graeiosa and, for her, but principally because, charming though as it had happened last evening, he forgot every- the mother was, he yet wanted the child to him- thing else. self, asked Graciosa to show him the garden.' She Graciosa had risen upon his entmnce; Natalia, assented eagerly and led him out through the long with obvious effort, remaining seated as her daugh- French doors, swaying on her ridiculous little heels. ter had anxiously instructed her. They were both in white; short plaited skirts of heavy hand woven silk and little loose overblouses of crepe de chine. Their stockings were of white silk and they wore white slippers, absurdly small, with heels four inches high. Natalia wore also a twist of tiny Alexan- dria pearls, Graciosa a. string of jade whose lovely apple green enhanced the fairness of her skin and brought out the lights of her tawny hair. "By Jove I" thought Alistair, seating himself after the preliminaries in a. basket chair facing mother and daughter. Only himself knew what he had dreaded to find in the mother; anything, in- deed, but this; this pretty, soft-tongued, wholly adorable young creature. They were both of them perfect, simply. And so, he decided swiftly, was their setting. Too many flowers? Nonsense. It suited them, this riot of color and scent; it was the only possible background. TABLE of CONTENTS: JUGGERNAUT Page 1 Tile openitlg installment of a smashing »etV daily serial-By Alice Campbell. GRACIOSA . . Page 2 A short story of exotic Egypt atld aloof Englalld-By Annt' DIIJjit'ld. HIGH CHIVALRy Page 4 Achmed Abdullah's stirring serial reaches a 'lew peak of excitement. THE RED KNIGHT OF GERMANY Page 5 Floyd Gibbons' life story of Baron flon Richthofen, FASHIONS Page 7 "Strut and Travel Togs "-By Corinne Louie, TEMPTING MENUS Page 7 By Jane Eddington. Next Week: "Rid;ng the Whirlw;nd" Udell R. Hull writes of a hl!llpecktd husband who miraculously becomes a dominant malt. T HE garden was long and rambling, surrounded by whitewashed walls, against one of which the bronze-blue waves of the Nile lapped idly. It was planted from end to end with orange trees, now in full flower, with their shming leaves and here and there a round ripe fruit glowing amid the waxen blooms. Under the trees and along the paths and clamber- ing up the walls among the clematis vines were hundreds of roses, and here and there, in a sunny space, stood flaming clumps of poppies and beds of scented pink and white stocks. A rim of small leafless trees, tipped by clusters of purple flowers, outlined the farthest wall, and a pergola, starting abruptly in the middle of a path and leading to a gate that opened upon the water, was covered by a creeper with thick, dark lance-shaped leaves and balls of scarlet berries. No breath of air was stir- ring, and the hot sun stung the fragrant blooms till the air was faint and heady with their perfume. Like a man struggling for sanity before the en- gulfing waves of delusion, Lord Venture struggled against the spell of that garden. He told himself that it was all untidy, extravagant, riotous, and profuse, but it was of no avail. Bemused by the color and the hot sweet scents, he succumbed to it utterly, and once again it seemed the perfect setting for lovely Graciosa. Tripping along beside him in her white dress that was so entirely correct (and her high-heeled shoes that were so wholly wrong), she seemed one with the flowers and the joyous sunshine j and bend- ing over her with a smile that lit his cold young face most charmingly he said, 1/ You ought never to leave this garden; it fits you completely; I can- not picture you anywhere else."• To which Graeiosa, with that literal directness that characterized her speech and was oddly at variance with her appearance, replied simply, "I never have been anywhere else. 1 was born in this house.' In the weeks that followed Lord Venture. to the despair of his friends and increasing bemusement of his own heart, came daily to that tangled garden. And he came at all hours. In the frail early mornings when the air was cool and a go. amer mist veiled earth and sky he was there, stopping his horse at the gate in the wall and hurrying in under the orange trees to where Graeiosa, her cheeks deeply flushed, her eyes still dewy from sleep, waited for him with old Fatma, her nurse, beside her holding a cup of fragrant, steaming coffee in her wrinkled hands. And in the burning afternoons when the birds slept and even the restless river ran slow and si- lently he was there, sitting with Graciosa on a gayly patterned prayer rug under the arch which gave upon the water, watching the sparkle of the waves, the palms on the farther bank, the native boats with their sails like swallows' wings and their chat- tering, multicolored crews. And in the hushed and breathless evenings when the leaves made fantastic shadows on the paths and the floors stood white and motionless in the moonlight and the air was so sweet that every breath was a separate and distinct delight, he was there, walking with Graciosa, watching the pure little face with its tender mouth and deep shadowy eyes; her hand, small and warm, close clasped in his. To the remonstrance of his friends he paid no heed. He had met Reynolds and found in him a man of breeding, with a quiet, cynical humor that was not unattractive. Natalia he found delightful always, gentle, childlike, and pretty. He caught a glimpse now and again of others of the tribe: a dark eyed boy with a flashing smile and a glorious voice; a shy girl or two, giggling and peering; but for the most part he saw the world through a glass darkly, his whole being concentrated upon the beau- tiful child who had brought him suddenly a glory and a rapturous warmth such as he had never dreamed of experiencing. He was, of course, ripe for the experience. Three years in Flanders-a month in Palestine-then the garden and Graciosa. As for her, she lived in a dream. Alistair's title lent him a romantic quality and Alistair himself appealed strongly to her imagination. He was at this time just twenty-two; tall and lean, with a keen, dark face and very straight, black hair. If the deep gray eyes in their too close setting showed & hint of meanness, she could not see it. If the beau- tiful mouth under the clipped mustache and the small, white chin had the lines of a weak WIll she did not perceive it. He came invested in his glory of an English officer, an English nobleman. and when he asked Graciosa to marry him she consented with rapture. It was. for both, a time of enchantment j a faery time, a faery wooing in that old, old garden. It was. however, a time of less enchantment Ior Graciosa's family. True, they felt the honor that WIlS being offered their little one; werc, indeed, half stunned by it; but what they gained in grandeur they sadly lacked in comfort I Gone were the old easy day of loose wrappers and haphazard meals and cozy go ip in the kitchen veranda. With Alistair apt to appear at any mo- ment, they must be dre ed and ready to receive him. The rich and satisfying afternoon coffee, CIl8-

Upload: others

Post on 13-Feb-2022

9 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: ANNE DUFFIELD - archive.lib.msu.edu

2

"Love Knows NotCaste, Nor Sleep aBroken Bed" -ButMiddle Age, Calculat-ing, Masterful, MayTake the Glow Awayand Kill a YouthfulRomance'To those who knew Egypt superficially she ap-

pears a land of two sharp contrasts-namely:the rich and cultured class, in which is com-prised the class official, and the picturesque

native element. We who know her well, however,know that between these two, a sort of secondstratum, lives a huge and heterogeneous colonydrawn from all the races of Europe.They are Austrians, French, Italians, Maltese,

Greeks from the islands, natives of Gibraltar-in-dustrious, pushing, prosperous, rearing big families,intermarrying until all trace of original ancestry ishopelessly confused, speaking a dozen languagesfluently and none correctly; a laughing, wholesomepolyglot crew j children of the sun, who as yet havenot lost their inheritance of strong vitality.For some obscure reason this reckless mixing of

hloods produces some of the prettiest women in theworld; and in the case of Graciosa Reynolds thisrule carried beyond all precedent-almost, indeed,beyond credulity. Looking at Graeiosa, you feltthat no one could be as lovely as she appeared. "Itsimply isn't done," was the confused thought thatrose in the minds of the Englishmen who encoun-tered her occasionally in the streets, while theFrench, a simpler race, smacked longing lips anddubbed her, in their succinct tongue, a sugar plum.Graciosa's father was, or claimed to be, an Eng-

lishman. His origins were obscure. He had beenplaced as a young child at one of the schools of theFrench brothers, instructions being given .that hewas to take the name of Reynolds and claim Eng-lish nationality. His schooling fees until he sh~uldbe sixteen were paid in a lump sum to the superror ;after that, apparently, he was to shift for himself.The kindly brothers, who, in their cloisters, kn?w

more of the outside. world than the world outsideknows of itself, accepted the forlorn little creaturewith equanimity. He was not the first to come tothem thus ambiguously and assuredly would not bethe last.He did exceedingly well during his years with

them and later when he began his fight with theworld at large. He entered one of the minor gov-ernment departments and rose quickly. He w~s alikable chap with an air of unmistakable breeding,and might, it was said, have commanded m time asocial position equal to his official one had he not,at twenty-five, wrecked all chance of that by whatwas termed among the English residents a disas-trous marriage.Gracioea's mother was a Miss Natalia Minola, one

of .a, big, 'untidy, rollicking family who lived in. anobscure suburb of Cairo. They were partly Italian,partly French, partly God knows what. They chat-tered Italian among themselves-when they werenot chattering French, or Greek, or Arabic.Natalia, the youngest daughter, was just seven-

teen when young Reynolds first saw her. She wasa lovely creature of rounded contou~s, skin lik~ aripe peach, hair the color of sherry wme, and Wide,lambent, sherry colored eyes. It was love. at firstsillht with both, and within five weeks of their m~et-ing he had married and brought her to th~ rambling,whitewashed house with its great straggling gardenwhich he had taken on the bank of the river.If he missed the clubs and the select tea parties

of Cairo society, thus forfeited for the sa~e of hiswife, he gave no sign. Natalia and her nat1v~ serv-ants 'kept his house in a haphazard but delightfulfashion: his meals were hot and well served, hiscomfort sedulously studied. And if his pretty wi~espent her days.In a loose gown with her lovely hall'in plaits and her bare feet thrust into heelless slip-pers, gossiping with her scores of relatives and herservants, she was always fragrant and sweet, freshlybathed, and charmingly dressed when he returned atevening.Having no friends, no influence, no " pull" of any

sort, Reynolds worked with intense application andfound an infinite easement in the complete relaxa-tion that was his at home. Then, when they hadbeen married two years, came the baby daughter,and the man asked no more of earth or heaven.From the first Graciosa was of an exceptional

loveliness, and her beauty flowered with each ad-vancing year. She had her mother's hair and theMII1e big eyf'S with that lambent flame behind them,but she had stolen her father's dark brows andlashes. Her lashes, indeed, were extraordinary, verylong and thick and curling upward distractingly.They gave an unreal, a theatrical look to the purelittle heart shaped face with its small, straight noseand warm, crimson month. Her skin was very fair,with the sheen of satin j her feet and hands slenderand beautifully shaped. If she had a fault it wasthat she was not quite tall enough, but that, in theeyes of men, is an endearing fault in woman. Atthe end of the war, when she was seventeen, shewas, beyond all question, a perfect, lovely thing.She had been sent to a good French school in

Alexandria and numbered many French and Greekand Turkish girls among her acquamtance ; the Eng-lish women, of course, would have none of her. Butbeauty such as hers could not be hidden from ~heeyes of Englishmen, and it was the winter f?llowmgthe armistice that she met young Alistair Kerr-Owen, tenth Lord Venture.They met at a charity ball given at one of the

hotels, Lord Venture being with a party of English

I

Mends, Graeiosa with some of her own dark haired,bright eyed tribe.The girl was dressed rather too elaborately, in

pale green tulle; a dress cut very low, from which. her white and gold rose like a challenge.

"Who is that?" the young officer demanded."That-a, her name is Reynolds, I believe," a

friend made answer negligently.« Reynolds-English? But why is she dancing

with dagoes?"" They're the only people she knows. Her mother

is a Levantine of sorts-frightful crowd-father nota bad chap; but-well, there it is, you see."

BUT young Lord Venture did not see; or, rather,he saw Graciosa and nothing else. He insistedupon an introduction, which his friend con-

trived most reluctantly, and asked her for a dance.The child, blushing, tremulous, consented. An Eng-lish officer I A title I Her small heart fluttered;above the too low line of her bodice you could seea tiny pulse beating like an imprisoned bird.They danced, and danced again. Then the man

suggested that they should go out into the verandato see the pyramids in the moonlight. The air waswarm and still; the desert lay like a lake of silverstabbed by the sharp, black shadows of the greattombs."What is your name?" Alistair asked her as

they seated themselves in two basket chairs in apalm-banked comer .•• You ought to be called afterthe sweetest flower that grows.""My name is Graciosa," she answered simply."Graciosa." He repeated it softly. "Graciosa.

But, you are English?""0, yes," she replied quickly in her faintly

clipped speech, "my father is an Englishman.""I would like to meet your father-and your

mother," the young man said impulsively. "Willyou let me come and see you, Gmciosa?""0," the little hands fluttered, "do you really

mean it?""But of course I mean it. May I come to-

morrow?"Her eyes, with their startling extravagant lashes,

were lifted to his as she answered in the formulaprescribed by her French teacher of deportment.u I am sure that my parents would be very happyto make your acquaintance, Lord Venture."And at the quaint, prim little speech the man

had much ado not to catch her to his heart thenand there.

He arrived promptly at half-past four on the fol-lowing afternoon and was shown into the big, pink-washed drawing room with its cool tiled floor brightwith camel's hair rugs. His first sensation was thathe wa being received in a conservatory, for theroom was filled with roses.They stood in vases and in tall red jars; they

floated in brass bowls and were heaped in the wideEngli h fireplace. Even the tea table was trimmedwith them exactly, as he was quick to note, as the

Cbicago &unbap ~ribunt

ANNE DUFFIELD

Sitting with Graciosa on a gayly patterned prayer rug.table in the restaurant at Mena house had been He drank his tea, strong and sweet-he did nottrimmed the evening before. care for sugar in tea-and ate rich sugar cakes-"Good Lord," thought Alistair in sharp distaste. he disliked all sweets-with avidity, feasting his

An 'older man must have been amused, touched, eyes upon the beauty of the two young womenbut Lord Venture was very young and he was before him. They were both very shy, very breath-neither touched nor amused. The profusion of- less, very formal. Natalia, indeed, was in an agonyfended him; the heavy sweetness of the air-the of embarrassment and when he had valiantly fin-reek, as he expressed it inwardly-was an added ished his third sickly cup Alistair, partly in pityoffense. Then his eyes rested upon Graeiosa and, for her, but principally because, charming thoughas it had happened last evening, he forgot every- the mother was, he yet wanted the child to him-thing else. self, asked Graciosa to show him the garden.' SheGraciosa had risen upon his entmnce; Natalia, assented eagerly and led him out through the long

with obvious effort, remaining seated as her daugh- French doors, swaying on her ridiculous little heels.ter had anxiously instructed her. They were bothin white; short plaited skirts of heavy hand wovensilk and little loose overblouses of crepe de chine.Their stockings were of white silk and they worewhite slippers, absurdly small, with heels four incheshigh. Natalia wore also a twist of tiny Alexan-dria pearls, Graciosa a. string of jade whose lovelyapple green enhanced the fairness of her skin andbrought out the lights of her tawny hair."By Jove I" thought Alistair, seating himself

after the preliminaries in a. basket chair facingmother and daughter. Only himself knew what hehad dreaded to find in the mother; anything, in-deed, but this; this pretty, soft-tongued, whollyadorable young creature. They were both of themperfect, simply.And so, he decided swiftly, was their setting.

Too many flowers? Nonsense. It suited them,this riot of color and scent; it was the only possiblebackground.

TABLE of CONTENTS:JUGGERNAUT Page 1

Tile openitlg installment of a smashing»etV daily serial-By Alice Campbell.

GRACIOSA . . Page 2A short story of exotic Egypt atld aloofEnglalld-By Annt' DIIJjit'ld.

HIGH CHIVALRy Page 4Achmed Abdullah's stirring serial reachesa 'lew peak of excitement.

THE RED KNIGHTOF GERMANY Page 5

Floyd Gibbons' life story of Baron flonRichthofen,

FASHIONS Page 7"Strut and Travel Togs "-By CorinneLouie,

TEMPTING MENUS Page 7By Jane Eddington.

Next Week:"Rid;ng the Whirlw;nd"

Udell R. Hull writes of a hl!llpecktdhusband who miraculously becomes adominant malt.

THE garden was long and rambling, surroundedby whitewashed walls, against one of whichthe bronze-blue waves of the Nile lapped idly.

It was planted from end to end with orange trees,now in full flower, with their shming leaves andhere and there a round ripe fruit glowing amid thewaxen blooms.Under the trees and along the paths and clamber-

ing up the walls among the clematis vines werehundreds of roses, and here and there, in a sunnyspace, stood flaming clumps of poppies and bedsof scented pink and white stocks. A rim of smallleafless trees, tipped by clusters of purple flowers,outlined the farthest wall, and a pergola, startingabruptly in the middle of a path and leading to agate that opened upon the water, was covered bya creeper with thick, dark lance-shaped leaves andballs of scarlet berries. No breath of air was stir-ring, and the hot sun stung the fragrant bloomstill the air was faint and heady with their perfume.Like a man struggling for sanity before the en-

gulfing waves of delusion, Lord Venture struggledagainst the spell of that garden. He told himselfthat it was all untidy, extravagant, riotous, andprofuse, but it was of no avail. Bemused by thecolor and the hot sweet scents, he succumbed toit utterly, and once again it seemed the perfectsetting for lovely Graciosa.Tripping along beside him in her white dress

that was so entirely correct (and her high-heeledshoes that were so wholly wrong), she seemed onewith the flowers and the joyous sunshine j and bend-ing over her with a smile that lit his cold youngface most charmingly he said, 1/ You ought neverto leave this garden; it fits you completely; I can-not picture you anywhere else." •To which Graeiosa, with that literal directness

that characterized her speech and was oddly atvariance with her appearance, replied simply, "Inever have been anywhere else. 1 was born inthis house.'In the weeks that followed Lord Venture. to the

despair of his friends and increasing bemusement ofhis own heart, came daily to that tangled garden.And he came at all hours.In the frail early mornings when the air was

cool and a go. amer mist veiled earth and sky hewas there, stopping his horse at the gate in the walland hurrying in under the orange trees to where

Graeiosa, her cheeks deeply flushed, her eyes stilldewy from sleep, waited for him with old Fatma,her nurse, beside her holding a cup of fragrant,steaming coffee in her wrinkled hands.And in the burning afternoons when the birds

slept and even the restless river ran slow and si-lently he was there, sitting with Graciosa on a gaylypatterned prayer rug under the arch which gaveupon the water, watching the sparkle of the waves,the palms on the farther bank, the native boatswith their sails like swallows' wings and their chat-tering, multicolored crews.And in the hushed and breathless evenings when

the leaves made fantastic shadows on the pathsand the floors stood white and motionless in themoonlight and the air was so sweet that everybreath was a separate and distinct delight, he wasthere, walking with Graciosa, watching the purelittle face with its tender mouth and deep shadowyeyes; her hand, small and warm, close clasped inhis.To the remonstrance of his friends he paid no

heed. He had met Reynolds and found in him aman of breeding, with a quiet, cynical humor thatwas not unattractive. Natalia he found delightfulalways, gentle, childlike, and pretty. He caught aglimpse now and again of others of the tribe: adark eyed boy with a flashing smile and a gloriousvoice; a shy girl or two, giggling and peering; butfor the most part he saw the world through a glassdarkly, his whole being concentrated upon the beau-tiful child who had brought him suddenly a gloryand a rapturous warmth such as he had neverdreamed of experiencing.He was, of course, ripe for the experience. Three

years in Flanders-a month in Palestine-then thegarden and Graciosa.As for her, she lived in a dream. Alistair's title

lent him a romantic quality and Alistair himselfappealed strongly to her imagination. He was atthis time just twenty-two; tall and lean, with akeen, dark face and very straight, black hair. If thedeep gray eyes in their too close setting showed &

hint of meanness, she could not see it. If the beau-tiful mouth under the clipped mustache and thesmall, white chin had the lines of a weak WIll shedid not perceive it. He came invested in his gloryof an English officer, an English nobleman. andwhen he asked Graciosa to marry him she consentedwith rapture.It was. for both, a time of enchantment j a faery

time, a faery wooing in that old, old garden.It was. however, a time of less enchantment Ior

Graciosa's family. True, they felt the honor thatWIlS being offered their little one; werc, indeed, halfstunned by it; but what they gained in grandeurthey sadly lacked in comfort IGone were the old easy day of loose wrappers

and haphazard meals and cozy go ip in the kitchenveranda. With Alistair apt to appear at any mo-ment, they must be dre ed and ready to receivehim. The rich and satisfying afternoon coffee, CIl8-