Part 2 (1/2)
”No,” he said frankly ”As a o”
”Then you are poor!” she cried i your pardon,--I did not mean----”
Lionel was never disconcerted by his lack of means, and the chuckle was perfectly honest as he replied, ”Distinctly poor I alad to think I can still create an illusion of wealth in an artificial light, but really I am worth very little”
”You do not
”I admit,” he said, ”that I should prefer to be well off But, being poor, I see no use in uinea for a stall rather than a shi+lling for the gallery Still, I contrive pretty tolerably to enjoy the play”
”You are a philosopher,” she approved
”A poorelse”
After a pause she said, ”Itlate Will you please tell the e-door”
He opened the , s man's dream of an adventure! This is absurdly conventional” After directing the chauffeur, he sat back, wondering what the end would be, content to wait on fortune The lady, too, did not speak again until they had almost reached their destination Then she took a purse froood-humor, ”This is my frolic, and I wish to pay for it Please!”
Lionel was too well-bred to interpose bourgeois objections Besides, it was a case of necessity: his sixpence-ha'penny had been burning a hole in his pocket for the last ten htly, ”I would if I could, but I can not Five shi+llings will be n, and he wished he had been a street arab to whoe” This, however, was clearly impossible, nor did it appear to enter the lady's head After he had paid the ravity He raised his hat
”You are not going?” she asked in surprise
”Unless I can be of further service”
”But that is why I have brought you here! You have not heard my reason yet, and you inning: you can be of the greatest service if you will Coe-door Adventure beckoned, and he was not the er True, the lady had a husband--a scurvy thought--but he had proved hi as she
And she was deucedly pretty
They passed the janitor, who touched his hat to the lady, and went along a passage Then up a flight of stairs and down another corridor, where sundry couples were lounging and chatting between their entrances It was evidently a costuht of doublets, rapiers and hel after the drabness of the threshold
Illusion again threw her veil over the crudities of life; romance sounded the horn of hope and hallooed Lionel to the pursuit
The lady stopped suddenly before a door This she opened and entered the room beyond Lionel followed, closed the door, and looked about hiions ”behind,” for in his younger days he had been the friend of -rooy color-washed chaas, divided by racks for dresses, equipped at ti of ater days, as has been observed, he had savored the delights of these unrohly enjoyed the experience; noas blase
Of the wonorant, but in truth he was far fro of a replica of what he had seen already,--four or five creatures herded in a bare loose-box, in the intervals of painting and dressing, engaged with talk of frills or scandal The private dressing-roo men and ladies, were still a sealed book He had never known (oh, horrid thought!) a ”lead,” and he surveyed the present room with interest
There was little to reward him, for it was a very ordinary roo-table covered with ”raphs scattered about in various coigns of vantage, a wall-paper of a warm terra-cotta tint, a soft carpet to correspond A brass curtain-rod divided the room in two, but the curtain was not drawn ”Will you sit down?” said the hostess; ”I must leave you for a moment Try that chair in the corner,--it is the best And do sarettes are close to you on that little table”
With a swiftits rod and disappeared behind it There followed a slight clicking as if she itching onand the sound of her voice huarette and patiently awaited events
In less than ten ain But now she was a different creature Her Bond Street costuone The piquant head was covered only with the dark leanoir, a loose flowing robe of Oriental texture, cri and tassels Her face was rouged and powdered, but in the brilliant electric glare it see northe drawn curtain with one hand, she looked as if she had stepped straight out of the pages of the _Arabian Nights_
”Do you like it?” she asked carelessly, sure of the effect Poor Lionel, on ue, who took a pride in never showing surprise, could only murmur ”Admirable!” With this, however, she seemed content, and sat down in a convenient chair
”Luckily, it is a straightit ”As a rule I use grease-paint, but to-night I was in a hurry and made-up dry I want to talk I am not on for a while, and my dress can be slipped on in five minutes I mean to tell you as briefly as I can esture of dissent ”I am sure,” he said chivalrously, ”it is all it should have been--”