FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  
rtained the audience. The Maharajah had insisted on learning to dance, his instructress being an attractive Russian girl; then, as the fun grew furious, he had forgotten his eastern dignity, and pirouetted for a wager, with a valuable jar containing a palm. This jar he had promptly broken, and had not been conciliatory to the proprietor. At five o'clock he had driven his own car--bought at Marseilles--to Nice, full to overflowing with his late partners. There had been a slight accident, and to console the girls for their fright the Maharajah had divided all his ready money among them. Since then he had had one fight with a German, whom he had jostled, and who had called him a black man. Major Norwood had been obliged to use the most nerve-racking exertions to keep his princeling out of a French prison. Slightly subdued, the Maharajah had consented to call at the palace at Monaco, to walk through the beautiful gardens on the Rock with Hannaford, and to visit the Fish Museum; but there was a yearning for new excitements in his dangerous dark eyes, and Norwood had been thankful to see Carleton the airman standing on the beach by his hangar. The two Americans were introduced to the Indian royalty, and Carleton, not too eagerly, had just begun to explain the features of his _Flying Fish_, when the big blue car brought Miss Grant back. At sight of Mary in a newly bought motor-bonnet, the Maharajah's eyes lit up. He had seen her the night before at the Casino, and had started the applause after her first sensational win. Now he asked to be introduced, and Major Norwood's weary heart sank. Judging from the expression of the plump olive face, this was going to be another case of infatuation, and already there had been one on the ship, and one at Cannes, both of which had necessitated the most delicate diplomacy. The Maharajah was passionately fond of jewels, and had brought with him from home some of the finest in his collection, which he intended to wear in London. But on board ship he had given an emerald worth five hundred pounds to the pretty young wife of an old Indian judge, who could not resist accepting it; and at Cannes he had bestowed a diamond aigrette on a second-rate actress. Major Norwood had tried to get these valuables back, in vain; and now felt symptoms of heart failure whenever his charge looked at a beautiful woman. The Maharajah had an extraordinarily winning manner, however, almost like that of a dignif
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Maharajah
 

Norwood

 

Indian

 
beautiful
 

bought

 

brought

 

Carleton

 

Cannes

 

introduced

 

expression


Judging

 
infatuation
 

Casino

 
started
 
sensational
 

bonnet

 

applause

 

finest

 

valuables

 

actress


diamond

 

bestowed

 

aigrette

 

symptoms

 

failure

 
dignif
 

manner

 

winning

 

charge

 

looked


extraordinarily

 

accepting

 
collection
 

intended

 

London

 

jewels

 

delicate

 

necessitated

 

diplomacy

 

passionately


resist
 
pretty
 

emerald

 

hundred

 

pounds

 
thankful
 

overflowing

 
partners
 
Marseilles
 

proprietor