ining with an old chap but three tables away. Among the habitues
of the Ritzes of two continents there could not have been found another
like her, for never had I beheld a face as exquisite--and I've seen
many. It possessed a beauty that left me helpless--yet there was an
indefinable sadness in it that might have suggested a haunting fear.

One of the lights among the vines hung close to her, and I could see
these things. Even could I see the color of her eyes, deep purple
eyes--the tone the wild iris takes at twilight. When she leaned one way
I might have thought the rich abundance of her hair contained spun
copper or deep red gold, and again I would have sworn it matched the
mellow brown of chestnuts; in all forming an arrangement of waves, each
refusing to stay in place yet never really getting out of order, each
coquetting with a subtle mischief that found an echo in her lips. Her
neck and shoulders were of that perfection that men realize but can not
analyze; and her mouth, laughing or in repose, was maddening.

And there was an added charm quite apart from hair and eyes and lips.
This I had never before seen in any face. Animation? Yes, and more.
Interest in the life about her? Assuredly, to a very marked degree.
Wildness? That was it!--a wildness, subtly blended with refinement, that
found expression in every quick look; as if someone had put a fawn there
from the forest and it was trying, half humorously, half confidently, to
keep itself from running away in fright. It was this glory of wildness
that she typified which made my cheeks grow hot with watching.

But who has ever made a picture worthy of his dreams! How, then, can I
describe this girl, when painter, sculptor, writer--all--would miserably
fail at attempting to portray a beauty whereon imagination might gaze in
frank amazement and admit itself surpassed! Here, indeed, was all the
vital, colorful magnetism of a type that men are quick to die for!

Her gown--yet how can man describe a woman's gown? It was a very rich
affair and added to the picture. But this I did observe distinctly, that
in revealing her arms and shoulders there was no slightest hint of that
abandonment of _decollete_ which denotes the approach of feminine
despair, nor was the color in her cheeks a result of anything less pure
than the kiss of air and sunshine.

Her _vis-a-vis_, almost too old to have been her father, was one of
those whose nationality is difficult to place. His hair