FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   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   >>  
ls." "And a woman as old as she looks!" laughed the other. "Now, I don't feel old, and I am fifty-one." The man with the beard shot an admiring glance across the tabouret. "You are extraordinarily well preserved, sir. You do not seem older than I, and I am but forty." "The trouble is, over here you play cards all night in stuffy rooms and eat too many sauces." Harrigan had read this somewhere, and he was pleased to think that he could recall it so fittingly. "Agreed. You Americans are getting out in the open more than any other white people." "Wonder how he guessed I was from the States?" Aloud, Harrigan said: "You don't look as though you'd grow any older in the next ten years." "That depends." The bearded man sighed and lighted a fresh cigarette. "There's a beautiful young woman," with an indicative gesture toward the ballroom. Harrigan expanded. It was Nora, dancing with the Barone. "She's the most beautiful young woman in the world," enthusiastically. "Ah, you know her?" interestedly. "I am her father!"--as Louis XIV might have said, "I am the State." The bearded man smiled. "Sir, I congratulate you both." Courtlandt loomed in the doorway. "Comfortable?" "Perfectly. Good cigar, comfortable chair, fine view." The duke eyed Courtlandt through the pall of smoke which he had purposefully blown forth. He questioned, rather amusedly, what would have happened had he gone down to the main hall that night in Paris? Among the few things he admired was a well-built handsome man. Courtlandt on his part pretended that he did not see. "You'll find the claret and champagne punches in the hall," suggested Courtlandt. "Not for mine! Run away and dance." "Good-by, then." Courtlandt vanished. "There's a fine chap. Edward Courtlandt, the American millionaire." It was not possible for Harrigan to omit this awe-compelling elaboration. "Edward Courtlandt." The stranger stretched his legs. "I have heard of him. Something of a hunter." "One of the keenest." "There is no half-way with your rich American: either his money ruins him or he runs away from it." "There's a stunner," exclaimed Harrigan. "Wonder how she got here?" "To which lady do you refer?" "The one in scarlet. She is Flora Desimone. She and my daughter sing together sometimes. Of course you have heard of Eleonora da Toscana; that's my daughter's stage name. The two are not on very good terms, naturally." "Quite naturall
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   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   >>  



Top keywords:
Courtlandt
 

Harrigan

 

Wonder

 

American

 

Edward

 

daughter

 

beautiful

 

bearded

 

suggested

 
champagne

punches

 

millionaire

 

laughed

 

vanished

 

happened

 

questioned

 

amusedly

 
pretended
 
things
 
admired

handsome

 

claret

 

stretched

 

scarlet

 

Desimone

 

Eleonora

 

naturally

 

naturall

 
Toscana
 

keenest


hunter
 
Something
 

elaboration

 
stranger
 
stunner
 
exclaimed
 

compelling

 

States

 
guessed
 
people

sighed
 

lighted

 

cigarette

 
depends
 
sauces
 

pleased

 

fittingly

 

Agreed

 

Americans

 

trouble