Show the MYS mystery TIery imond va ike by E F phillips chimps oppenheim copyright by br eado brown brow aad BJ co CAP PAULINE SYNOPSIS fleeing from a brutal stepfather an unhappy home and a proposed husband she detests myrelle Myr young french girl stands in a country road on the verse verge of desperation halted by an exploded tire two young englishmen lord gerald dombey and christopher bent are attracted by the girls distracted appearance she begs bege them to take her away from hot her misery in a spirit of adventure they do so no conveying her to monte carlo and leaving her with friends myrtile myrelle english her mother having been an educated woman gerald sees gas a beautiful young woman in the th rambling gambling rooms and Is in fascinated but can only learn that she ha to Is called pauline do de and Is in with her aunt lie ila to Is unable anable to secure an introduction christopher and gerald decide myrtile shall not go back to her home lady mary geralds sis Is ter secretly in love with chris copher disapproves of the young mens guardianship of myrtile Myr CHAPTER IV continued 6 there was a somewhat hectic silence for several moments madame lenore could scarcely conceal her contempt fr the crudeness of this puritanical englishman myrtile herself felt as though a dream of 0 paradise were fading away geraldi because he was good fellow enough at heart felt further insistence impossible he was quite content to drift into danger he was not casuist enough to evade a plain warning well I 1 suppose we shall have to let this disagreeable fellow have his way he be declared take her along madame and see what you can do you hear my friends idea plain blue serge but toned up to tile the throat cashmere stockings and square toed shoes there will be a compromise madame declared firmly and for the rests rest little one do not trouble too much she whispered as she led myrtile away 1 I shall keep these clothes just juat as they are until the other gentleman has made up his mind to meddle no longer come to me when you tire are ready I 1 can make you look so BO that milord will take notice of no other woman Myrt Myr lles tiles eyes were swimming with tears it was just for him that I 1 wanted to keep these clothes she said 1 I wanted him to take me out and to feel eel that I 1 looked like other girls As for or monseur christopher I 1 detest himl him I 1 in the showroom outside neither of tb ahr two young men was particularly disposed for conversation christopher felt a distinct return of his first apprehension concerning geralds attitude towards myrtile Myr while gerald himself was conscious of a vague sense of re sent sentiment ment at hla his friends interference the more poignant perhaps because of its wisdom anything in the nature of an explanation between tile the two was rendered impossible by the smallness of the room and the presence of the shop assistants so get gerald ald contented himself with lighting a cigarette while christopher studied a book of fashions presently myrtile came out to them once more the transformation was still amazing but the blue serge costume was absolutely plain except for its thick edging of braid and the little toque with its dark blue quill absolutely free from ornamentation yet it seemed almost incredible that this graceful girl who came towards them a little shyly but bat with perfect self possession should indeed be the peasant child who had been under their care for rather less than twenty four bou hours rg 0 mademoiselle la Is transformed madame lenore declared she has haa natural elegance in tile the simplest clothes I 1 could give her she ehe would still create an impression Impress lon I 1 have done roy my best milord and monsieur I 1 trust that yo you are satisfied 1 I am going to take myrtile to ciros to lunch come along christopher sold eald gerald chapter V the two women sat eat on the terrace of their covered villa madame hadame de Po poole tiller hunched up la in j her chair smoking a cigarette through throne a long tube pauline her reputed niece her coffee and cigarette alike neglected gazing fixedly seaward their immediate environment suggested at once a taste for luxury and the means to gratify it the linen and silver on the little table at which they had just lunched was waa of the he finest possible quality the former lace bordered and adorned with a coronet coronel A bowl of pink occupied the center of the table the coffee had been served in little cups of tile the finest devres china in the background a single servant was standing dres dressed seI in plain black livery a man gray haired and with lined face but tall and of powerful build he possessed to the full the immobility of feature of the trained english servant but their was something entirely foreign in his attitude and expression he had the air of f one who neither saw nor heard save at ilia his mistress orders 1 I am weary of everything here except the sun Paull pauline declared deliberately libera tely th woman opposite knocked tile the ash from her cigarette hers was an aged and withered face but her black eyes were still full of life and fire her long thin hand on which flushed flashed several strangely set rings was suddenly extended toward the waiting servant without a word he bowed and disappeared one roust must wait madame de declared for what the girt girl asked lazily the older womans comans eyes glittered for or a moment for what will surely come she declared the portents are all there the writing Is no longer upon the wall it blazes to the sky and meanwhile pauline murmured the sun shines my heart bents beats in tune to it and I 1 teel feel all the time the weariness of ft the days it Is 18 the insurgence of youth the older woman conceded indulgently 1 11 I suppose the greatest must feel it some rome day 1 she thrust another cigarette into her tube and lit it inhaling with the ion long 91 regular breaths of the confirmed smoker her delicately shaped but talon like fingers were stained with nicotine zubin arrives this week bhe announced noun ced palline pallene yawned dawned more mysteries she murmured I 1 more false hopes more exaggerated stories nothing good will come of gubins visit but the money he brings unless by any chance he has ha news of stepan meanwhile dear madame I 1 bore myself I 1 rather wish that I 1 had bad been born an american the woman showed no sign of anger yet somehow or other she seemed to diffuse an atmosphere of contempt it Is perhaps a pity she admitted that you are descended from one of the greatest rulers the world has ever known it la Is perhaps a pity give me something to rule over the girl declared and I 1 will be repentant the souls and liberties of a few million people ov OF the hearts of a few men I 1 am twenty three years old and the sun Is worm and then there la Is the music our one resource when there to la no money to gamble with what Is 1 the use of music madame to one who lives behind the bars it simply makes one pull at them a little harder I 1 am as badly off as stepan himself who loves lovea we me from behind the fortress wulla walls sometimes I 1 wish that I 1 were there with him madame de reached for an ivory topped stick and rose feet almost us as though by magic from somewhere within the dim cool recesses of the room beyond the gray haired manservant was by her side she leaned upon his arm we drive at four pauline she said afterwards we will watch the play piny at the sporting club pauline shrugged her shoulders dem it was tile the same yesterday afternoon and every day behind it would probably be the earne came tomorrow she looked intently across the narrow gorge toward that thai other villa A two seated car had bad turned in from the road and was crawling up the winding avenue she stretched out her hand for the held field glasses which lay on the table by her side the figure of the young man at the wheel was familiar to her pauline rose to her feet almost as aa mysteriously as the manservant had appeared a few moments before a black robed maid hastened toward her pauline shook her head this afternoon I 1 do not wish to rest she decided 1 I shall walk in the pardons gardens pauline descended the stone steps crossed the drive and plunged into it a narrow footpath which wound its way through gli a plantation of stunted but sweet smelling pino trees downward toward the sea the path was not an easy one and pauline s shoes were ge scarcely arcely designed for such an adventure nevertheless she persevered at last she gained tier her end she stood upon poll the little strip of sand bestrin kled with rocks which bordered top the tva iea t va only a 0 few yards away the shimmering inet ing blue water rocked toward the land in little wavelets waveless wave lets she turned and looked back the villa from w which bleb she bhe had come seemed like 4 dolls ahouee shining out of its shelter laj clump of cypress cypre sw mo more directly above her now was the far more exten rave residence of lord Hinter leys she looked toward it searchingly there were several people upon the broad veranda amongst them the slim figure of a young man at ai its farther edge gazing gating intently in her direction she smiled a little as aa she picked her steps across the yellow sand to the edge of the sea and clambered on to a rock A queer fit of heedlessness heedless noss was upon her she stood upon the top cr the tha slippery fock rock finding a strange pleasure in the suit laden air and the wind which brought a thousand ripples of light to the trembling blue sea ben which blew her skirts about and even brought disarrangement to her smoothly bound hair this tempering of the sunshine brought a new joy to its warmth she stood there basking in a purely sensuous pleasure forgetful tor for a moment of the depression of the morning the sound of tumbling stones in the little gorge behind scarcely disturbed her it was not until she heard footsteps upon the strip of beach lint she turned hc r head coming toward her already only a few yards away was a young roan man of personable appearance and unwontedly determined expression for once in his life gerald had made up ills his mind although he was in reality brimful of confidence in till all his relations with the other sex gerald had sometimes a not altogether unattractive appearance of shyness he stood bareheaded for it a moment looking up at pauline 1 I am sorry if I 1 startled you he said 1 I was looking for roy my sister I 1 know this ihla Is a favorite place of hers hera and when I 1 saw baw you standing there I 1 rather jumped to the conclusion that you must be she really V pauline replied are we so much alike then not in the least he declared deca ted frankly that seems to make your explanation a little insufficient does it noh pauline remarked Gerald Gerold settled down to business 1 I know that I 1 ought to have turned back he said but after all it much more natural of me to come on I 1 have been trying ever since I 1 first saw you to get someone to introduce me we are after all as I 1 have just dW discovered to my great delight neighbors and this to Is the riviera not berkeley aquaro may I 1 tell you that my name Is gerald dombey that my father and slater sister have the villa up there and that from the moment I 1 saw you I 1 have been to make your acquaintance she bhe looked at him in silence for a moment half critically half thoughtfully there was nothing absolutely discouraging in her attitude and yet gerald somehow conceived the idea that this might not after all be so easy an affair as he had hoped are you used to enlarging your acquaintance in this manner she naked asked 1 I 1 very seldom feel the desire to do so he be assured her dont be annoyed please I 1 am re really ally quite a ro spectacle spec table person I 1 will call upon your aunts aunt it she will give me permission for the first time pauline smiled it was rather a cold smite smile but the fact that it was a smile at all was encouraging 1 I fancy that you yon had better dismiss dl that suggestion from your mind altogether she said my aunt does doea not receive here and she certainly would not welcome you as a caller why not gerald inquired a little perturbed because you are a young man pauline replied there are two things which my aunt dreads more than anything else in life a bad throat tor for herself and young men for me 1 I dont see be how slie she can hope to keep young men away from you altogether gerald declai cd you dont mind my saying do you that you are the sort of girl whom yoking men would want to know her smile returned she even laughed slightly showing some very wonderful teeth really you are a most singular person she observed observe dL do all young englishmen talk to casual acquaintances in this unrestrained fashion fashio nr gerald was puzzled pauline was wa not altogether falling into line with the conclusions he be had bad arrived at concerning her pauline Is evidently as aa attral tive an aa she he Is mysterious will gerald be able to break through her re TO BE CONTINUED |