Burton Egbert Stevenson

“ In the late morning occurred the promenade, taken as a brisk constitutional by a few, but by the great majority as a languid stroll designed to create an appetite for luncheon. That meal was followed by a period of torpor, then every one sought the beach—the high, the low; the rich, the poor; the dowdy and the well-dressed; the virgin in white and the cocotte in scarlet; the thin and the obese; the French, the Dutch, the Italian—yea, and the angular English, for Weet-sur-Mer attracted a crowd as hybrid as its name! ”

“ Everybody in this world has a right to happiness, Susie; why, that's one of the foundation-stones of the Declaration of Independence. And, I take it, a woman's great chance of happiness is in marrying the man she loves. That's what every woman has a right to do, and nobody has the right to raise a finger to prevent her. I'll give you to Markeld with a clear conscience, my dear, when the time comes, and bless you both. That is, if you really love him."
"Oh, dad!" she cried and hid her face; there is one light in the eyes which none but a lover may see! ”

“ Collins smiled contemptuously.
"Oh," he retorted; "so it's blackmail! I might have known from your appearance. Well, my dear sir, you have mistaken your men. You have nothing which we care to buy. You would better go."
A purple vein stood out across Tellier's forehead, as he came a step nearer.
"Do not be too sure, monsieur," he said. "You play a bold game, but it does not for an instant deceive me. Lord Vernon is no more ill than I. It is useless to deny it—I have that here which proves it—written with his own hand—yes, pardie, written in my presence!" ”

“ You who are such a stickler for honour in women no less than men! Look at this!"
"What is this paper?" asked the Prince, making no motion to take it from her eager hand.
"It is a note which this impostor wrote to her and to her sister."
"And obtained how?" he questioned, a little pale, but keeping himself well in hand.
"Obtained by Monsieur Tellier," replied the duchess. "It does not matter how."
"No," said the Prince, "perhaps not; yet one can easily guess. By bribing the chambermaid, perhaps; by forcing a lock; by rifling her desk, examining her private papers. Oh, it is abominable!" ”

“ The door opened and Monsieur Pelletan appeared on the threshold.
"Monsieur le Prince de Markeld!" he announced, and bowed low, as the
Prince advanced past him into the room. In the shadows of the hall,
Glück's erect figure was dimly visible.
For a moment no one spoke, but Vernon's face was flushing under the ironical gaze bent upon it.
"So," said the Prince, at last. "It appears that you are not ill. You have been tricking me all the time!"
"Yes," answered Vernon, not attempting for an instant to evade the question. "Tricking you—that is the word. I am glad she has told you." ”

“ Do you know, Miss Rushford, I have never before realised what a tremendously lucky fellow I am? I must pour a libation to the god of chance!"
"It's a goddess, isn't it?" she asked, and regretted the question the next instant.
"You are right," he agreed, his eyes blazing. "A goddess! You have found the word. A goddess! And such a goddess!"
Fortunately, they had reached the end of the promenade, and as they paused at the balustrade, Nell and Lord Vernon joined them, saving Susie from a situation which had slipped entirely beyond her control. ”

“ The duchess, looking on from the door, felt a sudden wave of tenderness sweep over her. Perhaps she recalled her own youth—perhaps it was not quite the truth that she had never regretted—perhaps she was softened by the emotions of the moment. She came to Susie and took her hand in hers.
"Mademoiselle," she said, softly, "I also ask pardon—you will not bear ill-will against an old woman, who imagined that she was acting wisely. I feel that I am going to love you. You have spirit—you are worthy to be even a Markeld. ”

“ They were laughing in earnest, now, as they looked up in his face, which had grown suddenly serious.
"Why, dad, what ails you?" questioned Sue. "I think it is you who need the pill!"
Rushford's face cleared; they were heart-whole thus far—there could be no doubt of that.
"Perhaps I do," he agreed. "Or perhaps it's only that I'm beginning to feel the responsibilities of my position."
"Your position?"
"As chaperon," he explained.
"Dear dad!" cried Susie, and squeezed his arm. "Do you suppose that as long as we have you, either of us will ever think of another man?" ”

“ By the way, what's its name?"
"T'e Grand Hôtel Splendide," answered Pelletan, glowing with delight at his companion's power of invective.
"H—m," said the latter; "the worse a hotel is, the bigger name it seems to have. But about the discount. Let me repeat for you, Pelletan, a business axiom. To give a discount is to admit that your goods are not worth the price you ask for them, and that you're willing to cheat anybody who doesn't know enough to beat you down. All the business of Europe seems to be run in just that way, but ours won't be. Our goods are worth the price!" ”

“ In a word, then, I think you are both blackguards—blackguards of the most nasty and contemptible kind—the kind that preys upon women! I may add that you have deeply shaken my faith in human nature, for, to look at you, one would mistake you for gentlemen!"
The words were uttered quietly, evenly, deliberately; each one given its full value. There was a certain dignity in Rushford's aspect which made interruption impossible; but neither man offered to interrupt. The Prince was biting his lips desperately; Vernon turned red and white and red again in evident amazement. ”

“ There were four cheeks upon the beach at Weet-sur-Mer that morning glowing as I would have your true love's glow; drawing men's eyes and women's, too—the one in admiration, the other in envy. Yes, envy! though more than one shivering fair spoke a low, slurring word about "those coarse Americans!"
Both Pelletan and the notary had been careful to respect Rushford's wish that his connection with the hotel be kept to themselves ”

“ Yes, the people of the States manage to worry along some way without any nobility. In fact, they've rather got a prejudice against that sort of thing. You see, the only Highnesses they've had to judge by are the fortune-hunters who come over after our girls. Now I've always believed that it isn't any fairer to judge European nobility by those specimens than it is to judge us Americans by the expatriated idiots one finds here in Europe—it's like judging a bin of apples by the rotten ones. ”

“ Susie, hotly. "There is nothing disgraceful in service."
"No," agreed the Prince, with some hesitation, "perhaps not; nor, for that matter, is there anything disgraceful in a badge. But I have not said what I wished to say, which was that I hope you believe my offence was wholly unintentional and that you pardon me."
"I am not vindictive," answered Sue, smiling at his earnest tone, "and therefore you are pardoned. But it seems unjust that Jax should suffer imprisonment."
"Oh, he will get his outing, but with Glück, who is less absent-minded.
Yesterday, I had much to occupy me." ”

“ Now the Prince was a very good-looking fellow, erect and clean, as German noblemen have a way of being—besides, he was a Prince, a commander of favours from the world and women, not a mere suitor for them as most poor mortals are—and more than one pair of eyes gazed at him languishingly from under pencilled brows as he strolled moodily along the beach, golden yellow in the sunlight; more than one crimson mouth shaped itself to an entrancing smile; more than one sullied heart beat high at thought of a brilliant future. ”

“ Nell, the elder, was tall and fair, like her father, rather sedate, with not quite the sparkle of Susie, two years her junior, the counterpart of the little mother whom she had never seen. And both were erect and bright-eyed as only American girls seem to know completely how to be; visibly healthy, happy, and pure-minded. ”

“ Why should Lord Vernon wish to appear ill when he isn't?"
"I don't suppose he's doing it for fun," observed Susie, sagely.
"No, of course not," agreed Nell. "There isn't any fun in it that I can see. But it seems a very remarkable course of action. Some great affair of state must depend upon it," she added in a tone slightly awe-struck, for her imagination was beginning to be affected. "He seems awfully young to hold such an important place," she added.
"These English statesmen always look younger than they are," said Sue. ”

“ When I want to see monkeys and peacocks, I'll go to a menagerie."
"But you never do go to the menagerie, at home, you know, dad."
"No—because I don't care for monkeys or peacocks—in fact, I particularly detest them!"
"But lions, dad! There are lions—"
"In the menagerie at home, perhaps."
"Yes, and in this one—bigger lions than you ever dreamed of, dad!—perfect monsters of lions!"
"Oh, no, there aren't, Susie," dissented Rushford. "You don't know the species. You've mistaken a bray for a roar, just as a lot of people always do, if the bray is only loud enough. Come, now, let me know the worst. ”

“ Pelletan, his face livid, clutching blindly at the wall for support, stumbled forth into the hall, along the corridor, down the stair, until at last he found Tellier, his face purple, rearranging his cravat before a mirror in the hotel office.
"Iss she not lifing?" he asked, huskily.
"Living!" echoed Tellier, whirling upon him fiercely. "No, pig-head, she has been dead these three years! But you are no more a pig-head than those others. Oh, they shall answer, they shall repay, they shall atone! ”

“ There must be something in the atmosphere. It'll be a little lonely in that big New York house without you, Susie."
"I know it will, dear dad. And if you say the word, I won't leave you—not for a long, long time. It will be a long time anyway, you know—a year, at least—there will be so much to do."
"And a year is quite long enough to keep two lovers apart. Youth goes faster than you think, my dear. No, no; it'll be all right, Susie. You don't suppose I'm as selfish as all that!"
"No, dad; that's just what I'm afraid of; you're not selfish enough. ”

“ Vernon added, anxious to vindicate himself still further, since, after all, Susie was Nell's sister, "Schloshold-Markheim is a very insignificant corner of this earth; not so big, in fact, as many of our English shires. Self-preservation is the first law of nations. Why should England imperil herself? You see, the whole question reduces itself to that old, heartless, but very sane doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number."
"Why not say all that frankly to the Prince of Markeld?" suggested Sue. ”

“ A woman who has no other confidante will, invariably, seek counsel and sympathy of her own reflected self; and if so it was in this case, for each of our two heroines went straight to her room, and locked the door, and sat down before her glass, and, chin in hands, communed long and earnestly with the image pictured there, gazing deep into its eyes, and thinking unutterable thoughts, which completely defy transcription.
At the same moment, to Archibald Rushford, sitting immersed in his morning newspaper, wholly unsuspicious of all this, the Prince of Markeld's card was handed. ”

“ Let them rub you and knead you and pinch you, coat you with cold cream or grease you with oil of olives. Redden cheeks and lips, whiten hands and shoulders, polish nails, pencil eyebrows, squeeze in the waist, pad out the hips—swallow, at the last, that little tablet which you slip from the jewelled case at your wrist. It is all in vain. You deceive no man nor woman. They look into your eyes and smile, but behind the smile there is a shudder!
Nell and Susie Rushford, with the wind playing in their hair and kissing their cheeks, that morning, were miracles of freshness ”

“ Why can't you let Markeld take care of himself?"
"Because you're not playing fairly."
"What do you mean by fairly?"
"I mean openly, honestly—as gentlemen should."
"You forget that this is diplomacy—and that we don't live in the Golden
Age. We fight with such weapons as come to hand. It's the game."
"Yes—as you understand it. A gang of cutthroats might say the same thing."
Collins flushed a little, but managed to keep his temper.
"I understand it as all diplomats understand it. I take no advantage that every diplomat would not take."
"Then God save me from diplomats!" retorted Vernon. ”