They were standing before the door of the ladies' entrance to the hotel

by this time, and the young man lifted his hat gravely.

"Your wish shall certainly be respected," he said with courtesy, "yet

that does not necessarily mean that our friendship is to end here."

Her face became transfigured by a sudden smile, and she impulsively

extended her hand.

"Assuredly not, if you can withstand my vagaries. I have never made

friends easily, and am the greater surprised at my unceremonious

frankness with you. Yet that only makes it harder to yield up a

friendship when once formed. Do you intend, then, to remain with the

company? I have no choice, but you have the whole world."

"Yet, my intense devotion to the art of the Thespian holds me captive."

Their eyes met smilingly, and the next instant the door closed quietly

between them.

Winston turned aside and entered the gloomy hotel office, feeling

mentally unsettled, undetermined in regard to his future conduct. Miss

Norvell had proven frankly intimate, delightfully cordial, yet

overshadowing it all there remained unquestionably a certain constraint

about both words and actions which continued to perplex and tantalize.

She had something in her past life to conceal; she did not even pretend

to deceive him in this regard, but rather held him off with deliberate

coolness. The very manner in which this had been accomplished merely

served to stimulate his eagerness to penetrate the mystery of her

reserve, and caused him to consider her henceforth as altogether

differing from other girls. She had become a problem, an enigma, which

he would try to solve; and her peculiar nature, baffling, changeable,

full of puzzling moods, served to fascinate his imagination, to invite

his dreaming. A strange thrill swept him when he caught a fleeting

glimpse of white skirt and well-turned ankle as she ran swiftly up the

steep staircase, yet, almost at the same instant, he returned to earth

with a sudden shock, facing Mooney, when the latter turned slowly away

from the window and sneeringly confronted him. The mottled face was

unpleasantly twisted, a half-smoked cigar tilted between his lips. An

instant the half-angry eyes of the two men met.

"Must have made a conquest, from all appearances," ventured the leading

man with a knowing wink. "Not so damned hard to catch on with, is she,

when the right man tries it?"

There was a swift, passionate blow, a crash among the overturned

chairs, and Mooney, dazed and trembling, gazed up from the floor at the

rigid, erect figure towering threateningly above him, with squared

shoulders and clenched fists.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024