Hearts and Masks

"Why do you do that?"

"Perhaps I want to bring about an enchantment,"--soberly.

"As Signor Fantoccini, or as Mr. Comstalk?"

"I have long since resigned my position in the museum; it was too

exciting."

She made no rejoinder; and for some time there was no sound but the

music of the bells.

Finally we drew up under the colonial portè-cochere of Hollywood Inn

and were welcomed by the genial Moriarty himself, his Celtic

countenance a mirror of smiles.

"Anything in the house to eat?" I cried, shaking the robes from me.

"Anything ye like, if you like cowld things. I can hate ye a pot of

coffee on the gasolene-burner, and there's manny a vintage in the

cillars."

"That will be plenty!"--joyfully, helping Miss Hawthorne to alight.

"Sure, and ye are from the Hunt Club!"--noting our costumes. "Well,

well! They niver have anny too much grub. Now, I'll putt ye in a

little room all be yersilves, with a windy and a log-fire; cozy as ye

plaze. Ye'll have nearly two hours to wait for the car-r from the

village."

We entered the general assembly-room. It was roomy and quaint, and

somewhere above us was the inevitable room in which George Washington

had slept. The great hooded fireplace was merry with crackling logs.

Casually I observed that we were not alone. Over yonder, in a shadowed

corner, sat two men, very well bundled up, and, to all appearances,

fast asleep. Moriarty lighted a four-branched candelabrum and showed

us the way to the little private dining-room, took our orders, and left

us.

"This is romance," said I. "They used to do these things hundreds of

years ago, and everybody had a good time."

"It is now all very wicked and improper," murmured the girl, laying

aside her domino for the first time; "but delightful! I now find I

haven't the least bit of remorse for what I have done."

In that dark evening gown she was very beautiful. Her arms and

shoulders were tinted like Carrara marble; and I knew instantly that I

was never going to recover. I drew two chairs close to the grate. I

sat down in one and she in the other. With a contented sigh she rested

her blue-slippered feet on the brass fender.

"My one regret is that I haven't any shoes. What an adventure!"

"It's fine!" Two hours in the society of this enchanting creature! It

was almost too good to be true. Ah, if it might always be like

this--to return home from the day's work, to be greeted warmly by a

woman as beautiful as this one! I sighed loudly.