A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 128: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

-_ vs -" 7 at 3 es 120 A SERVANT OF SATAN. was a superb ball given by a Mr. and Mrs. Van der Beck, who were intimate friends of the colonel and his wife. The dance was preceded by some private theatricals. The piece _ performed was ‘‘ La Belle Helene,” the role of Paris being filled by Frederick and that of Helene by Mme. Vander ~ Beck, who, although no longer in the first bloom of youth, was still a remarkably handsome woman. ‘Tall, with mag- nificent auburn hair and lustrous hazel eyes, she was, like _ many of the Dutch ladies in the far East, slightly inclined to embonpoint, a disposition due to their lazy and indolent existence and to the high living in which they indulged. _ When, in the second act of the operetta, she made her ap- pearance in the great scene with Paris she was greeted with a murmur of admiration and approval. Her skirt of prim- rose-colored satin was parted, Greek fashion, from the hem to the hip on the left side in such a manner as to reveal an exceedingly shapely leg, and her magnificent hair, loosened and falling far below her waist, covered her low-cut and gold-embroidered ‘‘ peplum” like a royal mantle. Frederick as Paris, in a costume of pale-blue and silver, looked like a Greek god, and when they began the “‘duo du Reve” a perfect storm of applause broke out. It was noticed by many of those present that Mme. Van der Beck acted’ her part with rather more fervor and feeling than might have been considered strictly necessary for a drawing-room per- formance. However, as Mr. Van der Beck himself was in raptures about his wife’s acting, there was nothing more to be said in the matter. From that time forth Frederick became a constant visitor at the Van der Beck villa, and strange to say, was as great a favorite of the husband as he was of the wife. Mr. Van der Beck was one of the most prominent and wealthy mer- chants of the East India trade, and owned vast warehouses, not only at Batavia, but also at Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The life in these Dutch colonies is an extremely agreeable (aCe payicel eXeXo) <3 (ele)