Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 19, 1924 — page 65: what you’re looking at

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

A CROWN The meals at the Villa des Oeuillets were rather famous. I always felt awkward and embarrassed with the princess, and couldn’t bring myself to meet her advances with any show of en- thusiasm. I was jealous of her; that was the truth. The mere thought of the king staying in her house tortured me. He and she—and her old husband who looked on complacently. We met in the private club at the Casino the following night. Bunch was an inveterate gambler. I didn’t care about it a bit. I never did more than stake a few louis here and there quite without system, but I always won. Bunch nearly always lost; but she would never let me pay her losses, and when, on rare occasions, her luck turned and she brought off a big coup, she was as delighted as a child. The princess came up to me, as I stood behind Bunch at the baccarat table. She linked her arm into mine, and led me away. ‘““My dear,” she said in a momentous whisper, “ she is here.” “Who?” I asked, absolutely ignorant of what she meant. “Fay Delsarte. I feel you ought to see her. You're not angry with me, are you? I do think you ought to be prepared. Look —over there on the left by the table where my brother is taking the bank—that wom- an all in black! She never wears anything else—in public. The soul of discretion!” The princess laughed softly and her laughter seemed to scorch my heart. I did not want to look at Fay Delsarte; but I had to. She drew my eyes like a magnet. And once having looked, I had to keep on looking. Her moon face of alabaster purity and delicacy, her heavy purple black hair that hid her ears, her midnight eyes so full of secrets, her perfect figure, straight and slender, like a lance. All the hopeless misery of the world stirred in me as I realized that she was associated with Peter. Somehow, as I looked at her, I realized that the king might have made love to the princess to pass the time, but that this inscrutable, severe, statuelike beauty would hold him as Laline de Chanterelle never could. FOR SALE. 535 What hope could there be for me? How could any ordinary girl pit herself against the mystery of those fathomless eyes, against the spell of those serious lips, of that calm brow? “I knew she had a villa near here,” the princess whispered to me. “ But I should have thought even she would have kept away. She must know that he is coming, What do you think of her?” ‘““J—I don’t know,” I said, feeling utterly at sea. ‘“‘She—she doesn’t look a bad woman,” The princess shrugged her shoulders. “Tt depends how you look at it. She’s certainly a clever one. She’s had the king on a chain for years.” ‘“TIs she French?” J asked. “No. Half English, half Spanish, I be- lieve.” That night when we got back to the villa, I asked Bunch whether she had ever heard gossip about King Peter and Mme. Del. sarte. Poor Bunch looked worried to death, which answered me. “You see, Liz, you’ve got to face it,” she said. “Kings are—well, kings. There’s no doubt that he visited very much at her house in Paris, and that they had a circle of friends of their own. I suppose Laline de Chanterelle has been telling you all about 1t? I was silent. ‘““T wonder whether you thought suffi- ciently about this marriage,” Bunch went on anxiously. ‘‘ Are you regretting it, Liz? There might still be time to draw back.” I shook my head. I could not tell her all that was in my heart. “Bunch, the King Peter of the Flower Garden Club is quite another man.” She sighed. “ And you’ve fallen in love with him, and you’re waiting for the time when the king and the dancing partner be- come one and the same. It is a risky game, Liz, darling. But if you’re going on with it, you must look things in the face.” My cheeks burned. I wouldn’t have even beloved Bunch know that I had fallen in love with King Peter, that I was wildly jealous not ate of Laline de Chanterelle, but of Mme. Delsarte. oO EoOmichoo <Si (E@) 3 J iM AGT ii : ae a ee avon GOS . Pee | APRS Me NT Ley tA | 9 AS isl. 3: