The Argosy, October 1906 — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

Todd’ s eyes were on mine‘and I thought 2 read pity for me in them. I liked to = think so. I needed it. ~ The countess had listened to the dog- --gerel words of the song with .a pained effort to catch their meaning. She had heard the music, as rendered by Billy, with the morbid curiosity that one might __ bestow on a three-headed cat. fe ‘“Ah, a little lyric of mother-love!” peg Be hazarded vaguely, as he finished. i) ‘A corker. A bunch was just -Be- ____ ginnin’ to carol it when I did my jump ee across the pond. It’s one of the newest. _Fretty smooth, eh?”’ = Doris mercifully called the attention ex of the others to the antics of a street acrobat. who was throwing pin-wheels just below the Masaniello balcony where cae we were lounging after dinner. ve eSay, growled Billy, under cover of SS ~ the general talk, “‘ what'd you want to tea ive me the eye for? I wasn’t makin’ no breaks. That song’s all right. You could feed it to a baby.” - “She was making a fool of you,’ capt -_ answered. ~~ “H’m!_ You're jealous ’cause she’s Pee took a shine to my gait. Oh, you needn’t do the giant curve with your lips. I’ve got winnin’ ways all right when I want : to hand ’em out. As for this countess party, any one can see I’m catchin’ her -goin’ and comin’. Oh, when it comes to eatin’ up hearts, I’m a pitiless wolf!” “You're a pitiful ass! Can’t you see this French woman is only civil to you because she thinks you rich and_be- = —Cause——"’ of adding that she also evidently thought him a member or perhaps a Sous of the scarab organization. ~* “ Well, maybe I ave made a noise like a rail ote ire once or twice for -her ben’fit,’ he admitted. ‘But what : harm’ll it do? I’m not on the marry. Why shouldn’t she have a treat in gettin’ the idea a_millionaire’s talking to her? = = He rambled on in like strain of self-. == justification ; but I paid no further atten- -tion to him. My thoughts had wandered - elsewhere. Not to Doris Todd, as they lately had an incorrigible way of doing ; but to the fact that affairs must sooner 3 or later come to a head, and that I might = do worse than force Sebaste’s hand. — = = - = <— ae. = THE ARGOSY. eee I checked myself as I was on the point. Two weeks had ie. == since my adventure in the, grotto of the Styx— lazy, delightful weeks; the happiest I had ever known. I had driven or walked daily with Doris Todd; brutally stran- gling my saner resolutions to be on my guard against becoming too deeply in- terested in a daughter of Amos Todd. We had taken delightful little trips— all six of us—to Ischia, Pompeii, Capri, Vesuvius, and the half-hundred other wonder-spots that cluster about Naples. In the course\of these I had managed to keep fairly close to Doris’s side. This served a double purpose; it en- abled me to have more of her society and. also prevented long converse of any pfri- vate sort with Sebaste. The count, as the days wore on and I took no further steps in my role of the man from Vienna, was visibly impatient. Once or twice he hinted to me that time was passing rapidly and nothing was being done. On each occasion I managed to put him off with some lofty remark about the necessity of awaiting the occurrence of some mysterious event. At first Ahe explanation had pacified him; but of late I’could see that he was growing restless. A little more and he might even become suspicious. Or— worse still—the real man from Vienna might turn up. Indeed, I often wondered what might have. ‘become of that important person- age. My true reason for doing nothing further toward ferreting out the mystery of the scarab during the past fortnight was that there seemed nothing I could do without betraying my position as an outsider. Also I had-hoped, daily, that fate might again deal some big card into my hand. But no such card had fo dealt ; and the freshness of the romance had begun to wear off. On this evening, just as we went in to dinner, Sebaste had whispered to me: “Your command could not be sooner ~_ obeyed; for he was away from Naples and none knew where. But he returned to-day, and all shall be arranged at once. has caused you to delay?” — I had bowed in silent, “uncomprehend: =< ing acquiescence—and had spent all Se! S Perhaps it is partly that which os