Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

f iW we) oe) iy Gs ae i 4 Z ‘ “ VaR a fa? with the Blakes. She had lost touch with THE YELLOW FLAME: hardly provide Odette with print dresses, and would hardly allew her to compete so- cially with the -wife of a prosperous head- man. Yet, Paula liked Dillon better than any man of her acquaintance; but as the uncrowned queen of Vahiti she had to consider Odette’s prestige. She opened the letter with a sudden intuition of trouble. Pretty sisters living from home often de- veloped a flair in the writing of scare cor-_ respondence, she told herself. My pDEAR PAULA: I have done it, and it is hard to say at this distance whether you will congratulate or dis- own me. The plain truth is I have decided to marry Chiang tu Lee, who has been visiting the Blakes a good deal lately. He is twenty- . three and an M. A. of Oxford. I am writing Frank and he will get my letter at San Fran- cisco about the end of the month. In these latitudes, my dear Paula, women age quickly, and I am going to be a good loser in the race if I wait for Frank. Of course I like him immensely, everybody likes dear old Frank; but to put it coldly, sister mine, I cannot see myself cutting any ice socially as the wife of Dillon. I cannot even attempt a description of Chiang—only a Kipling or a Conrad would have the audacity. Please don’t scold me when you write. The weather in Songolo is hot, a hundred and two under the veranda! Pray for your little Odette and give love to George. Paula Wyngate crushed the letter in her strong white hand. Her soft cheeks grew suddenly slack and drawn. She sat up in the hammock as though the dazzling tropic light had blinded her. Odette was going to marry a Chinaman! She tore the letter in fifty pieces and flung the bits where the southeast trade wind scattered them over the face of the lagoon. The trade name of Chiang tu Lee was too well known in the archipelago to have escaped her. It was the name that stood at the head of a dozen big Chinese banking institutions; it was the name that the new flotilla of steamers plying between Shanghai and Rangoon, half the rice mills in Cambodia and Lombok. Old man Lee, ‘the father of Chiang, had amassed a colos- sal fortune out of opium and silk, and had died only a year before, leaving Chiang as his sole heir and trustee. — But this fact brought- small solace to Paula Wyngate. Odette had been too long ——— "2 a zs “ 25 a 2 al — a ae Set ee Pe Pe — ~~ <2 ee ee ee a ee ee lh ig ae ee ek ee owned ‘upturned biscuit case. the outside world. Like scores of other well-meaning young ladies, she had permit- ted the islands to drug and disturb her sense of social propriety. Marry a Chinaman! Odette had gone mad! : The mere contemplation of such an event caused Paula’s head to spin. It would mean the end of her and George. No more dances and bridge parties at the beach con- sulates; no more highbrow teas with the visiting commodores and captains from the various naval units. If Odette insisted on carrying out her project, nothing but flight would be left for her and George—a midnight stampede to the first westbound steamer or tramp. Songolo is fifteen hundred miles north- northeast of Vahiti, and steamers called for passengers and cargo every fortnight or thereabouts. Paula felt like crying as she leaned against the veranda rail. She could not tell her husband what Odette had writ- ten. It would be like beating an inoffensive collie. She must go to Songolo at once. A steamer was due in about two days. Passing from the bungalow, she entered the trade house, where George was watch- ing his staff of native boys unpacking some cases of cotton trade and hardware. He looked up quickly as she entered. “ Hello, dear! Mail day and a worried look!”” he greeted genially. ‘ Anything wrong?” “ Odette is contracting yellow -fever or some other malady, by the tone of- her latest. I suppose I’ll have to run up ahd attend to her system.” * Run up to Songolo!” <A look of dis- may crossed George. “ That’s going to take ‘a month!” he protested, a momentary vis- ion of himself living alone in the bungalow presenting itself. “ My dear hubby, don’t be so selfish. “Yt don’t want to go north this weather. Odette has been fooling away her life at the Blakes’ since last November. She’s got to come. home—here,”’ Paula stated firmly. y George sighed as he sat beside her onan “ T wanted the kid to come here long ago. Seems to me as if the Blakes want to keep her for good. get the consul to wireless a berth for you rm . k Keb “ey id AS Thy fs = ; - , a j Mt Pee ae a ee eee le > comicbooks C af aes