United States or Qatar ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I took the small car out to-day on the road to Cannes and I expect I was the first to see Douaille." "I saw him myself," Hunterleys announced. "I was out on that road, walking." "Douaille," Roche continued, "went direct to the Villa Mimosa. Grex was there, waiting for him. Draconmeyer and Selingman both kept out of the way." Hunterleys nodded. "Reasonable enough, that.
Only once a more somber note seemed struck when Mrs. Draconmeyer, leaning on her husband's arm and accompanied by a nurse and Lady Hunterleys, passed to their table. Hunterleys' eyes followed the little party until they had reached their destination and taken their places. His wife was wearing black and she had discarded the pearls which had hung around her neck during the afternoon.
Whilst Hunterleys hesitated, there was a touch upon his arm. He glanced around. "Hullo, David!" he exclaimed. "Were you waiting for me?" The young man fell into step by his side. "I have been to the hotel," he said, in a low tone. "They thought you might be here. Can you come up later say at one o'clock?" "Certainly," Hunterleys answered. "Where's Sidney?" "He's working now.
"An unexpected pleasure," he murmured. "I am here with Mr. Draconmeyer," she told him, almost bluntly. Hunterleys bowed. "And a party?" he enquired. "No," she replied. "I really did not want to come. Mr. Draconmeyer had promised Monsieur Pericot, the director here, to come and bring Mrs. Draconmeyer.
The strain of all this life, whipped into an artificial froth of pleasure by the constant excitement of the one accepted vice of the world, had suddenly lost its hold upon her. The inevitable question had presented itself. She was counting values and realising.... When at last she rose wearily to her feet, Hunterleys was passing through the hall of the hotel, on his way out.
"They can't do more than arrest him as a trespasser, or something of that sort, surely?" Hunterleys laughed grimly. "These men wouldn't stick at much," he told his companion. "They're hand in glove with the authorities here. Anything they did would be hushed up in the name of the law. These things are never allowed to come out. It doesn't do any one any good to have them gossiped about.
Simpson intervened, his eyes fixed upon an approaching figure, "that there is a young lady talking to the maître d'hôtel, who is trying to attract your attention." Hunterleys turned around in his chair. It was Felicia who was making her way towards him. He rose at once to his feet. There was a little murmur of interest amongst the lunchers as she threaded her way past the tables.
"I think that she lost," Hunterleys replied indifferently. "Her gambling, however, is like mine, I imagine, on a fairly negligible scale." Richard whistled softly. "Well, I don't know," he observed. "I saw her going for maximums yesterday pretty steadily. A few thousands doesn't last very long at that little game." Hunterleys smiled. "A few thousands!" he repeated.
At the last moment, however, she was not well enough, and he almost insisted upon my taking her place." "Is it necessary to explain?" Hunterleys asked quietly. "You know very well how I regard this friendship of yours." "I am sorry," she said. "If I had known that we were likely to meet well, I would not have come here to-night." "You were at least considerate," he remarked bitterly.
His deep-set eyes and sensitive mouth were in marked contrast to the other's coarser mould of features and rather full lips. Yet there was about both men an air of strength, strength developed, perhaps, in a different manner, but still an appreciable quality. "They say that the whole world is here," Hunterleys remarked. "Why may not I form a harmless unit of it?" "Why not, indeed?"
Word Of The Day