"A TRIUMPH OF LOVE"

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 37, 13 February 1929, Page 20

"A TRIUMPH OF LOVE"

' - By PIERRE BILLOTEY II

CHAPTER XX. "Madeleine was under no illusions at>out the chance which had so conveniently brought Luce and Count Sarosch together at -St. Cloud. She understood row why they had come to Sevree. It did not annoy her. On the contrary, and •he would have been entirely devoid of curiosity if she did not wish to see this famous Heepodar about whom Madame Forest had told her so much. Madeleine •greed therefore quite readily as the jiioet natural thing in the world to go to the Blue Pavilion with Luce and Sarosch. The latter greeted her very deferentially. Then he described the Oriental countries in which his vaet domains were situated. He described the rivers and the plains, the people and the towns of hie native Moldavia. His voice was a melody and his gestures were more lyrical still. He conjured up visions of the fields where Moldavia cultivates the rose from which perfumes and sweets are made and, with a superb gesture, Daniel seemed to present to Madeleine millions of the red flowers and offer them as a gigantic bouquet.

It was for her that he sang, -he silvertongued poet; Madeleine soon realised this, for he did not spare his smiles and eoulf nl glances. She was vastly amuied. She recognised him as false and flattering, this ISaroech, a charming serenader and skilful seducer. What a complete difference from Jacques. Shorter and more broad-shouldered with an athfstic figure, the Hospodar was about thirty years old- or a little more. Waat was particularly striking about his face was the contrast between his fair hair and his sombre brown eyes. The flashing of those eye* was so extraordinary that they embarrassed those upon whom they were turned. At last Daniel interrupted himself to consult his watch and to propose that they should dine at the Blue Pavilion. 0 This time Luce refused firmly, but Sarosch insisted, affectionate and pressing. r "Why 3jot?" Madeleine asked. "It's nic*%ere." and very agreeable y suuaiea That was the reason she gav e but her real reason w M different Evm the v »weete;t dispositions sometime* ,11 "J! Jhemeelve* the piquant pleaem* of \

little cruelty. Xow for some minutes 1 since Daniel Sarosch had been addressing himself entirely to Madeleine and dis° playing all his accomplishments for her benefit, the young girl had realised that Luce was becoming more and more alarmed. Madame Forest, vho a little while ago was resplendent with triumphant joy, now presented a face tortured by fear, anger and jealousy, and this greatly amused Madeleine. Do not imagine that the young girl was made of the stuff of Nero or Torquemada. She had surely the right to take a little revenge on her governess. After the meal, as night was fallinoa servant came to announce that a carnage was ready, and the three rose. "Let ue get a move on," said Luce crossly. She hastened to set an example believing that Madeleine and Daniel would be just behind her. After some distance she turned and found herself alone. Then, trembling with anxietv she hastened back. • *' At the moment when Madeleine emerged from the restaurant Daniel had held her by the hand and led her behind the bushes. "Listen," he sighed, "1 cannot keep silent any longer. I must shout my admiration. Ah, mademoiselle, you are more than dazzling." Madeleine did not reply. The inclination to burst into laughter was too strong, for she remembered perfectly that th*i wa'i the precise phrase which he had used to Luce two or three days before. "I have been over the whole world," went on the Hoepodar, earnestly, "and never,**l swear, never any where" have I met a young girl so ravishing, so delicious, so beautiful as you, marvellous mademoiselle." "You must have traveUed very quickly and not seen very much," replied Madeleine, bursting into laughter. It was then that she saw between the bushes the figure of Luce Forest, standing terrible with her arms crossed like a statue of vengeance. Luce, however, had arrived too late to hear any more than Madeleine's laet words.

CHAPTER XXI. Count them, as they sit round on the ground. There are nine of them — Madeleine and Luce, Pauline and Nicolette, Jacques Durochat and Daniel Sarosch, the stout Gustave de Beras, and the worthy servant of Qarain, Jules Gremort \iniself. Finally, there is the

blonde young lady whose acquaintance you have not yet made. For the moment they are very busily occupied in putting on etockings, and, contrary to the usual practice, they are putting them on over their shoes. The fact is that they are preparing to go out on to a serv of ice. A little while before they had all taken together the little train" from Chomonix that goes out to Montanvert. There on this rocky platform they had first admired the formidable and confusing perspective of crests and peaks, the red eagles, the Dru, and, above all, like an immense frozen rfver, the most illustrious glacier of Mont Blanc. They have engaged the services of a guide, who, at the outset, had advised them to buy stockings, and here they are, two thousand metres up, where there is quite an important business done in woollen .socks with which it is wise to provide yourself if you wish to win the honours of the sea of ice without slipping about. Hence we find them all, all nine, engaged in this interesting task.

"I shall never do it," said Xicolette, plaintively, after a pretence at effort. She has her idea, Nicolette, and she is not far wrong, for Ju7es Gremont promptly comes forward smilingly to offer her his assistance. All ready, at length they go forward, the guide leading and Pauline proudly following him by herself. Less hardy, or more sociable, Xicolette, Madeleine, Luce and the blonde young lady lend each other the assistance of their arms or shoulders; thus behind Pauline four couples are formed, and they seem bent upon increasing the distance between them.

First of all there are Madame Forest and (Justave de Beras. If they say little they see a ff ood deal. Luce slips so often and give, su.-h frightened 'ittle screams that a suspicion -."looker might euspect that her sole object in skatir.g was to give M. de Beras a chance to catch hold of her. It is not very secure on the ice, however, for a stout man. and hence M. de Beras, believing that he was coming to the assistance of Luce, who had no idea of falling, toppled over himself, dragging Madame Forest with him! There is no need for alarm, for Luce has not suffered any injury, and she is soon on her feet again, all smiles. After them come side by side Madeleine and Daniel Sarosch. She has a rose-coloured dress with white stripes, and he a most amazing jade green flannel suit. Daniel is holding forth in a most charming fashion and Madeleine is listening carefully with the most amiable air in the worold. He is crying down the mountains that have been overboosted, he say;;, and excessively cried up by the French, an ignor ant and vain race.

"Ah, if they only knew the Krapack mountains! There on the Moldavian slopes, was the Gothic Chateau of which the Counts Sarosch in the fourteenth century, heirs of the famous Viovodo Bodgan. . . ? "Thirty-eeven," said Madeleine. Sarosch looked at her queetioningly, and she went on:

"How I admire you not to get mixed up among so many ancestors. Yes, I have ancestors, too, but I stop at a hundred." While making this gay retort, Madeleine turned her head to cast a glance on Jacques, who, some distance behind, was engaged with Madame Marsault, the pretty blonde. It is a delightful spectacle, is it not, on a summer morning in the full sunshine, surrounded by all these impressive masses of ice, to see a neatly dressed young woman walking hesitatingly, but carefully and graciously, leaning on the arm of a nice-looking young man? You would have said that they were two charming dancers in an extraordinary setting. Yet Madeleine seemed to regard them without any sort of pleasure, e\en artistic. She even looked indignant. Why? Only Madeleine could answer that question, and it is not certain that she could. As to Madame Marsault, whom Jacques sometimes called Genevieve, without her appearing to mind, she is one of the boarders at the Hotel Splendid, where the party had known her for some days past. Genevieve depicts M. Marsault, her husband, as one of those men who are continually wrapped up in their business, and never allow themselves to take a holiday. At least, that is what they tell their wives, adding that that is no reason why the ladies should not have a change. Thus they send them for a month or two to the sea or the mountains, no matter where, so long as it is far enough away. Whether M. Marsault during these absences is unoccupied is another question. For her part, Madame Marsault, isolated among two hundred English tourists, would undoubtedly have been bored if Luce and Madeleine and the others, particularly Jacques, had not arrived on the scene. She had not hesitated to make advances, and declared herself very happy to sit at their table and accompany them on their walks. And Jacques? Well, Jacques is not one of those young men who always have a sporting journal under their eyes, and never glance up even to look at the prettiest of women. Besides, it must be remembered that, since the Treaty of Sevres, he was a free man. As to Gremont, who could have Imagined that this gentleman, hitherto so grave and so serious, could suddenly display himself frivolous and even turbulent? With his hat on back to front, and his beard in disarray, he positively gallops over the ice holding by the hand Xicolette breathless with her exertions. He takes the pretty little lady by the waist and seats her" on one of the blocks for all the world as though Bhe were a doll. Then he seizes hold of her again and rushes her off at a bewildering rate, while the charming creature, at once disquieted and delighted, cries: "Jules, do be serious I"

There is something terrible in the sudden extravagance of a solemn man Here is Gremont, who for 30 years dressed in a sombre black and with an almost sorrovrful expression, has seemed to have all the cares of the world on his shoulders, dissipating himself with icolette in the most capricious fashion Has he become riiad? Not altogether but there is something unsettled, either in his mind or his heart, or rather in both, for one does not go wrong without the other. The fact is that Jules Gremont is in love for the first time in his life. It is the law of contrasts. The tall and solemn servant of Kngene would perhaps never have submitted to the pangs of passion if be had not happened to encounter the tiny and eccentric N icolette. (To be continued daily.)