A CHRISTMAS FLIRTATION

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1926, Page 16 (Supplement)

A CHRISTMAS FLIRTATION

BY ADOLPHE MENJOU. What Is a Christmas party without a flirtation! Why, everything conspires to make the setting perfect. The mistletoe; the dim light shed by the candles of the Christmas tree; the many new corners created when furniture has to be stowed away in passages to clear the rooms for dancing; are not all these things especially brought about so that we may take advantage of them? Mark you, I most carefully avoided saying that they are created for the advantage of lovers. If you must tall in love at Christmas, I suppose there is no hope for y ■: but » flirtation, believe me, is infinitely better suited to the frivolity of the season. One might liken falling in love to a piece of cold roast mutton, while a Christmas flirtation is as delicate as a souffle.: it is a masterpiece, a work of art. It evaporates before you have had time to w—grow tired of it; and it leaves the very sweetest memories behind. t My most memorable Christmas flirtation was conducted with an old lady of eighty! The years had sharpened rather than dimmed her appreciation of a good time. She was a most accomplished flirt, knew every move and trick of the game. At times I almost suspected her of “pulling my leg"—metaphorically, of course —and there were times whdn I certainly tried to baffle her. But during all this play and interplay, this dainty lance and parry with invisible weapons, we managed to see through each other, and it added immensely to our enjoyment. My first glimpse of her was when she came sailing magnificently down the broad staircase—as dainty as a piece of Dresden china, as dignified as a French marquise. She carried a train of beautiful lace with an elegance that modern girls (who seem all leg) have lost. Her small, pointed feet peeped out beneath the edge of her skirt, and her face was more than half hidden beneath her fan; only tier bright eyes, her arched brows and her crown of snowy hair could be seen above it. I offered her my arm to conduct her in to dinner; she took it like an Empress, and gave it a little gentle pressure—like a woman I From that moment I was her slave. Towards midnight we fell a-wish-ing. It was a custom in that house. “I wish, oh, how I wish. 1 could I have all the chanaces I have missed!" sighed my little marquise. I “Chances of nights like this?" I ■ hinted, lifting her hand and kissing ft. I “Oh, I haven't missed any of those!" ; replied the lady, tapping me playfully ■‘with her fan.