Page:AEW Mason--The affair at the Semiramis Hotel.djvu/20

THE AFFAIR AT THE SEMIRAMIS HOTEL Oh, yes. One from my teacher in Milan. One from an American manager.'

"In my turn I told her my name and where I lived, and I gave her my card. I thought, you see, that since I used to know a good many operatic people, I might be able to help her.

Thank you,' she said, and at that moment Mrs. Blumenstein, followed by a party, chiefly those lap-dog young men who always seem to gather about that kind of person, came into the supper-room and took a table close to us. There was at once an end of all confidences—indeed, of all conversation. Joan Carew lost all the lightness of her spirit; she talked at random, and her eyes were drawn again and again to the grotesque slander on Marie Antoinette. Finally I became annoyed.

Shall we go?' I suggested impatiently, and to my surprise she whispered passionately:

Yes. Please! Let us go.'

"Her voice was actually shaking, her small hands clenched. We went back to the ballroom, but Joan Carew did not recover her gaiety, and half-way through a dance, when we were near to the door, she stopped abruptly—extraordinarily abruptly.

I shall go,' she said abruptly. 'I am tired. I have grown dull.'

"I protested, but she made a little grimace.

You'll hate me in half an hour. Let's be wise 12