Page:No More Parades (Albert & Charles Boni).djvu/151

 "But he couldn't!" he exclaimed agitatedly. "You said that he was playing the part of Jesus Christ. Our Lord wouldn't hit people in an hotel lounge

"Our Lord!" Sylvia said contemptuously. "What do you know about our Lord Our Lord was a gentleman Christopher is playing at being our Lord calling on the woman taken in adultery He's giving me the social backing that his being my husband seems to him to call for."

A one-armed, bearded maître d'hôtel approached them through groups of arm-chairs arranged for tête-à-tête. He said:

"Pardon I did not see madame at first And displayed a card on a salver. Without looking at it, Sylvia said:

"Dîtes à ce monsieur that I am occupied." The maître d'hôtel moved austerely away.

"But he'll smash me to pieces Perowne exclaimed. "What am I to do What the deuce am I to do?" There would have been no way of exit for him except across Tietjens' face.

With her spine very rigid and the expression of a snake that fixes a bird, Sylvia gazed straight in front of her and said nothing until she exclaimed:

"For God's sake leave off trembling He would not do anything to a girl like you He's a man The wickerwork of Perowne's chair had been crepitating as if it had been in a railway car. The sound ceased with a jerk Suddenly she clenched both her hands and let out a hateful little breath of air between her teeth.

"By the immortal saints," she exclaimed, "I swear I'll make his wooden face wince yet."