AT before he lost his money. As it is, it will be cheaper in the end for me to pick up a few things here. The advantage of going to the French dress-makers is that they'll wait twice as long for their money as the people at home. And they're all crazy to dress me--Bertha Shallum will tell you so: she says no one ever had such a chance! That's why I was willing to come to this stuffy little hotel--I wanted to save every scrap I could to get a few decent things. And over here they're accustomed to being bargained with--you ought to see how I've beaten them down! Have you any idea what a dinner-dress costs in New <a href="http://www.oakleyshubs.com/replica-oakley-sunglasses-promotion-replica-oakley-pit-boss-sunglasses-c-39_51.html">Replica Oakley Pit Boss</a> York--?"
So it went on, obtusely and persistently, whenever he tried to sound the note of prudence. But on other themes she was more than usually responsive. Paris enchanted her, and they had delightful hours at the theatres--the <a <a href="http://www.oakleysshadestore.com/fake-oakley-minute-c-22.html">Fake Oakley Minute sunglasses</a> href="http://www.oakleysshadestore.com/fake-oakley-pit-boss-c-12.html">Fake Oakley Pit Boss sunglasses</a> "little" ones--amusing dinners at fashionable restaurants, and reckless evenings in haunts where she thrilled with simple glee at the thought of what she must so obviously be "taken for." All these familiar diversions regained, for Ralph, a fresh zest in her company. Her innocence, her high spirits, her astounding comments and credulities, renovated the old Parisian adventure and flung a veil of romance over its hackneyed scenes. Beheld through such a medium the future looked less near and implacable, and Ralph, when he had received a reassuring letter from his sister, let his conscience sleep and slipped forth on the high tide of pleasure. After all, in New York amusements would be fewer, and their life, for a time, perhaps more quiet. Moreover, Ralph's dim glimpses of Mr. Spragg's past suggested that the latter was likely to be on his feet again at any moment, and atoning by redoubled prodigalities for his temporary straits; and beyond all these possibilities there was the book to be written--the book on which Ralph was sure he should get a real hold as soon as they settled down in New York.
Meanwhile the daily cost of living, and the bills that could not be deferred, were eating deep into Laura's subsidy. Ralph's anxieties returned,
surprise it in the midsummer crowds of St. Moritz? Undine, at any rate, had found there what she wanted; and when he was at her side, and her radiant smile included him, every other question was in abeyance. But there were hours of solitary striding over bare grassy slopes, face to face with the ironic interrogation of sky and mountains, when his anxieties came back, more persistent and importunate. Sometimes they took the form of merely material difficulties. How, for instance, was he to meet the cost of their ruinous suite at the Engadine Palace while he awaited Mr. Spragg's next remittance? And once the hotel bills were paid, what would be left for the journey back to Paris, the looming expenses there, the price of the passage to America? These questions would fling him back on the thought of his projected book, which was, after all, to be what the masterpieces of literature had <a href="http://www.oakleyshubs.com/replica-oakley-sunglasses-promotion-replica-oakley-pit-boss-sunglasses-c-39_51.html">Replica Oakley Pit Boss</a> mostly been--a pot-boiler. Well! Why not? Did not the worshipper always heap the rarest essences on the altar of his divinity? Ralph still rejoiced in the thought of giving back to Undine something of the beauty of their first months together. But even on his solitary walks the vision eluded him; and he could spare so few hours to its pursuit!
Undine's days were crowded, and it was still a matter of course that where she went he should follow. He had risen visibly in her opinion since they <a href="http://www.oakleyshubs.com/replica-oakley-sunglasses-promotion-replica-oakley-antix-sunglasses-c-39_57.html">Cheap oakleys Antix Sunglasses</a> had been absorbed into the life of the big hotels, and she had seen that his command of foreign tongues put him at an advantage <a href="http://www.oakleysshadestore.com/fake-oakley-half-jacket-c-3.html">Oakley Half Jacket sunglasses outlet</a> even in circles where English was generally spoken if not understood. Undine herself, hampered by her lack of languages, was soon drawn into the group of compatriots who struck the social pitch of their hotel.
Their types were familiar enough to Ralph, who had taken their measure in former wanderings, and come across their duplicates in every scene of continental idleness. Foremost among them was Mrs. Harvey Shallum, a showy Parisianized figure, with a small wax-featured husband whose ultra-fashionable clothes seemed a tribute to his wife's importance rather than the mark of his personal taste. Mr. Shall
Degen's flower was put in the other night; only hers was a camellia.--Do you think I'd look better with a camellia?"
"I guess if Mrs. Van Degen looked like a rose she'd 'a worn a rose," Mrs. Heeny rejoined poetically. "Sit still a minute longer," she added. "Your hair's so heavy I'd feel easier if I was to put in <a href="http://www.montblancom.com/montblanc-john-lennon-pens-c-18.html">Mont blanc Marlene Dietrich Pen uk</a> another pin."
Undine remained motionless, and the manicure, suddenly laying both hands on the girl's shoulders, and bending over to peer at her reflection, said playfully: "Ever been engaged before, Undine?"
A blush rose to <a href="http://www.montblancom.com/montblanc-boheme-pens-c-1.html">Mont blanc Etoile Pen sale</a> the face in the mirror, spreading from chin to brow, and running rosily over the white shoulders from which their covering had slipped down.
"My! If he could see you now!" Mrs. Heeny jested.
Mrs. Spragg, rising noiselessly, glided across <a href="http://www.montblancom.com/">Mont Blanc UK</a> the room and became lost in a minute examination of the dress laid out on the bed.
With a supple twist Undine slipped from Mrs. Heeny's hold.
"Engaged? Mercy, yes! Didn't you know? To the Prince of Wales. I broke it off because I wouldn't live in the Tower."
Mrs. Spragg, lifting the dress cautiously over her arm, advanced with a reassured smile.
"I s'pose Undie'll go to Europe now," she said to Mrs. Heeny.
"I guess Undie WILL!" the young lady herself declared. "We're going to sail right afterward.--Here, mother, do be careful of my hair!" She ducked gracefully to slip into the lacy fabric which her mother held above her head. As she rose Venus-like above its folds there was a tap on the door, immediately followed by its tentative opening.
"Mabel!" Undine muttered, her brows lowering like her father's; and Mrs. Spragg, wheeling about to screen her daughter, addressed herself protestingly to the half-open door.
"Who's there? Oh, that YOU, Mrs. Lipscomb? Well, I don't know as you CAN--Undie isn't half dressed yet--"
"Just like her--always pushing in!" Undine murmured as she slipped her arms into their transparent sleeves.
"Oh, that don't matter--I'll help dress her!" Mrs. Lipscomb's large
er his small dark moustache.
"Well, I--That's about the stiffest," he murmured; and as she made no answer he added: "Afraid I'll ask to be introduced to your friend?"
She made a faint movement of entreaty. "I can't explain. I promise to see you; but I ASK you not to talk to me now."
He unfolded his programme, and went on speaking in a low tone while he affected to study it. <a href="http://www.oakleysshadestore.com/fake-oakley-monster-dog-c-7.html">Oakley Monster Dog sunglasses outlet</a> "Anything to oblige, of course. That's always been my motto. But is it a bargain--fair and square? You'll see me?"
She receded farther from him. "I promise. I--I WANT to," she faltered.
"All right, then. <a href="http://www.oakleysshadestore.com/fake-oakley-oil-rig-c-20.html">Oakley Oil Rig sunglasses outlet</a> Call me up in the morning at the Driscoll Building. Seven-o-nine--got it?"
She nodded, and he added in a still lower tone: "I suppose I can congratulate you, anyhow?" and then, without waiting for her reply, turned to study Mrs. Van Degen's box through his opera-glass. Clare, as if aware of the scrutiny fixed on her from below leaned back and threw a question over her shoulder to Ralph Marvell, who had just seated himself behind her.
"Who's the funny man with the red face talking to Miss Spragg?"
Ralph bent forward. "The man next to her? Never saw him before. But I think you're mistaken: she's not speaking to him."
"She WAS--Wasn't she, Harriet?"
Miss Ray pinched her lips together without <a href="http://www.oakleyshubs.com/replica-oakley-sunglasses-promotion-replica-oakley-antix-sunglasses-c-39_57.html">Cheap oakleys Antix Sunglasses</a> speaking, and Mrs. Van Degen paused for the fraction of a second. "Perhaps he's an Apex friend," she then suggested.
"Very likely. Only I think she'd have introduced him if he had been."
His cousin faintly shrugged. "Shall you encourage that?"
Peter Van Degen, who had strayed into his wife's box for a moment, caught the colloquy, and lifted his opera-glass.
"The fellow next to Miss Spragg? (By George, Ralph, she's ripping to-night!) Wait a minute--I know his face. Saw him in old Harmon Driscoll's office the day of the Eubaw Mine meeting. This chap's his secretary, or something. Driscoll called him in to give some facts to the directors, and he seemed a mighty wide-awake customer."
Clare V
t; which were appearing in Boudoir Chat. Her mere appearance in the restaurant therefore prepared her parents for those symptoms of excessive tension which a nearer inspection confirmed, and Mr. Spragg folded his paper and hooked his glasses to his waistcoat with the air of a man who prefers to know the worst and have it over.
"An opera box!" faltered Mrs. Spragg, pushing aside the bananas and <a href="http://www.oakleysshadestore.com/fake-oakley-monster-dog-c-7.html">Oakley Monster Dog sunglasses outlet</a> cream with which she had been trying to tempt an appetite too languid for fried liver or crab mayonnaise.
"A parterre box," Undine corrected, ignoring the exclamation, and continuing <a href="http://www.oakleyshubs.com/replica-oakley-forsake-sunglasses-c-81.html">Fake Oakley Forsake</a> to address herself to her father. "Friday's the stylish night, and that new tenor's going to sing again in 'Cavaleeria,'" she condescended to explain.
"That so?" Mr. Spragg thrust his hands into his waistcoat pockets, and began to tilt his chair till he remembered there was no wall to meet it. He regained his balance and said: "Wouldn't a couple of good orchestra seats do you?"
"No; they wouldn't," Undine answered with a darkening brow. He looked at her humorously. "You invited the whole dinner-party, I suppose?"
"No--no one."
"Going all alone in a box?" She was disdainfully silent. "I don't s'pose you're thinking of taking mother and me?"
This was so obviously comic that they all laughed--even <a href="http://www.oakleyshubs.com/replica-oakley-sunglasses-promotion-replica-oakley-antix-sunglasses-c-39_57.html">Cheap oakleys Antix Sunglasses</a> Mrs. Spragg--and Undine went on more mildly: "I want to do something for Mabel Lipscomb: make some return. She's always taking me 'round, and I've never done a thing for her--not a single thing."
This appeal to the national belief in the duty of reciprocal "treating" could not fail of its effect, and Mrs. Spragg murmured: "She never HAS, Abner,"--but Mr. Spragg's brow remained unrelenting.
"Do you know what a box costs?"
"No; but I s'pose you do," Undine returned with unconscious flippancy.
"I do. That's the trouble. WHY won't seats do you?"
"Mabel could buy seats for herself."
"That's so," interpolated Mrs. Spragg--always the first to succumb to
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