Mr. Blumenthal said so. But how to avoid them? Oh, I must be careful;
so careful! How do women dare to ride bicycles?
And this theatrical Napoleon, part of whose business is the appraisement
of beauty--did he suspect that mine was less than perfect? It was perfect
a month ago.
He couldn't have meant that, or he was trying to make a better bargain by
cheapening the wares I brought--
But I can't go upon the stage. How could I have thought of it? I mustn't
subject myself to the late hours, the grease paint, the bad air! Of what
use would be a mint of money, if I lost my beauty?
I steadied my nerves with a tiny glass of Curacoa, and looked again. The
face in the mirror was beautiful, beautiful! There is no other like it!
And gazing upon radiant Her, I might have recovered myself but for the
third untoward event of the day.
It came in the shape of Bellmer.
Perhaps I ought not to have seen him alone, but it is hard for one who has
lived in the free atmosphere of the prairie, and has been a bachelor girl
in New York with Kitty Reid to think about caution. Besides, it was such a
blessed relief to see his full-moon face rise above the darkness of my
troubles! I greeted him with my sweetest smile, and did my very best to
make myself agreeable.
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