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The Woman Who Dared
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to Maximilio as she sal on the arm of his thair. "I want them stored where no one but you and 1 may find them."
"Carissima," returned Maximilio. smiling before kissing her, "your pins and pend ant ma\ resi with the peace of Europe. Behind that steel door lies dynamite lor thrones — go and put your baby treasures among it !"
\\ hen Beatriz returned from the ter rible little gray vault she had the vilest of i onsi iences —and the harsh parchment of the RussItalian treaty rasping the soft flesh beneath her lace blouse.
That night the trusted messenger of Raoul de Rohan read, with many unconscious smirks at its sultry wit. a big illustrated volume of The Decameron, in the Paris express. Under the leather binding of The Decameron was the RussItalian Treaty.
Beatriz, returning from the opera, found Prince Pietro Buzzi awaiting her. She was tired, but he rather insistent, so she received him. Over a glass of cognac Buzzi came swiftly to the point of his call.
"Bella Signorina," he said. "1 wish you to marry me." If his request had been couched in terms respectful or humble Be
atriz would have refused him with <<>hl politeness. Bui his manner was thai "l master ordering maid servant.
"« 11 i ourse 1 shall not !" flung ba< k la Rohan.
Buzzi drummed on the table, evidently
trying to repress a smile which at it best would be no more than a wide sneer.
"Love," he began introspectively, "i a key opening many door-, and locking mans doors. 1 love you ) if you love mi — pi happiness, serenity. If you do not love me. the Count o\ Gasparro may be asked to produce a treaty which he cannot produce ; the Count of Gasparro may face the rilles of the Carabinieri as a traitor; the lovely little Princess de Rohan may be banished as a conspirator: her brother may disappear — ah. Signorina. 1 fear 1 am boring you with a weary man's twaddle of business. I will say good-evening, and wish you pleasant dreams !"
VY/11KN he had gone — and in the face of vv the singer's brave bluff, too — Beatriz collapsed. Not the sort of collapse which -bricks or faints: the collapse of hope and confidence. She saw that she and her
Only when he suddenly pushed her aside and leaped for her bedroom did Beatriz cry out in fear.