Page 129 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

124 Adventure

"Mos' honolable gentleman will come wi' merely have sense enough to keep out of the
me?" meshes.
The "most honorable gentleman" would. But she made it clear that she would not
I
If I had conferred longevity and perpetual be displeased if I smiled and wriggled
youth upon her she could not have appeared around, and went through the grimaces that
more pleased. for some reason men do go through in get-
With that fluttering little walk of hers she ting acquainted with a strange, pretty
came closer, bowing low and saying sweetly woman. Watch any park bench any after-
things I did not quite understand; then re- noon and behold the sudden co~ess that
treated, still facing me, toward the door, in- leaps into the face of fat, grayed men when
viting me to pass through. I did. She some slim, bold girl passes by. Little Miss
closed the door and led the way, getting Plum-Blossom was daring without being
along nimbly down the rather wide and bold seductive in a very flattering way.
lighted hall, carpeted and ornamented with She turned off into a small, intimate
great bronze and porcelain vases. The air room almost misty from the fumes of in-
was heavy with incense. I heard faintly the cense, and so pungent as to be unpleasant.
soft whine of a ficklle and flutes, and once There was a low black table and a low chair.
caught the muffled laughter of women's At her suggestion I sat down. She-
voices. ' ,dropped on to a cushion beside the chair and
From time to time she looked at me co- clapped her tiny hands, and at once an old
quettishly-not coquettishly in the crude woman shuffled through the curtains with a
sense, but conveying all that it would have tray of tea and toy cups. The aged woman
done in the crude sense, yet with such a placed the tea and went out without a word,
fleeting smile and modest quivering of q.own- without a sidelong glance.
cast eyelashes that a man could hardly help Little Miss Plum-Blossom was a sweet
being complimented and a bit excited maybe and solicitous hostess. · She cha)tered, and
if he at all cared for compliments of the kind laughed lightly, softly, and her bright,
and was given to excitement in the presence little, black eyes were always peeking at me
of women. from their corners or hiding under the flut-
That was all very well; but when her hand tering lids. I did not know intimately much
touched mine, and though she drew it away about Chinese, but I knew enough of course
quickly with a kind of confusion that women to wonder what she was up too.
think enhances their seductiveness-but did Nobody was going to come in and pretend
not pretend that it was really an accident- to be angry to find me with her. That was
then, I say, I looked with an altogether dif- out of the question, for the Chinese do not
ferent eye upon Miss Plum-Blossom . About frame up excuses to be angry. But to make
the last thing in the world that a Chinese a long and puzzling half-hour short: She had
girl would do would be to off er herself in been put to the immemorial use of women
flirtation to a stranger in the house of her as symbolized by the name of Delilah, and
lord-unless instructed to do so. I felt presently was begging me in whispers to say
something not combining sympathy with why I wanted to see Sin Chang. She did
admiration for her. not find out.
There are-or if there are not there should But that she, too, should have made the
be, because the poets need such a botanical effort was more astonishing than ever. in
fact in their work-beautiful flowers which Chang was not a sacred per on. Ther was
are deadly of perfume. I put most women no danger of him-a coolie-being ontam-
into that floral classification; and that little inated by the pre nc of a white devil; and
exotic Chinese bloom was instantly pigeon- he could not imagine any reason for b ing
holed under "D"-Dangerous. She was no afraid of me, a lon per on in the mid t of his
longer an incident, but somebody's cal- house.
culation . The little maiden oon realized that I was
. Not alone, understand, because she not going to tell her; but he did not lose her
merely touched my hand; but I haven't any temper, for which I felt like thanking h r.
flexibility of style and nuances of descrip- She was as sweet as ever, even wh n sh --
tion to make vivid the delicate intrjguing cused herself a moment and withdrew. I
and provocative subtleties of a girl trained suppose she reported failur . nyw. y ·h
from babyhood in that enmeshing art. I soon came back, and aft r a f w minut ·