. .
(Frontispiece)
The handsomest girl I had set eyes upon in a month of moons.
"This is what I want. How much?" I inquired.
Turning, I beheld an exquisite Columbine.
I led her over to a secluded nook. We sat down.
And there we sat, calmly munching the apples.
"Madame, will you do me the honor to raise your mask?"
We watched the girl as she bathed and bandaged the wounded arm.
With a contented sigh she rested her blue-slippered feet on the brass
fender.
HEARTS AND MASKS
I
It all depends upon the manner of your entrance to the Castle of
Adventure. One does not have to scale its beetling parapets or assault
its scarps and frowning bastions; neither is one obliged to force with
clamor and blaring trumpets and glittering gorgets the drawbridge and
portcullis. Rather the pathway lies through one of those many little
doors, obscure, yet easily accessible, latchless and boltless, to which
the average person gives no particular attention, and yet which
invariably lead to the very heart of this Castle Delectable. The
whimsical chatelaine of this enchanted keep is a shy goddess.
Circumspection has no part in her affairs, nor caution, nor
practicality; nor does her eye linger upon the dullard and the
blunderer.
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