Turtle Reader

Hastings watched him out of sight, and then slowly retraced his steps toward the fountain. At first he felt gloomy and depressed, but gradually the clear air of the morning lifted the pressure from his heart, and he sat down on the marble seat under the shadow of the winged god. The air was fresh [...]

“Good-night,” they said, pressing around him. “You must come with us next time!” He promised, and watched them, two by two, drift into the darkening city, and stood so long that, when again he raised his eyes, the vast Boulevard was twinkling with gas-jets through which the electric lights stared like moons. VI It was [...]

Elliott looked doubtfully at Colette. “I prefer gudgeons,” said that damsel with decision, “and you and Monsieur Rowden may go away when you please; may they not, Jacqueline?” “Certainly,” responded Jacqueline. Elliott, undecided, examined his rod and reel. “You’ve got your reel on wrong side up,” observed Rowden. Elliott wavered, and stole a glance at [...]

Clifford, much embarrassed, eyed his cigarette. The girl rose, very white. “He is your friend–you have a right to warn him.” “He is my friend,” he said at length. They looked at each other in silence. Then she cried, “By all that I hold to me most sacred, you need not warn him!” “I shall [...]

“Valentine,” said Clifford, after having obtained permission to smoke, “is it the Vaudeville or the Eldorado–or both, or the Nouveau Cirque, or–” “It is here,” said Valentine. “Well,” he said, greatly flattered, “I’m afraid I couldn’t amuse you–” “Oh, yes, you are funnier than the Eldorado.” “Now see here, don’t guy me, Valentine. You always [...]

The rolling of the drum came nearer and nearer, and then the silhouette of the drummer cut the sky above the eastern terrace. The fading light lingered a moment on his belt and bayonet, then he passed into the shadows, drumming the echoes awake. The roll became fainter along the eastern terrace, then grew and [...]

A sleepy blackbird was carolling in some near thicket, and pigeons passed and repassed with the whisper of soft winds in their wings. The light on the Palace windows had died away, and the dome of the Pantheon swam aglow above the northern terrace, a fiery Valhalla in the sky; while below in grim array, [...]

“Well?” demanded Elliott “Well,” said Clifford, “his idea of the dangerous woman is probably a painted Jezabel.” “Probably,” replied the other. “He’s a trump!” said Clifford, “and if he swears the world is as good and pure as his own heart, I’ll swear he’s right.” Elliott rubbed his charcoal on his file to get a [...]

They climbed down at the rue Gay Lussac. “I always stop here,” observed Clifford, “I like the walk through the Luxembourg.” “By the way,” said Hastings, “how can I call on you when I don’t know where you live?” “Why, I live opposite you.” “What–the studio in the garden where the almond trees are and [...]

Hastings turned to look up at the winged god under whose shadow they were seated. “Why, it’s Love,” he said. IV “There is a nouveau here,” drawled Laffat, leaning around his easel and addressing his friend Bowles, “there is a nouveau here who is so tender and green and appetizing that Heaven help him if [...]