Produced by Kathryn Lybarger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. BALLOONS BY ELIZABETH BIBESCO _Author of "I Have Only Myself to Blame," etc._ NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY _1922_ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS PAGE I HAVEN 9 _To Clarence Day, Jr._ II TWO PARIS EPISODES 21 _To Anthony Asquith_ I: THE STORY OF A COAT II: BALLOONS III COURTSHIP 27 IV "DO YOU REMEMBER...?" 29 _To Leslie Hartley_ V THE MARTYR 37 _To H.G. Wells_ VI A MOTOR 53 _To Alice Longworth_ VII THE MASTERPIECE 60 _To Harold Child_ VIII TEA TIME 67 _To Sylvester Gates_ IX THE END 78 X MISUNDERSTOOD 83 _To John Maynard Keynes_ XI COUNTERPOINT 92 _To the Marchese Giovanni Visconti Venosta_ XII VILLEGIATURA 102 _To Marcel Proust_ XIII AULD LANG SYNE 132 _To Harold Nicolson_ XIV TWO TAXI DRIVES 147 _To Paul Morand_ I: SUNSHINE II: LAMPS XV A TOUCH OF SPRING 155 _To W.Y. Turner_ XVI FIDO AND PONTO 161 BALLOONS I HAVEN [_To CLARENCE DAY, JR._] "You should only," we are told, "wear white in early youth and old age. It is very becoming with a fresh complexion or white hair. When you no longer feel as young as you were, other colours are more flattering. Also, you should avoid bright lights and worry." Here, the beauty specialist reminds you of the specialist who says in winter, "Avoid wet feet and germs." In spite of both, we are still subjected to sunshine and anxiety and rain and microbes. But there are risks which the would-be young can and should avoid. Surely Miss Wilcox ought to have known better than to flop down on the grass with an effort and a bump, clasping (with some difficulty) her knees because Vera, who is sixteen, slim and lithe, with the gawky grace of a young colt, had made such an obvious success of the operation! It is better not to sit on the grass after thirty when sprawling at all is difficult, let alone sprawling gracefully.