The Great Pearl SecretWilliamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
General
The Great Pearl Secret
Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
Detective and mystery stories; Jewelry theft -- Fiction
Her eyes were dark, but not black or even brown. They were perhaps a
very deep, greenish grey, and extraordinarily luminous. Yes, that was
the word: luminous! "Brilliant" would be too hard. There was a
mysterious, moonlight sort of luminance between the black fringes of
the white lids, and the whole face--pale, delicate, with pointed
chin--was mysterious as only Polish or Russian faces are.
"Why does she look at me so?" Jack thought. It was almost as if she
guessed, because he was Juliet's cousin, why he had asked for this
introduction. He could not believe that she, who met so many people,
could recognize the man in evening dress as the officer in khaki she
had seen on the Phayre doorstep.
They were in a room at the theatre where Mademoiselle Pavoya received
privileged persons: a plainly furnished room, mostly grey except for
masses of flowers, and it suited her better than a background of
fantastic colour. Perhaps it was this greyness which made her stand
out so vividly, and seem of such vital, thrilling importance. She was
extremely quiet in manner, and her voice was low. Yet her quietness
was disturbing, like that of a summer night when lightning may leap
from a clear sky.
Manners was struck dumb by her. Something had flashed from her eyes to
his with that first look. It did not say merely, "I am a woman. You
are a man." It said--or seemed to say--"You are _the_ man. I am _the_
woman. We had to meet. And now--what?"
He tried to think that this was a trick of hers which she used on every
male worthy of her steel. But he could not believe it to be so. Her
perfume--that perfume of an Eastern garden by moonlight--had gone to
his head. No woman had ever produced such an effect upon him, though
they had exchanged but a few words, and those not memorable. Yet he
was not humiliated by his own surrender. In spite of all reason he was
convinced that she had been stirred by him as he by her.
The meeting was between Pavoya's dances, and she had not many minutes
to spare. Her manager had impressed upon Manners that the few she gave
were an immense concession. There was no hope of prolonging them. Her
call came. She had to go. Again eyes met with that shock to the
nerves. Suddenly Lyda held out her hand to Jack. Clasping it,
electricity flashed up his arm and stabbed at his heart. He felt her
start slightly, and his breath quickened.
For Juliet's sake, and the promise he had made, it was Manners' duty to
take instant advantage of his "luck" with Pavoya. But he was not
thinking about Juliet--or the promise. He was neither remorseful nor
triumphant. All he thought of or wanted as they talked in snatches was
to hold this woman, not to let her go till he had arranged to meet her
again. He must meet her again! He must know what she really was--what
they were to be in each other's lives. But he could not ask permission
to call. He was stupidly tongue-tied, and could not put words together
as he would have wished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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