Page:The Smart Set (Volume 52, Number 4).djvu/6

Then it altered. A slow smile of dis- gust strangely blended with desire crept over it. She called for the tiny silver- embossed tHask tilled with some Cowie's Extra. Alhine had to remove the jew- elled stopper aud Mardame la Comtesse breathed deeply of the fiery aroma. At once the picture of the aristocratic boy vanished. A brutal face, a compelitng presence took his place. Iler frail body shook. . prizetighter over whom, for one scason, all Pars had gone quite made. . . .. Ah! ... Away with him!

She flung the girl’s tender hand from her.

And now—her own trembling fingers groped for a little box. Albine took it off the table by her bed. She opened it. It contained some cheap cigarettes and tubes of oil paint. A horrible combination of smells! But the Jdyving woman secmed to prefer it to all the perfumes of Araby. She breathed it ecstatically. Ah! it brought back youth! How gay, how sunny, how innocent all life and love had been! She was a half-grown girl once more, posing in a bare attic studio, and before the easel sat . . .

“Raoul—"" she sighed—"Raoul—"

And with the name of her first love upon her ashen lips, Madame la Comtesse passed away.

HER CONFESSION By Charles Divine

IF you would have me love you, Kiss me when I laugh; And when I cry, seek no embrace, But light a cigarette And let the smoke Drift stealthily across my face.

TRUTH is always exclusive. Her worshipers are few indeed. Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, you and I. . . . .

A MAN falls in love by deceiving himself. He escapes by deceiving the woman.

SOME women allow their husbands to kiss them for the sake of contrast.