The Vultures

n alone could have understood what she meant. Those who think in French have a trick of putting great thoughts into a little compass, an

end for the rest of his life. As there is point de culte sans mystere, so also there can be no lasting friendship without reserve. And although these two

ndeavoring to conceal beneath a specious exterior a thousand tragedies, a whole harvest of lost illusions, a host of grim human come

om they were destined to see a month later hanging on his own flagstaff, out over the plaza, from the spare-bedroom window of the new presidency. They had acted in concert; they had acted in direct opposition. Cartoner had on

espective Foreign Offices, and it was thei

said to Cartoner, twenty years his junior, in his light, philosophic way, when a turn of the wheel had rendere

time, their lives would be very different from what they are." Cartoner had gl

he remembers them perfectly. Deulin, during fifty-odd years of his life, had moved through a maze of men, remembering faces as a ship-captain must recollect those who have sailed with him, without attaching a name or being able to allot one sav

was Reginald Cartoner, who was thrown against him, as it were, in

"when I see Cartoner on the other si

direction. Like many travellers, the Frenchman loved the open air. Like all Frenchmen, he loved the streets. He was idling in Pall Mall, avoiding a man here and there. For we all have friends whom we are

an, with a tall, spare form, a trim white mustache and imperial, and that air of calm possession of his environment whic

tion," he said. "When d

t Liverpool

ion up and down. Perhaps he was wondering for the hundr

ng orders. Something is brewing somewhere, one may suppose. Your return to London seems to

old gentleman who walked briskly past in the military

othes," said Deulin, after a pau

call on one of

Mon Dieu, I want to talk to a clean and wholesome Englishwoman, just for a change. I know all your old chiefs, my fri

ee you," said Cartoner

where we are going. She might have been a grea

aid Cartoner, who usually confined his convers

e-how

s worked so hard and so long in many cli

y anxiety-a woman's life, my friend. Oddly enough, I should have gone there

s with a laugh, as if suddenly reminded

ne so already. For she knows them, of course. They are the Buka

head a little bent forward, as if he bore behind his heavy forehead a burden of memories and knowledge of which his brain was always conscio

you are a reader, and I never look into a book. I know the surface of things. The Bukatys are in London. I give you that-to put in your pipe and smoke. Father and son. It is

in the manner of a man whose life had not been passed in London streets. For it must be rem

ll their girls in infancy. Not that Wanda knows it; she is as gay as a bird, a

ith a smile. It was always a marvel to him that Paul Deulin should have travelle

eat umbrella, which imperilled the eyesight of a passing baker-boy, who

sh noble, in fact-and a brother who is an enthusiast, and as brave as only a prince can be.' I should say, 'You see that circumstances have thrown this girl upon the world, practically alone-on the hard, hard upper-class world-with only one heart to break

hed aunt . . ." s

's laugh than another woman's tears. And so would you; for you

Street and turned to the left in Piccadilly; and, sure enough, Cartoner had nothing to say. At last he b

es?" he asked, in his s

ense-who for his sins, or the sins of his forefathers, has

uch I

and looked at

that puts another compl

the Atlantic in the

all you kno

ner n

P. Mangles is

e?" repeat

rica. The rest of his time he is risking his health, or possibly his neck, wherever it may please the fates to send him. If he had been properly trained, he might have done something, that Joseph P. Mang

thin nose into the dusty

m?" he inquired present

es

e to Miss Cahere-s

at his laugh was harsh, but such a note rang in it now. They did not speak again until they had walked some distance northward of Piccadil

day?" inqui

es

rimace expressi

not see. But, since we are here, let us go in-with

ie on th

too," replied Deulin, lo

ople; for the women were dressed quietly, and the men were mostly old and white-haired. It was also dimly perceptible that there was a larger proportion of brain in the room than is allotted to the merely fashionable, or to th

s of her guests this lady had already perceived Cartoner, who was making his way more slowly through the crowd. He seemed to have more friends there than Deulin. Lady

aid the lady; "I have some people coming. I

to a departing guest. Deulin

o friends of mine. Prince Pierre Bukaty," he added, stopping in front of a tall, old man, with bus

e, and gently compelled him to turn towards a girl who was looking round with bright and eager eyes. She

d the Frenchman, "my

oner's face, of which the gravity

eulin, in a gay whisper; "even Polish; he s

self spoke

d in that place, where human fates are written, anot