The Lamp of Fate

been designed expressly for her by the management, and boasted a beautifully appointed bathroom adjoining it w

ing a plaintive murmur from the manager to the effect tha

the corps de ballet one less dressing-room amongst them. But if you want me,

he Wielitzska could dictate her own te

la, together with Gillian and Michael Quarrington, presented themselves at her dressing-room doo

nced Lady Arabella. "I thought perhaps you'd lik

the hand Magda held out to him. "Or are yo

ooked u

to see you," s

coiled in a simple knot at the nape of her neck. There was little or nothing about her to remind one of the successful ballerina, and Michael found himself poignantly recalling

d it go a

Gillian's eagerly as

held all the unqualified enth

l! The most wonderful, beau

terpolated Lady Arabella tartly, but s

to hear us say it." Gillian c

saying it to-morrow," obs

version by handing round c

r of the night," commented Lady Arabella, a

Magda, smiling faintly. "It's the

into a laudatory chorus regarding the evening's performance. In the background Magda's maid moved quietly to and fro, care

-night," he said rather low,

?" she asked hesita

s hardly

ed him a sw

lowly, "I'm the 'type

icult to maintain the po

silent a

ind to me that day

ng soft and dangerously disarming. Qua

so that I might not be unkind

ft laugh r

d-and aren't you bei

urely self-preservation is the fi

allenge and tossed i

ger, then,

like a wise man, I p

ow

e danger zone. I go

Pa

at Quarrington was going away seemed to take all the savour out of things. It was only by a suprem

en-afte

possibly. Or the Antipod

o bed's my next move. Gillian, you come with me-the car can take you on to Ham

ding acquiescence in reply to Gillian's gla

neral move tow

a moment in Quarrington's. "I-I'm s

y husky voice that held so much of music and appeal. He turned abruptly a

y they all three stood together in the vestibule, halted by the stream of people pouring out from

u, Lady Arabella, but I'

free agent, aren't you

leamed for an insta

onder if I am,

either unknotted-or cut. And that's lack of m

N

ou'll

afrai

Swan-Maiden that night at the Imperial. She can't dine, of course, poor dear. Really, dancers have a lot to put up with-or rather, to put

bella's volubility Michael could hear again the murmur of a so

y Arabella, with that uncanny

ver her shoulder, moving forward as the

dd expression in his e

I'll

mph in the laughter. Probably the hen who has reared a duckling and sees it sail off into the water experiences, alongside

n love with Magda," crowed

an sm

u thin

my party-and asking Magda to marry him before the week's out, bar accidents! . . . After all, it's not surprising that the men are falling over each other

y shook

our of the doctrine of reincarnation! She always seems to me t

ly as an iceberg and yet somehow gives you the idea she's all

n positively. "Of that I'm sure. No one c

chuckled aga

ife by a red flag. She positively stirs my old blood-that's bee

llian, "she'll fall

re'll be

just as the car pulled up in front of her hou

ated emphatically. "And a very

ting rather ruefully upon the very great amount of pr