The Blood of the Conquerors

  CHAPTER IV

  When the music stopped Ramon left the hall for the hotel lobby, where hesoothed his sensibilities with a small brown cigarette of his own making.In one of the swinging benches covered with Navajo blankets two otherdress-suited youths were seated, smoking and talking. One of them was ashort, plump Jew with a round and gravely good-natured face; the other atall, slender young fellow with a great mop of curly brown hair, largesoft eyes and a sensitive mouth.

  "She's good looking, all right," the little fellow assented, as Ramon cameup.

  "Good looking!" exclaimed the other with enthusiasm. "She's a littlequeen! Nothing like her ever hit this town before."

  "Who's all the excitement about?" Ramon demanded, thrusting himself intothe conversation with the easy familiarity which was his right as one of"the bunch."

  Sidney Felberg turned to him in mock amazement.

  "Good night, Ramon! Where have you been? Asleep? We're talking about JuliaRoth, same as everybody else.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}"

  "Who's she?" Ramon queried coolly, discharging a cloud of smoke from thedepths of his lungs. "Never heard of her."

  "Well, she's our latest social sensation {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} sister of some rich lunger thatrecently hit town; therefore very important. But that's not the onlyreason. Wait till you see her."

  "All right; introduce me to her," Ramon suggested.

  "Go on; knock him down to the lady," Sidney proposed to his companion.

  "No, you," Conny demurred. "I refuse to take the responsibility. He's toogood looking."

  "All right," Sidney assented. "Come on. It's the only way I can get a lookat her anyway--introducing somebody else. A good-looking girl in this towncan start a regular stampede. We ought to import a few hundred.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}"

  It was during an intermission. They forced their way through a phalanx ofmen brandishing programs and pencils, each trying to bring himselfexclusively to the attention of a small blonde person who seemed to havesome such quality of attractiveness for men as spilled honey has forinsects.

  When Ramon saw her he felt as though something inside of him had bumped upagainst his diaphragm, taking away his breath for a moment, agitating himstrangely. And he saw an answering surprised recognition in her wide greyeyes.

  "You {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} you're the girl on the train," he remarked idiotically, as he tookher hand.

  She turned pink and laughed.

  "You're the man that wouldn't look up," she mocked.

  "What's all this about?" demanded Sidney. "You two met before?"

  "May I have a dance?" Ramon inquired, suddenly recovering his presence ofmind.

  "Let me see {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} you're awfully late." They put their heads close togetherover her program. He saw her cut out the name of another man who had twodances, and then she held her pencil poised.

  "Of course I didn't get your name," she admitted.

  "No; I'll write it {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Was it Carter? Delcasar? Ramon Delcasar. You must beSpanish. I was wondering {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} you're so dark. I'm awfully interested inSpanish people.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}" She wrote the name in a bold, upright, childish hand.

  Ramon found that he had lost his mood of discontent after this, and heentered with zest into the spirit of the dance which was fast losing itsstiff and formal character. Punch and music had broken down barriers. Thehall was noisy with the ringing, high pitched laughter of excitement. Itwas warm and filled with an exotic, stimulating odour, compounded of manyperfumes and of perspiration. Every one danced. Young folk danced asthough inspired, swaying their bodies in time to the tune. The old and thefat danced with pathetic joyful earnestness, going round and round thehall with red and perspiring faces, as though in this measure they mightrecapture youth and slimness if only they worked hard enough. Now and thena girl sang a snatch of the tune in a clear young voice, full of abandon,and sometimes others took up the song and it rose triumphant above themusic of the orchestra for a moment, only to be lost again as the singersdanced apart.

  Ramon had been looking forward so long and with such intense anticipationto his dance with Julia Roth that he was a little self-conscious at itsbeginning, but this feeling was abolished by the discovery that they coulddance together perfectly. He danced in silence, looking down upon heryellow head and white shoulders, the odour of her hair filling hisnostrils, forgetful of everything but the sensuous delight of the moment.

  This mood of solemn rapture was evidently not shared by her, for presentlythe yellow head was thrown back, and she smiled up at him a bit mockingly.

  "Just like on the train," she remarked. "Not a thing to say for yourself.Are you always thus silent?"

  Ramon grinned.

  "No," he countered, "I was just trying to get up the nerve to ask ifyou'll let me come to see you."

  "That doesn't take much nerve," she assured him. "Practically every manI've danced with tonight has asked me that. I never had so many datesbefore in my life."

  "Well; may I follow the crowd, then?"

  "You may," she laughed. "Or call me up first, and maybe there won't be anycrowd."