Chapter 1

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_Title:_ Burning Beauty
_Date of first publication:_ 1929
_Author:_ Temple Bailey (1869-1953)
_Date first posted:_ May 8, 2022
_Date last updated:_ May 8, 2022
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[Cover Illustration]

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Burning Beauty
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OTHER BOOKS
BY TEMPLE BAILEY

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CONTRARY MARY
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ADVENTURES IN GIRLHOOD
JUDY

_Burning Beauty_

_By_

_Temple Bailey_

_The Penn Publishing_
_Company • Philadelphia_

COPYRIGHT 1929 [LOGO] MANUFACTURED
BY THE IN THE
PENN PUBLISHING UNITED STATES
COMPANY OF AMERICA

[Illustration]
Contents

CHAPTER PAGE
1 AN OLD GARDEN IN AN ANCIENT TOWN 7
2 THE MAN ON THE TABLE 19
3 THE SILVER WITCH 31
4 AN ANSWER TO ARROGANCE 43
5 PAN PIPES IN THE RUSHES 53
6 RICKEY FAILS TO COME TO SUPPER 71
7 WILD GEESE FLY AGAINST THE MOON 84
8 DAYS OF DEPARTURE 96
9 NEW QUARTERS 111
10 RICKEY ACCEPTS AN INVITATION 123
11 MICHAEL MUDDLES THINGS UP 141
12 A DELICIOUS OLD WOMAN 155
13 A HIGH MOUNTAIN 162
14 BEHIND THE SCREEN 175
15 SO EARLY IN THE MORNING! 189
16 HANDS OFF! 199
17 THE ATTIC ROOM 209
18 TONY GOES TO MARKET 223
19 THE HEART OF THINGS 240
20 LUCIFER 249
21 JANE SHOOTS AN ARROW 260
22 TONY MAKES A GESTURE 266
23 THE WANDERER RETURNS 274
24 MARTY FACES ANOTHER DAY 281
25 LEADING FLAMES 291
26 AGAIN THE CHINESE MAIDEN 297
27 RICKEY HEARS THE TRUTH 304
28 TONY DRIFTS DOWNSTREAM 312

[Illustration]
_Burning Beauty_
CHAPTER ONE

An Old Garden in an Ancient Town

There were three people besides the chauffeur in the great motor car
which swept along the road from Baltimore, crossed the big bridge which
spanned the Severn, and came at last into the streets of the ancient
capital. Annapolis was steeped in the wine of an October day. The old
town was, itself, like wine of excellent vintage—mellow and ripe, yet
with something heady about it which sent a bit of wildness through one’s
veins.

Of the three people in the car, two were women. “Why in the world have
you brought us here, Tony?” the older woman asked.

“I wanted to see you and Marty, Mother.”

“That isn’t your real reason.”

The other woman demanded, “Is it a girl?”

He smiled at her—what a silvery thing Marty was in that gray coat and
gray fur, and with the silver buckle of her little hat coming down
against her silver-blonde hair. Not many women would have dared all that
shine with such indefinite hair, but Marty dared anything, and with the
violet of her eyes matching the violets pinned to her fur, she had
achieved an effect impossible to a woman of less taste and
discrimination.

“Why ask a thing like that, Marty?”

“Well, it’s always a girl with you, isn’t it?”

“I’m not so fickle. And why should I want anyone else when I can have
you?”

She flickered her lashes at him: “The possessiveness of you, when you
haven’t even asked me!”

“Why risk failure?”

She knew he had not even risked success. Both of them knew it. Marty Van
Duyne had never been sure whether if Tony had asked her to marry him she
would have accepted. She was not sure, indeed, that she was in the least
in love with him. But he amused and interested her. She liked his good
looks—his tallness and fairness. She liked too, the sense of humor
which carried him through life on a sort of rising tide of gaiety.

Marty’s own sense of humor was limited, hence her need of Tony’s. She
was like some beautiful and sober-minded queen, who keeps a jester at
her elbow. Marty was aware that when she was with Tony, she shone more
brilliantly because her own great charms were linked with his laughter.

He was laughing now, as he swept his hand suddenly across his mother’s
eyes. “Don’t look till I tell you, Midget,” he cried.

His mother, a small person, whose girlish clothes gave her a false
effect of youth, murmured, “Don’t be stupid.” Then as he removed his
hand from her eyes, she gave an incredulous cry, “Tony, how wonderful!”