The She-Devil
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THE SHE-DEVIL MANKIND from Adam have been women's fools, Women, from Eve, have been the devil's tools. -LANSDOWNE. To the prospective purchaser I would say that the original conception of this work was only intended for a prikate distribution (as a gift) among several hundred intimate friends, who had ofttimes heard me tell the story of Boyce Eric and the beautiful Seiiora \ aldez: but, upon presenting the manu- script to the printer, he graciously told me that in his opinion. the subject-matter, with a little em- bellishment would be worthy of publication. To this confidence I laughed, for I never enter- tained any thought of becoming an author-other than of casual short stories; but, after much per- suasion, I agreed to make an effort at weaving it into a story of fiction on fact, the result of which effort you now have before you. Remember, how- ever, I do not place it before the (already muchly swindled) reading public as a masterpiece of rhe- toric, but as solid, concrete facts ;so if you will over- look that lack of wonderful literary construction, finesse, and the easy, careless swing possessed by the scintillating stars of the literary world (with whom I cannot hope to compete) I can assure you a tale of unusual interest-more strange even than fiction. And another word before proceeding: My some- what sensational title-The She-Devil-was sug- gested by a reprimand I received during my college days. I had become embroiled in an escapade (with a very beautiful woman) that nearly ended my col- lege career during my junior year. My old pro- fessor, a kindly, fatherly, old gentleman,-but one who stuck like a leech to the ancient canons of de- portment,-had me on "the carpet" for a half hour, 7 8 PREFACE i and finally pointing his forefinger in my face, con- cluded with these words- (( . And always remember, young man, that a beautiful woman, who will so lower the dig- nity of her sex, by indulging in flirtatious frolics, is nothing more or less than the advance agent of the devil; the panderer, as it were, of the wares of his Satanic Majesty, who soon follows to collect his toll for the crops harvested from the seeds scattered broadcast by these She-Devils in feminine garb." As the main object of this work is an honest en- deavor to portray (by example) the methods by which Flirtation tends to ruin men and women- one with the other-the substance of my profes- sor's reprimand immediately suggested itself as 3 title. I would further state that it may interest the sceptical to know that the facts herein recorded I are true to life, for the characters had their origin- 1 als ; yes, alas ! the originals were my friends. There- fore, if, in the recital of the result of one flirtation, I can teach a simple lesson which may perhaps- some time and son~ewhere-aid in a way to fortify the reader of this preface against the temptations I of these "She-Devils in feminine garb," and "Vul- tures in masculine hide"; whose greatest stock in trade is FLIRTATION,then it shall have served the purpose for which it is intended. M. H. LeB. i I PART ONE CH4PTER PAGE I. THE ISVITATIO.............................N 15 I1. THEVISI T................................... 27 I11. IV. v. VI. VII. PART TWO I. WARIS DECLARED........................... 85 I1. THEASSIGSSIENT ............................ I03 111. THE DEPARTURE............................. 112 IV. A JOYFULORDER............................ 121 I 1 V. BEPOREM.~sIL.~'sWALLS.................... 126 VI. ~~AXILAFALLS............................... 146 VII. AN HOSORCONFERR ED ...................... 152 VIII. THE VACATION............................... 160 IX. THE HOTELHUNT ........................... 170 X. THE FLIRTATION............................. 177 I XI. THE EPITAPH................................ 197 XI1. THECOMMITTEE CALLS ....................... 210 XI11. THE TOASTS................................. 221 XIV. THE HYPOTHETICALQUESTIO ...............N 229 XV. THE BOUDOIR................................ 240 XVI. THE FORLORNHOPE ......................... 264 XVII. THE MURDER................................ 273 XVIII . THE ESCAPE................................. 292 XIX. THE OPIUMDREA M.......................... 309 XX. MANILA...................................... 315 I XXI. THE SILENTTENEMENT ...................... 323 1 XXII. SENORAVALDEZ .............................. 328 XXIII. THE SENORA'SCONFESSI ON.................. 340 XXIV. ANDLASTCHAPTER .......................... 348 9 THE SHE-DEVIL PART ONE THE SHE-DEVIL CHAPTER I. THE INVITATION. HILE the entire month of May IS-, was stiflingly hot, and unmitigatedly depressing, the latter half was two weeks of such sultry, torrid, life-sapping weather, that its equal+specially at that time of the year- had never before been experienced in the high mountainous belt that girdles northeastern Pennsyl- vania. The simmering, suffering populace, unused to such unusual conditions, went around kicking, and impotently seeking with the usual hot-day grouch spread over their countenances, that thing they would not find save in sleep-sweet relief. They were days of indolent contagion; too hot to work: too murky and lifeless to move about; too sultry in the house, in fact, too ~eskyto do any- thing. except sleep; but unfortunately, all were not so situated as to avail themselves of that one re- lief producing element. At noon on the last day of the month in question, the sun beat down with such intense fury, that the mercury in the thermometer, which for several days I5 r G THE SHE-DEVIL had been doggedly hovering near the three figure fec mark, had shouldered itself to ninety-seven in the m: shade, and the thickened humidity-well up into the th; eighties-made a person feel viscid, and extremeIy sig uncomfortable. It n7as just one of those days we bu have all experienced sometime or other, when the by "old fogies" Iounge around in the shade and start thl in soliloquizing; and xvho. after a careful resum6 bu of their memories. inform you (as a matter of consolation. I expect) that "this is the derndisf hottest day in Mag" they "haztc experienced here- t h abozcts si~tcc" such-and-such a year "zcllze~zold ~jtata" 1lC So-in-So "and old Mrs." So-in-So "were over- lu came by tlzc Izeat." in, The sky of this torrid afternoon was one of those a perfectly cloudless skies giving one the opportunity W of gazing off over the inlmeasurable space to that of far distant, pale-blue, simmering void, to which- wc in its immensity-the mind of this frail humanity trr cannot fix even an imaginary limit; but which must undoubtedly itnpress upon the sense of conception, gr some vague idea of infinity and eternity. Not a sic breath of air was adrift; Nature with its sleepy de heat seemed to have coddled all animate life into or a death-like stillness. Even the soft green leaves still in their abundant youth, and which ordinarily tremble with the stir of the most gentle zephyr, seemed inanimate, and lay languid and motionless on the twigs. It was one of those days that women, especially, THE INVITATION 17 :ure feel the most, and (if permitted to make the re- the mark) when they wish they were nymphs of old, the that they might discard not only the garments de- leIy signed by the skill and dexterity of the modiste, we but also the very skin most graciously furnished the by that great modiste-ntother Nature; and throw :art themselves into some cool, halcyon dale, by the mk bubbling waters of some running brook, and sleep of and dream away life's golden hours. iist It was about three o'clock in the sleepy heat of re- this afternoon that Jean Eric stood at one of the 'la" north windows in the drawing-room of her father's er- luxurious home on Riverside Drive; one knee rest- ing on the soft cushions of the window seat, and a bared, dimpled elbow indented on the sill. The windows were all open, but screened, and the shades of all--except the one through which she gazed- were closely drawn to keep out the glare of the pene- trating afternoon sun. Off across the wide expanse of delectable, soft green lawn which surrounded the house, was River- side Drive, the asphalt simmering in the sun like a desert of glittering sand-diamonds ; a little farther on a small stretch of green grass, forming a narrow parkway on the river bank, and still farther beyond, with almost indolent tranquillity flowed the old SUS- quehanna, not a ripple breaking the glossy monotony of its silvery surface; while the sun blazed dotvn upon it with all the glaring intensity of a scorching 18 THE SHE-DEVIL day in early August, its calorific rays reflected as T in a hug-e mirror. On the green carpeted lawn over which Jean te gazes listless and spiritless, one lonely bee, void of B the characteristic animation of its sect, buzzes in re and out among the flower-beds, and a more lonely- h~ looking, huge, black and yellow butterfly, also 1x1 lazily flits from flower to flower. kissinp each one sl- It is conjectural whether Jean wears many arti- cles of dainty lingerie, but the exterior picture shows her attired in a short, loose-flowing, silk dressing-sack, and, from the deep ruffles and the loose ends of a belt string which dangles by her side, it would indicate that her outer garment was a white imported petticoat of some delicate-almost trans- parent-material, but even that improprietably scant apparel was too hot and unbearable to compete with the prevailing temperature. Jean had returned but two days previous from Bryn Mawr College, where she had completed, with second honors in her class, a four-year course in While she ordinarily loved her school work, and, W1 th perhaps as she gazed out of the window, it was to with a deep sense of regret that it was now ended; Ye still, she sighed with a feeling of relief that all Pr study-with the exception of her music-was over.