London Life August 31, 1929 pp. 31, 36, 37, 40  
 London Life August 31, 1940 pp. 10, 27- 34, 39-40  



                THE STRANGE QUEST OF ANTHONY DREW   

                     "THE UNFINISHED VENUS"   

by Wallace Stort 


  First of all, let me introduce myself - Anthony Drew, tall,
slim,  passably good-looking, I hope, still on the sunny side
of  thirty, with sufficient money and leisure to have what is
commonly known as a good time. 
  So  much  to  the  good. But I suppose the ordinary, normal
individual, if he knew me sufficiently intimately, would call
me  queer,  perhaps  abnormal,  I think I must have been born
with  a  peculiar little kink that gives me my odd outlook on
humanity  -  particularly  feminine  humanity;  for  I  never
remember  a  time  when  I  was without it; and why exactly I
should have it at all I have not the foggiest notion. 
  But I hear the reader saying, "Get on with the story!" 
  Well, I was strolling aimlessly along Piccadilly just after
the  lunch-hour  on  a perfect day in late July, and had just
reached  the  palatial  portals  of that famous and exclusive
restaurant,  the  Ritz  and Carlton, when I saw the girl. She
was just leaving the restaurant unescorted, and was obviously
making  for  the  powerful  and  luxurious Rolls-Royce saloon
standing at the kerb. 
  It  was not that she was exquisitely, adorably pretty, with
a  soft, blonde loveliness that was breath-taking, though she
was  all  that;  it  was  not  her  dainty  slimness, nor the
captivating  fluttering  on  her  filmy frock. It was none of
these  things,  though they of course, had their own stunning
effect, that drew me to a sudden halt there by the restaurant
and  held  me spellbound like some callow youth seeing beauty
for  the  first  time in his life. It was something much more
unusual,  in  fact,  in  that  particular setting, definitely
bizarre. 
  For  the  girl,  obviously  aristocratic, rich, exquisitely
lovely,  swung  easily  and  with  a  clinging and undulating
grace,  on  a  single,  slender crutch, daintily fashioned in
white  enamelled  willow  and  silver.  And  below her brief,
fluttering  skirt,  was just a single slim, shapely leg and a
small,  arched  foot in flesh silk and glove fitting slipper,
open  almost to the toes, and with a tall, slender spike heel
that  must  have  been  in  the neighbourhood of four or five
inches in height. 
  Actually  I  don't think I was aware at the time that I had
halted  there  in  that dumb, imbecile fashion. I know I must
have  gone  white  and my heart was pumping in my breast like
some gigantic dynamo. And then I awoke to the astounding fact
that  the  girl was addressing me, and that a dainty hand was
resting softly on my sleeve. 
  "It's  nice  to see you again," the divinity was saying. "I
haven't run across you for ages. Can I drop you anywhere?" 
  I  drew a deep breath, snatched at my flying senses, and so
won  back  to  something like my normal control, though I was
still  shaken.  For  an imbecile second I very nearly spoiled
everything  by  explaining to the girl that she had evidently
mistaken  me  for  somebody  else.  Then  I saw what I thrice
condemned  fool  I  should  be if I threw away this perfectly
priceless  opportunity  of making the acquaintance of one who
had  apparently  swung  on  her dainty crutch straight out of
fairy land into my ken. 
  I  managed to summon up a smile, and also sufficient wit to
snatch  off  my hat, as I murmured something about my delight
at  meeting  her  again.  The  next  moment  I had helped the
goddess  into  the luxurious interior of the car - though she
herself proved most expertly agile - and found myself sitting
at  her  side, my emotions equally compounded of bewilderment
and lovesick excitement. 
  The  car, under  the skillful control of a neatly uniformed
chauffeur,  at once swung noiselessly away from the kerb and,
gathering   speed,   slid  rapidly  down  Piccadilly  in  the
direction  of  the  park.  I turned to the girl and found her
gazing  at me with an odd little enigmatic smile on her lips.
I  started  to  speak,  with  the  idea  of  offering  a lame
explanation  of  my  presence, when she lifted a slim, dainty
hand and nodded her head, still smiling her odd little smile. 
  "I  know," she said calmly, "I can guess what you are going
to  say. You think I have mistaken you for somebody else. But
-  well,  the truth is, I haven't. I'm perfectly aware that I
have never met you before in my life." 
  "But"  -  I  began, swallowing my amazement, and once again
she smilingly interrupted me. 
  "It's  really  very  simple",  she  said. "At least, I feel
pretty  sure it is, unless my diagnosis is completely astray.
You  see,  you may not have been quite aware of how you acted
outside the Ritz-Carlton; but what actually happened was that
you,  normally,  I  imagine,  a  cool-headed, experienced man
about  town, completely lost your head at the sight of me; so
much  that  you  stopped  dead  in front of me, and the blood
drained completely from your face." 
  "I  -  I  was  absolutely  bowled  over  by your beauty," I
managed to stammer lamely. 
  "No",  she  countered,  slowly  shaking her head, while her
queer  smile deepened. "No, I don't think that quite explains
everything.  It  might,  had  you been just a raw youth and I
just a normal, beautiful girl. But you see, you are not a raw
youth,  and  I  - well, I am so obviously not exactly normal;
the  fact  that I have only one leg is so very evident, isn't
it? I'm afraid your explanation will not quite do." 
  I  looked  across  at her, unable to hide my surprise or to
keep  the embarrassment out of my eyes. A queer little thrill
of   excitement  was  also  pulsing  through  me.  My  lovely
companion had lit a cigarette, having first of all pulled off
the little tight hat she wore, and was lounging cosily on the
deep  luxurious cushions, puffing enjoyably, and regarding me
amusedly through those beautiful, unfathomable eyes of hers. 
  "Shall I venture a possible explanation of our somewhat odd
conduct?" she said slowly. 
  "Why,  yes," I replied somewhat shamefacedly, and wondering
what was coming. 
  "First of all," she went on, "I think we might as well know
who each other is, don't you? I am Felice Carling." 
  "And my name", I replied, "is Anthony Drew." 
  "Good," she said smilingly. And now we have become properly
acquainted,  I  can  get on with my suggested explanation. Of
course,  I  may be utterly wrong, but, taking everything into
consideration, I don't really think I can be. Unflattering as
it  may  appear  to  myself,  you  weren't  bowled over by my
beauty,  as you so considerately suggested; though, of course
had I been positively ugly, you would no doubt have passed on
and never bothered about me - " 
  "I  -  I  thought you were the loveliest thing," I injected
warmly. 
  "That was perfectly sweet of you Mr. Drew. But, unless I am
very  much mistaken, my real, my thrilling attraction for you
was - well, this - " 
  She  raised  her  shapely  single  leg,  lifting  her dress
slightly,  straightening  the  limb  out  in front of her and
arching the small, dainty foot. Then her hand suddenly closed
over mine and her lovely face came periously close. 
  "Confess!"  she  whispered,  "Am  I  not right? Weren't you
really  captivated by my one little leg and pity for the loss
of the other? Isn't that the real explanation?" 
  Although  from  the  moment  she  had  addressed  her first
remarks  to  me  I  had  more than half anticipated this very
frank  reading  of  the  situation,  yet the pulsing thrill I
experienced  was  just  as devastating as if I had been taken
completely  by  surprise.  The  whole  thing left me limp and
shaken. It was not alone that she had surmised my secret, but
that  she  should have been aware that such a kink existed at
all! 
  As I regained control I became aware that my lovely partner
had  in  some  way,  snuggled close to me, her little hand in
mine,  the sweet intoxicating perfume of her drifting over me
like   some   magic  spell.  Unable  to  resist  the  sudden,
overpowering temptation, I turned and, slipping my arms about
her, I crushed her fiercely and passionately to me. 
  For  a  long  time,  it  seemed,  we remained in that close
embrace,  lip  to lip. Then her hands slipped up to my breast
and she gently disengaged herself, though only to lie back in
my arms and look shyly up at me from behind lovely fluttering
eyelids. 
  "So - I guessed correctly - Anthony?" she said, and now the
little  mocking  smile  had gone, and something very friendly
and intimate had taken its place. 
  I nodded gaily. All my former embarrassment had gone. 
  "You did  -  Felice - delightful name," I agreed. Thought I
have  never  openly  confessed  to  such  a thing before, you
discovered my secret at one fell swoop. But what intrigues me
is  how  you managed to stumble across so very an unusual and
little  known  obsession?  After all, I have stared at pretty
one-legged  girls  before, and they, if they thought about it
at  all,  only  took  me  for some impertinent puppy, and I'm
quite  certain  they  never  for a moment imagined that I was
fascinated by the fact of their misfortune." 
  "Felice looked up at me quizzically for a moment and smiled
roguishly. 
  "Well," she began, "I might very easily explain my somewhat
esoteric  knowledge  of  this  peculiar kink by saying that a
rather  pretty  one-legged  girl,  intelligent  and with some
knowledge  of  psychology, would be bound to discover, sooner
or  later, that while the great majority of men merely pitied
her,  certain  other  were strongly attracted. As a matter of
fact,  that is exactly what does happen; and in my own case I
have  proved  the  truth  of it much more frequently than you
might imagine. 
  "But  that  is  not all the truth in my case, and somehow I
feel  I'd  like  to know all about me. You see - Tony - you -
you  are  different.  Well,  let  me  begin  by  asking you a
question.  You  were  born with - or, at any rate, very early
acquired  in  some  mysterious way - this peculiar preference
for  beautiful  women deficient in one or more limbs. And, as
you   probably  know,  you  are  only  one  of  many  men  so
constituted. Has it therefore ever struck you that if certain
men's  feelings  are like that, it is more than probable that
certain  women  might  be  constituted  with  a corresponding
peculiarity?" 
  I was genuinely startled, and showed it. 
  "To  be  quite  candid," I said, "the possibility struck me
never at all. But what exactly do you mean? In what way would
these particular women be constituted?" 
  "Let  me  put  it  in  another  way,"  said Felice. "If the
affection  of certain men is for women in some way deficient,
isn't it at least a very great possibility that certain women
may wish to satisfy that preference?" 
  I  hold  her  at  arms length and gazed down at her in dumb
astonishment, while she smiled up at me in gay unconcern. 
  "Felice!  You mean - you mean-" I stammered at last and she
suddenly  laughed  and, reaching up, swiftly kissed me on the
lips.  "Heavens!  How  melodramatic  we  have become all of a
sudden," she cried. "What I mean is simply that I have my own
kink,  just as you have yours. I am one-legged from choice. I
infinitely prefer to be as I am than to possess the prettiest
pair  of  legs  in  the  world.  To  me,  one-leggedness is a
continual  thrill  only  surpassed  by  the greater thrill of
meeting a boy who appreciates my one-legged condition at what
I  think  is its true value and shows how fascinated he is by
it.  Do  I sound very crazy, Tony? Do you think me quite mad?
Or do you understand, just a little?" 
  "No darling," I whispered softly. 
  "You  don't  sound  crazy  -  to me. I understand, and it's
wonderful, wonderful. I never ever dared to dream that a girl
like you could exist - a beautiful one-legged darling who not
only  completely understood the feelings of a man constituted
as   I   am,   but   also   delighted  in  her  own  charming
incompleteness and infinitely preferred to be as she was. And
here  you  are,  the  very  girl  herself!  It's bewildering,
dumbfounding  -  but  utterly,  thrillingly  delightful.  The
perfect, the ideal woman, here in my arms." 
  "But  Felice,  darling,"  I  said at length, as I lifted my
head  and  regarded  her fondly. "Tell me one thing. You said
just a moment or so ago that you were one-legged from choice.
Did  you  mean  that  you had actually had your leg amputated
because you wanted to be one-legged?" 
  Felice  laughed  gaily,  her  lovely  head, with its blonde
shining  helmet  of close-cropped curls thrown back and lying
against the crook of my arm. 
  "You'd get a mighty big thrill if I were to tell you that I
had, wouldn't you my dear?" she retorted with a return to her
old  raillery.  "But, as a matter of fact - and here's a nice
little  thrill  for you - I never have to had to undergone an
amputation. You see, I was born as you see me." 
  I  certainly  was  thrilled.  In some way I find it hard to
explain;  this  quite  unexpected little revelation seemed to
add  to Felice's charm. She had always been one-legged; there
had  never  been  a time when she was formed in the ordinary,
conventional  way.  All this, I say, had somehow the power to
thrill  me  and  add to her fascination for me, and I suppose
the  fact was revealed in my face, for Felice laughed merrily
again. 
  "That  made  a  hit  with  you, didn't it, Tony?" she said.
"Somehow,  I rather felt it would. And perhaps it explains in
some  way  why  I  feel as I do. Anyhow, I am glad I was born
with  only  one leg, and I can't explain why, except that the
feeling  was  given to me by the way of compensation. So now,
darling,  you  know all about me and my oddity and queerness,
and  I'm  ever  so thrilled and excited to have you here with
me,  a  kindred  soul,  looking  at  things  as  you  do  and
understanding me as I understand you." 
  The  raillery  had all gone from her eyes and lips, leaving
them  tender  and  sweet.  Her  head dropped until it found a
resting  place  on  my  shoulder.  And  there  she lay, as if
content just to be in my arms. 
  I  held  her  close,  sharing  all the thrilled excitement,
amazed at my strange fortune on stumbling, as it were, across
her as I had done. 
  At the touch of my fingers I felt Felice thrill in my arms,
and  then  her  hand  closed  over  mine, while her lips were
crushed  passionately  to mine in a long, clinging kiss. In a
eternity  it  seemed,  she  clung there, and then gently slid
from  my  arms and, lying back in her own corner, gazed at me
as  if  gradually  waking  from  some drugged sleep. Then the
smiles  crept back to her lips and, sitting up, she corrected
any  little  untidyness  on her toilette with deftly feminine
fingers. 
  "Well,"  she  said, "we seem to have got on very well since
we met such a very short time ago. I wonder where on earth we
are?" 
  I  had  to  laugh  for  I  had  been  so  captivated  by my
attractive companion that I hadn't given a thought to the car
and its direction. 
  "Where are we bound for?" I asked. 
  "Oh;  I  merrily  told  Martin  to  drive  on until further
notice,"  she  said.  I think it's about time we turned back.
Tony"  -  her  hand fell softly on my arm - "What do you say.
Come  back  to  my place for tea? It will be jolly. Don't say
you have any other appointment, or I'll break down and cry." 
  "That  must  be avoided at all costs," I said with a smile,
squeezing   her   hand.  "Personally  I  don't  think  twenty
appointments  would  stand  in  the  way  of  tea  with  you'
especially if it is to be tea for two." 
  "Tea for two - certainly!" 
  "Then let's make all haste." 
  "Darling!" 
  She  dimpled  deliciously  and, snatching a quick butterfly
kiss,  picked  up  the  speaking-tube  and gave the necessary
orders to the chauffeur. 
  It  was  some little time later that the big car drew up in
the  courtyard  of  a luxurious suite of flats in a quiet and
serene  Kensington  square.  Conscious of the thrill it meant
for  me  Felice  allowed  me  to lift her from the car and to
adjust her slender crutch beneath her right arm. 
  Then  at my side, her disengaged arm resting confidently in
mine,  she  swung  along  to the lift with that easy grace of
hers,  clinging  flexible  to  the  crutch,  the  provocative
outline  of  her  shortened  limb  rising  and  falling  with
fascinating regularity with each step she took. 
  I  had  a  feeling  that  she  used  a  single  crutch,  in
preference to a pair, of set purpose. A pair of crutches can,
of  course be employed very deftly, and their pretty user can
float  along  with  all the light, airy grace imaginable; but
their  is  something  alluring about the clinging, languorous
sway  which the use of a single crutch gives to the body, and
I  was sure that Felice, versed as she was in all the devices
for  displaying  the  charms of her lovely one-legged figure,
was very much alive to the fact. 
  However,  we eventually found ourselves in the salon of the
flat,  having  been  admitted by a slim and very pretty maid,
daintily short-skirted and high-heeled. 
  The  room  was,  in keeping with the rest of the flat, very
typical  of  its  charming  mistress,  a  beautiful  artistic
symphony in cream and gold, yet a luxurious and cosy nest for
a  pretty  woman,  with  thick,  heavily  piled carpets, deep
inviting  couches,  masses of gorgeously hued cushions, and a
pervasive atmosphere of perfumed ease. 
  When the smiling maid had withdrawn, bearing her mistress's
order for tea. Felice, standing before me, lightly resting on
her crutch, put her little white hands on my shoulders. 
  "Welcome  to  my little home, Tony," she said with a tender
little  smile. It's - it's very, very good to have you here."
And she suddenly put up her soft lips and kissed me. 
  "Now,  just  make  yourself comfortable for a few minutes,"
she  went  on  in her cheery way, "while I go and make myself
presentable."  And  with  an airy wave of her hand she turned
and swung lightly away. 
  As  I strolled about admiring the wonderful appointments of
the  beautiful  room,  and  still  thrilled with the thrilled
excitement  of the whole adventure, the maid returned, pretty
and  efficient,  making  no  sound  on  the luxuriously thick
carpet.  She drew a squat, Moorish lacquer table up to a low,
deep-seated  and  many-cushioned  couch  that  faced the long
windows  occupying one whole wall of the room, and then began
to  make  the  cheerful noise of setting out tea equipage. At
last   tea,   with   all   its  dainty  and  pleasant  edible
accompaniments,   was   ready,   and  the  maid  returned  as
unobtrusively as she had come. 
  The  door opened again, and I turned. Framed in the doorway
stood   Felice,  smiling  at  me,  one  beautiful  white  arm
upraised,  the  hand  resting on the doorpost, the other hand
resting  lightly  on  her  hip.  I  saw  at once that she was
without  her  crutch  and  was  standing  quite  unsupported,
daintily  poised on her single perfect leg and foot. That was
not  the  thing that held me there as one under a spell. From
her white shoulders there floated a filmy, clinging silk wrap
that  formed  a sort of background to a very daring one-piece
costume  of flesh coloured silk that fitted her perfectly and
responded to every curve and movement of her body. 
  She  seemed quite noticeably not so tall as when I had seen
her  some minutes before, but the reason became apparent, for
she had exchanged her amazingly high heeled shoe for a flimsy
little  skin-tight  slipper also of flesh-coloured silk, made
quite  without  a heel, very like the kind of slipper worn by
women  acrobats  on  the  stage. And so she stood lightly and
daintily   poised,   her   lovely  shapely  head  held  at  a
delightfully  impudent  angle  -  altogether  a delicious and
unforgettable picture. 
  Then,  to  my amazement, for I had never anticipated such a
thing,  she  withdrew  her hand from the supporting door-post
and began to hop easily and effortlessly towards me. 
  But  how  utterly  inadequate is that little word 'hop', to
describe her fascination method of progress! I can never hope
to  convey  any real idea of the marvellous ease and grace of
the  performance. In the case of the ordinary person, hopping
is  an  exceedingly awkward, ill-balanced business. But there
was  nothing in the least awkward or uncertain about Felice's
movements. It was rather a lissom, gliding toe-dance down the
room,  amazingly  expert  and sure-footed, the arms and hands
held  quite still in a beautiful, flowing gesture. It looked,
in  fact,  as it was indeed in Felice's case, a quite natural
and easy method of moving about. 
  She  floated  lightly to where I stood and then, halting in
front  of me, stood poised in a perfect balance on her single
little  foot.  Astonished though I had been by her expertness
in hopping, I was able to hide a slight feeling of concern in
seeing her standing there completely unsupported. 
  "Felice!" I called. " Be careful - you might fall." 
  But she only broke into a delicious laughter. 
  "What  a  dear  old  silly  it  is,"  she  said.  "Have you
forgotten  that  I was born one-legged have lived all my life
on  one  leg? I am just as much at home on one leg as you are
on  two - perhaps more so. I could stand like this, just as I
can  move  about, for hours without being in the least danger
of  falling. As a matter of fact, I never use a crutch in the
house. I infinitely prefer to get about like this. Here- just
try to catch me - " 
  She  flung  off  her scanty wrap and in all the slim, sleek
beauty of her form-fitting attire, was away like some dancing
will-o-the-wisp, darting  with amazing speed and certainty in
between  the couches, the cushioned pouffes and little tables
with  which  the  room  was dotted, I after her with laughing
excitement. 
  It  was  wonderful  how  she  managed  to elude me, dodging
cleverly  here and there, sometimes jumping obstacles with an
ease an athlete would have envied. 
  And then, suddenly, as she rounded the long, cream and gold
grand  piano, she slipped on a highly polished bit of parquet
flooring.  I  got to her the moment she fell and, dropping to
the  carpet  beside her, raised her into a sitting posture in
my  arms.  She smiled bravely up at me, but a little spasm of
pain shot across her face. 
  "I'm  not  as  clever as I said, I was, am I? I fell on the
wrong  side,  and  it's  - it's rather sensitive. I'll be all
right in a moment." 
  Thinking of her only as a hurt child, I laid my hand gently
on  the  injured limb and smoothed it with caressing fingers,
massaging it  as skillfully as I was able, and Felice had her
own reaction to the soothing, caressing pressure. 
  She sighted softly as she looked up at me. 
  "That's  better,"  she  murmured.  "You didn't know you had
such a healing touch, did you, Tony? The pain is all gone." 
  Then her eyelids fluttered deliciously. 
  "Tony, darling," she whispered, "you do find me attractive,
don't  you?  Not  distasteful  in  any way? I mean, you don't
think  of  me  merely as a cripple - you love me as I am, and
you - you think my figure pretty and charming - yes?" 
  I  gazed down at her as she lay confidingly in my arms, all
the  slim  loveliness of her displayed by the moulding sheath
of  her  silk attire from the beautiful, bare white shoulders
and arms to the little silk-slippered foot. 
  My encircling arms drew her closer to me till her lips were
just below my own. 
  "Felice,  dearest,"  I murmured, intoxicated by the perfume
of  her  lovely body, "how could I find anything so exquisite
as  you distasteful? You really could not have thought so for
a  single moment. You know I am already mad about you, that I
worship every bit of you. You know that to me your enchanting
one-leggedness is a new thrill every time I contemplate it or
think  about  it.  And you know only to well that I have been
almost  hypnotically  conscious of your beauty from the first
moment  I  met  you.  It  is part and parcel of your physical
loveliness,  as beautiful and attractive as any other part of
you." 
  Her  bare,  white  arms  crept up round my neck, and a soft
little smile parted her lips. 
  "Yes, I know. But, woman like, I wanted to hear you say so.
It is so sweet to hear it all from your lips. 
  Then her lips were crushed to mine and clung for a swooning
eternity. 
  At last she slid away and then, as it were, coming to earth
with a bang, she sat up in mock concern. 
  "Tea!",  she  cried.  "My  good  man  -  tea!  Here you are
shamelessly  philandering  with  a  poor one-legged child who
cannot help herself, while tea is getting cold!" 
  She made a laughing attempt to jump up, but I picked her up
as  if  she  were  the  child she has just claimed to be, and
carried  her  lightly  to the couch in front of which the tea
had been served. 
  Fortunately  the  tea was still quite hot, and for the next
delightful  quarter  of  an  hour  I  had  the extreme joy of
sitting close to Felice, watching the dainty charm with which
she  poured tea, thrilling at the touch of her little fingers
as she handed me my cup, suddenly amused as well a stirred by
the  thought  of  the amazement of any friends of mine, could
they  have seen me at that moment taking tea with a beautiful
one-legged girl whose garment was a one-piece suit of silk! 
  Then,  the  tea  things  having  been removed, we lay back,
Felice  slipping  contentedly  into my arms, and just chatted
and  kissed  at our ease, the world containing for the moment
just our two selves. 
  "Felice," I said after a little spell of silence, "now that
we have met in such wonderful circumstances, we are not going
to lose sight of each other, are we? I mean - " 
  "Why,  you  dear, old silly!" cried Felice, sitting upright
with  such  vehemence that I had to laugh. "Whatever put that
idiotic  notion into your head? As if I should let you go now
I  have  found  you! Please don't misunderstand me, Tony. I'm
not  trying  to  be sentimental, or silly, or anything stupid
like  that.  But  -  well, we're going to be the greatest and
most  wonderful of pals. We'll have the gayest and brightest,
old times, you and I. We'll astonish the town together, and I
shall  wear  my  most stunning frock, and women will be green
with envy of my handsome and distinguished-looking escort. We
will  make  the  folk stare at the most exclusive restaurants
and  night clubs, and I'll show you off at 'Le Phenomene'. By
the way, do you know the 'Le Phenomene' at all, Tony?" 
  "Never heard of it, sweetheart. What is it?" 
  "Ah!  I  think I keep it a little secret, then. All I shall
tell  you  is  that the most remarkable and odd characters in
London  forgather at 'Le Phenomene'. Your first visit will be
a  most  amazing  experience, I can tell you. And, Tony," she
went on, gripping my arm excitedly," we shall dance together.
Of course you dance?" 
  I looked at her in incredulous amazement. 
  "Yes - of course I dance," I replied slowly. "But - but you
- " 
  A little flash of amused exasperation sped across her face. 
  "Tony,  darling;"  she  exclaimed. "Why will you persist in
talking  as if you thought me a helpless cripple? I'm neither
helpless nor a cripple. And I simply adore dancing - " 
  She jumped up suddenly, all gay excitement. 
  "Come along," she said, "I'll show you. In any case, you'll
want a little practice in fitting your steps to mine." 
  Then she turned like an excited child and hopped swiftly to
where  an exquisite  period  grammophone  occupied  a corner.
Within  a  few  minutes  the  room  resounded with one of the
latest fox-trots, and she returned lightly to my side. 
  "Now,"  she said in a crisp busyness like manner, "it's all
very  simple. First of all, clasp your right arm firmly round
my  waist,  holding  me close. That's it. Now put my left arm
round  your  neck,  so; and you see I'm quite comfortably and
firmly  supported  without  being  in  the  least  danger  of
falling. Now you move simply forward as usual, in the time to
the music, and the only way I differ from an ordinary partner
is  that  I  take every step with my one foot instead of with
alternate  feet.  You see the idea? You'll find I dance quite
normally - or at any rate appear to do so." 
  Astonishing  as  it  may seem, Felice only spoke the simple
truth.   She   moved  and  swayed  with  all  the  grace  and
flexibility  of  a  practised dancer fitting in expertly with
all  my  steps,  and one might easily have forgotten that she
was employing all the time only a single leg. 
  It  is  true, of course, that, in a way, I was carrying her
round  in  the  firm  circle  of  my  arm,  and  she also got
additional  support by resting the stump on the outer part of
my  left  thigh,  just  above where the bend of the hip-joint
came. But for all that she really danced, and danced with all
the most charming and easy grace imaginable. 
  At  last,  after  dancing  through  a  number of changes of
records,  we  came  to  rest  by the couch again, and Felice,
deliciously  flushed  and  triumphant,  rewarded  me  with an
almost  suffocating  hug,  crushing her flexible body to mine
and pressing to me in her passionate exuberance. Then we sank
into  the  deep  comfortable embrace of the couch; and there,
with my arms about her, we lounged in dreamy peace. 
  Our  talk  was  not  all of tender nothings; we laughed and
joked like a couple of happy children, Felice holding her own
in the exchange of banter, with an ease that did not surprise
me.  And,  incidentally,  I  twitted  her  about her somewhat
unconventional attire. 
  I  asked,  "Do  you reveal all your wonderful charms to all
your friends in this fascinating way?" 
  She laughed. 
  "You are a special case, Tony, darling. I - I wanted you to
see  me  as  I am, for two reasons. First, I must confess, to
satisfy  my own vanity in revealing my one-legged charms to a
boy  whom  I  felt  would  really  appreciate them. And then,
secondly,  in a way, to test you - to dissipate a tiny little
doubt  that lurked within me that you might possibly not find
me  so  attractive  when  you  saw  me  so  fully and frankly
revealed  - just a girl with only one leg. I felt I wanted to
be  quite  sure of you. That - that was why I asked you those
silly questions after I fell. 
  "And  I passed the test with honours, didn't I, darling?" I
said,  holding  her  very  close.  "I  shall  never forget my
feelings  when  I  saw  you  standing  framed in the doorway,
supported only by your single slender beautiful leg. You were
divine! The loveliest thing I had ever seen or ever wished to
see.  The  ideal woman met at last after centuries of waiting
-" 
  Suddenly - though perhaps it was not so sudden as it seemed
at  the  time  -  I  took  fire.  I  crushed  my lips to hers
fiercely, savagely. And then, lifting my head, leaving Felice
limp  and  almost  swooning  in  my  arms, I crashed down the
floodgates of my pent-up emotions. 
  "Felice,  dearest,  belovedest,"  I breathed. "I can't hold
out  against  your  wizardry any longer. I love you - I'm mad
about  you-  I  don't  want to be just your wonderful pal - I
want  to have you for my own, to watch over you and guard you
from harm, my own beautiful darling! Felice, sweetheart, will
you  marry  me? Listen! Here's a wonderful idea. Get dressed,
darling,  and  we'll go out this very blessed evening and buy
the  engagement ring, and then we'll go off and celebrate the
brilliant  and  deliriously  happy occasion. What do you say,
sweetheart?" 
  But  Felice,  sweet  and unshaken, managed to slip flexibly
from  my  arms,  and  from  the  other end of the couch gazed
across at me through soft, wet-lashed eyes. 
  "Tony,  darling,"  she  said  a little brokenly, "it was so
dear and splendid of you to ask me that. Believe me, I am oh,
so  utterly proud and grateful and thrilled. And I - perhaps,
I  love  you,  too,  Tony, though we've only known each other
little  more than a moment or so. But though it's hard to say
it, I don't want you to become formally and irrevocably bound
to  me - just yet. Please, Tony." She put up a hand as I made
a  sudden  move  towards  her.  "I  am  not  acting just from
caprice.  I  have  the  best  and  most adequate reasons; and
remember, I'm - I'm not saying no to you or sending you away.
I  -  I  simply  couldn't  send  you away, darling. I am only
asking  you  to wait. You remember I told you that one reason
for  my  appearing as I did was in order to give you a better
test.  Well, Tony, other tests may come your way - it doesn't
matter  of  what  kind,  sooner  or  later, and I want you to
remain absolutely free to do exactly as you want to." 
  "But,  Felice,  darling,  I  know exactly what I want to do
now." 
  "I  know, dearest, and it's very sweet of you. But, please"
-
she  crept  close  to  me,  her  arms about my neck - "please
believe  me  when  I  tell you that I am acting from the very
best  and  purest  of motives, and that - that if I consulted
only  my own feelings at this very moment I should consent to
your  proposal  with  the  utmost joy and thankfulness. But I
must not - that's the simple truth." 
  "You  -  you are not already engaged - or married?" I asked
forlornly. 
  "Silly  boy  -  of course not. No - I'm free; and while you
are  waiting,  remember  I shall be waiting too. Then, if you
still want me. I shall be yours." 
  She  drew away and regarded me with a little, wistful smile
that was very friendly, very intimate. 
  "Poor  boy,"  she  said  softly, "he is taking it to heart,
isn't  he?  Smile,  darling. After all, I'm not banishing you
from  my  side.  We're going to have splendid times together.
Everything in the world is not lost!" 
  I  was  able to summon up a smile after a while, and Felice
clapped delightedly. 
  "That's  better,"  she  said.  Then suddenly, she jumped up
excitedly and stood daintily poised in front of me. 
  "Listen,  darling,"  she  said  gaily.  "I've  just  had  a
delightful  idea. For the, I admit, very mysterious reasons I
have  referred to we can't have a formal and open engagement,
and  we  shan't bother for the time being about an engagement
ring. But, just to please you, you silly boy, we shall have a
little  private  ceremony,  just a little secret pact between
our  two selves. Now, just stay here and be patient for a few
minutes." 
  And with that she snatched up her wrap and sped away like a
dainty  sprite  on her lissom single leg. Within a very short
time  she  was  back,  veiled, I noticed casually, in a filmy
wrap and, sinking down on the couch by my site, began: 
  "Look!" she cried, and held up a beautiful jewelled circlet
of  gold,  much  larger  than  an ordinary bracelet, the gold
itself  nearly  half an inch broad, but beaten flat to almost
wafer-like thinness. 
  "This",  she  said,  "will  be  the  symbol  of our bond of
friendship,  and  the  ceremony  is  now about to begin. Now,
darling, please be very good and kneel there on the carpet in
front of me." 
  I  had to laugh in spite of myself and my feelings, and did
as  I was bid. With a little smiling bow, Felice handed to me
the  glittering circlet. It was no wonder I knelt there as in
some  sort  of  trance,  until Felice, with a little gurgling
laugh, shook me from my semi-stupor. 
  "Tony, darling," she murmured softly, "we are in the middle
of  a  most important and dignified ceremonial, and you allow
yourself to be - to be hypnotised by - by - " 
  "By   the  wonderful  unfinished  beauty  of  a  one-legged
enchantress,"  I  filled  in,  "who really ought to give fair
warning  to  a  poor,  weak  man before starting to weave the
spells.  But  I  am  at  your  service again, sweetheart. The
circlet - ?" 
  "That,  dear  heart,  is  a  very  rare adornment - a stump
circlet,  one  of several a very famous jeweller made for me.
Now do you understand?" 
  I bent forward, striving to conceal the thrilled excitement
that  shook me. Then gently I slid the flat gold circlet over
the  smooth,  velvety  flesh of the uplifted stump. It fitted
perfectly. 
  Then  I  lifted  my  head and I was once again on the couch
beside her, she in my arms, our lips clinging. 

                            * * * 

  So  I  met  and  so I made that odd little pact with lovely
Felice  Carling, my enchanting unfinished Venus, exquisite in
her one-legged beauty. 
  Of  her  reasons for refusing to marry me, while heartwhole
and,  I felt, obviously in love in me, I could not then offer
any  explanation.  But gradually these amazing reasons became
clear  to  me.  You will see in the succeeding episodes of my
strange  story how I came to the knowledge of the curious and
poignant yet wholly admirable workings of her mind. 


London Life   December 21, 1929   pp. 21 - 28

              THE STRANGE QUEST OF ANTHONY DREW
                             OR
                 THE TEMPLE OF STRANGE GODS

                      by Wallance Stort

A THRILLING ADVENTURE OF "LA BELLE MONOPEDE."

  It  will  be recalled that in the first episode of this se-
ries,  Anthony Drew a well-to-do young man about town, met by
chance  in  Piccadilly  Felice Carling, a beautiful, alluring
blonde with only one leg - born so, as Anthony later discove-
red  and who took him off to tea at her Kensington flat, whe-
re,  falling  in love at first sight, Anthony proposed to her
but, without being actually repulsed was asked to wait before
becoming definitely engaged, for reasons which Felice refused
to  divulge.  As  a  substitute,  however,  a  smile  pact of
friendship was entered into, the symbol of which was a costly
jewelled  circlet  which  Anthony was permitted to place upon
the shapely stump of Felice's right leg.

  I  was utterly miserable, and life had lost all its savour,
for I had not seen Felice for three whole days. Some wretched
private  business,  connected  with  her much too opulent and
socially  important  family, had taken her into the depths of
the country, and the beastly part of it was that I hadn't the
remotest  idea  of the date of her return. When the telephone
bell  rang  on  the evening of the third day, I picked up the
receiver  listlessly, but was suddenly galvanised into throb-
bing, glorious life.
  "Felice!"  I  cried,  with  a perfect shout of joy. "You're
back!"
  "Yes, Tony darling," came her soft limpid tones, surely the
most  delightful  and  musical  in  the  world. I'm back once
again. Do I gather that you missed me at all?"
  "Missed you! Why, you most precious of all mortal things-"
  But Felice stopped me with a sigh.
  "All  right,  darling," she gurgled. Come round in your own
sweet  person  and tell me about it. And incidentally you can
take me out to dinner. Does that intrigue you?"
  Intrigue  most  inadequately  described  my feelings, and I
told Felice so warmly. Then I dashed away to get into my eve-
ning  things. Within an incredible short time I was being ad-
mitted  to  the flat by Willis, the pretty maid, who received
me  with  her  usual  friendly smile. Then, as I stood in the
hall  after  handing  Willis  my outer things, a slim, silken
figure  appeared  in  the  hallway of the saloon, and Felice,
with  that  airy, dancing ease of hers, hopped swiftly across
to me on her cute little soft-slippered foot. Quite oblivious
of  the  maid  she  swung herself into my arms, kissing me in
passionate delight.
  "I've  missed  you Tony," she whispered between her kisses.
"It's good to have you here again."
  I  murmured all kinds of great nothings that you, dear rea-
der,  need  not be troubled with. Then Felice hopping effort-
lessly,  preceded  me  into the beautiful saloon. I sank into
the comfortable depths of a many cushioned couch, while Feli-
ce,  skilfully poised on her agile single leg, busied herself
with  shaking  cocktails and giving me amusing details of her
doings while away in the country. I sat there in supreme con-
tent,  happy  just  to feast my eyes on her exquisite beauty,
following her enchantedly as she made fascinating little hop-
ping  excursions  about the room for the various cocktail in-
gredients.
  Her lovely body was most provocatively clod in the thinnest
of  pyjamas  in rose pink printed chiffon, the little sleeve-
less  coat,  itself only the most diaphanous of veils, affor-
ding,  every now and then, delicious glimpses of her delicate
bust.
  Another  enticing  feature  of her attire was that while on
the  left side the pyjama leg was of normal length, very full
and  flowing,  on the right side only a little wide and filmy
trouserette appeared, just a few inches in length, from which
there peeped in most fascinating manner the plump little bare
stump.
  I  caught  alluring  glimpses of the gold, jewelled circlet
which  I  had been graciously permitted to place upon it, and
which  Felice  still allowed to remain on its unusual resting
place.
  Then,  after pouring out the cocktails, she bent over me, a
hand on the back of the couch on either side of my head, smi-
ling intimately and affectionately into my uplifted eyes. The
intoxicating  perfume  of  her lovely self drifted sensuously
over  me, drugging my senses with its heavy sweetness, and my
arms  went  up, closing caressingly round the yielding circle
of her waist and drawing her to me.
  Bending  like  a  tall,  swaying  flower,  she  fell gently
against  me, and so slid down in my arms. For an ecstatic mi-
nute  we lay there in a close embrace, lips clinging to lips,
her  soft,  warm body scarcely veiled by the thin silk of her
diaphanous  pyjamas  crushed  to mine, all her vivid electric
quality communicating itself to me in vibrant, pulsing waves.
It was heaven to have her once again in my arms after so many
hours of longing. At last she stirred in my arms.
  "I really should be dressing, darling" she murmured. "But I
simply  don't  want  to  tear myself away. Shall we just stay
here  as  we are, and not bother to go out to dinner? Cook is
out, but Willis can find us something to eat."
  "Your most delightful suggestion is carried unanimously," I
said,  thrilling at the prospect. "Personally I don't care if
I  never  eat again. You, darling, just as you are, are all I
desire for the rest of my life."
  "Silly  boy!"  laughed  Felice, her lips against mine. "But
it's  sweet  of you to be so accommodating. We'll have a nice
quiet, altogether delightful evening, all on our very own."
  And  with a little sight of contentment she settled herself
more  comfortably in my arms, her head on my breast, but with
her  head  upturned and her lips conveniently near my own. As
for  me,  I  was utterly content, thrilled to have her sweet,
warm body so closely wrapped in my arms.
  And  so  we might have remained blissfully for the evening,
had  not  the  sound  of  the doorbell, shrilling through the
flat,  thrown us, as it were, swiftly apart, our heads turned
to  see who the visitor might be. A moment or so later Willis
appeared.
  "Miss Barry," she announced. "May I show her in?"
  "Oh!  do, please, Willis," cried Felice gaily, and then the
door  widened and a delightfully pretty girl stood smiling in
the doorway.
  "Hello June!" cried Felice in welcome, and, as the newcomer
hesitated  slightly,  she  added, "Come in, darling, don't be
shy."
  And  then, to my utter astonishment, the girl hopped nimbly
across  the carpet towards us, just exactly as Felice herself
might  have  done, only one shapely, silken leg showing below
the fluttering skirt of her very short, clinging frock.
  "June,"  said  Felice  blithely, as the girl sank down in a
big chair opposite us, "this is Tony, that very naughty boy I
told  you  about,  who  gets  off with defenceless one-legged
girls in the street."
  "Felice!" I exclaimed, flushing in spite of myself.
  "It's true, isn't it, you silly boy?" she persisted teasin-
gly.  Then  softening  deliciously  at my distress, "it's all
right,  darling,  June understands perfectly. I'm not telling
any silly tales out of school."
  June nodded at me in smiling reassurance.
  "Don't  take  any  notice  of Felice, Mr. Drew," she said a
little mischievously. "She's really most frightfully thrilled
at having met you, and hasn't got over it yet."
  It  was Felice's turn to make a demonstration, and she jum-
ped  up  and pummelled her friend until June laughingly cried
for  mercy.  Then  Felice shook a cocktail for her as a peace
offering. June apologised and explained her visit.
  "Dreadfully  sorry  for butting in so unceremoniously, dar-
ling,"  she  said,  "but  I just came here to ask if you were
going  to  'Le Phenomene' to-night. It's one of their special
nights. The gang are going to be there, and a new girl dancer
is  appearing who, I'm told, is an absolute wonder. You could
bring Tony. It will be a unique experience for him."
  Felice looked across at me excitedly.
  "The  very thing!" she cried, "We shall dine out after all,
dearest,  and then go on to 'Le Phenomene', an odd thing is I
never thought about to-night, and I've been intending to take
you  along  at  the  very first opportunity. What do you say,
Tony?"
  "I  should be thrilled", I said laughingly, echoing her own
enthusiasm.
  "You  certainly  will  be",  Felice  replied  with a laugh.
"Probably  much more than you expect." At that somewhat cryp-
tic  remark Felice and June exchanged amused glances and then
turned enigmatic smiles upon myself.
  All  this  time,  by  the way I had been doing my utmost to
appear as casual and unexcited as possible in the presence of
the  charming and very intriguing newcomer, who was facing me
and smiled with open and frank friendliness across at me.
  June  was certainly as pretty as her name, a dainty, sunny,
lovely  thing  of  about  nineteen, both slim yet at the same
time  very  attractively  feminine.  Her very adequate frock,
made  in  the very simplest manner in filmy, delicate pattern
cerise  crepe  de chine, which I noted, fallen quite a couple
inches  or  so  short of the knee, when she stood, and now as
she  lay very lazily in the depths of the big sofa, the thin,
almost  transparent  frock  barely  reached  halfway down her
beautifully rounded thigh.
  In  June's  case, in this way differing from Felice, it was
the left leg that was absent and it was the shapely right leg
that was so freely displayed. And I very soon formed the opi-
nion  that  she  differed from Felice in an other interesting
way.
  She  had happened to seat here in such a way that the skirt
of  her  frock  had been gathered under her on the left side,
with the result that, while on the right side the thin, deli-
cate  silk  fully  outlined  the  suave contours of the thigh
practically  from  the  hip downwards, it appeared to show on
the  left  side  merely the line hip and nothing at all below
it.
  Unless I was mistaken - and I thought I could not be - June
possessed  no stump at all, her left leg being completely ab-
sent from the hip.
  However,  the  little point was definitely settled a moment
or  so  later when Felice at last made a move to go and dress
for dinner. As she stood in her wonderfully easy manner, June
stood  up just as thoughtlessly, - both, incidentally, as may
be  guessed, providing a unique thrill to me as they stood by
each other perfectly poised each upon her dainty single leg.
  "Did  you  leave  your  crutch in the hall, darling?" asked
Felice of June. "Or, as usual, didn't you bring one?"
  June laughingly shook her head.
  "I didn't bring", one she confessed.
  "You  see,  I  ran round on the two seater, and as a crutch
wasn't  particularly  needed, I just didn't bother about one.
It's always a relief to be without the thing anyway."
  "I  think,  June  uses  a crutch even less than I do," said
Felice, turning to me with a laugh. "She discards it on every
possible occasion and you find her hopping gaily about in the
most  unlikely places. I shouldn't be at all surprised to see
her hopping unconsciously down the aisle at her wedding -
  "With  you  as bridesmaid, Felice", put in June with demure
shyness.
  "Of course," cried Felice, enthusiastically. "What a sensa-
tion we should cause together!"
  She  slipped  an  arm about June's waist, and the two girls
stood smilingly side by side.
  "Don't  you  think we make charming and unique picture, To-
ny?"  went on Felice gaily. We're just about of a size and we
balance  each other perfectly, as in June's case the left leg
is  absent,  and in mine the right. The only tiny flaw, June,
is  that you really ought to have a nice plump, shapely stump
and you haven't a trace of one - or should it be that I ought
to  be without one? Tony, you shall be Paris and award one of
us  the  apple.  What  is your opinion - is a one-legged girl
more  attractive  with  a  remnant  of her missing member, or
without one?"
  I  stood there thrilled and yet embarrassed. As I looked at
June, standing there, daintily poised in a perfect balance on
her  single  slim  leg with no trace of another lower limb in
any  way  apparent, I realised that she was a perfect example
of  complete  one-leggedness, more completely one-legged even
than  Felice,  and in her way, as beautiful and enchanting in
her  unfinished  loveliness.  Each  girl  fulfilled for me an
ideal  of  beauty almost equally potent. Only Felice held for
me  the  greater  enchantment  because of passionate love for
her,  because,  of the two girls, she was the more delicately
lovely.
  Stammeringly at last I ventured to speak.
  "Of course," I said, doing my best to appear unmoved, "this
is  just  a  little joke on your part, Felice, and - well, it
isn't quite fair to ask me to judge so delicate and difficult
a  problem. All I can say is that you both are a thousand ti-
mes  more  attractive one-legged than otherwise; June is per-
fect without a stump and you Felice, are perfect with one and
finally,  if  I must make a distinction, I award the apple to
you Felice, because - well, see, I - I love you."
  Both  Felice  and June clasped their hands, and then Felice
hopped  across to me and, with white arms about my neck, kis-
sed wo warmly.
  "Clever  boy!"  she  cried.  "You  can go to the top of the
class." Then in a soft whisper against my mouth she added "It
was most adorably sweet of you, darling and I love you too!"
  She  swung  round,  with my arm still about her, and smiled
happily to June.
  "This  is obviously no place for me," laughed June. "And in
any  case,  I  had better be off. I shall see you both at 'Le
Phenomene'. Till then, au revoir."
  When  June  had gone, Felice turned to me again, and in si-
lence  we  clung  to  each  other.  At  last Felice drew away
breathless and, with a shy smile, made an odd little request.
  "Carry  me  to my dressing-room, darling," she said softly.
It will be lovely to lie in your arms."
  I  took her soft, warm, silken body tenderly in my arms and
carried her lightly through to her dressing room, where Odet-
te,  her  own pretty personal maid, promptly appeared, and in
whose care, after another clinging kiss I left her.
  When at last she reappeared in the salon, I could only gaze
at  her in rapt appreciation. She swung in with that allurin-
gly  clinging  sway  of  hers  on a delicately slender single
crutch, beautifully fashioned in some silvery material, stam-
ped  with  an inlaid design. Her frock was a fragile dream in
gossamer  chiffon,  clinging so closely upwards from the hips
as  to give a startling impression of non-existence and drop-
ping  in clinging, filmy, uneven folds to only just above the
knee  on  the  left.  On the slim delicate foot was a fragile
wisp  of  a  slipper  in silver kid, set with brilliants, and
with a tall spike heel close on six inches in height.
  Round  the  white shapely column of the throat was a single
string  of perfectly matched pearls, and the whole lovely en-
semble  was completed by an evening wrap of supple jade green
crepe  satin  with  a wonderful collar and very full cuffs to
the elbow, of magnificent white fox fur.
  "Well," Felice said smilingly, breaking the little pregnant
silence at last. "Will I do, darling?"
  She  had  put aside her crutch for the moment and was stan-
ding  periously, yet perfectly, poised on her one little foot
in  its  amazingly  high-heeled slipper, like some ethereally
lovely goddess lightly hovering just above the earth to which
she had descended.
  "Felice,"  I  murmured,  as I came slowly forward, "you are
divine!  I  feel  humble and completely unworthy as I look at
you.  It  is I who should be asking whether I am worthy to be
with you."
  But  Felice  stopped  my  mouth with a cool palm, and then,
reaching up, kissed me tenderly.
  "You  talk  nonsense, darling," she said softly. "But it is
very sweet, very dear nonsense, and I love you for it."
  With  a  little  breathless  laugh  she  released me, and I
picked up her crutch and gently adjusted it beneath her arm.
  It  was  as  I  seated myself beside her in the waiting car
that  I was conscious of a sudden pulse of excitement beating
in  my breast. Our eventual objective was this mysterious 'Le
Phenomene'  of  which  I had heard so much and yet so little.
What  exactly  was  I to find there? In what lay its peculiar
and  bizarre attraction? For the moment I had to keep my soul
in patience and wait.
  We dined luxuriously at a small restaurant, both myself and
Felice.  I must confess, fully enjoying the sensation aroused
as we made our way between the tables, all eyes on the fasci-
nating  one-legged beauty who swung along so gracefully at my
side.  And as we faced each other across the small square ta-
ble  during  dinner I had eyes only for Felice, the loveliest
thing  in  that  beautiful room, thrilled all the time, in my
strange,  inexplicable  way, by my vivid consciousness of the
fact  that  my  enchanting  partner was not as other girls at
other  tables,  but  was most wonderfully, most fascinatingly
one-legged!
  And Felice herself helped to keep this fact in my mind, for
almost  as  soon  as  we  were seated I felt a soft caressing
pressure on my ankle, and realised that it came from Felice's
silken,  unslippered  foot.  And  there for the most part the
small, dainty foot remained during dinner, smoothing my ankle
in  a  caress  that was almost a kiss, its magic all the more
potent  because  I  was  so keenly aware that it was the only
foot the darling possessed!
  We  left  the  restaurant at last and, re-entering the car,
made  our  way westwards. Quite soon after leaving Piccadilly
and  taking various twists and turnings, we drew up on a cor-
ner of a quiet, distinguished looking square. The great house
at  which  we  alighted, with its magnificent pillared facade
and  great  shadowed  portico, looked like a big private man-
sion, not at all the type of place I had imagined.
  A  grave,  powdered  footman answered our ring, and another
received us just inside the luxurious entrance hall. Both men
bowed  smilingly  to  Felice,  obviously recognising her as a
habitue.  Then  after  being relieved of our outer things, we
passed  through the hall and, for a while, wandered aimlessly
but interestedly about the great luxurious rooms.
  So far, nothing particularly out of the ordinary had struck
me  and,  in  fact,  my main reaction was a slight feeling of
disappointment. The house approximated to a very well run and
highly  expensive  hotel or club, with all the usual apparte-
nances  of such a place, ornate dancing-rooms, lounges, palm-
courts,  card-rooms,  a swimming-bath, and the like. And most
of  the  people  I  encountered , well groomed men and pretty
women,  were just the type one meets in such places, with ap-
parently nothing out of the ordinary about them.
  Then  I got a sudden and unexpected thrill when, on passing
through  a  lounge,  a  very-pretty one-legged girl, swinging
daintily  along  on a pair of slim crutches, crossed the room
in  front of us, escorted by a handsome boy. Apparently there
were  at least other limbless lady members in addition to Fe-
lice  and  June,  and my interest suddenly revived. A few mo-
ments  later  something  about two slim, good looking boys in
beautifully  fitting  evening  clothes,  intrigued me as they
possed  us  in  a  wide corridor, and I mentioned the fact to
Felice.
  She laughed.
  "It's  merely  that those boys happen to be girls," she ex-
plained,  I don't think they ever wear female garments - cer-
tainly  not here, at any rate. I told you you would meet some
queer  people,  and you will. But we'd better get down to the
cabaret. That's were we'll find the most interesting crowd at
this time."
  We  came  to a broad, magnificent double staircase, curving
gracefully  downwards, and this we descended. Below, the dou-
ble  cycle  of the stairs converged in very lofty and beauti-
fully  fashioned  swing  doors; and passing through these, we
found ourselves in what I realised was the cabaret that Feli-
ce had referred to. It was indeed a wonderful place, catching
one's  eye with its gorgeous display of colour and one's ima-
gination with its strange, exotic atmosphere.
  The  whole scheme of decoration was carried out in Oriental
style and colour, Chinese design predominating, the lighting,
rich yet softly diffused, coming from myriads of fantastical-
ly designed Eastern hanging lamps. Round the delicately mosa-
iced  halls were hung balconies of gorgeously lacquered trel-
lis-work,  the  space  beneath  these balconies being divided
round the whole of the wall space into series of deep, softly
lit  alcoves,  each furnished with built in heavily cushioned
couches in glowing tapestries, and a large intricately carved
Oriental table.
  Outside these alcoves the floor was dotted with beautifully
designed  tables and chairs, but in the centre of the floor a
large  space was reserved for dancing. The whole floor itself
was of thick plate glass, ingeniously lit from below by many-
coloured  lights,  this  device  adding to the exotic glow of
colour suffusing the beautiful room. Running right across one
end  of  the  room  was a fully equipped stage, the design of
which was carried out in the prevailing Eastern style. At the
moment, however, it was not being used, and the heavy brocade
curtains were down.
  Many of the alcoves were already occupied by merry parties,
and  a  sprinkling  of smart, well-dressed men and women were
sitting  drinking  at  the  tables outside, the numbers being
added  to practically every moment by the constant arrival of
members  and their friends. On the dance floor dancing was in
full  swing  to  the  rhythmic strains of music coming from a
hidden band in one of the balconies above.
  We  made our way to a table, and Felice only waited to dis-
pose off her crutch and to allow me to order cocktails, befo-
re  we  also swung to the dance floor and swayed to he rhythm
of  a  well-played  fox-trot. My earlier practice with Felice
now  stood  me  in good stead, and we danced splendidly toge-
ther,  Felice  once more showing how much at home she was and
how  easy  and  natural  were her movements on that wonderful
single leg of hers.
  After  three dances in quick succession, however, she began
to feel the strain, and we returned to our table to my secret
gratification,  I must confess - much as I was thrilled to be
dancing  with Felice in my arms - for I was still filled with
a  queer,  unsatisfied  excitement, feeling that the strange,
inner mysteries of this exotic resort were yet to be revealed
to me.
  My  eyes were very busy with the colourful scene around me,
as I sipped my cocktail, and gradually I became awore of many
things that slowly helped me to an understanding of the "rai-
son  d'Ãtre" of this place that called itself by the very ap-
propriate name of 'Le Phenomene'.
  A  couple who had been dancing detached themselves from the
crowd on the dance floor just near our table and passed slow-
ly  by us. And my eyes opened as they fell upon the pair. The
girl was quite young and a very pretty blonde, but she seemed
like  some  dream  survival  from another age. Her incredibly
tiny waist displayed to the full by the formfitting frock she
wore,  could  not  have  been  more than ten or twelve inches
round,  and  I had a feeling that, had she bent suddenly, she
must  inevitably have snapped in two. Then, as my eyes slowly
fell downwards, I saw that she was practically only tottering
along, resting on the very tips of her toes as the incredibly
tall  slender  heels of her black satin slippers were, at the
very least, seven or eight inches in height. The couple were,
I  soon discovered, only one of several pairs, all vying with
each other in the extraordinary smallness of their waists and
the height of their heels.
  I  turned  to  Felice, to find her watching me with genuine
amusement.
  "Some  of  the  'phenomena' that frequent the 'Phenomene',"
she  said  with  a  laugh. "Do you begin to understand? Look,
there is another very remarkable specimen."
  I  followed  her  gaze  with  a little gasp of surprise and
pleasure,  for  the  girl swinging past in her partner's arms
was  completely and wonderfully armless, the bare white, per-
fectly rounded-off ends of her beautiful shoulders being ful-
ly exposed by her daringly low-cut frock. There was something
fascinating  about  this  perfect armlessness, and I followed
the  girl  with my eyes until she was lost in the maze of the
dancers.
  Then  across  my ken there suddenly swung June, who waved a
laughing  greeting  to  us  as she went past with her dancing
partner.  As  I  watched her, I was able to realise, from the
grace  and  swaying ease of her dancing, something of the en-
chanting picture Felice made when dancing with me.
  It  was  certainly astonishing to see how effortlessly June
fitted in her quick one-footed steps to those of her partner;
and  to  me  at any rate, not even the neatest and shapeliest
pair  of  egs in the room could ever equal, in sheer fascina-
tion  and witchery, the beauty and elegance of the single leg
moving  so  nimbly  beneath the short fluttering skirt of her
filmy silk frock.
  A word from Felice brought my attention back to her.
  "Yet another interesting exhibit," she said. "Look-"
  I  followed the graceful indication of her cigarette in the
long  jade  holder, and I saw coming towards us on the arm of
her partner, a very pretty girl in some extraordinary kind of
costume, the details of which I could not quite make out. Her
actual  frock was of the scantiest proportions, low in front,
backless,  and dropping only a few inches below her hips. But
it  appeared that it was supplemented by a tight-fitting gar-
ment of many colours.
  It  was only when the couple passed within a few feet of us
that  I realised that the frock that I have described was ac-
tually the girl's one and only garment, and that she was won-
derfully  and  beautifully tattooed, every inch of her white,
shapely  body, from the base of her throat to the tips of her
toes,  being  covered with a perfect gallery of intricate de-
signs.
  She  had  no  sooner  passed that another intriguing figure
caught my eye. At first I thought the girl - a lovely brunet-
te  - was completely clad in a suit of black silk tights; but
on  a nearer view I saw that, with black silk trunks, she was
wearing  wonderful  high  kid  boots  with  amazingly slender
heels,  smoothly  fitting, without a crease or wrinkle, right
up to the hips; and on her arms she wore long, perfectly fit-
ting  kid  gloves  that reached the shoulders. The effect was
very striking and, to me, entirely novel.
  I  was by this time, as my be guessed, immensely interested
and  thrilled,  and I searched the throng about me, eager for
further sensations. I got many in quick succession. A beauti-
ful  junoesque  woman went by in the scantiest raiment, lite-
rally  loaded with costly jewels. Her hair was encircled with
diamonds, long glittering pendants swung from her ears, valu-
able  necklaces  on  graduated  lengths  were  hung about her
throat.  Her  arms and ankles, the latter as bare as the for-
mer,  as  she  was  stockingless, were encircled by scores of
jewelled  bangles,  and not only was every finger heavily be-
ringed,  but  also every toe, which her little golden sandals
left  frankly  displayed.  A final bizarre touch was added to
her  gorgeous  appearance  by the fact that a tiny nose-ring,
set with small diamonds, glittered in one nostril.
  A  laughing  quartet,  two  girls and two boys, passed to a
table near us, and I should have taken only a casual interest
in  them,  but  for the fact that the boys were so boyish and
the girls, though certainly very pretty, seemed rather affec-
ted and mincing.
  Then  I suddenly recalled the two 'boys' I had seen shortly
after  entering  the  club,  and I understood. Of course, the
girls  were  really boys, and the two boys with them actually
girls!  The  make-up  in  each case was really wonderful, and
almost  perfect; but there was just something about them that
betrayed them to anybody studying them carefully.
  I turned to Felice once again.
  "Yes,  I begin to understand," I said. "This is certainly a
temple of strange gods."
  Felice nodded laughingly.
  "A  very  good  description,  Tony," she said. "That's just
what  it  is. I suppose every possible kink or complex is re-
presented here at one time or another. Nearly every member is
abnormal  in  some  curious  way. But it's all most intensely
fascinating, don't you think?"
  "Most," I agreed. And then, as my eyes strayed again to the
moving  throng, I had yet another thrill more potent than any
so  far  experienced. A pretty blonde walking slowly past me,
supported  by the encircling arm of her boy, attracted my at-
tention by the curious stiffness of her gait and, with a sud-
den  leap of the pulses, I saw below her very brief, clinging
skirt,  two slender, gleaming, beautifully turned spindles of
silver! These slim supports were obviously all she had by way
of  legs, and it affected one strangely to see just those two
delicately  fashioned  shafts moving stiffly below the dainty
frock instead of the usual shapely flesh-and-blood limbs.
  I  pointed  out  the  girl to Felice, and she nodded inter-
estedly.
  "Yes,"  she said, "that's Sylvia Garnett. Her more flippant
friends  call her 'Silver Legs'. The legs are of silver, too,
but  she  only wears them at places like this. Ordinarily she
wears wooden ones, slender, very neatly made spindles lacque-
red in black."
  "Queer," I said, "a pretty girl wearing wooden peg legs -"
  "Oh,  everyone to her taste, or kink, Tony, darling. Sylvia
gets  some sort of kick out of wearing wooden legs, though as
she  has only very short stumps just below her hips, she must
find walking rather a strain. Personally I should not like to
spoil  the  shape of my stump by wearing an artificial leg of
any  kind;  but  many people do not mind that, as they find a
leg  of that kind so useful. I'm afraid I'm not a normal per-
son,  Tony, I like to be one-legged, and I like my stump just
as  a  stump, and not as something on which to fit an artifi-
cial leg."
  "I'm  glad  you are as you are, Felice, dearest," I whispe-
red,  "and  you express my own feelingS exactly. It would ut-
terly  spoil  your  personal,  subtle  charm to in any way to
adopt camouflage."
  I  went  on  murmuring soft endearments, and then we lapsed
into  blissful  silence,  Felice  nestling  quite unashamedly
within  the  circle of my arms. Then suddenly she laughed and
looked up at me as if to say, "Just look at that," as a dain-
ty  little  one-legged girl, swinging gracefully along at her
boy's  side on a single neat crutch, halted just by our table
and,  without  the slightest show of embarrassment, pulled up
her  short,  scanty  frock and removed a dainty handkerchief,
with  which she dabbed her nose, and returned it to its inti-
mate  little hiding-place, and then continued serenely on her
way.
  "Now, wasn't that cute?" cried Felice delightedly. "I shall
certainly  adopt  that little trick when I wear a stump-sock.
That will be nice for you, won't it, Tony?, she added slyly.
  "Ecstasy!" I murmured softly, hugging her more close to me.
And  then my attention was caught by a lightly bobbing figure
as  of  a  girl skipping gaily through the throng of smoothly
moving dancers. It was only as she neared us that I saw, with
a  quickening  of  the  pulse, that the girl, very pretty and
graceful,  was, in fact, hopping in just the easy, effortless
way  as did June and Felice. So that when she came more fully
into  view  I  was  not at all surprised to see only a single
silk-clad  leg  very  fully  displayed  below her very short,
tight frock.
  She  passed  within  a  few yards of us, and at that moment
Felice  caught  sight of her and, sitting up, fluttered a gay
greeting to her with white uplifted fingers.
  "Desiree"!  she called, and the girl turning her head, smi-
led deliciously and waved back.
  "Just  a  moment,  darling,"  she called, "and I'll be with
you." And she hopped blithely and lissomly to a table a short
distance away, where a mixed company was seated.
  "Now,  there's  a pretty sight," said Felice, as we watched
the  girl still standing poised on her single leg and talking
animatedly  with her friends. "There is a little bond between
Desiree  and myself for, you see, we were both born with only
one leg. But Desiree is really much more remarkable than I am
in  that  respect - in fact, she's one of the most remarkable
girls in the world. Here she's coming across to us."
  The  girl  had  now left her friend's table and, hopping in
the  most  natural  and  dainty way in the world, reached our
table.  She  kissed Felice and was introduced to me, and then
stood chatting for a little while before passing on. She pro-
ved  a  very  pretty  brunette, slim and graceful in a brief,
very close-fitting sleeveless frock that was little more than
a  wisp of chiffon. One characteristic that struck me at once
was  the extreme slimness of her hips, which, extraordinarily
enough, appeared even narrower than her quite slender waist.
  And  then another thing intrigued me at the same time as it
baffled  me.  The  thin,  sleek skirt of her very short frock
fitted  practically  skin-tight for quite six or seven inches
below  the  hips,  and then broke into short filmy flares. So
close  fitting  was  it,  in fact, that there seemed actually
only  room in it for the surprisingly plump thigh of the sha-
pely one leg.
  When  at  last she left us, moving with a grace that had, I
thought,  something  alluringly serpentine about it, I turned
to Felice a little excitedly.
  "Felice,"  I  said, "you told me that Desiree was a remark-
able  girl  - and I should say she certainly is. She seems to
me to have just her one leg and - well, nothing more. And yet
that can't really be, can it?"
  But Felice nodded smilingly.
  "It  can  be," she said, "for the simple reason that in De-
siree's  case it is so! She is, as a matter of fact, the only
living  example  of  such  an anomaly, and a perfect and very
beautiful  example  of it, too. You must have noticed the ex-
treme  slimness  of her hips. That is so because actually her
body,  instead  of merging in the usual pair of legs, or even
into  one  leg and a stump, as in my case, tapers beautifully
and  smoothly  into just the single, shapely, perfect leg you
saw.  Her  wonderful  one-legged  body  is a really beautiful
thing, her leg having no bias either to right or to left, but
is formed on perfectly symmetrical lines. Exactly the same is
the  case  with  her foot, which is beautifully proportioned,
and the amazing thing is that the big toe is not to the side,
as in the normal foot, but in the middle, with the other toes
group about it, two on each side. You did not know that Natu-
re  could  play  such  extraordinary  pranks with people, did
you?"
  "I  certainly  did  not!"  I  exclaimed, unable to escape a
queer  feeling  of  unreality at the astonishing things I had
heard and witnessed since I had come to this amazing, bizarre
place.
  And  as  my  eyes  wandered back to the dancing throng, yet
another thrill was added to the many I had experienced. For a
pretty  girl  went  by on her partner's arms, both apparently
dancing  blithely,  and my eyes narrowed as I saw that only a
filmy  wisp of chiffon floated airily below the girl's hips -
that,  and  nothing  more! For she was quite legless from the
hips, and was simply being carried round by her dancing part-
ner,  her  laughing face, as she looked up into his eyes, re-
vealing how much she was enjoying the odd sensation.
  Then, when my amazement was still upon me, June and her boy
partner came up, June for once, I noticed, swinging easily on
a neat, slender crutch, and joined us at our table.
  "The cabaret is just about to begin," announced June, after
I  had  ordered  more  drinks.  "The  funny thing is that the
others  haven't  turned up yet. They'll miss the show - and I
know they wanted particularly to see it."
  I wondered who exactly "the others" were, but I didn't care
to  appear too curious. And, anyhow, at the moment the lights
began,  one by one, to go out, and soon the room was in dark-
ness  save for a very dim, roseate glow that filtered through
from  some hidden source. Then the opening blare from the or-
chestra  cut  through  the buzz of conversation and the heavy
curtains that veiled the stage swished softly aside.
  One  cabaret  performance  is ordinarily very like another,
but  this  particular  show certainly had its interesting and
intriguing  points  of difference. "Turns" of the usual order
included  the  inevitable  "crooning" singer of jazz songs, a
very  "low"  but very funny comedian, and a clever and excee-
dingly  naughty French "diseuse" who, by the way, provided in
her  own  person a little thrill for many devotees present by
revealing  a quite freakishly tiny waist and wearing slippers
with incredibly high slender heels.
  The  first  really bizarre note, however, was struck by the
entry  of  a  pretty laughing girl who, after bowing near the
wings, shook off, with a little wriggle of her shoulders, the
thin  silk  wrap that covered her, and advanced to the centre
of the stage, a slim, shapely figure in primrose silk tights.
  It  was  only  after a tiny but quite perceptible interval,
that  I realised with a sudden thrill, that the girl was com-
pletely armless, the smooth, bare, beautifully rounded shoul-
ders  that  emerged  like  a  white  flower from the low-cut,
tight-fitting  bodice,  revealing  no trace of upper limbs at
all.
  But  the  girl soon showed that the absence of arms was, in
her  case,  little or no handicap, for kicking off her little
slippers and using her slender, shapely toes left bare by her
daintily  'mittened' tights, she went through an amazing cle-
ver  routine that through delighted applause from an audience
in  many  ways  specially qualified to appreciate her expert-
ness.
  Seated on a chair, she sang to her own accompaniment on the
ukulele,  daintily  strummed  with  her toes, and then played
with  the skill of a trained musician, a brilliant violin so-
lo,  holding the instrument in the approved fashion under her
chin, and bowing and 'fingering' with perfect ease.
  Then  crossing  to  an easel, she stood perfectly poised on
one  foot  while with the toes of the other she drew in char-
coal astonishingly rapid and very clever caricatures of well-
known  members of the audience, including a very charming one
of Felice, featuring very prominently her one leg.
  These  feats  she followed with a succession of fascinating
tricks, in all of which she displayed the astonishing expert-
ness  of her dainty toes and the wonderful flexibility of her
slim legs.
  She  was followed by a quite remarkable female impersonator
- slim and very short-skirted - who, had he not at the end of
his  performance  removed  a  blonde  wig, I should have been
firmly  convinced was a girl. He possessed, for a man, an ex-
tremely  small  waist,  a  full, white fleshed bust, and very
slender,  shapely legs, and no girl could have worn with more
charm  the  dainty amazingly high heeled little slippers that
graced her small feet.
  With  the  next  turn I got another personal thrill, for it
was given by a couple of clever girl contortionists and equi-
librists,  whose fascinating exhibition was made all the more
interesting by the fact that each had only one leg. They made
a  most  attractive  and unusual couple in their sleek, skin-
fitting  costumes  of  pure  white silk tights and, as usual,
neither  seemed  in  the  slightest way inconvenienced by the
possession  of  only one leg, maintaining perfect equilibrium
even during the most difficult and tortuous feats.
  One  or two turns of a quite normal type followed, and then
came the 'piece de resistance' of the evening, which our pro-
gramme  announced  as  the  "Ballet Fantasque - featuring the
world's most wonderful dancer, 'La Mysterieuse.'"
  A  buzz  of  excited  chatter  eddied through the spacious,
beautiful  room just before the act, dying down to hushed ex-
pectation  as the great heavy curtain swished softly aside. I
leaned  forward  tensely,  a  queer  pulsing excitement in my
heart,  some second sense warning me that I was about to wit-
ness something odd, fantastic, amazing.
  From the orchestra came throbbing, rhythmic music, barbaric
and  bizarre.  As  yet  the stage was veiled by a glittering,
transparent curtain which hang there like a delicate bejewel-
led  cloud. Then this slowly slid away, as it were, in a soft
mist  dissolving,  revealing a strangely lovely interior gor-
geously  Oriental  in  inception, but carried out in the most
fantastically  futurist  and jazz design, and lit by an ethe-
real,  unearthly  radiance that added to the whole exotically
weird effect.
  On  the  right,  left  and centre, close by the walls, were
stationed twelve figures utterly immobile, looking as if they
were  part of the general decorative scheme, gorgeously appa-
relled  in  stiff,  brocaded  costumes of Chinese design, the
full, embroidered skirts reaching to the floor.
  In  the centre of the stage, but to the rear, stood a heavy
pedestal,  intricately  carved  and  brilliantly lacquered on
scarlet  and gold, and upon this squatted what appeared to be
the slim, exquisitely attired figure of a lovely Chinese god-
dess,  her  bare,  heavily jewelled arms held out in a stiff,
right-angled  gesture, the open palms of her hands facing the
audience.  So the goddess and the twelve attended figures re-
mained,  absolutely motionless, while the uncanny Eastern mu-
sic throbbed and a strange, exotic perfume drifted stealthily
about the room.
  A  sudden crash of cymbals, and there entered from the side
another  figure,  clad  like the immobile attendants, in gor-
geous  Chinese  brocade, the stiff, heavy skirts sweeping the
floor. An even more gorgeous colour scheme differentiated her
from  the motionless figures, and in another respect she dif-
fered  from them, for a narrow mask of black silk crossed the
grave  beauty  of the porcelain-white face at the line of the
eyes.
  "La Mysterieuse", I heard Felice whisper. "I wonder who she
really is? I think I could guess."
  Smoothly, effortlessly, like a figure running on well oiled
wheels, the girl moved forward and, in tune with the rhythmic
music,  glided  and swayed about the stage in what could only
be  described  as sheer poetry of motion. It was toe-dancing,
of course, the rapid movement of the feet being hidden by the
enveloping  skirts, but superlative toe-dancing executed with
a skill that only dancers of genius could attain.
  Then  with  slow,  gradual  movements, as if waiting for an
age-old  dream,  the  squatting  figure of the goddess on the
pedestal  began  to move and sway, her arms wreathing in fan-
tastic patterns, and the twelve attendant figures came, as it
were,  to  life  and  swayed and gyrated in unison, forming a
wonderful,  ever-changing  kaleidoscopic  background  for the
gliding figure of the masked dancer in front.
  Gradually  the  dance  slowed, until once again the figures
were  motionless. The masked dancer seemed suddenly caught by
the spell that had overcome the others, and stood immobile in
the  centre  of  the  stage. There came a sudden crash on the
cymbals,  and by some ingeniously contrived mechanical trick,
the  stiff,  brocaded  garment fell away from her completely,
leaving  her  standing there, a slim, lovely figure clad only
in shimmering tights of flesh silk.
  The  little  involuntary  gasp of amazement that escaped my
lips  was  echoed  in a soft hiss round the room - and it was
not  surprising.  For the masked dancer stood there perfectly
and  gracefully  poised on a single slender leg that was only
too obviously the only lower limb she possessed. For a moment
or  so  the silence held; then the delighted audience cheered
and applause broke out like crashing thunder.
  As  for  myself, I was only then realising to the full what
an  amazing clever thing that dance had been. The girl, while
conveying the illusion that her beautiful and perfect perfor-
mance  was  being accomplished on two feet in the normal man-
ner,  had  actually  been pirouetting on the toes of just her
single  foot  all  the time! The agility and control required
must  have  been  almost superhuman. And yet there she stood,
perfectly  at  ease on that slimly beautiful leg of hers, bo-
wing  with  smiling  calm to the continued applause as if no-
thing  particularly out of the ordinary had happened. At last
the sound of appreciation died down, and then we had another,
and,  to  me,  utterly  unexpected thrill. The masked dancer,
hopping  swiftly  and  gracefully  to  the side of the stage,
swept  an arm in a flowing gesture towards the twelve motion-
less  figures,  and there came another reverberating crash of
cymbals.
  As  if  by magic, the stiff robes fell away, leaving twelve
slender,  girlish forms revealed in all the shapely beauty of
flesh-coloured silk tights. My heart missed a beat and I felt
my  pulses  racing as I gazed. Every single girl of the whole
twelve was one-legged.
  The  band  crashed  forth  in  a wild Bacchanale, the whole
troupe,  led  by  the  lovely one-legged dancer, broke into a
medley  of  the  fastest and most amazing dancing I have ever
seen, all the more marvellous because of the uncanny skill in
poise and balance shown by every member of this unique combi-
nation of beautiful one-legged girls. For a moment or two the
pace  was  held,  and  then, in a whirl of flashing limbs the
troupe swept tempestuously out through the wings, leaving the
stage empty save for the slim, Chinese goddess on her lacque-
red pedestal.
  That  was  the  opening dance of that amazing and certainly
well-named  'Ballet  Fantasque'.  There  followed a series of
dances,  each  in its way more astonishing than its predeces-
sor,  and  which  - much as I should like to describe them in
detail  -  I can only, in the space at my disposal, do little
more than catalogue.
  There  was the wonderful "Danse Sans Jambes" (Dance Without
Legs) 'danced' by the lovely girl who had posed as the Chine-
se  goddess,  and who, when she dropped to her hands from the
pedestal,  revealed  herself  as being entirely without legs,
her  slim  body being neatly and perfectly rounded off at the
line  of the hips. She 'danced' with wonderful grace and agi-
lity  on  her  hands,  her slender legless body balanced on a
lissom curve above her head.
  There was the fascinating and thrilling 'Danse Des Moignon'
in which the whole corps of dancers, clad in wonderful tights
of  glittering  diamante,  brought their shapely and flexible
stumps into play in a number of ingenious ways. Then, separa-
ting, the dancers executed a musical drill with the precision
of  a  troupe of Tiller Girls, and in the control and balance
was little short of miraculous.
  There  were the two very effective and neatly executed dan-
ces, 'The Crutch Dance' and the 'Peg Leg Dance', each perfor-
med  by  a  different  quartet  of dancers, the first quartet
supported  by  single, slender, glittering rhinestone-covered
crutches,  and  the  second wearing slim, spindle-shaped 'peg
legs'  also  covered with rhinestones. All kinds of ingenious
effects  were obtained, including step and acrobatic dancing.
Finally,  there  were  perhaps  the most amazing of all - the
various  solo  dances  of 'La Mysterieuse' herself, including
miraculous  toe-work and most incredible feats of balance and
concluding  with  the  wonderful 'Adagio Monopedique', danced
with  a  handsome,  finely proportioned male partner, himself
also with only one leg.
  The  dance  was  a marvellous performance in every respect,
for  not  only did both dancers reach the peak of perfect ba-
lance and control, darting, gliding and pirouetting about the
stage on their single legs with an ease that a practised two-
legged dancer could hardly have equalled, but the girl proved
an  amazing  contortionist,  her  lissom, flexible body being
juggled  with by her partner on every possible and apparently
impossible way.
  He swung her round his body in swirling circles at all kind
of  angles,  swept  her  round  the stage in wider and faster
circles,  gripping now her hands, now just the slender ankle.
He caught and held her in various beautifully balanced poses,
after  she  had  hopped across the stage to him at astounding
speed  on  the  tips  of  her toes - once holding her, like a
beautiful  bird  poised for flight, at the full length of his
upraised right arm.
  Finally  as a closing and utterly breath-taking thrill, the
girl,  once  again hopping with that incredible speed of hers
across  the  stage,  jumped  as she reached her partner, and,
lifting her leg, hooked her foot round his neck and, clinging
only  by  that desperately precarious hold, was whirled round
and  round at ever increasing pace. Slowing down at last, she
regained the upright once again, and the pair stood together,
breathless  but smiling and perfectly balanced, bowing to the
tremendous applause that thundered through the room.
  The  great curtain swung down and swished back a half dozen
times  as  the  pair and the whole troupe were recalled again
and  again, until at last 'La Mysterieuse' stood alone on the
stage,  a  lovely slim figure, delicately poised, and then at
last  she  pulled off her mask and laughingly waved it to the
applauding throng in the front.
  "It  is Sonia!" cried Felice excitedly. "I thought it could
only  be she." And from all parts of the room came the welco-
ming cry. "Sonia - Sonia - Sonia -"
  "I'm  afraid, I'm just as wise as before," I said to Felice
as the curtains swung down for the last time and a great buzz
of  chatter  filled  the  room.  "Everybody seems to know the
mysterious dancer now that she has removed her masked. Who is
she?"
  "What  a shocking confession of ignorance!" laughed Felice,
with a little unusual glance at June. "In private life she is
Sonia  Merrill,  but  she  has  been  famous for years as the
world's  most beautiful and wonderful one-legged dancer - 'La
Belle  Monopede'.  She's  been  away dancing in America for a
year or so, and it's just like her to come back and play this
little 'La Mysterieuse' trick to us."
  But at this juncture June suddenly interrupted with a litt-
le shriek of joy.
  "Oh,  there  you are," she cried. "They must have come with
Sonia  and taken there table just before her ballet." And she
waved a slim, white arm towards one of the alcoves thot frin-
ged the dance floor.
  With  Felice,  I  turn&d and looked in the direction of the
alcove.  And  as I gazed I could feel an odd excitement awake
in  my  veins. At the table set within the alcove were seated
three girls and three men. One of the girls was partly hidden
by  her  male  partner,  but the other two girls were on full
view, except, of course, for the intervening table. They were
both,  I could see, daintily, exquisitely beautiful. But that
was not all my widening, staring eyes saw.
  The frocks of both girls were most daringly low cut, and it
was  only too amazingly obvious that both girls were entirely
armless! There could be no mistake about it. In each case the
firm,  white flesh of the perfectly rounded-off shoulder ends
was  plainly visible. Each had lovely, perfect shoulders, but
nothing at all in the way of arms.
  And  as  if  to  settle the point, just as I was looking at
them,  the  younger  of  them raised above the table a little
shapely  silk-stockinged foot and, with her beautiful slender
tees  left  bare by the neatly mittened stocking, removed the
cigarette she was smoking from her lips!
  It  was  just then that this girl and her companions in the
alcove  caught sight of June's waving hand, and with laughing
excitement the girl threw away the cigarette she held between
her toes and, dropping her foot, jumped up and came hastening
towards  us.  And now the excitement began once again to well
up  within me, for it was only too plain that the lovely arm-
less  girl  was hopping in the easy way that Felice had accu-
stomed  me  to;  and  as she came within full view I saw that
only  the  right  leg, slim and shapely in its smooth-fitting
silk  stocking,  showed  below  the  brief skirt of her thin,
clinging  chiffon  frock. Young, exquisitely lovely, yet arm-
less and one-legged! It was no wonder that I was moved to the
very  core - that I could not take my thrilled eyes from her,
unconscious  for  the  time being of everybody and everything
else.
  She reached our table and, sinking gracefully into a chair,
greeted  the  two girls gaily and turned wonderful, long-las-
hed, smiling, very friendly eyes on myself.
  "This  is  Tina, my dear," was Felice's introduction. "Tina
Nicholas.  You've  heard of the famous Dr. Nicholas, the won-
derful  French  plastic surgeon, of course. He is the husband
of  our wonderful Tina - in fact, he was responsible for Tina
as you now see her."
  I  did  not  confess the fact to Felice, but I had not till
then  heard of the famous Dr. Nicholas, nor did I at that mo-
ment understand Felice's cryptic reference to his responsibi-
lity  for  Tina. It was only later that I learned the amazing
truth  - that the wonderful and amazing amputations of Tina's
arms and left leg had been performed under extraordinary cir-
cumstances by the doctor himself.
  However,  Tina  herself laughingly interrupted Felice's re-
marks about her.
  "Felice,  darling,"  she said still smiling, though I could
sense the feeling behind the gay manner. "I'm really not Tina
Nicholas  any  longer.  You see, I've divorced my husband. Of
course,  he's  insane.  I didn't realise the dreadful part of
him  until  after  our  marriage. So you see, I'm Tina Romney
once  again.  And  now  you're all to come to our table for a
final drink, and then we're going to Moira's, - you too."
  She  turned  soft  flattering  eyes  in my direction as she
whispered the last two words to me, and I felt something vel-
vety  and  warm slip into my hand as it lay there on my knee.
With  a  sudden  thrill  I realised that it was Tina's little
foot,  with  it's  beautiful,  slender bare toes, that rested
within my hand.
  I  didn't  knew  who  'Noira' was or what 'Noira's' meant -
except that in all probability it referred to the lady's hou-
se;  but,  closing  my fingers over the little foot, I looked
into  her  eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly in a way that
was almost a caress.
  I  have  not the slightest excuse to offer for my behaviour
at  that moment. It was imbecile, weak, vaccillating, cruel -
anything  you like. I admit to all that, and I realised it to
the  full  later. But in some way - helped, of course, by her
really  exquisite  blonde  beauty and the, for me, tremendous
attraction  of  her  physical  peculiarities, Tina had cast a
spell  over  me  at the very first sight of her. For the time
being  even  Felice  was forgotten, and I had eyes for nobody
but this lovely fragment of a woman - for that was really all
she  was,  bereft  of  everything but that one shapely single
limb of hers.
  Of course, she had realised the truth at once, and immedia-
tely  turned  the whole battery of her incomplete charms upon
me.  Tina was by no means a heartless 'vamp'. It would not be
fair to convey that impression of her. But she was a woman, a
lovely,  passionate woman; and I, for one, are not in a posi-
tion  to  blame her for sensing my intense admiration for her
unique  unfinished  beauty, and taking immediate advantage of
it.
  However,  with  a  final  squeeze of her flexible toes, she
dropped  her  foot  and resumed her little heel-less slipper,
and  we  all  made our way to the table in the alcove. Here I
found that Sonia - 'La Belle Monopede' - and Desiree had both
joined  the group. And then I was introduced to 'Moira', whom
Tina  had  mentioned when inviting us to their table. She was
the  other  lovely  armless girl I had noticed, and I learned
that  she  was  Lady Noira Pomeroy, the handsome young man at
her side being her husband, the Honourable Ronald Pomeroy.
  It  was  only  when I sat between Moira and Tina, while the
whole  company  laughed  at  Moira's very vivacious and witty
sallies,  that  I realised, with yet another intense, pulsing
thrill,  the  full  extent of her amazing incompleteness. She
was  as  beautiful  and  perfectly armless as Tina, the bare,
white shoulders showing no traces of removal.
  Gay,  vivacious,  delightfully  witty as well as strikingly
beautiful, Noira was really and literally only a lovely trunk
of  a woman, the only thing she had in the way of limbs being
those little rounded stumps at her hips.
  Felice had told me that I should find thrills at 'Le Pheno-
mene', but never in all my wildest dreams had I expected such
a succession of them.
  I  looked a little eagerly round the table, my eyes passing
from girl to girl, my mind mechanically busy with an odd cal-
culation  -  Moira armless and legless, Tina armless and one-
legged,  Sonia  one-legged, June one-legged, Desiree one-leg-
ged;  a  beautiful dark brunette with a cynical, petulant ex-
pression  and who had been introduced to me simply as Dolores
was as yet an unknown quantity. And then Felice.
  With  a sudden start I woke up and gazed round in astonish-
ment.  Felice  -  where was she? The full extent of my sudden
infatuation  for Tina will be realised when I tell you that I
hadn't noticed whether Felice had followed us to the table or
not.
  "June",  I  queried across the big table, "where has Felice
got to?"
  But June, with a little wistful smile, shook her head.
  "I don't know, Tony," she said. "She - she just went off. I
- I didn't see her go."
  "She  was  tired, perhaps", said Tina to me; then in a soft
whisper,  "Does  it  matter?" And her little bare toes gently
smoothed  my  ankle,  while  a  bare, lovely armless shoulder
brushed my lips.
  "Oh, Felice is all right," said Dolores a little viciously.
"Don't  you worry about her, Tony. You're not the only pebble
on  the beach where she's concerned. She has quite a gift for
being  picked  up  by  infatuated  young men who fall for her
highly attractive and very well displayed charms!"
  The  girl  lied  horribly, cruelly, but I did not know that
until much later. But for the moment I was shaken, and I wan-
ted  to  believe her. I was mad about Tina, and it suited me,
treacherous, weak coward that I was at the moment, to believe
the worst of poor, loving, loyal Felice.
  "Well,  if that's how she feels about things," I said, "all
right  - let her go." And as Tina slid into my arms I dropped
my lips to hers and we clung together in our first kiss.
  The  cocktails  arrived  and  we all drank, I with a hectic
gaiety  that had something just a little false about it. Tina
with an ease and grace that seemed miraculous, took the litt-
le  thin-stemmed  glass between her dainty, slender toes, and
raised it.
  "To ourselves, Tony," she whispered.
I gazed at her stunned by her wonderful unfinished beauty. To
me,  the whole vision of her at that moment - the lovely arm-
less shoulders, the shapely perfection of one and only limb -
was  utterly intoxicating, utterly desirable. She looked into
my  eyes,  sensing  all I felt. Then, stretching out her leg,
she placed the glass gently against my lips, and then emptied
it.
  At  Lady Moira's bidding, the party now made their prepara-
tions  for  departure.  Moira  herself was attended to by her
obviously  adoring husband, who placed a silk wrap about her,
and then carried the wonderful limbless body out in his arms.
  Sonia,  partnered  by  one of the young men, swung out on a
dainty,  slender single crutch, as did June, while Desiree, I
noted, used a pair of very neatly constructed elbow crutches,
which she managed very deftly and efficiently.
  To  my  great surprise Dolores was picked up by her boy and
went  out  in  his arms, her thin, filmy frock hanging limply
and emptily from the hips.
  Tina  standing  poised  in  a perfect balance on her single
leg,  turned to me and, employing that fascinating little ca-
ress she had already accustomed me to, brushed my lips with a
bare, armless shoulder. "Carry me to my car, Tony - darling!"
she whispered.
  And  with heart beating and pulse racing, I took her lovely
incomplete  body in my arms and, holding her as tenderly as I
would a child, I carried her from the room.
  One  fleeting,  devastating moment of doubt and anxiety as-
sailed me as I went with my dainty burden to the waiting car.
  Felice  -  where  was she? Why had she gone? On the face of
things  she  had  gone off in pique, unable to look on calmly
while  I  revealed  my  sudden, mad infatuation for Tina. But
knowing  Felice  as  I  did, that explanation did not seem to
fit. Felice was bigger than that; no matter how she felt, how
slighted, or deserted, she would have remained with that gay,
debonair  smile  on her lips, and would have given no outward
evidence  of what she was feeling within. No, the real reason
was  still  to  reveal itself; and only Felice herself was to
solve the problem in her own good time.
  Meanwhile  I tenderly deposited my lovely burden in the lu-
xurious car and got beside her. And so I was driven off, with
my  exquisite  armless  and  one-legged charmer at my side to
whatever  strange  adventure awaited me. And of those I shall
tell in my next episode of my eventful quest.






	THE STRANGE QUEST OF ANTHONY DREW

	"The Sign of the Black Butterfly"

	by

	Wallace Stort


For the benefit of those readers who missed Episodes One and Two 
of this chronicle when they appeared in these columns it may be 
recalled in those episodes Anthony Drew, a handsome man about 
town, tells of his meeting and falling in love with Felice Carl-
ing, a very beautiful one-legged Society girl. For some mysteri-
ous reasons Felice agrees only to a sort of temporary engagement, 
the symbol of which is a jewelled circlet which Felice wears on 
her amputated limb. One night Felice takes Tony to a curious 
club, called 'La Phenomene', where he meets a number of beautiful 
girls of varying degrees of physical disability. Among them is 
Tina Nicholas, who had recently divorced her husband, Dr. Ren­ 
Nicholas, a famous French plastic surgeon, about whose extraordi-
nary surgical operations many sinister rumours are current. Tina 
herself is English, a young and very lovely girl, but she has 
lost both arms from the shoulders, and at the same time she also 
has only one leg - her right. In spite of himself and conscious 
of his weakness, Tony is completely captivated by the wonderful 
armless and one-legged girl and, for the moment, even Felice is 
forgotten. After leaving 'La Phenomene', Tina and Tony and a 
number of club members go on to a party at the house of one of 
the ladies. Tony suddenly discovers that Felice has mysteriously 
disappeared and is upset by the occurrence.

He now continues the story.


	REGRETS

	As I strolled aimlessly along Piccadilly on the afternoon of 
the day following my visit to that curious club, 'La Phenomene', 
I was in a thoroughly unenviable frame of mind, able to realise 
how completely inexcusable had been my conduct towards my darling 
Felice. 
	My conscience had, in fact, pricked me the very moment I had 
got away from the party last night, and now to my feelings of 
shame was added one of anxiety. What had happened to Felice? Why 
had she disappeared so suddenly and so completely, and where was 
she now? I had already called at her flat, only to be told by her 
maid that her mistress was out of town. It certainly looked as if 
that sudden bud of friendship that had so delightfully burgeoned 
for Felice and myself had been killed forever by the frost of my 
callous behaviour. 
	And yet, even as I thought in this wise, calling myself all 
sorts of spineless reptile, I knew that the devil of it was that 
as soon as Tina appeared before me again, just as soon would I 
fall a victim to her exotic attraction.


	PUT TO THE TEST 

	The extraordinary thing was that I was put to the test at 
the very moment. For there suddenly came to my ears the soft 
contralto tones of a well remembered voice and, wheeling round, I 
found myself looking into the beautiful eyes of Tina as she 
smiled roguishly at me from the open saloon window of a big, 
luxurious Rolls-Royce. 
	It was lost. I knew it, as with leaping pulses, I hurried 
across to the car. Felice, my conscience, everything was forgot-
ten in the magic light of those beckoning eyes! 
	"Why so sad and contemplative on such a glorious sunny day?" 
asked Tina, with demure mischief, as I reached the car. And to 
complete my subjugation, a little white foot, the long, subtle 
bare toes agleam with tiny jewelled rings, was lifted to the 
window with that miraculous ease of hers, and slipped softly into 
my hand. 
	I bent down, raising the little perfumed foot to my lips. 
Then, as Tina withdrew it, I smiled joyously, no doubt foolishly, 
into her eyes.
	"If I was sad and contemplative," I said, "the mood has 
vanished. And you know who has charmed it away." 
	"What a pretty speech-maker the boy is!" laughed Tina, with 
a little hint of mockery, though I knew she was really delighted. 
"And to what important appointment were you making your gloomy 
way?" she went on.
	I confessed to the utter aimlessness of my wanderings. 
	"Splendid!" exclaimed Tina. "Then the obvious thing to do is 
to offer your valuable services to a lonely lady. What do you 
think?"
	I needed no second bidding, and a few moments later I was 
seated, in a kind of thrilled ecstasy, by Tina's side, while the 
car, under the skillful guidance of a smartly uniformed chauf-
feur, purred smartly down Piccadilly.
	Tina's blonde loveliness was, if possible, more alluring 
than ever. The slim, wonderful body was gowned in a sheath of 
diaphanous black clinging lace. The rounded beauty of the white, 
rounded shoulders was really more revealed than veiled by the 
very brief lace sleeves, which outlined the smooth, perfect 
contours and then fell, each in a strong cascade, as it were, 
over the shoulder ends. Every flexible movement of the latter, as 
Tina shrugged them in that expressive way of hers, as she talked, 
was discernible and, as usual, most fascinating to watch.
	On the dainty foot she now wore a little heelless sandal, a 
fragile jewelled affair that left bare the beautiful toes and 
most of the foot. The most carefully manicured fingers of the 
most fastidious beauty in the land could not be more delicately 
shapely than those wonderful toes of Tina's, long and tapering, 
each perfect little nail gleaming with scarlet enamel. That 
little foot had held an extraordinary fascination for me at my 
first meeting with Tina, and now my eyes would stray to it every 
now and then, as if drawn by something irresistible.
	She was, as I well knew, as adept in using all the peculiar 
and fascinating charms she possessed when in the presence of a 
sympathetic male.


	A LOVELY SORCERESS 

	So I sat there simply content to watch her as she chatted 
gaily of all sorts of things, thrilled by her nearness, conscious 
only of her strange enchantment. 
	Yes, undoubtedly the spell of this unique, unfinished Venus, 
the exquisite blonde with only a single limb, this lovely sorcer-
ess who bewitched and now held me once again in thrall, left 
Felice and the rest of the world utterly forgotten.   
	We chatted happily, and every now and then, as Tina empha-
sized some point or other, the little bare foot would slip from 
its sandal and the supple toes would drop lightly an my hand, 
just as another girl's fingers might do. 
	So engrossed was I with my enchanting companion, that it 
war; like awaking from a dream when at last the car slowed to a 
standstill and Tina looked out of the window with a laughing 
"Here we are!" Then she turned to me again. 
	"Would you like to have tea with a real live princess, 
Tony?" she asked. "Or have you other calls upon your no doubt 
valuable time?"
	"I am at the moment hopelessly under your spell, Tina," I 
laughed, "and completely at your disposal. If having tea with 
princesses keeps me by your side, then I propose to drink tea 
until further orders." 
	"Silly boy!" said Tina, gaily, and then suddenly I felt her 
soft, warm lips on mine, and for a divine moment she lay in my 
arms. Then, as suddenly, she drew away with a little laugh, and 
it was only then that I became acutely conscious of the chauffeur 
who, with perfectly expressionless face, stood by the open door 
of the saloon. But Tina was quite cool and collected when she 
spoke to me again. 
	"This is the house of my friend, Princess Ottilie, a very 
beautiful Russian," she explained. Then a twinkle danced in her 
eyes. "I do not really know whether I ought to expose you to the 
temptation of falling in love with her," she went on. "You know, 
Tony, dear, you are just a little susceptible, aren't you, darl-
ing?"
	I flushed in spite of myself. It was such a palpable hit. 
But Tina saved me the necessity of making halting excuses by 
continuing:
	"But I'll risk it. And in any case you're bound to meet the 
Lady sooner or later."
	She turned to the chauffeur. "Charles," she said, "please go 
ahead and let them know we are here. Mr. Drew will carry me in." 
	The chauffeur mounted the broad steps of the great house set 
in the corner of a quiet, exclusive street. As the door opened I 
gathered the beautiful body in my arms, a warm pulsing went 
through me as I did so. I carried her lightly from the car to the 
magnificent hall. Here, instead of the footman one expected, we 
were received by a dark, slim, extremely pretty maid who smiling-
ly explained to Tina, in most fascinating broken English that Her 
Highness the Princess was motoring from the country and would be 
delayed, but had 'phoned instructions that Tina was to be given 
tea if she would be so very kind to await the Princess's return.
	I must have heard all the pretty maid said, because later I 
recalled it all fully; but my brain must have acted more or less 
automatically. For actually I was not really listening to her. I 
was concerned by something about her much more astonishing than 
the words she uttered. For the girl, her slim graceful figure 
clad in a neat short skirted uniform of black silk, was, as she 
talked, perfectly poised on but a single shapely leg revealed by 
its well-fitting black silk stocking to just above the knee. 
	I confess that I stared open mouthed. That the girl was one-
legged was unexpected enough in the circumstances; but more 
intriguing still was the fact that she stood there, in perfect 
unconcern without crutch or support of any kind, balanced quite 
securely on her single little foot in its soft high heeled slip-
per of black satin. 
	And my fascinated interest grew when, after Tina smilingly 
consented to the arrangements, the girl turned and led the way to 
one of the smaller drawing-room, hopping in front of us with an 
effortless, graceful ease, and with as much unconcern as if her 
method of progress was the most natural thing in the world. After 
ushering us into a room she smilingly withdrew, and I carried 
Tina to a couch.
	"And now that Nadine has gone," said Tina, with a mis-
chievous smiling glint in her eye, as she settled herself cozily 
amid the cushions, "perhaps I shall be able to claim a bit of 
your attention again." 
	"Nadine?" I questioned, stammering.
	"The little one-legged maid," explained Tina.
	"Tina," I protested, laughingly despite of my touch of 
embarrassment, "that's not fair. You know very well that I wasn't 
interested in the girl herself. But one hardly expects, when 
making a call, to find the door opened by a maid with only one 
leg - and without a crutch, too! I admit I was startled and, if 
you want, interested. Anybody would have been. 
	"All right, Tony darling," laughed Tina soothingly, and the 
little bare foot crept once again into my hand. I was only teas-
ing you; and, of course, I quite understood your interest."
	But what an intriguing idea," I said "A one-legged maid."
	Oh, that's just one of Ottilie's little fads," explained 
Tina. "She's very keen on limbless beauty. In fact, if I cared to 
be indiscreet, I might let you understand how keen. But one 
mustn't tell tales out of school."
	I was wondering what exactly to make of that last cryptic 
remark of Tina's, when the door opened and Nadine reappeared, 
hopping with that graceful unconcern of hers, and propelling in 
front of her a daintily equipped tea-wagon. Then to my utter 
amazement, she was followed by another maid, just as pretty in 
her way as Nadine, her slim figure similarly attired in neat 
black silk, and she, too, hopping expertly on but a single black, 
silk-clad leg.
	Naturally, I could only sit and stare, probably a little 
stupidly, as the two girls placed a little low table by the couch 
on which Tina and I sat together, and deftly set out the tea 
things, balancing and moving on their pretty single legs with 
quite miraculous ease as they worked. Then, when they withdrew, I 
turned to find a little amused smile on Tina's lips.
	"Another little surprise, Tony?" she said. "I didn't tell 
you. I know it's wicked of me, but it's so amusing to see the 
look of absolute astonishment that comes over your face at each 
new revelation."
	"Well, I don't mind," I said airily, "especially when the 
revelations are so extraordinary - and pretty," I added ma-
liciously. "Are there any more of them?"
	"I think there are about five or six maids of various kinds, 
not including the kitchen staff, and all of them, with one spe-
cial exception, are, you're be duly thrilled to hear, one-legged. 
All of them, too, are trained to move about without crutches - 
which they use only out of doors; - as Ottilie thinks, and I 
agree with her, that the girls look much more neat and trim 
without them. And now, Tony, dear, having explained all that, no 
doubt to your intense satisfaction, I think we might turn our 
attention to tea."
	And then, before I could offer my services as a tea dispens-
er - which I fancied might be necessary in the circumstances - 
Tina herself proceeded to do what war required with a neatness 
and dexterity that added yet another delightful sensation to the 
afternoon. 
	Slipping off her sandal, she lifted her little bare foot to 
the low table and, setting out the cups, put sugar and milk in 
and poured out the tea, using her beautiful toes as expertly as 
the most nimble fingers. Then, with as much ease, she 'handed' me 
my cup.


	A REPERTOIRE OF PRETTY LITTLE TRICKS

	It was most fascinating, as I sat there sipping my tea, to 
watch her conveying her own cup to her lips without apparent 
effort, or daintily selecting a cake with her slim, supple toes. 
	The extraordinary thing was that after one had become accus-
tomed to Tina's almost complete limblessness, one also got quite 
used to this amazing and continuous employment of her leg and 
foot. It remained unusual, of course, but the action in every 
case was so graceful and so effortless, that one came gradually 
to regard it as not so much a contortion as almost a natural 
movement. To me, at any rate, there was nothing in the least 
distasteful in this extremely skillful display; but on the con-
trary, something distinctly dainty and pleasing.
	Tina herself was, of course, charmingly vain of her skill, 
just as she was quite openly proud of her strange, unfinished 
beauty; and I know that she was conscious all the time of my 
admiration, and fully enjoying going through her wonderful reper-
toire of pretty little tricks for my special benefit.
	After tea she accepted a cigarette from my case but, charac-
teristically, did not allow me to place it between her lips. She 
made her own selection with skillful toes, and after tapping the 
cigarette expertly on the table, placed it herself in her mouth.
	Then we smoked for a little while in silence, Tina with her 
cigarette held daintily between her toes. As my eyes wandered - 
as I must confess they did perhaps too frequently - over the 
perfections of her beautiful, incomplete figure, I became aware 
of an intriguing little thing that strongly aroused my curiosity.
The continuous raising of her limb in order to use her toes had 
by now resulted in the filmy skirt of her frock slipping and the 
end of the beautiful rounded stump was just visible. Imprinted on 
the white skin was what I first of all took to be a black irregu-
larly shaped patch, and then suddenly I realised that the 'patch' 
was really a tiny, beautifully designed butterfly. Tina turned 
and regarded me with a little questioning smile.


	THE SIGN OF THE BLACK BUTTERFLY

	"It's the little butterfly, Tina" I explained. "I haven't 
seen it before, and I am curious."
	"Oh, the butterfly!" she said. "I am not sure that you 
should have been allowed to see it," she went on demurely. "But 
now that you have, don't you think it sweet?" 
	"Perfectly charming!" I agreed. I suppose that is the very 
latest stump-wear. How is it put on - a sort of transfer of some 
kind?"
 	She laughed. "No, as it happens, it's a permanent adornment. 
You see it's tattooed." 
	"What a perfectly ripping idea. What put it into your head?" 
	"Well, as a matter of fact," Tina confessed, "the idea isn't 
mine at all. The little black butterfly is simply an emblem or 
sign worn by members of an exclusive little society of which I 
happen to be one. There's nothing very startling about it - just 
a little stunt to amuse ourselves. Its members - at any rate, its 
lady members - all are limbless in some way, and the general idea 
is to foster among them the spirit of independence and self-
confidence. For instance, we don't look upon ourselves as crip-
ples, and would be insulted to be referred as such. Nor do we 
think ourselves in any way inferior to normally formed people. we 
realise that limblessness in a beautiful women has its fascinat-
ing side, and we do all we can to emphasize that aspect of the 
matter. And only women who are beautiful and fascinating, though 
lacking one or more limbs, and who are in complete accord with 
our aims, are allowed to become members and to wear the little 
black tattooed butterfly." 
	"I say," I put in with a laugh that had more than a hint of 
thrilled interest in it, "what about the men? Are they allowed 
into this holy of holies?"  
	"Oh, yes," replied Tina, smiling, "We allow certain members 
of the male sex to become honorary members. They must, of course, 
have what we call the 'limbless complex' - that is, be attracted 
by the charm of limbless beauty."
	"Then in that case," I broke in again, "I am certainly 
eligible for honorary membership."
	The amused glint was back in Tina's eyes. 
	"Well, my darling," she said, "you certainly have more than 
your share of that 'limbless complex' I mentioned. If you'd 
really like to be a 'Black Butterfly', I'll see what I can do." 
	I was, as may be guessed, most emphatic in the acceptance of 
that very attractive offer. And I would have gone more fully into 
the matter; only just at that moment something else suddenly 
flashed into my mind. "How about Felice?" I asked abruptly. "I 
mean Felice Carling. Why isn't she a 'Black Butterfly', as you 
call it. She, if anybody, is proud of her one-legged beauty and a 
firm believer in the fascination of the limbless female form 
divine."
	Just for a second it seemed to me that Tina's eyelid flut-
tered in a sort of embarrassment. But the emotion, whatever it 
was, was gone almost as soon as it had appeared and was replaced 
by the old half amused, half-mocking gleam.
	"And how do you know that Felice isn't a 'Butterfly'?" she 
asked slowly.
	In spite of myself, I had to laugh at the little malicious 
suggestion behind that direct question.
	"Well," I replied, mocking in turn, "you see, Felice is just 
as generous in the display of her charms as you are."
	Tina nodded good-humoredly. 
	"Yes, that's right, Tony," she agreed. "No, Felice wouldn't 
join us - although she is so completely in agreement with the 
main aims of the society." She wouldn't say more.
	"Do you know why, Tina?" I asked suddenly.
	Again came that curious fluttering of the long-lashed lids, 
and again the little smile, this time without the hint of 
mockery.
	"Well, Tony," she said, "it is not really for me to say. I 
don't know though I may suspect a lot. I fear her quarrel is with 
one particular member of the society, and that is as far as I can 
go."
	The mention of Felice brought back all my concern about 
her,and no doubt, it showed in my face.
	"Don't let us worry about Felice and her affairs, darling," 
she murmured. "Felice is perfectly all right and no doubt having 
a good time somewhere or another. Don't you find me just as 
attractive? Am I not even more charmingly incomplete than she is? 
Kiss me and forget about everything and everybody else."
	Of course I was as wax in her hands. I forgot everything in 
the bliss of her clinging kisses and the intoxication of holding 
her in my arms.
	So we sat amid the cushions until a discrete knocking on the 
door at last penetrated our consciousness and brought us back to 
earth. The door opened to the call of "Come in" and pretty one-
legged Nadine ushered in a newcomer.
	With a little thrill of pleasure I saw that it was Desiree, 
the pretty and dainty girl, one-legged in so wonderful and unique 
manner, to whom it will be remembered Felice introduced me at 'Le 
Phenomene'. She floated gracefully in on her slender black elbow 
crutches, and it was most fascinating to see how, as she walked, 
the beautifully formed single leg swung exactly centrally between 
the two crutches and not with a bias to left or right, as in the 
case of an ordinary one-legged girl.


	BORN WITH ONE LEG

Her frock of shimmering green crepe de chine was obviously de-
signed to accentuate the perfect though unusual lines of her 
figure, for it fitted like a sheath to just above the knee, where 
it broke into a charming riot of filmy flares. The amazing and 
unique formation of her lovely body was thus quite frankly re-
vealed - the perfectly formed trunk merging in one unbroken line 
from the abnormally slim hips into just that single leg, exactly 
as a mermaid's body is represented as merging into its tail.
	After a smiling greeting to Tina and myself, she sank grace-
fully into a deep comfortable chair, depositing her crutches 
neatly on the carpet by its side. 
	"Desiree is the secretary of our little society," said Tina 
to me, when Nadine had departed. Then, turning to Desiree she 
explained, I've just been telling Tony about the 'Butterflies'. I 
suppose, like myself you've come to see Ottilie about tomorrow 
night's crush?" 
	It was some little time later that I understood what Tina 
meant by that reference to a 'crush'. Far the moment I could only 
listen interestedly, wondering vaguely to what the girls were 
referring. 
	Desiree, who had helped herself to a cigarette and who was 
puffing enjoyably shook her head.
	"Not quite," she said. "As a matter of fact, I've just 
returned with Ottilie. She asked me to stay the week-end with her 
at her country place, and I ran down last night, or rather this 
morning, after the party we discussed all the arrangements for 
to-morrow's affair then. We were to return to-morrow afternoon 
only she suddenly remembered that she had arranged to see you 
about things this evening. And so here we are. Ottilie is now 
having a bath and making herself pretty after the journey." 
	She looked across at me, and a little impish twinkle danced 
in her beautiful eyes. 
	"I rather fancy, however," she went on, "that the news that 
a charming and very good looking young man was on the premises is 
at least partly responsible for her concern about her travel-
stained beauty." 
	Tina laughed at my pink, embarrassed face. "I've already 
warned Tony against Her Highness the Princess," she said to 
Desiree. "If it's true that she is making special preparations 
for vamping him, then he's as good as lost!" 
	The two girls laughed mischievously again, and I was glad 
when Desiree created a little diversion. 
	"Which reminds me," she said, "that I'm rather on the grubby 
side myself." With a light, easy spring, she jumped upright and 
stood poised in effortless grace on her single dainty foot in 
it's little high-heeled satin slipper. "what do you say to a 
swim, Tina, before Ottilie shows up? And you, Tony? We'll find a 
costume to fit you. What do you say?" 
	Tina was at once enthusiastic; and as for myself, I could 
hardly hide the thrill that pulsed through me as I eagerly 
agreed. 
	At once, without more ado, Desiree gaily picked up her 
crutches and, adjusting them neatly, swung across to the door. 
Tina smiled up into my eyes as I gathered her into my arms and 
carried her out of the room.


	A SWIMMING SURPRISE

	Desiree led the way across a wide sumptuously carpeted 
corridor to an electric lift which, when we were all inside, she 
manipulated herself. We shot smoothly down to the basement of the 
great house and leaving the lift, eventually found ourselves, to 
my surprise, in a long, beautifully appointed room, on the marble 
floor of which was sunk quite a good-sized swimming bath.     
	The bath was not set out exactly in the center of the floor, 
but rather to one side. Thus, while on one side of the bath only 
a margin sufficiently wide for walking was left, on the other 
side quite a large proportion of floor space remained. This 
portion, except for just the pathway round the bath, was richly 
carpeted in a colour resembling sand, and was set with quaint 
little tables and chairs, brightly cushioned couches, and big, 
gaily coloured beach sunshades; while along the wall were a 
number of daintily designed dressing cabinets. It was obvious 
that the swimming bath was a popular resort in the house, and the 
scene of gay social gatherings.
	However, at the moment there was just our three selves. 
Desiree entered one of the cabinets and produced for my inspec-
tion quite an assortment of men's swimming costumes, from which I 
made my choice. Then in response to her ring, one of the pretty 
one-legged maids appeared, hopping daintily on her single foot, 
and while I dressed in one cabinet she attended to Tina and 
Desiree in another. 
	I suppose excitement and anticipation, made me hurry, for I 
was first at the bath side in a 'Varsity' costume that fitted me 
perfectly. 
	Then with a little gay laugh, Tina made her appearance, and 
I caught my breath at the sight of that marvellous body of hers 
so fully and frankly revealed by the swimming suit she wore. 
	It was a frail affair of cobwebby scarlet silk. The lovely, 
white, armless shoulders, so suave in their smooth rounded-off 
perfection, the slim, shapely leg and tiny foot, and the plump, 
perfect oval of the dainty stump, with its fascinating butterfly 
adornment, were all fully in evidence as she hopped with fairy-
like lightness over to me. And as she stood there before me, 
delicately poised on her little bare foot, smilingly and frankly 
inviting my admiration, I could only think of her as a lovely un-
finished masterpiece of living sculpture by some world famous 
artist.
	But if Tina's appearance was a breath-taking thrill, Desir-
ee's was, in her own way, quite as devastating. As she joined us, 
hopping just as effortlessly as Tina, it really seemed as if she 
were not a living girl, but some marvellous illusion. 
	She wore a specially made costume of her favourite green 
silk. It was actually more like a skin-tight tunic than a normal 
swimming costume, as, of course, it did not possess the ordinary 
double opening for the legs at the hips, but only one. And seeing 
her in such a costume, one was able for the first time to appre-
ciate fully the marvel of her uniquely shaped body. 
	One was struck once again by the extreme slimness of the 
hips, then the dress revealed with what faultless perfection the 
trunk became merged into the lower limb, which tapered from it as  
smoothly and inevitably as if the whole body were just one single 
shapely limb.
	There was no hint of deformity, no mutilation of any kind. 
It was as symmetrical on its single-legged beauty as the most 
perfect two-legged body ever created. One tiny point brought this 
fact home in a curious way. 
	Desiree, being a one-legged girl, had joined the society of 
'Black Butterflies'; but, as she possessed nothing in the way of 
a stump, the little emblem had perforce to be tattooed just about 
a couple of inches above the knee.    
	The final miracle about her was her little bare foot. In 
just as her body was formed like no other body, so was her foot 
like no other foot. It was small and very shapely, but the big 
toe, instead of being to the side as in a normal foot, was set 
exactly in the middle with the other toes grouped about it, two 
on each side. It was extraordinary in its way, yet it was the 
natural outcome of her abnormal bodily formation and, in the cir-
cumstances, was more fitting and beautiful than if it had been 
formed in the ordinary way.
	Also, as I learned later from Desiree herself, this forma-
tion of her foot gave her a natural, easy balance, and she was as 
much at home on her small foot as are normal persons on two. In 
fact, had it not been for the sensation such a practice would 
have caused, she would very easily have dispensed with her 
crutches altogether, as she did for the most parts indoors. 
	Meanwhile Desiree herself was by no means unconscious of my 
thrilled scrutiny of her charms. In fact, she posed as steadily 
as if she were carved from white marble, an amused little smile    
curving her shapely lips. 
	However, at last we turned to the business in hand, and we 
were soon disporting ourselves in the water. 
	Tina, to my great surprise, was quite at home in the water 
and needed little assistance - though, of course, I was always at 
hand in care of need. She jumped in foot first, and then her 
method was to float on her back, which she did quite expertly, 
and when necessary to propel herself gently with her foot.
	Desiree was a fine swimmer, diving with all the ease and 
grace of a professional, and employing every variety of stroke 
when swimming. Her expert use of her leg was extraordinary, and 
in a race of four lengths, to which she challenged me, I only 
just beat her, though I'm a fairly useful swimmer.
	We had been enjoying ourselves in this way for some little 
time, when Nadine made her appearance. 
	"Her Highness," she announced, addressing the two girls in 
the water, "asks me to inform you that she is now at your serv-
ice, mesdemoiselles. She is in her boudoir and will await you 
there." 
	"Right, Nadine," said Tina, "tell Her Highness we'll be with 
her in a moment."


	I MEET THE PRINCESS

The maid withdrew, and after dressing we all proceeded to the 
main floor again and were eventually ushered into a small but 
dainty apartment, exquisitely appointed in delicate shades of 
pink and adrift with an exotic, sensuous perfume - obviously the 
boudoir of a wealthy and luxurious woman. 
	I was naturally a little excited at the prospect of meeting 
the Princess, to whose remarkable beauty so many intriguing 
references had been made. But the curious thing that I had, up to 
then, only thought of her as a charming and lovely woman whom I 
was shortly to meet. Certainly I had no premonition of the tre-
mendous shock that was to hold me dumb when she entered the room.
	Actually the first individual my eyes fell upon as we en-
tered was the neatly attired maid who opened the door to my 
knock. She was a girl I had never seen before, a very pretty 
blonde, more attractive even than Nadine, and the curious thing 
about her was that, unlike the other maids, she was quite normal-
ly formed, with both her shapely silken legs well in evidence. 
And it was while I was idly wondering why the girl was an excep-
tion to the rule of the house, that I saw the Princess - and 
received my shock. 
 	She was cozily ensconced amid glowing, colourful cushions at 
one end of a deep, luxurious couch; and certainly she was lovely, 
superbly lovely. I suppose she was over 30, but she looked dainty 
and fresh as a young girl. But it was not her beauty that stuck 
me dumb; though it was so immediately and strikingly apparent. 
The astounding, the utterly unexpected fact was that the beauti-
ful Russian was just a mere fragment of a women - a lovely, 
living trunk, and absolutely nothing more! 
	A magnificently formed body she certainly had - white, 
peerless, satin-smooth shoulders, a beautifully rounded bust, a 
neat shapely waist curving into perfectly modelled hips - but 
that was all. Nothing at all in the way of either arms or legs 
protruded from the wonderful trunk - not even the merest sugges-
tion of stumps marred the smooth, clean line of shoulders and 
hips. Both at shoulders and hips the body was as suavely rounded 
off as if limbs were things that had never been considered when 
she was so beautifully molded in her present form.
	Her frock - or rather, her costume, for it could hardly be 
called a frock - was a black chiffon velvet, fitted her every-
where with unwrinkled, glove-like perfection. Cut extremely low 
back and front, it allowed the bust and shoulders to burst from 
it, as it were, like some wonderful white flower. One other fact 
was also evident - that the Princess was like Tina and Desiree, a 
'Black Butterfly', for tattooed on the smooth satin skin of the 
right shoulder was the dainty little emblem of the society. 
	I could only hope that I was successful in hiding the agita-
tion that shook me at the sudden and unexpected sight of this 
beautiful women smiling up at me from her cushions as calmly as 
if there was nothing at all unusual in her appearance. 
	I think I did manage to appear more or less at my ease, 
though I knew that Tina was regarding me with only half-concealed 
amusement from the chair into which I had placed her on entering 
the room. Then the introductions were made and the tension re-
lieved - at any rate, to some extent. 
	"So you are Tony," said the Princess to me in liquid tones 
in which there was just a hint of an attractive foreign accent. 
"I have heard very nice things of you, Tony. Come, you shall sit 
by me and be charming to me, eh?"
	She issued her invitation with that calm assurance that any 
pretty woman employs, secure in the knowledge of the potency of 
her charms. Apparently it did not occur to her that she was 
anything but alluringly attractive. In any case, thrilled as I 
was by the whole intriguing situation, I was perfectly willing to 
be agreeable. Consequently, encouraged by a little smiling nod 
from Tina, I crossed to the couch and sat down by the Princess.
	Now this chronicle, as readers will have discovered, is not 
only the record of some strange adventures of mine, but also the 
candid confession of my weaknesses. I have, for instance, already 
frankly admitted my frailness of purpose in the matter of Felice 
and Tina. But, in justice to myself, I want to say at this junc-
ture that though I was immensely interested in and intrigued by 
the Princess Ottilie, and, in fact, sensible of her strange, 
exotic allure, I was never in any real danger of allowing myself 
to become completely infatuated.
	Something - I was not at that time able to fathom what - 
some elusive barrier kept me from once again making a complete 
cad of myself. Something faintly sinister, it seemed, even at 
that first meeting, yet nothing tangible, nothing that I could 
even guess at. But one thing was certain - if I may say such a 
thing without appearing a conceited ass, if I was not completely 
enslaved, Ottilie fully intended that I should be. In fact, from 
the first she made no secret of her own feelings, in spite of the 
fact that not only Tina and Desiree were present, but also Wanda, 
the maid, who stood a respectful distance apart but ready to 
anticipate the slightest wish of her mistress.
	(It was, by the way, easy to understand why Wanda was a 
quite ordinary built girl. Her mistress was, of course, complete-
ly helpless, and had to rely upon her personal maid for assis-
tance in everything she did. The absence of a leg would obviously 
have severely handicapped her in such circumstances.) 
	However, to return to the situation between the Princess and 
myself, it was a relief to realise that Tina at once summed it up 
correctly and was genuinely amused, rather than hurt, by any 
apparent defection.          
	As I sat down by Ottilie she moved herself slightly in some 
miraculous way. The field battery of her beautiful, large velvet, 
dark eyes was turned upon me, and at the same time the delicate 
perfume that emanated from her crept insidiously over my senses, 
weaving its own potent spell. 
	At last, with a little shrug of her shapely armless should-
ers, she accepted the situation for the moment quite good humour-
edly. Then, after accepting a cigarette from watchful Wanda, who 
placed it in her mistress's mouth and lit it, she began to talk 
to Tina and Desiree about the 'affair' to which they had both 
referred earlier in the afternoon and about which at the time I 
had been more than a little curious.       
	I now discovered that it was a big party in connection with 
the 'Black Butterflies', and was to be held the following night 
at the Princess's houses. As they discussed the various arrange-
ments, I was able to gather that the affair was to be on quite a 
lavish scale, including a cabaret, a masked fancy dress dance, 
and a variety of stunts of a novel and intriguing character.    
	As she talked, Ottilie managed her cigarette expertly, 
dropping the ash with a flick of the mobile lips onto a silver 
tray supported by a slender lacquer stand, rather taller than 
usual, that stood by the head of the couch. 
	As the discussion went on, I became naturally more and more 
interested in the forthcoming function, and was just deciding in 
my own mind that, even if Tina had to smuggle me in, I was going 
to be there, when the Princess quite unexpectedly came to my aid. 
The three ladies had been enumerating the various people who were 
to be present, and Ottilie suddenly turned to me. 
	"And what about you, Tony?" she asked. So ardent a worshiper 
at the shrine of limbless beauty as you are ought to be a member. 
There's a honorary membership open to gentlemen - would you like 
to be put up?" 
	"I most certainly should, Princess," I said eagerly.
	"Then it shall be arranged. And in the meantime I think I, 
as president of the society, may be allowed to stretch a point 
and grant you permission to attend to-morrow night. What do you 
say, Tina?" 
	"Splendid, Ottilie," exclaimed Tina. "I was wondering what 
we were going to do about Tony, and I knew he was simply dying to 
come. But he'll have to have a butterfly, won't he?" 
	"We'll very soon manage that," replied Ottilie, briskly. 
"Tony will have to have his just a little in advance, that's 
all." 
	And turning to Wanda, she asked her to fetch a butterfly. 
The girl slipped softly away and was back within a minute or so 
with the butterfly emblem in black enamel picked nicely in gold, 
which apparently was applied to male members of the strange and 
out of the ordinary society. This, at Ottilie's request was 
handed to Tina, who had slipped off her little sandal to accept 
it. Then, with slim, expert toes Tina attached the butterfly by 
its pin to the left lapel of my coat.
	"There," she said, smiling as she tapped my neck affection-
ately with the soft, bare toes, "you are now a 'Butterfly' and 
you must wear this badge to-morrow night and any other function 
in connection with the society you may attend."
	I thanked them all very gratefully and, in fact, excitedly. 
I was almost thrilling with pleasurable anticipation of what the 
next night was to bring forth. Certainly I had not the slightest 
premonition of how near stark tragedy I was to come, and the evil 
passions that were to be unleashed at the fateful and always to 
be remembered gathering of the most bizarre of societies, the 
'Black Butterflies'. 
	Of that gathering and its sinister consequences I hope to 
tell you in the fourth and final episode of this strange, event-
ful chronicle. Until then, adieu! 


	London Life, July 25, 1931, pp 24 - 28


	LONDON LIFE

	November 28, 1931, pp. 59 - 64

	THE STRANGE QUEST OF ANTHONY DREW

	by

	Wallace Stort


Episode 4.

In the three preceding episodes of this chronicle, Anthony 
("Tony") Drew, a handsome, well built young man about town, told 
of his meeting and falling in love with Felice Carling, a very 
beautiful blonde Society girl who had lost a limb. For some 
mysterious reason Felice, though in love with Tony, agrees only 
to a temporary engagement. One night she brings him to an insti-
tution called 'Le Phenomene', where he meets a number of inter-
esting people. Among them is Tina Nicholas, who had recently 
divorced her husband, Dr. Rene Nicholas, a famous French plastic 
surgeon, about whose operations many rumours are current.
	Tina herself is English, young and lovely, and Tony is 
completely infatuated, and for the moment, even Felice is forgot-
ten. Later that night he suddenly discovers that she has mys-
teriously disappeared, and he is heavily disturbed. 
	Next day Tony meets Tina again, and is taken by her to the 
house of a very beautiful Russian woman, Princess Ottilie. Here 
he learns of the existence of a curious society called 'The Black 
Butterflies', of which the Princess is the president and Tina an 
important officer. The members are all well-to-do ladies who have 
had the misfortune to miss a limb. The badge of the society is a 
tiny black butterfly which each member has had tattooed.
	Tony is admitted to the honorary membership of the 'Butter-
flies', and is invited to a big party which is to be held in 
connection with the society at Princess Ottilie's house on the 
following night. Meanwhile the Princess has shown a very decided 
and frank interest in Tony, and obviously out to attract him. But 
he, though attracted, senses something strange about her. 

He now continues his story.

	The discussion about the following night's gathering of 
"Butterflies" went on, with myself as a most interested listener 
and then, quite unconsciously, I gave the Princess an opening for 
which apparently she had been looking ever since I had been 
introduced to her. I began to ask questions about the party, the 
time of arrival, etc. - particularly where exactly the masked 
fancy dress dance was to be held. Ottilie fastened on to that 
last question with the swiftness one used to seizing her opportu-
nities the moment they offered.
	"Of course," she exclaimed, turning gaily to me. "You have-
n't really seen over my house. Practically all you have seen so 
far is the swimming bath. I think I can say that the house also 
contains one of the finest private ballrooms in London. Come, 
I'll show it to you myself." 
	She turned smilingly to Tina and with calm, almost impudent 
assurance, continued: 
	"You won't mind if I run away with him for a few minutes, 
will you, darling? Please stay here with Desiree for the moment. 
Wanda will look after you both quite nicely."
	The real intention behind this somewhat naive suggestion of 
the Princess's was, I am afraid, quite patent to everybody, and I 
felt a little embarrassed as I looked across at Tina. But she 
still seemed to regard my predicament as a good joke, and only 
flashed an amused smile at me as she cheerfully agreed to Otti-
lie's proposal. 
	I knew very well that Ottilie's suggestion about viewing the 
ballroom had been the merest subterfuge. She had simply made the 
suggestion in order to get me away from the others for a few 
minutes. And in her own perfectly frank way she made this quite 
obvious to me. 
	So sat down with Ottilie and then, without any preliminary 
at all, with a suddenness that took my breath away, her soft lips 
were pressed to mine in a long kiss. 
	But the women in her sensed something lacking, for after a 
while she drew away and, lying back, regarded me oddly. 
	"Do you know, Tony," she said slowly, "I really believe that 
you're just a little bit afraid of me."
	I was startled; for, in a way, there was more than a sugges-
tion of truth in her accusation. But I managed to laugh with a 
quite credible assumption of incredulity. 
	"What nonsense, Ottilie," I said. "Why on earth should I be 
afraid of you?" 
	She tossed her lovely head. 
	"Well, if not exactly afraid of me," she said, with a shrewd 
little smile, "at any rate afraid of yourself. You are saying to 
yourself, 'I'm not going too far. I'm not going to allow her to 
subjugate me.' Now, confess, isn't that exactly what you have 
been thinking?" 
	I laughed again, perhaps not quite so successfully, but 
without waiting for me to reply, Ottilie continued her harangue. 
She was utterly unconscious of anything unfeminine or egotistical 
in her conduct. 
	I understand that many Russian women are just as single-
minded and direct in circumstances of this kind. If they care for 
a man, they say so without any beating about the bush. Certainly 
Ottilie was not in the least afraid of saying exactly what was in 
her mind.
	"Why are you so afraid?" she went on rapidly. "You were most 
attracted as soon as your eyes fell upon me. I realised that at 
once. If I had not, I should not be here with you now. And now I 
find you - well, as I said - afraid!" 
	I hid my amazement at this extraordinary outburst as well as 
I could, and tried to reason with her. 
	"But Ottilie," I said, "though I admit all you say about my 
being thrilled, I think you forget that I owe some allegiance to 
- to Tina, for instance." 
	A mischievous little smile curved Ottilie's mobile lips. 
	"Or Felice Carling," she said quietly, and eyed me steadily. 
	I flashed the direct thrust. 
	"You - you know about Felice?" I stammered. 
	Ottilie nodded smilingly. 
	"Desiree told me all about Felice bringing you along to 'Le 
Phenomene', and also about the amusing little happiness there. 
Please don't think that Desiree was being malicious. She wasn't. 
She was merely retailing some interesting gossip, and incidental-
ly she mentioned a good-looking boy named Tony Drew, who was not 
only a lover of maiden beauty, but also, apparently, a bit of a 
Lothario. You can't blame Desiree, Tony, dear. You know you did 
arrive with Felice and go away with Tina, now didn't you?" 
	I couldn't stammer an explanation or an excuse. I could only 
sit there hot with embarrassment. Ottilie had certainly scored, 
and scored heavily.
	"It's all right, Tony," she murmured. "You see, I understand 
perfectly, and it is because I understand that I am just a little 
puzzled at your present attitude to myself. Listen. I shall try 
to explain what I mean. You happen to be one of that exceptional 
type of young man who find a curious, inexplicable fascination in 
the lack of a limb in a beautiful woman. You meet Felice Carling 
and are immediately strongly attracted. Perhaps - I don't know - 
you fall in love with her. Later you meet another beautiful girl,
Tina Nicholas. You are even more strongly attracted by her, 
sufficiently so to force you to forget Felice and become infatu-
ated with Tina."
	"But Felice suddenly disappeared without warning and without 
explanation," I put in, with some wretched idea of excusing my 
utterly inexcusable conduct. 
	"Yes, I agree that Felice's disappearance may have had 
something to do with it," said Ottilie, "but the truth was that 
you found Tina quite irresistible; and I tell you why - at any 
rate, I give you my theory. It was simply because of her greater 
helplessness thrilled and fascinated you more powerfully. isn't 
that somewhere near the truth?" 
	"Well," I agreed slowly, "I hadn't thought about it in that 
way before; but perhaps there is something in what you say." 
	"Ah, you admit it!" cried Ottilie, triumphantly. "Then 
perhaps you begin to see what I am driving at?" 
	"Good heavens!" I said, as if the thought just struck me. 
"Do you know we must have been here hours? We've had time to 
explore fifty ballrooms. What on earth will Tina and Desiree 
think?"
	"What does it matter what they think?" she said. "But I 
suppose we must get back." Then she became serious again for a 
moment. "Tony," she went on, "you do understand me better now, 
don't you?"
	"Of course I do," I replied as fervently as I was able. For 
some odd reason I felt I must not offend her. 
	Then we returned to the boudoir, where we have left Tina and 
Desiree. It was 5 with a genuine sigh of relief that, some time 
later, I took Tina out to the waiting car and, having placed her 
carefully among the cushions, got in beside her. 
	The Princess had proposed our staying for dinner, but Tina 
had been quick enough to invent an appointment with somebody 
called Lotus, and Ottilie had reluctantly allowed us to go. 
Desiree had remained, and so we two were able at last to get away 
together. 
	"I thought it just as well to rescue you from Ottilie's 
clutches, my lad," said Tina, as we moved off. "I don't mind her 
vamping you for a few minutes, but not for whole evenings."
	"She didn't get very far with her vamping as far as I was 
concerned," I protested, with a laugh. 
	"I wonder," said Tina, "You never can tell with Ottilie. 
She's clever and she's determined. And certainly you seemed to 
have had a real heart-to-heart talk. You were long enough away, 
at any rate." 
	"Oh, we had a talk all right," I agreed, "but mainly about 
Princess Ottilie." 
	I went on, I hoped, quite calmly, talking about Ottilie and 
her extraordinary case, and I must have been successful, for 
Tina's slight uneasiness vanished, and she was quite herself 
again. But all the time I knew that I had suddenly stumbled upon 
another odd fact. Somehow or other, when Ottilie had referred to 
the "famous French plastic surgeon," the fact had awakened no 
memories within my mind. But now, on referring to that gentleman 
myself, and in Tina's presence, I had suddenly recalled something 
I had heard on the night I had first been introduced to Tina. 
	Hadn't Tina not been married to and recently divorced from a 
"famous French plastic surgeon" - what was his name - a Dr. Rene 
Nicholas - wasn't that it? And weren't there some queer stories 
afloat about his out-of-the-way surgical operations?
	However, after all, the whole thing was merely the concern 
of Ottilie and Tina. It had not, I considered, anything at all to 
do with me. So I thought at the time. It was only when, some time 
later, I encountered this extraordinary Dr. Nicholas, that I was 
to find with what devastating effect he was to meddle in my 
affairs. But I am afraid I am anticipating a little. Let me get 
back to Tina and myself as we rode together in the car. 
	Our talk drifted away from Ottilie and her affairs, and we 
chatted gaily about other and more interesting subjects - mainly 
ourselves.
	"But, by the way, Tina," I said, at last, glancing out of 
the window of the speeding car, "where are we off to exactly? Are 
we just drifting, or have we something fixed up?" 
	"Well, first of all, dear heart," said Tina, "you are taking 
me out to dinner - if you don't mind?" 
	"Most certainly I don't mind. A most delightful idea. But" - 
I looked at her a little uncertainly - "where can we go?" 
	Tina flashed a little roguish smile at me. 
	"I thought of the Ritz-Carlton," she said lightly. "What do 
you say?"
	I couldn't help showing a momentous surprise at her sugges-
tion, but I made a quick recovery and smilingly agreed. 
	I confess I felt more than a touch of embarrassment as I 
pioneered my somewhat helpless burden through the crowded main 
dining-room to the table to which we were conducted. 
	But the meal came to an end at last; and then, as the smart, 
immaculately attired floor manager came up to enquire courteously 
if "everything had been to Madam's satisfaction," Tina, after 
thanking him, asked a question.
	"I wonder if you would he so good as to find out for me if 
Miss Fane is in the hotel?" she said. "And, if so, whether she 
would see me for a moment or so?"
	"Certainly, Madame." responded the man with a smiling bow. 
"As a matter of fact, Miss Fane has only just finished dinner in 
her own private suite, and I feel sure she will still be in the 
hotel. I shall have an inquiry put through at once, Madame." And 
he hurried away. 
	In some vague way, the name was familiar to me, and I said 
as much to Tina. 
	"Well, that's not surprising," laughed Tina. "Most people 
have heard of Lotus Fane." 
	"Oh, the film star!" I said, and also recalling Tina's 
reference to Lotus just before we left Ottilie's lounge. "I 
didn't know she was in England. Hasn't she been ill or something? 
I seem to remember hearing about a breakdown." 
	Tina nodded, but at the moment the information was brought 
that Miss Fane would be delighted to see Tina immediately, and so 
I had to shelve further questioning. 
	Eventually we arrived in the charming little ante-room of 
the star's suite, and here a pretty neatly attired maid received 
us. 
	"Oh, Josie," said Tina, "please tell Miss Fane that I have 
with me 'the boy friend', as you say in your country and ask her 
if I may bring him in."
	There was no doubt as to the identity of the lovely girl who 
smiled a welcome up at us from the deep, comfortable couch on 
which she sat, as we were shown into the prettily appointed 
sitting room of the suite. I recognised her at once from her 
recent successful pictures. In fact, Lotus Fane was even more 
lovely in the flesh than ever she had seemed the on the screen. 
She was clad in a very revealing negligee of filmy chiffon, her 
beautiful white arms bare to the shoulder, and that famous 'slim 
young goddess' look, which is so noticeable a feature of her 
pictures, was just as delightfully evident now. 
	I said nothing. I desperately wanted to ask questions; but, 
of course, realised that it would he better to cross-examine Tina 
later than Lotus now. 
	We eventually took our leave. My last glimpse of Lotus was 
of her smiling demurely, yet in friendly fashion at me, while she 
daintily drew the diaphanous folds of her negligee over a puz-
zling element in an otherwise most interesting and thrilling 
visit. 
	As may be imagined we had hardly settled down in the car 
before I began probing the queer mystery of Lotus Fane. 
	"Isn't it an extraordinary thing about Lotus Fane?" I asked. 
"Why, in 'Crash', her last picture - you know, the one in which 
she did the parachute jump - she appeared in one part of the film 
in a bathing suit and it revealed a pair of limbs that any prize 
beauty would have been proud of." 
	"Yes, that's perfectly true," agreed Tina. But don't you 
remember what happened in connection with the production of 
'Crash'?" 
	"Why, yes," I agreed slowly, "now you mention it, I do seem 
to have a vague recollection of hearing about some hitch in 
connection with the production - something about the thing having 
to he postponed because of the illness of the star - wasn't that 
it?"
	"Yes", nodded Tina, "and the production was actually not 
resumed for over six month. But what really happened was known 
only to those working on the picture, and at Lotus's own request 
was kept a secret. The truth was that she insisted on doing that 
parachute jump herself - usually, of course, a 'ghost' is engaged 
to do stunts of that kind. You remember the thrill of that terri-
ble fall in the picture. Well, it really happened exactly as 
photographed, though it was never intended to happen in the 
original story. The last-minute opening of the parachute saved 
Lotus's life, but her legs were so badly injured that both had 
eventually to be amputated. 
	"But, in spite of that, she did not lose her cheerfulness or 
her pluck, and she insisted on completing the picture when she 
was sufficiently well to do so. A new ending specially contrived 
to hide the loss, was devised and the picture was finished." 
	"What an extraordinary story." I commented when Tina con-
cluded. "And even more extraordinary that nobody appears to have 
noticed anything wrong in the last part of the picture. It shows 
how skilfully the pictures are produced. And that's the end of 
poor Lotus Fane as a film star, I suppose?"
	"In a way, yes, I suppose so, said Tina. "But I think she'll 
make at least one more appearance, and if she does it will cer-
tainly be a most interesting one for those privileged to see it. 
So far Lotus has managed to keep the secret of her misfortune. 
Even the hotel people think that she is still suffering only from 
the effect of her recent illness. But soon after her arrival in 
England, on holiday, she heard of our little society of 'Butter-
flies'. She got in touch with us and we were the first to learn 
the astonishing news of her condition. She was at once keen to 
become a 'Butterfly'. 
	"Well, Ottilie, who is always full of extraordinary ideas, 
had the inspiration that the 'Butterflies' should produce a film 
of their very own, with Lotus as the star. I think Lotus is 
highly intrigued with the idea, and we have great hopes that she 
will eventually content. If she does, that should be a picture 
worth seeing, my lad. What do you say?" 
	"I should think it would be!" I exclaimed enthusiastically. 
"And please note that I am booking a seat for the picture here 
and now. I wouldn't miss it for a fortune." 
	"But you might be asked to take a part in it, Tony," laughed 
Tina. "How do you fancy yourself as a film star?" 
	"Now, that is an idea!" I cried. "I have always had a sneak-
ing notion that I could wipe the eye of Ronald Coleman or any of 
that crowd, if only I had the chance." 
	And then for the reminder of our journey home, we amused 
ourselves immensely by planning and casting this proposed amazing 
picture, which I suggested should be called 'Monopedia'. 
	(As a matter of interest, in passing, I may reveal that this 
film was later actually produced and shown privately to an enthu-
siastic audience of 'Butterflies' and their friends. It may not 
properly belong to this chronicle, but perhaps I may be allowed 
to tell you all about it at a future date.) 
	However, at last we arrived at Tina's flat, and there I left 
her after a tender and prolonged farewell and a promise to be 
there on time the following evening, when r was to dine quietly 
with her prior to going on to the big 'Butterfly' affair at Prin-
cess Ottilie's.
	The following evening Tina and I duly arrived at the prin-
cess's house. Once inside, however, I forgot the crowd outside as 
soon as I was smilingly greeted by Nadine, the pretty maid who 
had attended us before. For this particular occasion she and her 
fellow-maid were clad in a most fetching uniform of diaphanous 
black silk tights worn with a short skin-tight, hip-length tunic 
of black velvet faced and piped with silver. That was but a 
opening thrill. Other thrills came in rapid succession as we made 
our way through the great crowd milling and eddying through the 
vast reception rooms, surely the most extraordinary and bizarre 
crowd that was ever gathered under one roof. 
	Everybody was masked - Tina and I had assumed ours before 
leaving the cloakrooms - and everybody was more or less in fancy 
dress. For the most part the men were more strictly in period 
than the ladies, running through the usual sort of cavaliers, 
Regency bucks, Chinamen, Mexican, bandits, gondoliers, Cossacks, 
Arabs, etc., with of course, a preponderance of pierrots in every 
possible variation of the traditional costume.
	The ladies, however, had interpreted the fancy dress decree 
much more freely, and had subordinated even period costumes to 
the fullest advantage. 
	Ottilie, we learned on arrival, was in the great ballroom 
receiving the guests and towards that point Tina and I began to 
converge, making our way slowly and patiently through the jos-
tling, laughing throng about us. 
	For my own fancy dress, by the way, I had chosen a quite 
conventional pierrot costume in black and white satin, with a 
voluminous ruffle at the throat. Tina's airy, but most dainty and 
exquisite costume would, I imagine, have been described as that 
of a Naiad, as she was clad throughout in most ethereal Nile 
green. The filmy wisp of frock was of ninon, floating about her 
more like a foaming mist than a frock, and worn over a single 
skin-tight garment like a bathing suite. 
	On her small foot was a fragile little sandal of flashing 
green diamante that left practically the whole foot and toes 
exposed, and with an extravagantly high slender heel that must 
have towered to over six inches.
	The jewels round her slender throat, in her ears, gleaming 
on her toes and in her close blonde curls, were also of green, as 
was the little narrow silk mask she wore. And altogether she made 
as fascinating and alluring a picture as any in that vast throng. 
	I should explain that I was not now helping Tina as we made 
our way to the ballroom. She was actually "walking" by my side. 
This little feat was accomplished by means of a very simple yet 
ingenious contrivance of Tina's own invention. It consisted of an 
adjustable strap of black silk slung over my right shoulder and 
carrying, at about the height of the hip, a broad silken loop. By 
bearing on this, as she would a crutch, and with the additional 
support of my hand about her waist, she was able to "walk" at my 
side with an ease and grace that was astonishing.
	So we made our way, pausing every now and then to greet 
Tina's multitude of friends, and eventually we reached the dais 
at one end of the ballroom, where Princess Ottilie sat in state, 
receiving her guests. She was daintily poised rather than seated 
on a magnificent ivory, high-backed chair, intricately carved and 
ornamented and rich, with the dais helped the impression that one 
was gazing at a queen enthroned. 
	On second thoughts, as I took in all the amazing details, I 
did not find the "enthroned queen" description entirely adequate. 
Rather was she like the beautiful image of some barbaric goddess 
stolen from an Oriental temple. 
	On her right, in a similar type of chair, sat Lotus Fane, 
the film star, looking distractingly lovely in a single tenuous 
sheath of priceless black lace. 
	Desiree, I also saw, was very appropriately and most realis-
tically attired as a mermaid, complete with sinuous, iridescent 
tail. Her wonderful, uniquely formed body lent itself perfectly 
to such a character and no fabled mermaid could possibly have 
looked more naturally.
	For some time after paying homage to the Princess as queen 
of the revels, I remained by Ottilie's side at her request, while 
Tina, accepting a chair on the dais, chatted with the grace of 
ladies there. I could see that Ottilie intended, if she could, to 
keep me in attendance to her; but I had no such desire, and only 
awaited a decent excuse to break away. 
	In the meantime, while we talked, I watched the thrilling 
and ever-changing kaleidoscope of the crowd as it wove its pat-
terns before my interested and thrilled eyes. 
	Then at signal, the floor, or at any rate the center of it, 
began to clear quite magically, too, considering the thought that 
had seemed to fill it to overflowing just a moment before. The 
first strains from a dance band floated down from a gallery above 
and, seizing my chance, I slipped round to na and - as they say 
at the best shilling "hops" - "requested the honour."     
	Tina rose with that effortless grace of hers, and, once 
again slipping into the silken loop that hung from my shoulder, 
we swung out on the floor. I was, however, uncomfortably aware of 
the concentrated gaze of Ottilie as we moved away. Her great eyes 
seemed to burn their way through the eyeholes of her mask and I 
could almost feel the venom in them. 
	But I soon forgot the unpleasant sensation in the delight of 
the dance and in the curiously interesting nature of the scene 
about me. 
	We had been dancing some little time before I noted the man 
dressed as Mephistopheles. He was a tall man, for I first caught 
sight of the scarlet mask and the scarlet skull cap and long 
feather well above the heads of the rest of the crowd. The mask 
face was turned towards us and the gleaming eyes seemed so intent 
on us that at last I drew Tina's attention to the fact. 
	Then the dance finished, the crowd broke and the man him-
self, his fine figure clad throughout in scarlet tights, with a 
cloak of the same colour swinging from his shoulders, advanced 
towards us. I felt Tina stiffen slightly in my arms, but when the 
stranger reached us she was already herself again.
	"Why, Ren­," she said, "I did not know you were to be here." 
	"I did not know myself until a few hours ago," the man 
replied with a smile and with a decided but pleasant foreign 
accent. "I happened to arrive in London this afternoon, and I 
called for Ottilie. You see the result." 
	Tina laughed - perhaps only in my imagination that the laugh 
sounded a little forced - and then turned to me. "Monsieur 
Mephisto, here," she said lightly, "is my late husband Dr. Ren­ 
Nicholas, the famous surgeon. We parted, but we remain good 
friends, eh, Ren­?"
	"Most certainly", replied the doctor, with apparent hearti-
ness, "always the best of friends. But for the moment you must 
both pardon me. I have only just arrived, and have still to pay 
my respect to Ottilie. Tina, cherie, you must save a dance or two 
for me, yes?" 
	And, with that he sauntered easily away towards the distant 
dais. The band broke into a gay fox-trot, and Tina and I swung 
once again into the dance. Tina chatted brightly, but my thoughts 
were busy with the stranger, Dr. Ren­ Nicholas, Tina's divorced 
husband, the eminent plastic surgeon.
	I shivered slightly. Why, I know not. what had Dr. Nicholas 
to do with me? Nothing in the world. And yet for the moment I 
could not shake off a queer, inexplicable feeling of apprehen-
sion. The feeling passed. I smiled at my imbecility, and once 
again plunged into the joy of the dance. 
	After about the third dance Tina, naturally, tired as all 
her dancing was done on her one foot, and we sat out for the next 
few. We did not, however, return to the dais, but found a com-
fortable couch near that part of the room reserved for the many 
very entertaining cabaret "turns" which punctuated the general 
dancing throughout the evening. 
	I suppose all these cabaret items were given by "Butter-
flies" and, if so, there was no doubt that the society contained 
quite a good deal of very clever and ingenious vaudeville talent. 
	Tina and I had danced several dances interspersed between 
these various acts, and had been resting for a little while, when 
I saw above the crowd the now familiar long red feather and 
scarlet mask again approaching us. A second or two later the tall 
Mephistophelian figure of Dr. Nicholas was bowing to Tina and 
smilingly asking for a dance.
	Tina agreed quite readily, and I handed over the doctor the 
silken sling, with the uses of which he appeared quite familiar. 
He adjusted it over his shoulder, and Tina threw me a gay little 
smile and swung off on his arms. 
	For a while I watched them as they danced, marvelling at the 
skilful and effortless way Tina fitted in her single-footed steps 
with his. Then, skirting the dancing throng, I made my way slowly 
round the room, looking for a possible partner and trying to 
recognise through their masks any of the few "Butterflies" I 
knew. 
	And suddenly, as I walked, I stopped dead and I knew I had 
gone white. The lovely, exquisite figure of a slim, masked Bac-
chante went floating by in the arms of her partner, and the beau-
tiful eyes gleaming through the mask, had caught and held mine 
for just a pulsating second or so.
	Swiftly I recovered myself; swiftly I turned and followed 
the pair with searching, eager eyes. The girl's divinely lovely 
body could scarcely have been shown to better advantage in any 
other costume than that she wore. Her garment was a beautifully 
prepared leopard skin reaching over the hips and with one thin 
strand across a white bare shoulder. The lovely arms, satin 
smooth shoulders, and one daintily slender limb - all made a 
perfect whole. The little flexible open sandal on the small bare 
foot, the glittering headdress of glittering grapes and vine 
leaves, and the mask revealing the upper part of her face were 
all she wore in addition. 
	There could be only one such in the world! It could only be 
Felice! I was sure of it, despite the disguising mask, and the 
fact, that not being a "Butterfly" - in fact, an avowed antago-
nist of the society - she had no right to be present at the 
reception.
	The dance and its inevitable encores at last came to an end. 
I had kept the girl and her partner well in view, and now from a 
little distance, I saw the man escort her to a chair, bow and 
leave her. I sped across the room and stood before her. 
	"Felice!" I breathed, and again, "Felice!" 
	But the girl only raised her lovely head slowly and regarded 
me through the eye-holes of her mask with a smiling lack of 
recognition. 
	"Aren't you making some mistake?" she asked in soft, husky 
tones that were certainly unlike those I remembered so well, and 
yet might easily have been assumed to disguise the real voice. 
	I could only stand there dumbly, feeling I ought to retire, 
yet too stubborn to do so. And my perplexity was deepened by a 
significant little discovery I made as I gazed down at her. 
	On the smooth, white flesh was that, to me, now familiar 
emblem - the black butterfly! That staggered me, for I knew that 
Felice had never worn such a thing and was, for some reason that 
I had still to learn, bitterly opposed to everything the emblem 
stood for. Yet there it was; but I was still convinced it was 
Felice.
	The last time I had seen Felice she was wearing the flat 
jewelled circlet which she had allowed me to place. Of course,  
one could not take for granted that she would always wear this 
charming and unusual token, but somehow the absence of it to-
night struck another blow at my conviction. 
	Still I stood my ground. At any rate she was not annoyed at 
my persistence, for she smiled unconcernedly up at me. 
	"I think I understand," she said at last. You imagine I am 
Felice Carling." 
	"You know, you know, Felice!" I stammered. 
	"Very well," she replied calmly, "I know I'm rather like 
her. That's how you come to mistake me for her." 
	My hope sank like a stone. This was, of course, a very 
probable explanation. Yet I could not give up completely. I had 
to be absolutely sure before I retired beaten and crushed, and so 
I snatched at a straw.
	"I'm really terribly sorry," I said, summoning up a smile by 
sheer force of will. "I was sure you were Felice Carling. You're 
certainly a double of hers. But you forgive me sufficiently to 
permit me to ask for a dance?" 
	"That's quite nice of you," she replied quite readily, "I'll 
be most happy to dance with you." 
	The band had already resumed it's rhythmic noises while we 
had been talking, and now the girl rose gracefully and settled 
herself quite confidingly in my arms. Despite her apparent calm, 
however, I could feel the beautiful body distinctly trembling in 
my embrace, and once again she had me guessing and hoping. 
	"Felice - you little devil!" I breathed excitedly as I 
laughed in her lovely eyes. 
	But I was met only by a questioning stare, and when I ex-
plained how, as I had imagined, I had found her out, my hopes 
were dashed once again by her amused laughter. She merely said:
`"Dance, little gentleman, dance, and don't let your imagination 
run riot!"
	After that I danced in exasperated and despairing silence. 
To tell the truth I was amazed at the tremendous effect this 
accidental meeting with a girl I imagined was Felice had upon me. 
I had never really forgotten Felice. Deep down in my breast I had 
been troubled about her, and in my solitary moments, deeply 
contemptuous of my conduct regarding her. But I had never had a 
chance of returning to her allegiance, for the simple reason that 
she had disappeared mysteriously and completely, and I was afraid 
for ever. With Felice gone out of my life, Tina, lovely, fasci-
nating, had maintained her attraction. But now, when I thought 
that Felice had miraculously returned and was here actually in my 
arms, everything else, everyone else, faded in the glory of her 
irresistible appeal. 
	And it was simply agony not to be certain. If it was really 
Felice and she was playing with me, she was certainly entitled to 
do so. I deserved some punishment. If she was testing me - heav-
ens, how I hoped she was! - she had every right to do that also. 
But I had to know the truth or lose my reason beneath the strain. 
	The dance came to an end, but feverishly I remained at her 
side. I was determined not to let her go. Fortunately, she was 
amusedly amenable and made no attempt to escape. But the dancing 
had tired her and she asked, in quite friendly fashion, to be 
allowed to miss the next one or two. I seized the opportunity 
with both hands. 
	During my tour of the house with Ottilie I remembered pass-
ing along a wide, magnificent cloister leading to one of the 
entrances of the hall room. Along each side of this there was a 
succession of little alcoves beautifully carried out in Renais-
sance architecture, and each forming a snug, inviting retreat. 
Now, I suggested a few minutes' quiet away from the noise and 
bustle of the ballroom; and, to my delight, my enchanting partner 
agreed. 
	She picked up the slender, jewelled crutch which rested 
against the back of her chair and, swinging lithely and graceful-
ly at my side, accompanied me to the cloister.
	As I might have expected, other couples had already dis-
cretely this sanctuary, and quite a number of the alcoves were 
occupied. However, we found an empty one and slipped into it, the 
girl sinking gracefully on to the comfortable depths of the big 
couch set within it. 
	After getting a laughing promise from her not to escape 
while I was away, I hurried off and soon returned with some 
refreshments I had managed to get hold of.
	In a little while we just busied ourselves with the food and 
drink, chatting quite amiably as we did so. Then, while I was 
thinking out some method of returning to the attack, she suddenly 
helped me by re-opening the subject herself. 
	"Tell me," she said quietly, "why are you so terribly con-
cerned about Felice?" 
	"Because - because I love her," I replied simply, but with 
all my heart in the words. 
	I thought I saw a flame glow suddenly in the beautiful eyes 
behind the mask. But I might have been mistaken. Perhaps it was 
just scorn, for she went on gently: 
	"And how long have you imagined you loved her? Since leaving 
Tina this evening, perhaps?"
	I winced at the hard words. 
	"No," I retorted steadily, "ever since I first met her. I 
know that now. I admit all you would charge against me. I admit I 
was lured away by Tina's fascination. I admit that for the moment 
I thought I could do without Felice. She had gone away without a 
word, disappeared without a trace. I suppose I was piqued and I 
shrugged my shoulders and said, 'Who cares?' But I discovered the 
real truth to-night. You may not be Felice, but you have brought 
Felice back to me - in my heart." 
	The hearts are highly sentimental, I know; but I was in 
deadly earnest and tremendously moved, and I did not trouble to 
think whether they were "sloppy" or not. 
	My beautiful vis-a-vis remained perfectly still for some 
moments. Then, as if shaking herself free from some bond that had 
almost caught and held her, she sat up and allowed a little 
skeptical smile to curve her lips.
	"And - the Princess?" she queried slowly. "Have you also 
managed to break away from her very potent lures to-night?" 
	I suppose the continued strain of the whole sequence of 
events since meeting my enigmatic companion had began to tell 
upon me. For suddenly I saw red, and I am afraid I went beyond 
the bounds of ordinary decorum. 
	"The Princess!" I exclaimed hotly. "Where did you get the 
idea that I had ever succumbed to her so-called potent lures? The 
women is nothing to me - less than nothing. I have admitted the 
fascination Tina had for me. I should be just as open if the 
Princess had never done more than intrigue me as a remarkable and 
unusual exhibit. To me, Princess Ottilie is just a vamp, a sin-
ister woman, helpless - but very dangerous." 
	I stopped, suddenly conscious of my loss of control. 
	"I'm sorry," I finished lamely. "I shouldn't have let myself 
to be so viperish. Anyhow, you now know my real opinion of Prin-
cess Ottilie." Then I bent forward eagerly.
	"Listen!" I said. "You say you know Felice very well. No 
doubt you know where to find her. When you see her next; tell her 
you met Tony here to-night and that he has at last found out the 
truth about himself; that nothing in the world matters but her; 
and that only she could find it in her heart to forgive him, not 
fifty Tina's nor five hundred Princess Ottilie's would ever lure 
him away from her dear side again. Will you tell her that?" 
	Suddenly the girl stood up. Her hand had gone to a breast I 
was sure was fluttering wildly, and the beautiful face below the 
mask seemed strangely set. Then she smiled deliciously, uncer-
tainly. 
	"Yes," she breathed softly, "I shall be glad to tell Felice 
- just that." 
	Then, before I fully realised what she intended, she had 
picked up her crutch, deftly adjusted it beneath her arm, and 
swung off swiftly towards the ballroom. 
	For some moments I sat there surprised into inaction. Then, 
springing to my feet, I hurried after her. But she had gained the 
ballroom before I could reach it, and for the moment had success-
fully lost herself in the dancing throng. I looked round in 
growing dismay without locating her, and then my attention was 
diverted by something that I realised, even in my perturbed 
state, was very significant.
	Through the door leading from the cloister through which I 
had just hurried after my late companion, came the tall figure of 
Dr. Nicholas and Princess Ottilie. With growing sense of uneasi-
ness, I saw that first of all she was without a mask, and second-
ly that her face was literally distorted with rage. The doctor 
hurried her to the dais, and there after a whispered colloquy, 
two pages, who had been in attendance at the dais throughout the 
evening, lifted long silver trumpets to their lips and blew a 
high echoing fanfare. 
	The dancers stopped dead where they stood, the band ceased 
playing, and the general hubbub died down to an expectant hush. 
	"Ladies and gentlemen," announced the Princess in a clear 
voice that carried all over the room, "I am exceedingly sorry to 
be compelled to interrupt your pleasure for a moment, but it has 
been reported to me that an intruder has ventured into our priva-
cy, no doubt with very questionable motives. I must therefore ask 
everybody to unmask while an attempt is made to locate the cul-
prit." 
	A sudden buzz of excited chatter followed this announcement, 
while the general removal of masks was taking place everybody was 
looking eagerly round to see who could possibly be responsible 
for the Princess's dramatic edict.
	As for myself, a strange chill had struck my heart. I was 
still, of course, more than half convinced that the girl I had 
sat with in the alcove was Felice, and if she were - well, desp-
ite that little butterfly, she must be the interloper for which 
they were looking. 
	By some unlucky chance Ottilie and Dr. Nicholas, as I rea-
soned, must have occupied an adjacent alcove while my beautiful 
companion and I talked; and Ottilie, like myself, had suspected 
who she really was. What actually Ottilie could do to the girl 
were found to be an intruder, I could not guess; but I could not 
shake off a most depressing premonition of disaster.
	All this flashed through my mind in the few seconds follow-
ing Ottilie's announcement. Then I made a swift decision. I did 
not unmask. Let the searchers suspect myself, if only for a few 
minutes. While attention was directed to myself, the girl might 
he able to get away unnoticed. 
	Then suddenly I saw her - and she was still wearing her 
mask! Though people round me were staring questioningly at me, a 
general movement was being made towards the girl, and I started 
pushing my way in her direction. But before I could reach her a 
startling thing happened. All the lights suddenly failed, and the 
whole place was plunged into darkness. 
	The excited clatter rose to frightened clamour. Women 
shrieked and men shouted. Then high above the general hubbub 
there came a cry - urgent, fear-stricken: 
	"Tony! Tony!" 
	It was Felice's voice! I could have picked it from a million 
others. So it had been she all the time, and she was obviously in 
danger.
	In a sudden burst of anger I began fighting my way in the 
darkness towards the place where I had last seen her. But every-
body was scrambling for the doors and had managed to wedge them-
selves into impenetrable blocks. And then, when the indescribable 
uproar was at its height, the lights came on again and the crowds 
blinked, laughed, and looked sheepish in the brilliant glare. 
	A voice that was not Ottilie's announced that everything was 
now all right and that dancing might be resumed. The band broke 
into a quick-step and the laughing crowds, their curiosity still 
unsatisfied, paired off and swung gaily round the floor again. 
	But I could only gaze around wildly, fearfully; then I began 
a systematic search of the room. At last I realised the truth. 
Felice, Ottilie and Dr. Nicholas had all vanished. The question 
was whither - and why? 
	I stood there for a few moments and feverishly thought out 
the situation. Just before the lights went out I remembered, 
Felice, still masked, had turned and had tried to get to a lofty 
pair of ornamental doors that let out of the ballroom at the end 
furthest from the big main doors. It was therefore most probable 
that it was through these doors that she had been hurried by her 
captors. 
	I made swiftly for the doors, and found myself alone in a 
big, luxurious hall or vestibule, from which, to left and right, 
rose a great double staircase. I darted up one sweep of this, and 
found myself facing a long, wide, heavily carpeted corridor, from 
which opened out, no doubt, various reception rooms, lounges and 
the like. Along this I trod warily, and then suddenly stopped 
dead. 
	I had come to what I shall describe as a "cross-roads"; in 
other words, a part where another wide corridor crossed that 
along which I had walked. And there on the carpet where two 
familiar objects. One was the dainty silk garter I had seen that 
night on Felice, and the other was the jewelled circlet I had 
given her what seemed ages ago. 
	As I picked them up, trembling with sudden excitement. I 
could guess what had happened. Felice had, after all, been wear-
ing the circlet beneath and hidden by the garter, and as she was 
carried along the corridor the two had slipped off or she had 
slipped them off purposely. Her captor or captors had obviously 
not noticed their fall upon the thick carpet. 
	I slipped them into one of the two capacious pockets my 
costume possessed, and then stood considering silently which way 
I should now go. And to my ears there came from the right of the 
"cross-roads" the muffled sound of a voice. I crept down the 
corridor and softly tried the door from behind which came the 
voice. It was locked. 
	Anxiously wondering what to do now, I looked down the cor-
ridor, and at the end I saw a door with heavy glass panels, 
directly facing me. Led by some instinct rather than anything 
else, I crept to this. I opened it and found myself on a balcony 
overlooking the extensive grounds of the house. Peering to my 
left, I could just make out a tall pair of French windows, and I 
guessed that these were the windows of the room with the locked 
door.
	I was out there in a moment and, to my intense joy, they 
opened softly at my touch. Inside the room the windows were 
curtained by heavy hangings. I stepped in soundlessly and, making 
a thin division in the hangings, peered into the room. 
	What I saw sent the angry blood to my head and only a natu-
ral desire to learn something about the whole extraordinary 
situation kept me for the moment from leaping in and dealing out 
summary justice. 
	On a couch, almost directly facing me, lay Felice - yes, 
there could be no doubt now that it was Felice, as she was un-
masked - expertly and securely bound. She lay quite still, with 
closed eyes, and it was quite obvious she had been rendered 
unconscious, probably by some drug. Facing me in a chair by the 
couch sat Ottilie, and pacing up and down the room was Dr. Nicho-
las. He was still in costume but he had removed his mask. 
	"There's too much risk in this case, Ottilie," he was saying 
agitatedly. "Can't you see that? The girl will remember every-
thing. You were too contentedly melodramatic as you always are, 
with your ordering everybody to unmask and then kidnapping the 
girl like this." 
	"I don't care," cried Ottilie, her face working with pas-
sion. I'm going to settle matters with this girl and her precious 
Tony, and you've got to help me. You heard what he said in the 
alcove. You heard his very charming description of myself! He did 
not know how truthfully he spoke when he said that I was 'help-
less but dangerous'. They'll both find out how dangerous I can 
be. He shall have his Felice all right. He'll be welcome to her - 
or what is left of her!" 
	"Yes, that's all very well, Ottilie," replied Dr. Nicholas 
petulantly, "if we can bring it off without discovery." 
	Ottilie look up at him, her contempt plainly obvious in her 
eyes. 
	"You may be a world famous surgeon, Ren­," she said, "but in 
an emergency you are pretty futile. Listen! A girl caught gate-
crashing at private party, makes a desperate effort to escape her 
captors. The lights go out, and she manages to get  away. But she 
is handicapped by the darkness and also by the fact that she has 
only one limb. She runs into a big speeding car and is terribly 
injured. She is brought back to this house where, fortunately, 
Dr. Ren­ Nicholas, the great French surgeon, is on the spot. Her 
remaining leg had to be amputated at once, and it is feared that 
both her arms must also go. How does that strike you?"
	Nicholas suddenly stopped his restless pacing and looked 
down at the Princess. 
	"What a nice, pleasant, cheerfully fiendish person you are, 
Ottilie," he said with a twisted grin. "But I must say the thing 
begins to look more possible. With a little more careful planning 
we may be able to pull it off. You can, I take it, rake up some 
witnesses to this little 'accident'?" 
	"Plenty, we'll make the whole thing absolutely watertight." 
	As may be imagined by this time I was in a state bordering 
on murderous frenzy. had heard enough to gather exactly what sort 
of devil Ottilie was and the nature of the dreadful revenge she 
planned against poor Felice and myself. I could listen to no more 
and, without warning, I leapt into the room.
	Nicholas, who had his back to me, swung round as on a pivot, 
amazement and fear leaping to his eyes. Without hesitation he 
came at me, but I caught him neatly on the point of the jaw with 
a terrible swing, and he dropped like a log and lay still. Work-
ing with the rapidity of extreme anger, I slipped off the cords 
that bound Felice, and then in a most scientific manner trussed 
up the unconscious doctor. 
	Ottilie had screamed when she saw me, and was still scream-
ing. I put my hand brutally across her mouth and shook her until 
she lapsed into a terrified silence. Then, standing in front of 
her, I addressed her: 
	"I know all about you and your little game," I said. "And if 
I did my duty I should hand you and your infernal companion over 
to the police. But I don't want to dirty my hands with you or to 
be mixed up in your unsavoury affairs unless I am forced to. So I 
give you and Nicholas just twenty-four hours to clear out of the 
country. If you are here at the end of that time I shall let the 
authorities in some of his ghastly secrets. That's all!" 
	She was still cowering and whimpering in her chair as I 
tenderly lifted Felice downstairs and out to my car. 
	Five or ten minutes later we reached Felice's flat, and 
tire, with the aid of her devoted maid, we eventually brought her 
round. She was deadly sick for a little while; and then, reviv-
ing, was able to smile wanly, yet with all her old affection, up 
at me. 
	"I'm sorry, Tony," she whispered as I took her in my arms 
and told her what had happened and what Ottilie and Dr. Nicholas 
had been planing to do. "It was all my fault. I shouldn't have 
gone. But you see I wanted to see you, to talk to you, if possi-
ble. and I thought the masked dance such an excellent opportuni-
ty." 
	"But Felice, darling," I protested gently, "why see me and 
talk to me like that when you could have done so at any time in 
the ordinary way?"
	"Well, Tony," she said, "that's all part of the whole silly 
business. Yes, I admit it was silly now, though I have really 
been trying to act for the best. I'd better begin at the begin-
ning. You know I did not want to become properly engaged to you, 
and I was a little mysterious about the reason for my action. 
Well, it was all very simple. I was afraid of - shall I say? - 
the workings of your particular 'kink' and I wanted to leave you 
absolutely free. I felt justified - though a little heartbroken - 
when you met Tina; for, as you remember, you at once, as they 
say, 'fell for' her very fascinating attractions. And I knew that 
by becoming friendly you would become associated with Princess 
Ottilie and the Society of Black Butterflies. I mean you would be 
continually open to temptations; and to a person of your peculiar 
temperament, if I may say such a thing, Tony, such temptations 
might prove too strong to resist. 
	So, you see, I just ran away and left you free to do exactly 
as you wished. That's the explanation of my disappearance on the 
night we went to 'Le Phenomene'. But I was miserable all the 
time, Tony, and I could not help wondering how you were getting 
on and what you were doing - particularly if you were completely 
succumbing to the fascination of Tina, Ottilie and the others, I 
specially feared Ottilie. I distrusted and disliked her on sight, 
and I was sure there was something sinister about her. I would 
have nothing to do with the Society of Butterflies she founded, 
because I had an instinctive feeling that there was something 
queer behind it, especially as Ottilie was so insanely obsessed 
with the hatred of beautiful women."
	"But what about Tina," I interrupted. "Had she no suspicions 
about anything wrong?" 
	"Tina, I knew, had the same feeling as myself," said Felice. 
"But she rather enjoyed being a member of the 'Butterflies', and 
I think Ottilie interested her keenly as a study in odd, abnormal 
psychology. Besides, I imagine that she felt that any members who 
submitted themselves to the tender mercies of Ottilie and Dr. 
Nicholas did so quite voluntarily. I heard myself of some who 
did. Tina is much more easy-going than I am, but I am sure she 
would never have countenanced the truth had she been aware of it. 
	Well, as I said, I wanted desperately to know about you, 
without actually thrusting myself in person in your way, and the 
'Butterflies' masked dance seemed a most wonderful opportunity. I 
got in quite easily - my butterfly, no doubt, helped tremendous-
ly"
	"But you didn't actually go to the trouble of having one 
tattooed just for the occasion?" 
	"Of course not, you silly boy. This is not tattooed. It's 
only what is called a transfer. Look!" 
	And she rubbed the butterfly design with a dainty finger 
until it began to peel and come away in patches. 
	"And that, Felice, darling." I whispered, as I held her very 
close, is, I hope, the end of the black butterfly emblem as far 
as we are concerned. I feel an absolute brute and a cad to have 
caused you so much heartache. The only good that resulted from it 
all is that I have been lead back to you with the full realisa-
tion that you, and you only, matter in this world. All the others 
are only so many shadows, and will remain so all my life!"

	*   *   *   *

There is very little more to tell. Tina took my desertion like 
the brick she was, and had not a word of reproof to offer. 
	"I knew all the time," she said, "that our little friendship 
was only an interlude, and that Felice and you would find each 
other again. We shall remain the very best of friends, and you 
both have all my heartfelt wishes for your happiness." 
	Princess Ottilie and Dr. Nicholas acted upon my warning at 
once, for the great house was shut up and London knew them no 
more. Where they went, into what sinister and bizarre by-ways of 
life they ventured, I neither knew nor cared as long as they 
never again crossed the path of either Felice or myself. 
	And so eventually I had the supreme happiness of slipping on 
Felice's finger the token this time of a proper, formal engage-
ment. But after I had performed that ceremony and kissed the 
little hand on which the newly presented jewels sparkled I could 
not resist a reminder of that first enchanting night on which I 
met her for the first time.
	I took from my pocket and held up the jewelled, gold cir-
clet, the finding of which in the corridor of Princess Ottilie's 
house had led me to Felice's rescue.
	"After all, Felice, darling," I whispered, "this was the 
first symbol of our love for each other, and has now proved to be 
our lucky charm. I think on a night of such happiness as this I 
ought to give it back to you as symbol of love that is to be ours 
for ever." 
	Then, bending forward, Felice took my face between her two 
soft palms and kissed me lingeringly, clingingly. 
	I did not deserve it, nor any part of her love. But then, 
which of us poor, erring, stumbling males ever does? At any rate, 
my strange quest was over. I had found that which through every-
thing I had really been seeking without knowing what it was I 
sought!