Under the desert stars

by Frank Koester

The Princess was sipping black coffee, evidently preparing to keep awake the coming night. This she made clear to Sana by saying that they had the entire night before them and intended to wind up at Maxim’s. When they invited her to go with them Sana, pretending fatigue, begged to be excused. But her pleas were useless; she must go, so she finally agreed. Her first night again in gay Paris!

Finished dining, they left the Café and went to the Thêátre Chatelet to see the Ballet. The performance ended, the party went slumming through the Latin quartier, eventually finding themselves, about three in the morning, at Maxim’s. This was the place the Princess had been so anxious to see. Sana had been there before and knew what to expect in the way of dancing, and feminine display.

But all parties must come to an end, so the rosy fingered Dawn, tinting the east, finds Sana saying goodbye to her friends, a thoroughly tired but happy girl.

Sana soon renewed the acquaintance of many old friends, but her stay in Paris was short. Too short perhaps to suit the many admirers of the lovely girl! The Princess Cassandra had been attracted to the girl from the start and after much urging she secured Sana’s consent to accompany her as a companion on a tour of the continent.

Together they visited the great cities and famous resorts. Delighted as she was with the companionship of the girl, Cassandra gained in another direction. Sana proved a great attraction to the younger aristocrats of the places they visited. And it is easily seen that with such a host of admirers at Sana’s beck and call, it was hardly possible that some of them should not fall to the lot of the Princess, even though it be considered charity on the part of the man.

Wealth alone does not draw in circles of their kind, and Cassandra, still beautiful for her age, recognized the advantages of having Sana at her side. It was the philosophy of a homely woman making it her business to associate with a beautiful and charming girl. She might be left out of the play once in a while—when but one attendant was at hand. But when more than one put in an appearance she had the chances which, otherwise, she would never get. Many a mother with a marriageable daughter plays this role and not unconsciously. One seldom finds the grouchy, business-worn husband on the scene.

But regardless of the Princess’ aims, these new associations brought Sana recreation and forgetfulness of the past.

It was a daily experience of Sana’s to make new friends. Hers was a beauty and charm that none could resist. And few, if any, made any serious attempt to keep on resisting!

At Monte Carlo—that haven of chance, that has seen the birth of so many romances and their death, Sana met Count von Sarnoff, a nephew of the Princess. Von Sarnoff was nothing more or less than a sporting lounge-lizard, ever ready to call the tune but never willing to pay the piper.

With him it was a case of love at first sight. Sana, however, was in no mood to respond to his protestations of sincere love. Too bitterly disastrous had been the result of her first love and too fresh her memory of it.