THE INNOCENT ADVENTURESS
BY MARY HASTINGS BRADLEY
AUTHOR OF "THE FORTIETH DOOR," "THE PALACE OF DARKENED WINDOWS," "THEWINE OF ASTONISHMENT," "THE SPLENDID CHANCE," ETC.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON
1921
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Copyright, 1920, by The McCall Co., Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
MY SISTER
SYLVIA CORWIN FRANCISCO
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | THE EAVESDROPPER | 7 |
| II. | UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY | 21 |
| III. | LUNCHEON AT THE LODGE | 47 |
| IV. | RI-RI SINGS AGAIN | 67 |
| V. | BETWEEN DANCES | 88 |
| VI. | TWO--AND A MOUNTAIN | 106 |
| VII. | JOHNNY BECOMES INEVITABLE | 127 |
| VIII. | JOHNNY BECOMES EXPLICIT | 143 |
| IX. | MRS. BLAIR REGRETS | 157 |
| X. | FANTASY | 173 |
| XI. | MORNING LIGHT | 204 |
| XII. | JOURNEY'S END | 235 |
THE INNOCENT ADVENTURESS
CHAPTER I
THE EAVESDROPPER
Maria Angelina was eavesdropping. Not upon her sister Lucia and PaoloTosti whom she had been assigned to chaperon by reading a book toherself in the adjoining room—no, they were safely busy with piano andviolin, and she was heartily bored, anyway, with their inanities. Voicesfrom another direction had pricked her to alertness.
Maria Angelina was in the corner room of the Palazzo Santonini, a dimand beautiful old library with faded furnishings whose west arch ofdoorway looked into the pretentious reception room where the fianc