R>O.BIaydesM.D
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 ROBERT ERNEST COWAN
 
 3**iar.* 
 
 
 sJLfS 
 
 

 
 R. O. BLAYDBS, M. D., 
 
 TRIUMFO, MEXICO. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO : 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE PUBLISHER. 
 1899.
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1899, 
 
 BY 
 R. O. BLAYDES, M. D. 

 
 R. O. 
 
 BLAYOES, M. D., 
 
 TRIUMFO, MEXICO. 
 
 X the beginning of a vanished century in the 
 long ago, when old Father Time was an 
 infant dressed in slumber robes, too young 
 to record when it was, omnipotent and im- 
 mortal Jove in his palace of spangled stars convened the 
 Senate c* the Skies, and to the gods and goddesses he said : 
 " Between Heaven and Hades there is a little world 
 <-;illcd the Earth, that has forever been held in the dark, 
 cold, gloomy embrace of chaos. Aurora, fair daughter 
 of dawn, sprinkle with your rosy light the sable curtains 
 of night; unloose from his vaulted prison beyond the 
 cloudless blue the golden sunshine; take with you fair 
 Ceres, Flora and Hermes, too. Find the loveliest place, 
 and prepare for me and my guests a wonderful garden 
 of beauty and bloom, and, when finished, send Hermes 
 
 3
 
 LADY EVE, 
 
 to Hades with an invitation to his Satanic Majesty to 
 visit us in Eden, if he has time and inclination." 
 
 They obeyed his orders, and in a short time in the 
 sunny south a magnificent garden was made. The glo- 
 rious sunshine and silvery moonlight took the place of 
 the sable curtains of Egyptian gloom, and chaos ceased 
 to exist. In this garden of the gods bloomed and blos- 
 so'med many fruits and countless varieties of flowers of 
 various colors and fragrance. Oranges gleamed golden 
 among the dark green leaves of the trees. Snowy mag- 
 nolias unfurled their creamy petals to the breeze; scarlet 
 and white japonicas, climbing creepers with their crim- 
 son blossoms, pure white Easter lilies, with the tiger red 
 lilies and lilies of the Xile, were found in the same bed 
 with the beautiful fleur-de-lis. Golden fields of flaming 
 poppies, all red and gold, mingled their brilliant and fiery 
 bloom with the magnificent foliage and marvelous bloom 
 of other brilliant flowers of rare, strange and unknown 
 names; and, as these beautiful flowers blended them- 
 selves into Nature's bouquet, and stretched out into the 
 distance, far, far away, it seemed the gold and purple 
 sky, shading into a cloudless blue, rested on these pyra- 
 mids of exquisite flowers. 
 
 Among these fair flowers was one by far more exquis-
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 itely beautiful a woman, Lady Eve! From a snow 
 white camelia Ceres, Aurora and Hermes fashioned 
 her a dainty piece of feminine loveliness. Her form 
 and features were perfect. She had glorious dark brown 
 eyes, shaded by long, silken eyelashes; a complexion 
 very fair and transparent, with pink roses blushing be- 
 neath a wonderful wealth of golden hair, which fell in 
 shining masses of burnished gold over snowy shoulders 
 and waved in dreamy loveliness to her tiny feet. She 
 was most becomingly gowned in white China silk, and, 
 standing by a fountain of Parian marble surrounded by 
 a bed of brilliant roses American beauties, bridesmaid, 
 jacqueminots and other varieties, white, yellow and gold, 
 with climbing wild roses, damask and pink, which 
 twined themselves into wreathes around a beautiful 
 arbor near by, she was watching the arrival of the im- 
 mortal gods and their guests. The gods fell madly in 
 love with her, as only the gods can love, and so did their 
 guests, and vied with each other in trying to win her 
 affection. Prometheus opened a studio, and, as a sample 
 of his fine art, for her he made a man from plastic clay. 
 She said for inanimate man she did not care ; so he went 
 back to Heaven, and in the absence of the immortal gods 
 stole some sacred fire, and with it he brought old father
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 Adam to life. She was so well pleased with the improve- 
 ment that soon afterwards there was a wedding in Eden. 
 She married the statue. Hermes was best man, and the 
 beautiful Aphrodite (who rose from the foam-crested 
 waves of the sea, and who was the most celebrated blonde 
 beauty of her day) was bridesmaid. 
 
 The gods were very jealous, and signified their dis- 
 pleasure by banishing Prometheus to Hades and having 
 the vultures there feast on his liver. 
 
 This hasty wedding, like others, proved no exception 
 to the adage, " Marry in haste, and repent at leisure." 
 They did not live happily. Her husband found more 
 pleasure in the society of the golden-haired Aphrodite, 
 and she, in a fit of pique, commenced a flirtation with 
 his Satanic Majesty and Cupid that had an unfortunate 
 ending. 
 
 One evening as these three stars in the drama the 
 Comedy, the Tragedy, the Farce, whichever we make out 
 of the play called Life went out for a walk down the 
 finest glade in Eden. The stars looked down from the 
 azzure skies with a brilliancy most unusual on fields of 
 golden red and white flaming poppies; over the white 
 breasts of river lilies that were trying to entice the 
 stray moonbeams from the world of shadows, never 
 
 . 6
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 dreaming these visitors would in a short time cause 
 Eden's destruction. Continuing their walk through 
 a garden of magnificent oleanders, all white and red, 
 they came to an orchard of fine fruit. The keeper of 
 the garden invited them in, and said: 
 
 " You may all eat of the fruit of the trees of the gar- 
 den, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of 
 the garden ye shall not eat, neither shall you touch it, 
 lest you die." 
 
 His Satanic Majesty said to Lady Eve: 
 
 " That is untrue; it i t.h finest fruit in the garden, 
 save this " pointing to a fine tree near by, which the 
 .keeper of the garden said was the Tree of Life. 
 
 The fruit resembled a golden pear. His Satanic 
 Majesty said to Lady Eve that what the keeper said was 
 untrue it was the finest fruit in the garden, and, pluck- 
 ing some from each tree, he handed it to her, saying: 
 
 " Eat thou of this, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, 
 and you shall not surely die; for immortal and omnipo- 
 tent Jove knows in the day thou eat thereof your eyes 
 shall be opened. You shall be as gods, knowing good 
 from evil." 
 
 She said to him: 
 
 " If you think the fruit is wholesome, and a fruit to 
 7
 
 LAD Y EVE. 
 
 be desired, you eat first; and, if it does not poison you, I 
 will eat of it, too." 
 
 And he accepted from her a fruit which resembled a 
 rich, luscious, sun-kissed peach, which he ate. She, per- 
 ceiving it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be de- 
 sired to make one wise, also took of the fruit thereof and 
 did eat; and, having finished it, she said: 
 
 "Are you sure the golden pear from the Tree of Life is 
 harmless, and will confer a boon possessed alone by the 
 immortal gods that of life eternal!" 
 
 He said he was convinced that not only would it make 
 her an immortal, possessed of eternal life, but that it 
 would also confer a boon she would value as only a fair 
 woman can eternal youth and beauty. To her in the 
 sweet, bye and bye no crowsf eet nor wrinkles of old age 
 w r ould ever come to mar her lovely beauty: she would 
 forever remain young and beautiful. She said for him to 
 try a pear first, which he did ; then she ate one, too. 
 
 Cupid and the keeper stood paralyzed with fear. The 
 audacity of the culprits amazed them, for immortal 
 Jove's orders, when disobeyed, always were followed by 
 punishment swift, terrible and sure. As soon as Cupid 
 recovered his senses he took his Satanic Majesty to task 
 for having tempted their fair companion to eat forbidden
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 fruit, and kicked up with him quite a fuss; and, in a fit 
 of ill temper gave him a slap in the face, and a rough- 
 and-tumble fight followed. They were separated ere it 
 had progressed far by mutual friends, but Cupid next 
 day sent him a challenge to fight, which he accepted, and 
 chose the prize ring and a fight to a finish. 
 
 The time for the fight found all the immortal gods, 
 goddesses and swell sports from Providence much inter- 
 ested, and the pavilion around the twenty-four foot ring 
 was crowded with guests from floor to roof. His Satanic 
 Majesty ruled a strong favorite. As he was so much 
 stronger and of finer physique it seemed a sure thing 
 so thought the fickle goddess of chance, Fortura, who 
 made a book on the fight. She held him at short odds. 
 Of Cupid's chances she thought so little that on him she 
 gave long odds. 
 
 Among Lady Eve's most ardent admirers was the rich 
 old miser Midas. She borrowed from him all the wealth 
 the old fellow would lend, and wagered so much gold on 
 Cupid that she bet the goddess Fortuna to a standstill. 
 In the excitement old Midas accidentally touched him- 
 self and turned to gold, and she bet him, too. She was a 
 plunger second to none. 
 
 At the appointed hour the contestants entered the
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 ring. Cupid wore pale blue silk trunks and a golden 
 girdle around his slim waist. His Satanic Majesty wore 
 red silk trunks and a black pirate flag around his waist. 
 Hermes was Cupid's second. Apollo kindly volun- 
 teered to act as second to his Satanic Majesty, and Mi- 
 nerva, on account of her wisdom, was chosen referee. 
 
 The gong sounded, the fight was on, when fair Venus, 
 the timekeeper, called time. 
 
 Round 1 They stepped to the middle of the ring, both 
 sparring for an opening. Cupid feinted, and drew away 
 as his Satanic Majesty made a strong lead for his chin 
 with his powerful left duke. Then he let fly his right 
 and gave his Majesty quite a severe blow over the left 
 eye, and, rushing him towards the ropes, he followed 
 with another which landed on his Satanic Majesty's nose, 
 causing the red claret to flow. His Satanic Majesty, 
 when he came back to the center of the ring, scored 
 heavily on Cupid's stomach two powerful blows, knock- 
 ing him down. He barely missed being counted out. 
 
 Round 2 Both came up looking like they had been to 
 a sure enough prize fight. Cupid opened up with a hard 
 left on the mouth. Then his Majesty scored a heavy blow 
 over Cupid's solar plexus, which was followed by some 
 heavy blows in quick succession on the face. The crowd
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 cheered as Cupid was rushed to the ropes. Cupid recov- 
 ered and came back fighting pretty game, and got in 
 some pretty fine work, knocking his Majesty down twice 
 with well-directed blows in the pit of the stomach. The 
 timekeeper called time as the gong sounded, and trainers 
 and seconds were busy sponging and cooling off their 
 men. 
 
 Round 3 This was a savage round from start to fin- 
 ish. Cupid rushed the fighting, and got in two beautiful 
 licks in quick succession under the jaw, followed by a 
 heavy blow in the mouth, knocking his Majesty down. 
 He arose and clinched with Cupid, raining blows right 
 and left for Cupid's face, but they fell a little short. His 
 Satanic Majesty then feinted, walked backward a few 
 steps, made a powerful rush and hit Cupid a stunner be- 
 tween the eyes, following his advantage by a few heavy 
 body blows. Cupid countered with a powerful swing 
 with his left duke, which landed hard on his Majesty's 
 jaw. He then crowded him, raining blows fast as 
 thought, giving his Majesty heavy licks in stomach and 
 over heart, seeming to be able to land when and where 
 he pleased. Finally, finding his Satanic Majesty power- 
 less to avert his heavy blows, Cupid gave him a left 
 swing, which landed behind his right ear, knocking him
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 down and out. The timekeeper counted out the seconds, 
 and, as his Satanic Majesty was amusing himself, seeing 
 countless stars in slumberland, he failed to hear or heed. 
 His head struck the hard floor in falling, producing a 
 partial paralysis, which left him a cripple for countless 
 ages to come; and Cupid was declared the winner of the 
 first prize fight on earth. 
 
 Since then prize fights have become very fashionable 
 sport, and no manlier way has ever been found for set- 
 tling disputes. 
 
 After the fight Cupid was given a swell banquet, and, 
 being Extra Dry, and not at all Mumm about expressing 
 his condition, he drank more White Seal than was good 
 for him in fact, got pretty drunk, and after the ban- 
 quet he wandered out into a pretty garden of red, white 
 and gold poppies and fell asleep, and had a dream that 
 the little Ked Mouse of the Brocken, which was his old 
 rival and foe, in disguise climbed out of the petals of a 
 great big white poppy and hypnotized him with his cold, 
 tiny little black eyes, throwing him into a trance, and 
 then commenced reading his dreams to the gods. He 
 dreamed all the flowers in Eden changed into beautiful 
 women, most exquisitely gowned. From the heart of an 
 American beauty rose stepped a magnificent beauty,
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 with steel gray eyes, dark brown tresses, tinged with deep 
 red gold, most beautifully gowned in a light gossamer 
 clinging gown, which revealed while it concealed a form 
 of faultless mould. She was followed by a girl from a 
 hyacinth a daughter of the gods, divinely fair, divinely 
 tall, with matchless brown eyes and a roguish, laughing 
 smile. She was most becomingly attired in a dainty 
 green silk, covered with rare old black Spanish lace, 
 elbow sleeves and slightly decollete. Another, still more 
 beautiful, sprang from a water lily; a beautiful nymph 
 a Nereid she seemed; an Undine with her pretty red- 
 gold hair falling over a snowy pair of bared shoulders. 
 Her eyes, of sapphire blue, sparkled and danced in a most 
 captivating way, and her pretty Cupid's bow of a mouth 
 displayed a pretty smile, from lips far more beautiful 
 than the half-opened buds of the red roses on a dewy 
 morning. 
 
 Blondes, brunettes, stately and tall, lithe, willowy and 
 graceful petite, dainty little women kept springing 
 from the flowers until a hundred seemed him to sur- 
 round. They were soon followed by an equal number of 
 handsome, graceful men; so that he fired his heart-shaped 
 arrows promiscuously into the crowd, and weddings fol- 
 lowed galore; that woman created herself, and man, too, 
 
 13
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 and with her creation the gods had very little to do. All 
 the gods were soon tired of earth save him; he found it 
 a most attractive place, and spent much of his time as a 
 model for sculptors and painters. That the prettiest 
 maiden on earth was Psyche, and he married her in his 
 dream, and the fair little bride he was never permitted 
 to see save when the moonlight neglected to come to her 
 home; thatYenus grew jealous and made pretty Psyche a 
 great deal of trouble. He dreamed Eden was a garden 
 of flame. Omnipotent Jove was greatly displeased with 
 some of his guests, and swore never again on earth would 
 he give a lawn or house party. He awoke from his slum- 
 ber, and, standing close by, was immortal and omnipo- 
 tent Jove and Lady Eve having a big fuss. He was tak- 
 ing her to task for having eaten the forbidden fruit. Her 
 eyes grew black with passion when he ordered her and 
 her husband also to leave the garden, and as a punish- 
 ment, for all time to come, by the sweat of their faces 
 they would have their living to earn; that for mortals 
 bread was the staff of life, and had to be cultivated, 
 necessitating much labor. She let him talk for a while 
 until she had a chance to get a word in edgeways, then 
 she held the floor until she had her say. She told him 
 of his unreasoning hospitality, of his selfishness in re- 
 14
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 serving the fruits from the Tree of Knowledge of Good 
 and Evil, also the fruit from the Tree of Life; of what 
 the keeper of the garden said in order to prevent them 
 from eating it if they touched it they would surely die 
 and said : 
 
 " Since then several days have gone by, and I, for a 
 corpse, am feeling pretty gay. Really, to be frank, don't 
 you think the keeper of your garden is a most accom- 
 plished liar? I certainly do. Eden I have no intention 
 of leaving. You can storm, bluster and threaten and try 
 to put me out if you dare, but if you do I am going to 
 make a great deal of trouble for you; for, as sure as you 
 meddle with me or my pleasure, I mean to go and tell 
 haughty Juno, the proud Empress of your couch, of your 
 mad infatuation for fair, frail Leda; of your nightly 
 visits, swimming down Rainbow Lake to her fairy villa 
 on the edge, in the disguise of her pet snow white swan; 
 and when Juno learns of your pretty mistress she will not 
 worry you with the divorce court. She will settle the 
 case in her own jealous way. And if you don't need a 
 firmer and more durable foundation to hold up your pal- 
 ace of spangled stars, then, mon ami, I am talking moon- 
 shine to you. 
 
 " Besides, instead of my leaving Eden, Eden is going 
 15
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 to say adios to itself and all its guests, including you. 
 His Satanic Majesty has the garden all mined with dyna- 
 mite, gunpowder, cordite and gun-cotton. He has pre- 
 pared a pretty lively serenade for you. You had better 
 look to your lifeboat ; you are liable to have rough sailing, 
 ere with Eden you get through. Down in the meadows 
 all carpeted with bright blue grass, many regiments of 
 little red devils are waiting to give battle to you. His 
 Satanic Majesty and his official family have declared war 
 on you." 
 
 Omnipotent and all-powerful Jove was caught nap- 
 ping, but in a short time soon had plenty of warrior 
 angels in battle array. Charge on charge by legion after 
 legion of little red devils were met by pretty angels, all 
 armed with pretty gold crosses. Thunderbolt after thun- 
 derbolt (omnipotent Jove's favorite weapon) swept regi- 
 ment after regiment of little red devils from the earth 
 like snowballs melting in a warm corner in Hades. His 
 Satanic Majesty finally exploded his mine giving many 
 a dear little woman angel a quick ride to glory but was 
 defeated and sent back to Hades in disgrace. A few fall- 
 ing angels, including proud Lucifer, kept him company. 
 Of Eden there remained not a trace save two lava- 
 covered mountains, from the west mountain a river of 
 16
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 water rushing down its lava-covered sides, hotter than 
 the hinges of Hades. Where last night the immortal 
 gods and their guests were feasting and enjoying the 
 good and evil pleasures of life, to-night the moon, proud 
 queen of the night, as she soared higher and higher in the 
 starry heavens, looked down on an unfamiliar scene and 
 grew pallid with f ear.^ 
 
 Old Neptune, in his chariot, took Lady Eve and her 
 husband across the briny deep and left them in a beauti- 
 ful Oriental land, far from Eden. To them came Tanta- 
 lus with the secrets he had stolen from the gods, also 
 flower seed from Flora and fruits and cereals from Ceres, 
 saying they could till the soil and have as happy a home 
 and as beautiful flowers as ever bloomed in Eden; that 
 Marie Corelli said the world was merely at best a hotel 
 for mortals on their journey through life, until the soul 
 left its frail tenement of clay to be judged and assigned 
 a future and more permanent residence, either in the 
 celestial regions beyond the skies or in Hades; that at 
 birth two microbes, one evil the other good, constituted 
 a dominant part of that unknown entity we designate by 
 the name of the soul. As every mortal went down life's 
 highway from the cradle to the grave the future fate of 
 his soul was in his own hands; if he nourished it with 
 17
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 good deeds and kind actions, and obeyed the religious 
 teachings of the divines, after life's fitful dream was* 
 over it would become an angel-star, to shine again on a 
 brighter shore in realms Elysian. If evil deeds got the 
 best of this soul, and life was evil, in the end when life's 
 tempestuous voyage on earth was ended, old Charon 
 would row it across the mythical river Styx to Hades to 
 suffer eternal punishment. 
 
 He also said the earth and the fullness thereof was for 
 man's benefit and amusement. He had dominion over 
 the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the fish in 
 the sea, every living, breathing thing, and every plant 
 or vegetable. While living he could use what he liked 
 to nourish and amuse himself, but when dead and turned 
 to dust the plants would eat him. The living nourished 
 the dead, and the dead the living. Xature, in her won- 
 derful chemical factory, was always changing matter into 
 life and life into matter. How many other true secrets 
 he might have divulged will never be known, for immor- 
 tal Jove's three best detectives arrested him and impri 
 oned him in Hades. They tied him in the hottest place 
 to a stone in water cold, nice, delicious ice-water, just 
 touching his parched lips and tongue, with never a drop 
 to drink. 
 
 18
 
 LADY EVE, 
 
 Prometheus' masterpiece of sculpture lived happy 
 with Lady Eve many years, and became an expert tiller 
 of the soil. To them were born many brave sons and 
 fair daughters. Old age gradually stole into his veins, 
 making him an aged, decrepit, cross and childish old 
 man. He had a visitor one day, Thanatos, who gently 
 closed his eyes forever in a dreamless sleep that knows 
 no awakening, and the celestial fire which composed his 
 soul winged its flight upward to celestial regions to be- 
 come an angel and dwell forever in the realms of the 
 blessed. 
 ##-*#-fc**## 
 
 All alone in his council hall of state, seated on his 
 crimson throne, yet surrounded by all his official family, 
 sat his Satanic Majesty, dreaming of the gay house party 
 in Eden; of his lost sweetheart, Lady Eve; of his mag- 
 nificent Kingdom of Evil ; of its fine mosaic-paved streets 
 made from the bricks of good intentions and bad deeds; 
 of his fast-increasing wealth, since he and the Sun had 
 entered into a partnership and raised the price of heat, 
 this most essential of all things useful to mortals on 
 earth as well as the celestial lands, and his own King- 
 dom of Evil. 
 
 His dreams were interrupted by the entrance of a 
 19
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 footman dressed in a livery of crimson red fire, bearing 
 on a gold salver a card with his Majesty's friend Hermes' 
 name engraved thereon. After delivering some letters 
 of official business from immortal Jove, concerning an 
 exchange of a few souls that he thought would make 
 useful angels, they fell to talking about old times. He 
 told Herrnes of his paralyzed and helpless condition, and 
 of his love for his lost Lady Eve. To him Hermes said : 
 " On my way here I spent several pleasant weeks at a 
 famous spa, famous all the w r orld over, and known as the 
 Hot Springs of Arkansas. From the lay of the moun- 
 tains and the pretty valley I am sure the c:*j is built 
 over the ruins of old Eden, and it is a much prettier 
 place. While there I saw some magical cures performed. 
 I believe if you would go and take the baths that in three 
 weeks you would grow young again. The season now is 
 at its height, and I am going to spend several more weeks 
 there. If you will be my guest, I'll guarantee you a cure 
 of your paralysis and your heartache, too. There are 
 many pretty feminine pebbles found promenading 
 down the magnolia shaded avenue known as Bath House 
 Row; many a dainty beauty to be seen tripping the light 
 fantastic to the music at the grand hotels, and the cuisine 
 is exceptionally fine. Knights of the green cloth woo the
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 fickle goddess of fortune nightly at the famous Arkansas 
 and Southern clubs. The limit at faro is from the roof 
 to the sky, and more money is won on the turn of a card 
 at the Turf Exchange than man can earn all the days of 
 his life by the sweat of his brow. Close confinement and 
 hard work has made you melancholy. A change will do 
 you a world of good. If you will go and take a hot bath 
 at one of the fine marble bath houses, following it with a 
 cold needle bath, and have a big negro rubber rub you 
 down well, wrap you in a linen sheet, then put on a fine 
 bath robe, lay down for an hour on a couch, order and 
 drink a Zumo Anana cocktail mixed with a Kentucky 
 mint julep, toned down with plenty of cracked ice, you 
 will fall asleep and dream you have met, loved and won 
 fair Lady Eve." 
 
 His Satanic Majesty replied that, from the way his 
 guest talked, he thought he was a drummer for Hot 
 Springs, to which he replied that he was. 
 
 His Satanic Majesty, yielding to his old friend's ad- 
 vice, went, then little believing he would find on earth 
 such a gay, beautiful and so fascinating a city. A three- 
 weeks' course of baths cured him. One night an annual 
 ball was given at a big hotel called the Monarch of the 
 Glen. The large dining-room was turned into a beauti-
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 f ul miniature lawn. There were fairy grottoes, feathery 
 palms and lots of pretty climbing vines; also dainty, cool 
 little arbors lit up with tiny fairy electric lamps, which 
 sparkled like myriad fireflys in a tropical garden. 
 Many invitations to famous beauties all over the world 
 had been sent out for this grand ball. Every city of note 
 had sent its fairest beauty, and such a gathering at this 
 famous spa had never before been seen. 
 
 Among them was a seemingly beautiful girl dressed in 
 a filmy gown of China silk of pale blue and white stripes. 
 Her beautiful limbs, rounded and smooth as a pearl, 
 could be plainly seen through the gauzy drapery that 
 clung like white mist about the exquisite curves of her 
 fairy form, and floated behind her in shining folds of 
 shimmering sheen. Her exquisite neck and arms were 
 bare, and from tiny hand, dainty wrist, to snowy shoul- 
 der, such velvet softness and beauty of feminine flesh 
 never before was seen save in poets' dreams. She was 
 waltzing with Hermes, and after the dance he asked per- 
 mission to introduce his friend, his Satanic Majesty. An 
 introduction was followed by a waltz, after which a shady 
 nook was sought while waiting for an ice. His Majesty 
 tried to think where had he seen this wonderful beauty 
 before. A look at her glorious brown eyes and masses
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 of golden blonde hair, most becomingly braided and 
 caught up in a red silk net, reminded him of his lost 
 love Lady Eve and he soon found it was her. So he 
 immediately began his story of love for her, which had 
 commenced in old Eden in the long ago. He expressed it 
 in a dignified way and spoke very few words. She an- 
 swered him neither yes or no, but, looking out beyond 
 the fairy grotto into the brilliant starlit heavens above, 
 she asked him if it was true that the stars were merely 
 campfires kindled by lost souls when camping out on the 
 journey to purgatoiy to await the Pope's and priests' 
 pleasure ere they were prayed into Heaven or banished to 
 Hades. He said he never allowed his mind to wander 
 and think of silvery stars when such beautiful stars as 
 her matchless brown eyes were so near by. Gazing into 
 those amorous orbs he noticed for the first time a fiery 
 red pigeon-blood ruby cross suspended from a small gold 
 chain around her swan-like throat. For once in his life a 
 cross for him had no terror, so infatuated was he with 
 his partner in sin in old Eden in the childhood days of 
 the world. She said : 
 
 " Do you know, you have asked for the costliest thing 
 on earth a woman's heart? Asked for it like a child 
 would for a toy!" 
 
 23
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 " Well," he replied, " if I have, if you will give it to 
 me I'll value it far more than my kingdom or life, for 
 I've loved no one so long, so true, as I love you." 
 
 She said : 
 
 " The wine, the music, the mazy whirl of the dance 
 to-night have called up old memories. Should you see me 
 in broad daylight you might not have so much love for 
 your old sweetheart, for I've grown old and ugly, and 
 sometimes get pretty cross. When choosing a wife you 
 should always propose in broad daylight. I will meet 
 you to-morrow at. 10 o'clock up Happy Hollow under 
 the pretty dogwood tree covered with snowy white blos- 
 soms. 
 
 It seemed a long time to wait, but the time eventually 
 arrived. So did he, and soon afterwards came the fair 
 Lady Eve. 
 
 They talked of the beauties of Hot Springs, and pitied 
 those who had never visited this beautiful spa ; of its won- 
 derful cures; of the magical effect on old age, and how 
 quick it cooked the microbes of disease; of its fine thor- 
 oughbred horses, its mountain roads, golf links, and 
 pretty little lakes ; its magnolia avenues ; of the delicious 
 fragrance of the snowy white magnolias, enhanced by 
 
 24
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 that delicious piney odor wafted from the mountains; of 
 the laughing sunbeams; of the beautiful dreams and rosy 
 air-castles that the disease stricken invalid had when he 
 found his hopeless condition, which had baffled all the 
 wisest M. D.'s all over the world, when after a few weeks 
 here they, like he, had been entirely restored to health ; 
 of how much brighter the moon shone here ; of its pretty 
 cloud effects ; of an interesting and unique weekly maga- 
 zine known (and read all over the world) by name of 
 u The Ark. Thomas Cat;" of the many loves and lovers 
 who met here, and how many marriages occurred here 
 each year. Then he grew impatient, and asked her in 
 pretty plain English if she would make him forever 
 happy by becoming his wife. She said : 
 
 " You say you have loved none save me. How about 
 Persephone, Ceres' daughter? You stole her without so 
 much as asking her or her mother." 
 
 " Yes," replied his Majesty. " When Easter time ar- 
 rived her mother said last year's bonnet was plenty good, 
 and she felt so disgusted with earth when she could not 
 keep up with the styles for a dozen new bonnets, that she 
 gladly consented to run away from Ceres and keep house 
 for me. She knew nothing about the culinary art, and
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 so I got rid of her pretty soon by sending her home." 
 " Next you stole fair Leto, did you not?" 
 " That's true. She was a cry baby, and had never be- 
 fore been away from home. She came near bankrupting 
 my kingdom by quenching the fires of Hades with her 
 tears. You bet, I was glad to see her go home." 
 " Next you stole fair Eurydice, did you not?" 
 " Yes; the most beautiful Nereid nymph, the prettiest 
 Circe I ever met. She is not so beautiful as you, 
 although she is the fairest goddess that ever roamed 
 among the Olympian hills or attended a court ball in 
 omnipotent Jove's palace of spangled stars. Orpheus 
 was a crank, daft on music. He drove her distracted 
 playing an old jewsharp; and, to get away from him, she 
 ran away with me, but the gods kicked up such a muss 
 I did not have the pleasure of keeping her long. So, you 
 see, I am off with all the old loves save you, my first 
 love." 
 
 " Surely, in a sane moment, to such an evil old king- 
 dom as Hades you would not care to take me!" cried 
 Lady Eve. My, what a horrible place the preachers and 
 Dante have made it out to be!" 
 
 " With the preachers it is a matter of business a 
 26
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 question of meat and bread," explained his Satanic 
 Majesty. " As to Dante's ' Inferno/ he was a dissipated 
 young poet, whose poems no publisher cared to buy. He 
 fell madly in love with a beautiful Italian girl, with soft 
 brown eyes, named Beatrice, and, having no money, her 
 father refused to allow them to wed. So he drank so 
 much absinthe he had what the doctors call delirium tre- 
 mens, and uneducated folks call snakes in his boots. He 
 had a terrible dream of my kingdom, and when he awoke 
 sober he wrote it up. It made a hit with the dear public, 
 and later on was magnificently illustrated by a celebrated 
 French painter named Gustave Dore. When the dear 
 public saw so many beautiful women dressed in robes de 
 nuit, or rather minus them, flying to my kingdom it 
 proved for me a great advertisement. For it I paid 
 neither the publishers nor the poet a cent. For man, 
 sensual man alone for woman cares, either as a wife or a 
 mistress and, if what the good book says is true, among 
 the angel band waiting on the other shore, there is no 
 promise to man that he will ever there find a wife." 
 
 Then said Lady Eve: 
 
 " If you will turn your kingdom into a grand hospital 
 and make of it a sanitarium for the cure of diseased souls, 
 
 273756
 
 LADY EVE. 
 
 I will gladly be your wife, for surely sin is a disease, a 
 result of an insane mind." 
 
 He gladly consented. So this is how Hades as a King- 
 dom of Evil has ceased to exist, and the words of an emi- 
 nent divine that " Hades had played out " came true.
 
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