Read "The Temptress" by William le Queux online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Upon a veranda overlooking the clear, rippling Ourthe, and protected from the hot sun by a striped awning, Valerie and Pierre were laughing and sipping kummel. Lounging lazily in a loose-fitting cotton dress she looked cool and piquante, while he, attired in a suit of light tweed, with a soft felt hat set jauntily on his head, sat on the edge of the table, smoking a cigarette with an air of insouciance.
In the whole of rural Belgium it would probably be difficult to find scenery more picturesque than that surrounding the small town of Laroche. Ten miles distant from the Liege-Marloye Railway, it lies in the very heart of the Ardennes, nestling beside the gurgling Ourthe at the junction of five beautiful valleys. Above, rise bold, bare crags and high hills covered with sombre pines, while from a dark, rugged height frown the ivy-clad ruins of an ancient chateau.