Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 34, Number 124, 12 March 1909 — Page 3

CM & AJimiiAMSON

T""" 7 T SEEMS a pity it should go to the dog V ,wf said he "An a matter of fact, I ,think m it was cats," said I. fff Hy "If we married to secure it, it would lO "f be the same as if it went to both, for I , i we should lead a cat-and-dog lite together."

1 'Together? But we would say, 'Good-by; farery pleased to have met you at the church door." ) Y'Do you mean that, Cynthia? Would you agree?" ," Agree?" I echoed him again. "I should insist." ' "Well shall we make the experiment, and keep the Vioney from going to " "Slightly inferior if less mercenary animals? Ye-es, 2 think it would be wise." And so we were engaged, my cousin Dick Thanet fend I. . t This sounds like a story, but there was more sense in the arrangement! from a cold-blooded point of view, than appears without explanation. The way of it was this: 1 had lived with Uncle ever since my beautiful , American mother (his widowed sister-in-law) died, nd left me to him as a legacy, the only one she had , to leave. , .... - Dick was the son of a mere half-brother, whom (oor Uncle had cordially detested. But the boy had een named after him, and, besides, must inherit the baronetcy. When he was twelve he had been sent down on a visit, and had scored more of a success with Uncle than with me. Dick was the only Thanet left; he had done well in the Army and Uncle was proud of him; he considered it only fair, if Dick were sensible, that he should have the wherewithal to keep up the title. We had preserved an air of mystery concerning ur intentions, which was the easier to do as we were both orphans, and had no" near relatives. We were married in Guildford, near which town Uncle and I had lived. I had been fond of the old place, Hidden Court, but it had become Dick's and I never wanted to see it again. He intended to give up the Army, in obedience to Uncle's desire expressed in the will, and become a "landed country gentleman." I didn't think him cut out for the part; but that was not my business. I went straight to London, where I had engaged rooms for Lady Thanet and her newly acquired maid. I laughed as I asked myself whether there had ever been such a honeymoon as mine? My days glided by in a blissful delirium of shopping; buying such things s I had always dreamed of and never had. ' In" the evening I usually had a box at the theater alone; and it did not annoy me that many opera glasses were turned my way, for I wore charming frocks, Josephine dressed my hair to perfection, and I was doing nothing to be ashamed of. Oh, there is a great deal to be said for a honeymoon such as mine spent alone! I was married in June, and late -in July I went to Jlomburg. It was luck for me that Uncle's will had forbidden any one to wear mourning, or I should have lost L much innocent pleasure in changing the color of gny costume every day. From Homburg I went to Aix-les-Bains for the rest tof August and part of September, then on to the Italian Lakes ; and at Cadenabbia my real adventures befan. I had flirted a little in a mild way, of course;! ut on the boat, going to Cadenabbia from Corao, there J was an Italian. There were others lots of them, no, doubt ; but this man I felt sure, the moment I set eyes on him, must be a prince. He looked just as all princes ought to look, and seldom do, but as no one who is not a prince possibly can; at least, tnat was my comment on first sight of him. I saw his luggage (easily identified, as his valet guarded it) and it was marked for Bellaggio, which was disappointing, for he was one of the handsomest, as well as most distinguished men I had ever seen. He seemed to like my looks, too, for he stared as much as politeness allowed; and towards ,the end of the lake journey, my heart beat fast when Josephine whispered to me. She said that there was a Prince Foruna on board (I had not deceived myself), that he was deeply interested in "malady" that his valet had been asking questions, and on discovering that I was going to Cadenabbia, the prince had changed his mind, deciding to go there also. ' Exactly how the prince and I got to know each other I can't remember with any distinctness. I rather think he picked up something, which I hadn't dropped, on the balcony of the Bellevue, and asked if it were mine. I think, also, that it was on the evening of our arrival. There were not many young or desirable men at the hotel, so the prince's attentions to me excited notice, and no doubt envy. I had never known an Italian before. This one's ardent impulsiveness astonished me, after the reserve of Englishmen and the stolidity of Germans. I hardly knew what to make of him, but I was interested and flattered; and when we bad had ten days of each other's society, to my dismay he proposed. It was moonlight, and he fell on his knees. I pulled turn up as quickly as I could, with the news that I bad a husband. "I will not believe you, cruel angel; you say that to try me!" the prince stammered. "Your maid told my man that you were a widow." "Josephine knows nothing of my affairs," I said stiffly ( I had got her in London, and breathed no bint that I had been married the day before). "Sir Richard my husband is in England." v "Then . he deserves to be punished for allowing a divine creature like you to run about the world alone, breaking men's hearts. I am sure he is unworthy. Divorce him and marry me. . I will make you happy and a princess." "I'm; well enough satisfied to be Lady Thanet, thank you," jt retorted, beginning to wonder if Italian ardor were jnot, "after all, a little trying. This was only the first chapter of "the - hateful adventure which began so romantically. The man was a prince, but no gentleman, for he persisted in following me. It . became a persecution. I could not escape, go where I might. Of course, I might have returned to England, but Uncle had never encouraged me to make intimate friends, and there was no one to whom I wished to go, or who wished to have me. in America, my mother's land. Having eaten my Christmas dinner in Rome, with Prince Foruna looking unutterable things as he at at a table opposite mine, I did not know where to flee next, until I heard that some English acquaintancesa mother and two daughters were staying at Monte Carlo, and would be glad to see me. They were dull, but dependable, and I wired that I would join them. I traveled without stopping, but reached Monte Carlo only just in time to find my protective wall crumbling into ruin. Mrs. Brooke-Smith had received a telegram that Mr. Brooke-Smith had influenza in London, and to London she was departing with her daughters. ; They were extremely sorry, but it couldn't be helped; I would find my rooms very nice; and from all accounts I didn't much mind being alone. Thrce days passed a longer interval by twentytonr hours than usually elapsed before the boom of the enemy's cannon. I began to hope that, by some marvelous good luck, I had contrived to cover my tracks with unaccustomed skill. . My spirits i revived. I made friends with some delightful Americans at the hotel, to whom I dropped a word or two now and then, a it by chance, about my husband.

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Mynew friends took me to the Casino, and the hus- - band of one of them taught me an "infallible system" at roulette. .1 was amused, and one evening after dinner, when my friends were engaged for the opera, I ventured from my hotel to the Casino, alone. The tables were crowded, and people were standing round them, five deep. I found a place, and was just wondering how I could manage to put a louis on seventeen, which was my lucky number, when a voice spoke at my shoulder. It was the vo;ce of the prince. Never, since our great scene at Cadenabbia, had he got near enough to whisper in my ear, but now he was so close that I could feel his breath on my hair. "Dear angel, I have found you again," he said. "I have been so long on the way, because I have waited for letters, in answer to inquiries I have made. I know now all you would not tell me. Your husband left you at the church door. Your marriage is no marriage. It can be dissolved it must be dissolved. I knowt no matter what cold airs you may assume now when you are afraid of being compromised, that at heart you care for me. I could see it at Cadenabbia. Never can I forget those happy days, when you were your sweet, natural self." "Leave me," I answered in the same tone of voice, but with my ears burning. "If you don't, I must call some one to put you out." "You dare not. I know your horror of scenes. And

ban JL.

DEAR ANGEL if you try to go to your hotel, I will follow. I will not let you out of my sight. "You must be mad as well as a coward," I exclaimed. If only my husband were -here 1 I I'm hoping he will come in now, any minute, and when he does " At that instant, as I made a pretense of glancing expectantly round, my eyes caught Dick's. He was standing on the opposite side of the table, looking at me. He recognized that I was in trouble and before I could have counted ten, he had crossed the room, and I was holding' out a convulsively friendly hand. "Oh, Dick dear, I am so glad you've come in at last!" I sighed. "I have been expecting you for. ages." "I was delayed," he tactfully answered, earning my gratitude by rising to the situation. He stared haughtily at the Italian, whom he must have seen talking over my shoulder, and I blessed the 'pride and conceit' with which I had once found open fault. "If you're ready now, my child, we'll go" ' , By my husband's side, I swept past the prince, who fell back a few steps, pale as ashes. I did not look at him, and we went out together, Dick and I. In the atrium, I panted, with the weakness of reaction in my knees. "Don't trouble to get your coat and hat for my sake," I said. "My hotel is quite close. I'm stopping at the Hermitage." "I shall certainly not permit you to go to it alone in the 'circumstances' to which you refer," replied Dick, with a grim smile. "You must really allow me to take you there, Cynthia." I was in a mood to be easily quelled. 'There are some things I should like to explain to you," I stammered. "But you see at the hotel " "Shall we have supper together at Ciro's then?" "I couldn't eat." ''That needn't prevent me from ordering something." 'I suppose you think I'm good at acting," said I. "Very well ; well have a table, and talk." A few minutes later we were in a more or less retired corner of the restaurant. As, in the crisis of my despair, I had called Dick "dear Dick," I thought I owed it to myself to explain everything, and I did so, beginning with Cadenabbia and working slowly up to Monte Carlo. "Of course I'd no idea you were really here," I finished. "But when I saw you, as if by magic, I couldn't resist " "No excuses are necessarj. You did exactly the right thing.?

"Your face looks as if you'd like to add for the first time." , "Never mind my face. You've certainly been extremely imprudent, but I don't want to scold you. Perhaps I haven't the right. What I must do is to suggest a remedy if one can be found. You say you've told other people besides that fellow that you expected your husband." "Not exactly expected. Even a tarradiddle is better than being gossiped about, perhaps." "Well, here I am. I assure you, I'd no more idea of finding you than you had of seeing me. But everybody comes to Monte Carlo. I arrived only this evening, and took rooms at the Hermitage." "Indeed T "Here's either a complication or a solving of the puzzle. As you say, you've had enough of gossip and I've had enough of it also for my wife." "Your wife? Well I suppose I am." "You are. And you've just claimed me as your husband. As I was going on to say, things being as they are, we can't very well continue to stop in the same hotel and act like strangers." "Couldn't we act like cousins?" "There's no such happy medium. Either you must go back to England at once, and I must leave Monte Carlo at the same time, or else we must stop on here as husband and wife." "What do you mean?"

HAVE FOUND YOU AT LAST," HE SAID LEANING OVERjitY "I must tell the manager of the hotel that my rooms were alloted j by mistake, and I must have a suite adjoining that of my wife, who has been awaiting my arrival. We need have nothing to do with each other in private, but in public we must go everywhere together. This must continue until I can engage for you a respectable, elderly dragon, capable of frightening adventurers away, and shielding you from scandal, if you're determined to spend your life wandering about the Continent." ' Thus it was settled. What Dick said to the manager, I never learned, for I took pains not to be present at the interview; but half an hour after returning to the hotel I heard sounds of luggage being moved into a room next to mine. Presently a polite person knocked, and proposed removing a wardrobe which covered the door between the rooms of Monsieur and Madame. I was about' to forbid this, with haughty astonishment at the suggestion, when I caught sight of Diet standing behind the man, in the corridor, shaking his head. Then I remembered for the second time that night that Dick and I were really really husband and wife. When the polite person had. gone, leaving the door of communication wide open, Dick appeared on the threshold and gravely handed me the key. "Good night," we said simultaneously. Next morning we met outside my door, in the corridor. I fancy he must have been waiting. I had put on a new white frock, and he looked the cleanest, best-groomed fellow imaginable, in his gray flannels and light waistcoat, . "I thought we ought to go down together," he said. We did so, and met the Americans I liked in the big hall. Of course I introduced them. It seemed very odd to say "my husband," quite seriously." I caught Dick's eyes, and they twinkled. It was all I could do to keep from breaking into a giggle. "What are you going to do to-day?" asked Mrs. Rowan. She was about five years older than I, chic and gracious, but not as pretty as her sister. Miss Everett, who was about my age. "My husband has suggested going to La Turbie this morning, exploring the old town, and lunching at that jolly restaurant up there. Lord Northlands will be with us.' How nice if you and Sir Richard would join the party!" At least it would relieve the situation to have a settled program, for Dick and I knew neither what to do with ourselves nor each other. Lord Northlands was a bridgery old bachelor, efris with Doris Everett. He would cling to her during the excursion. I told myself;

Dick would have Mrs. Rowan, and I her husband, wno was very witty and amusing. After a glance at each other, Dick and I accepted. We went up in the funiculaire, but there was not room for us all in the same carnage, and the members of the party assorted themselves differently from my original plan. Dick annexed Miss Everctu Mr. and Mrs. Rowan, who had not been married long, and were so ridiculously in love that they always made excuses to be together, stuck to each other, and there was no one left for me but Lord Northlands. I was vexed, and so I am sure was" he; but we had to make the best cf it, as everyone else seemed supremely satisfied. I couldn't help looking at Dick and Miss Everett, who were a handsome couple; he so dark, she so fair; and they appeared extraordinarily congenial, too, for they talked continuously, hardly stopping to throw a glance at the scenery. I wondered what they found to "jabber about like that," until I grew so absent minded that I said "yes" and "no" in the wrong places, to Lord Northlands. Somehow, when I was dressing for dinner that evening (we were all going over to see the "Rooms" afterwards) I had the most violent desire to wear a prettier frock than anything Miss Everett could possibly have. I owned one particularly lovely gown, which had ar-, rived from Paris a couple of days before. The one trouble was that, though it gave an effect of extreme simplicity, it was difficult to get into properly without

SHOULDER the help of a maid. However, I longed to see myself in that moonlight shimmer of white chiffon and opalescent sequins, so I determined to risk it. I slipped hail into the dress, and rang for the femme de chambrt to "faire ma robe." She did her best, but it was not a best equal to the emergency. When I had sent her away I tried to undo her work, but the dress fastened behind, and under one arm, and in a few other places. I had arrived at the pitch of desperation, when I heard a deprecatory tap. Without stopping to think whence it sounded, I cried "Entrez!" and Dick appeared in his doorway, looking shamefaced, without coat, collar or waistcoat. Something tragic had occurred, it seemed. He had lost a stud the sort of stud which, to a man's toilet, is what the axis is to the earth. He had looked everywhere in vain. Had I perchance any makeshift which I could lend him? , I searched, and found a gold stud among my belongings. It was too big for the buttonhole at the back of Dick's neck, but I gave my services, with the air of an early Christian martyr, and contrived to force the thing in. The same process had to be gone through in putting on the collar. Dick has a nice throat. It looked like pale , bronze to where the top of the collar came. where it melted into white. It was like a bronze head set on a marble neck, I was thinking, when he asked, laughing, if there was nothing he could do in payment for my kindness. . I bethought me of my wrongly fastened dress, and, before I knew what I was saying, ' had confided my troubles to Dick. It took him half an hour to put me right, for men are so clumsy ; but by the end of that time we were friends again better friends than we had been yet ; for how can you be coldly dignified with a person who is hooking up your frock? And besides, it appeared that Miss Everett was much too plump to . be really beautiful . in Dick's opinion; he liked tail, slender girls, which proved that his taste was more refined than I had thought it, and made me feel that, after ' all, we had a good deal in common. Several days passed. Dick had bought a motor-car, and we took some fine excursions, seldom returning till evening, and generally missing a lady or two who had called in answer to the advertisement. But, judging , from the description given of these dames by the cont cierge our absence did not signify. Shoals of letters arrived also, bat Dick and I talked them over and decided that there was not one which was suitable. Vex

atious as the Situation was, I felt that anything would be better than to be saddled with an undesirable female, far more difficult to get rid of than Dick. As for him. he was wonderfully good-natured and volunteered with well-feigned cheerfulness to "see me through till something good came along." At last 1 heard from aTady of such unimpeachable character and connections that it seemed like flying in the face of Providence not to take her. Mrs. Mabbrtt had traveled to the Riviera with an invalid who had died, leaving her late companion stranded at a cheap pension in Nice. I was horribly depressed by her. and Dick (who was making a projected trip to America an excuse for leaving his wife to the tender mercies of a chaperon ) , also appeared overpowered. He said that the way Mrs. Mabbett had of pointing at things with her little finger got on his nerves, and advised me to look farther, though clearly it was useless to hope for anything better. There were other elderly ladies in the world, he repeated, and the right one must be somewhere; we both had plenty of time, and really, we seemed to interfere with each other singularly little. This was the tenor of his opinion one day, but the next the wind had veered. Just as I had become quite cheerful in the thought of letting that paragon, Mrs. Mabbett, slip through my fingers Dick not only advised me to have her, but to have her at once. He was obliged to go away immediately, he announced, and might not see me again for a long time. He would, therefore, be easier in his mind if he could leave me in charge of a responsible person. ' " "Oh. very well, if you're so anxious to get rid of , me !" I was on the point of saying, when I remembered in time that there could be no question of any- 1 thing else. Of course he was anxious to get rid of ? me. Of course I was anxious to get rid of him. . , But there certainly was something unusual in his manner that day. He was absent-minded, and more ' than once I caught his eyes fixed upon me . with an odd expression which might have been reproachful or merely sad. : When I had come up to my room after an evening at the Casino, Dick tapped at my door, and opening it -at the word of permission, he inquired: . "Did you write to Mrs.-Mabbett?" 7 1 I nodded. '" "That's all right, then." He paused, but still he lingered in the doorway. "Is there anything else you want to say to me?" " "No-o. Except good-night and er good.-by f or a day or two, perhaps or it may be more. , I'm male- . i ing a very early start and I can't be quite sure of my plans until after to-morrow. Yes there is one more thing. I'd like to thank you, Cyn. Yon don't mind my calling you by uncle's old pet name just for once, do you ? It's a dear, quaint little name, 1 think. What I want to thank you for is a happy fortnight. It's 1 been very remarkable in some ways." ; - - "It has been queer," I admitted. And now it's come to an end! Well good-by. "Good-by." i . "Won't you shake bands?" , I held out mine, looking up at him. He shook Jt gravely; then suddenly pressed it so hard that he hart me. An odd little spasm of feeling passed over Jiis " face; dropping my hand, he turned abruptly away, went back to his own room and shut the door. On the floor between the closed door and me lay a ' sheet of crumpled paper. I did not lmow whether it was something of mine or of Dick's. I picked it na -and smoothed out the wrinkles. Arranged for seven o'clock to-morrow morning, "Italian time" (I read), at the place . suggested this afternoon. I think, even with the motor, we ought to give ourselves plenty of margin in starting, for the rendezvous is half an hour's walk up into the mountain after we leave the car, and we don't want the others to get ahead of us. Go to bed early, for you'll want a steady hand. F is said to be a crack shot. . Row AW. Instantly the realization of what this might mean flashed over me. "F " was Prince -Foruna. Dick - must have met him again. One of the two had insulted the other and they were going to fight a duel to-mor-row morning, somewhere across the Italian frontier. This was the explanation of Dick's sudden change of mind about Mrs. Mabbett, the wistful look in his eyes, his q'uickly-formed intention to, go away, his "goodby," and his thanks to me for the "happy fortnight which had come to an end." I ran to the door and turned the handle. It was not locked and it opened so unexpectedly that I was almost thrown into the next room. He was sitting at a desk writing a letter. " "Ob, Dick," I summered. "I know everything why you're going away, and all. Yon mustn't yon iha'n't fight a duel with Prince Foruna." He saw the crumpled- naoer in mv hand, rambled n

the pocket of his dinner-coat, and understood. "Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Men don't fight duels nowadays." - ' ' - !' . "They do on the Continent, you know very well, and you're going to. But you sha'n't even if I have to rush between you and be killed." He looked at me steadily. "For whom would you sacrifice yourself, my child? Certainly not for me, and I hope not for the prince.. He isn't worth it." He looked so handsome and so brave that I could not keep back my tears. I knew that nothing mattered in the whole world if only he were safe. "For you, Dick for you," I sobbed. ,"111 do anything for you, if only yooll stay. I don't want you to go away from me. I don't want you to be killed." :.- He caught me in his arms. "Cynthia 70a mean it?" They were almost the same words with which he had asked me if I would be willing to part from him at the church door;. but how different was the tone! "You mean it, Cynthia? It isnt possible you carer" "Do yon?" - - "Horribly." ' 5 " ' v . "So do I. Awfully." - - , - -. We kissed each other as if the lend of the world had come with the end of our fortnight together. "You won't fight?" - ? . i . s "Dear, I must. You see it was the day I motored to San Remo. He said something, and I thrashed him. Then he challenged me. You wouldn't have me act like a coward ? But if I should come oat all right, would you keep me on to look after you instead of taking Mrs. Mabbett?" -"aiig Mrs. Mabbett!" Yes, h was I who said ft. Though I am aware the expression was unfit for the hps of a lady, somehow it seemed the only one to express the fulness of my feeling. "YouH let me go on hooking your frocks?" "Yes. and IH go on lending you my studs if" "When I come back. Angel, I never, lived until a fortnight ago." "And I shall never live again if " "Tilt we meet to-morrow." How I did live until I got the telegram from Venrimiglia I don't know. The Prince was "ill" and it was "an off." But when Dick came back to me I showed him a gray hair which I was sure I had not had yesterday, and he, kissed h. We sent Mrs. Mabbett ten pounds; and the most heavenly thing in the world is to have your Hfrt for your chaperon.