The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-10-19
MILE. OLYMPIC zABRISkI.


I'm. were of the gentler sex, and could BY no
chance become masculine peccadillo So
Tar as my observation goes men are as much
riven to small talk as women, and 1t is unde-
niable that We have produced the highest type
of gossiper extant. Where will you find, in
or out OF literature another such droll, de-
nghtful, chatty busybody as Samuel Pepys,
Esq. Secretary to the Admiralty Ia the reign
OF those unfortunate gentlemen, Charles II
and James III Of England He is tho king OF
tattlers, as Shakespeare is the king OF poets.
If IL came to matter of pure gossip /
would back Our Club against the Sorosis or
any womer's club In existence. Whenever
you see In our drawing room four or five
young fellows lounging in easy chairs, cigar
In hand, and now and then bringing their
heads together over the small round Japanese
table, which Is always the pivot Of these social
Mrcles, you may be sure they are discussing
TOMS engagement OF Dicks extravaganee,
Vi Harry's hopeless passion for the younger
Iiss Fleurdelys. 1t is here that old Tipple-
ON gets enecrated for that everlasting bon
not OF his which was quite a success at din
ner parties forty years age: 1t is here the
belle OF the season passes under the scalpels
Of merelless young surgeons; It is here B's
tn
would make BIS hair stand on end; II is here,
Lii short that everything is oanyassed- every
thing that happens In our set, mean, much
that never hapRens, and great de q t n,t
Club that learned the particulars Of the Van
Twiller affair.
III was great entertainment to Our Club. the
van Twiller affair, though 1t was rather q
i iuyless thing, I fancy, for Van Twtller. To
understand the case fully 1t should be under
stood that Ralph Van Twiller is one Of the
uroudest and most sensitive men living. He ts
linsal descendant OF Weuter Van Iwiller, the
famous Old Dutch Governor OF New York
Nieuw Amsterdam, as it was then his ances-
tors have always been burgomasters or admi-
rails Or generals, and his mother is the Mrs.
VanrensHelaer Vanzandt Van EWlller whose
On the right bank of the Hudson. as you pass
up the historic river toward Idlewild. Ralph
ID about twenty-five. years old. Birth made
him q gentleman and the rise OF real estate
some Of it In the family since the old Gov
errors time made him millionaire. twas
kindly fairy that stepped In and made him
b good fellow also. Fortune, take II. was IN
her most iocund mood when she heaped her
gifts LII this fashion on Van Twiller. who was,
and will be again, when this cloud blows over,
the flower Of Our Club.
About q year ago there came a whisper IL
the word whisper Ia not too harsh term 70
apply to what seemed mere breath floating
gently through the atmosphere Of the billiard
room-imp arting the intelligence that Van
Twiller was in some kind OF trouble. just as
everybody suddenly takes to wearing square
toed boots, or to drawing his neck scarf
through a ring, 90 1t became all at once the
\ fashion. without any preconcerted agreement,
for everybody to speak Of Van Twiller as 2
man In some way under q cloud. But what
the cloud was, and how he got underit, and
why he did not get away from 1t, were points
that lifted themselves Into the realm Of pure
conjecture. There was no man In the club
With strong enough wing to his Imagination
10 soar to the superstition that Van Iwiller
was embarrassed In money matters. Was he
lii lover That appeared nearly as impossible,
Tor II he had been In love all the world that
III, perhaps hundred first families would
have known all about 1t Instantly.
He has the symptoms said Delaney,
laughing II remember once when Jack
Ned" cried Flemming ~ protest against
any alluaion to that business.
This was one night when Van Twiler had
wandered into the club, turned over the mag
azines absently In the reading room, and
wandered out again without speaking ten
words. The most careless eye would have
remarked the great change that had com
over Van Twiler. Now and then he would
play a game Of billiards with Bret Harte Or
John Hay, OF stop to chat moment in the
vestibule with Whitelaw Reid but he was an
altered man. When at the club he was usual
~ 10 be found Id the small smoking room up
stairs, seated on fanteull fast asleep. with
the last number Of the Nation III his hand.
evening YOU we're certain to meet Van Twiller
at them all. You seldom met him III society
now.
By and by came whisper number two. q
whisper more emphatic than number one, but
still more untraceahle to any tangible mouth
piece This time the whisper said Van Twill
Ter ards III love. But with whom The list
of possible Mrs. Van Twillers was carefully
exarhined by experienced hands, and @ check
placed against i fine old knckcrbocker here
aud there. but nothing satisfactory arrived
MT Then that same still small voice Of ~
NOR but now with an easily detected STAG,
cato sharpness to 1t, said that Van Twillet
was In love--with all actress! Van Twiller
whom 1t had taken all these years, and al
tilt waste e EaSF material IN the way OF an
eestors to bring to perfection, Ralph Var
TWiIier, the net result and flower OF his race
The descendant OF WOuter, the son OF Nanrens
selaer Nanzandt Van Twiller-in love with az
actress That was too ridiculous to be be
lieyed--and soeverybody believed;
discovered In themselves an unsuspectet
latent passion for the histrionic art y
squads Of two OF three they stormed success
siyely all the theatres Id town-Booth's, Wat
lacks Daly's, Fifth Avenue and the Crane
Opera House. Even the shabby homes of thu
drama over In the Bowery. where the Ger
manic Thesrius has not taken out his natu
radiation papers, underwent rigid explora
ton But no clue was found To Van TWller's
mysterious attachments Ihe opera boutfa
which promised the widest field for investi
cation, produced absolutely nothing, not ever
4 crop Of suspicious. One night after severa
weeks OF this, Delaney and ! fancted ",
caught GLIMPSE Of Van Twiller Id the pri
vate box OF an uptown theatre. where some
thrilling trapeze performance was going 90
which vs. did not care to sit through, but w
concluded afterward it was only somebody
that looked like him. Delaney, ~ the way
was unusually active IL this seareh. | dat
say He never quite forgaye Van IWilier fo
HI calling him Muslin Delaney. Ned is fond Q
ladies' society, and that's q fact.
The Zimmerman darkness which surround
ed Van Twiller's ihamorata left rs free 60 "
dulge III the widest conlectures. Nhelha
she was hlack-tressed Melpomene with bow
and dagger or Thalia, with the fair hair az,
laughing face, vas only to be guessed at.
Eas popularity conceded. however, that Nal
rwiller was On the point Of forming dread
Ill mesaliiance.
Up to this period be had visited the clql