Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-11-16
JIM NO. | AND jim NO. z.

sit is true, NJ Roger, if ever you should ;,
o anything evil to Jim | should hate you, =
nd I'd never forgive you, never, neverf q
Ind Mile. Armande Plagnolles nonchalantly
brew herself back in her chair and passed
Ter taper finger with caressing gentleness
Icross the lustrous and downy skin Of Mas
er Jim.
The cat-a superb cat, Jet black from head
% tail, so black that in certain lights his fur
gave out metallic refections-purred louder
md louder, stretched out his paws, of
pearlish white, and blinked at Roger in a
way that seemed to say: TRY it, my friend;
try it; you'll get the worst of it certain!"
Not at all alarmed by the threat and the
wicked look in Jim's eyes, NJ Roger de
Gramont responded hypocritically:
Evil to Jimi Neveri What made you
think itp And he, too, advanced his hand to
stroke the cat, perfidiously hoping, of course,
TO touch instead the fingers of its beautiful
mistress.
And she was pretty, truly, adorably pretty,
this Mile. ArTnande de Plaguolles; demi-
blonde with red-brown hair curling and
twisting into the most enchanting waves;
rather tall, neither fat nor lean, and with
eyes of astonishing depth and color
Roger de Gramont, on his side, was good |
looking, accomplished, well built, broad |
shouldered, with limbs supple and vigorous. |
Roger advanced his hand, as I've told you,
and jim received it, not with the dignity you
would expect from the throne he occupied,
but with mastery stroke of his claw that
opened the flesh to the bone and made the
blood fly
"The miserable beastg' cried the young
man Indignantly, for once unable to repress
the truth
The property of the De Gramont family
was considerably larger than the chateau, or
villa, rather, of the Plagnoles estate, and
stood in vast park rolling and wooded, and
with an extended view of the Seine. Roger
was wrongin laughing at Armande on &C
count Of her passion for Jim, for he himself
was bringing up with jealous care, in dis
tant corner of this same park, inclosed with
high trelilses, a colony of pheasants of every
country, form and tint twas mania with
him and which he had taken to his heart
with all a collectors ardent passion, and
veritabe delight it was TO him to conceal
himself behind thiclet of juniper trees in
that well hedged corner and watch the move
ments Of his beautiful lady Hamersts with
their variegated ruffs, or his Veneres with
their brilliant colors. And there is nothing
to laugh at, assure You, in this little craze
of my hero, Roger for l, as well as every one
else, knew that the rest of his manias were
not whit less respectable than this
The morning following his visit to Plag-
nolles and jim, as he was preparing to make
his usual call on his pheasants, the keeper
stood before him, cap in hand
Monsieur Roger be said, ''they got
another one last night; found the feathers
along the paling,1
'What!' cried Roger angrily, "another of
my pheasants last night! See here, La Bran
che, this won't do! Whom do you suspect
nowTn
The keeper shook his head Nobody, sir,
but Pichou,' said he; 1T couldn't be any one
else. Pichou's the worst and the most sue
cessful poaci er in the country"
'But three OF them-three of them in four
days. continued De Gramont
Thanks to Pichou, sir" persisted the
guard ''Pchou's got 'em certain, SIR; he
always has
The evening of the same day peace was de
clared between the two lovers. Roger re-
turned in an excellent humor, only to find
himself the next morning in a violent rage
they had gotten fourth pheasant; more
than that, two of his handsome cocks were
wounded in the wing and left behind them a.
they walked a trail Of blood
Happen againi Not much, if he could helI
1t; and though it was as dark as Egypt, as ii
had been for four nights past, Roger installed
himself in ambush with his gun charged with
the heaviest balls
The wait was long; two hours rolled them.
selves into three, then three into four, and
the young man was beginning 10 consign tc
the devil all the pheasants as well as all tbs
pOachers in the world, when singular noise
soft metallic clicking, set him trembling
Something he said to himself, "some
thing light as a sylph is climbing the trellis
and, as well as he could for the darkness, ht
aimed and fired, aud was answered by cat
erwaullng, fierce, prolonged, lugubrious, sue
Ceeded by the rattle Of death
Good" he mutrered; 1T wasa't Pchol
at all, but thievish cat He's done for, a
any rate.T and be continued to watt no
long. however, for summer nights are shor
and heeting, and already u BLUSH haze upo
tie horizon announced the dawn. A fey
minutes later a clear light penetrated tn
of rose trees Roger perceived the body OF hi
victim. 1t was big, it was black-very black
his heart beat quickly; he foresaw, he d
vined, the catastrophe. He approache
hastily. No more doubt about it; it We
jim, the adored Jim, the cherished pet
shot il the middle Of the head-coId and lif
less.
We'll, murmured Roger, contenplatin
i'm frt1fr If1,I
itg7 and to run TO the tool house, seize and r
turn with a spade was the work OF an il
slant, five minutes more and Jim reposed
peace beneath the earth forever.
When NJ de Gramont made his usual eve
in. call at Plagnoiles the house was in cor
motion, everybody from cook to chanbe
maid, valet and stable boy vanly seekiI
Jim; and the parents were wild with frigt
for Armande herself was dissolved in hyste
ical tears.
Abr she cried at sight Of Roger, hapl
10 hold in her hand at last one whom S
could make into fellow sufferer; sit is yo
is itl You, who will be delighted to hear
it-you, who have never been able to endu
him' And Immediately there was q NJ
quarrel on the carpet, in which, as Rog
was decidedly epres and guilty unhapI
he got the worst of it. Armande worn
him ferociously, going to the length of dec
ing that till Jim-always Jim-was found S
did not even care TO see him-that is, unless
would promise to hunt for Jim, in which C,
she would promise to recompense him
After a morning visit, more unfortuni
still than the evening one, Roger told hims
that something must be done; the stuati
was simply uncomfortable. He ran to the S
ton, boarded a train, arrived at Paris, a
an hour later, at the shop of N. NJ
merchant who dealt in birds, dogs and div
other animals, among them a cat--a SUPP
cat, black al over, claws white eyes yellc
in short Jim's twin i'll every particul
Roger had no time to waite in explanatio
allow inuchT said he, standing before
delightedly.
Zone hundred francs, monsieur repl
the merchant.
In a basket, hermetically closed and {
he carried away his purchase, regained
train, and then Maissons as soon as pos
Truly, he had done we'll! Jim was
stored-Jim No g everything would be r
now with that pretty creature, Arma
whom truly, he adored and thinking t
as night had come, he approached the v
Not soul was to be seen. He seized
burden by the neck and with vigorous /
launched it across the wall that surrour
the Plagnolles garden.
Jim was found Jim had return
SuCh was tho salrta+iop ~ HE hao,,