The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-05
CHAPTER V
AT THE CLUB.

The next day an advertisement to the fol
lowing effect appeared in the columns of
one of the New York journals:
THE instrument of Divine Vengeance.
Can M. q. communicate with you9 any
method you suggest will be strictly OBJ
served. Do not commit an injustice The
Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Answer by letter"
This advertisement was continued for a
week
The American League Club is one of the
largest a d at the same time is held to be
one of the most exclusive, in New York 1t
certainly numbers among its members some
Of the WealthieSt and most respectable men
in the city. 1t occupies a stately and some
what gloomy building on one Of the av-
enues; its habitues maintain an august de
corum, and never get into the newspa perS
unless they want TO. They do not appear
to be especially gorgeous; they roam about
the great rooms by one and twos, seldom
by threes, and four together would be con
sidered crowd, and hardly good form.
Probably no man in The club would even
pretend to know by sight so many as a
tenth part Of those whose names appear
upon the roll. AT certain fixed intervals
during the year the club holds receptions,
which are largely attended and at seasons
Of political storms or emergency meetings
are called and resolutions are passed-fo,.
the club piques itself upon its weight in po-
htical affairs. The club is also a patron of
art, and there is an annual exhibition of
paintings by American artists in its rooms.
Upon the whole, it may be considered a
model club, and as sucn its members are
fond of showing it to their foreign guests,
especially to those from the mother coun-
try, and asking them how it compares with
the famous palaces on st. James street and
Pail Mall.
he oAo NF H.
introduced to the club, at the period of
which We write, was a gentleman known as
Capt. Raleigh Hamilton. He was under
stood to be a relative of the renowned En-
glish explorer whose death or disappear
ance on the upper Nile was one of the SEN
satlons of Chrlstendom. But aside from
this distinguished connection-to which, by
the way, the Captain betrayed modest in
disposition to allude-he was voted to be q
capital fellow. His manner had a military
punctiliousness and courtesy which never
theleos did not disguise the genial and social
qualities beneath. He was polished. well.
read and well-informed; he had been every
where and seen everything; with his great
cousin he had been something of free
lance, having improved his leisure by fight
ing under the banners of several nations:
yet he was by no means given to rehearsing
the story of his campaigns, and was, in
deed, rather noted for his reticence under
circumstances when many men would have
waved loquaclous and boaStful Capt Ham
llton played fair game Of billiards, though
the small American tai les, with their three
balls and no pockets, perplexed him a little
at first, but at whist he was as good as the
best, and he exhibited symptoms of an
ability to become proficient, someday, at
poker. He was by no means a gambler,
however, but uniformly refused TO play for
high stakes, remarking, with the frank sim
plcity that belonged to him, that he
couldn't afford it. Like all clubable Eng
llshmen, he was fond of keeping behind the
club windows, and could very seldom be in
duced to go out into society, alleging that
women always made him stupid Like an
Englishman, also, he was fond of horses,
and confined to a special interest in the
American trotter. Perceiving this, such of
his entertainers as owned trotters competed
for the pleasure of taking the Captain for
spin in the park, and regaling him, not with
the diversion alone, but with star' ing statis-
tics of what the kings and queens OF the
American track had done or could do when
they were really put to it.
Among the first of the members of the
club with whom Capt Hamilton showed
disposition to make more than passing ac-
quaintance, was Gilbert Cowran. He re-
marked that Cowrsn looked like Scot, and
was delighted to learn that he had Scotch
DlDOQ III HILL
1--WE Bamitons are Scotch, yen know"
he observed. 81 was pretty sure, from the
cut of your jib, that you or your peo-
Pile must have come from north of the
Tweed
"My father was born in Edinbro,"
Cowran replied. "He emigrated in 40 and
settled in New Jersey, wherea good many
of his countrymen live"
Were you educated in the old countryr
inquired Hamilton.
mo, have never been across. / was sent
TO Columbia, and studied law there after
taking my degree. have been here pretty
much ever siDce.n
"Well, you lawyers are better of than
we army fellows. You always have some-
thing 10 do. Some Of the barrIsters and o.
C.'s IN London get awfnlly ricn. But I
suppose you make more here than they do
there
Il don't know about that II Pm fair ex-
ample. ] should say no.
= fancy fellow spends more bore than
he does IN Lgnd0n.n