Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-17
ON BOARD THE MONGOLIA.

Let me see, > and Miss Stuyvesant counted
on her fingers. AN Italian-does he call
himself prince? Yes, l believe he does.
Well, then, AN Italian prince; a Russian
nobleman; an English lord, wife and seven
children there's luck In odd numbers; a
French general with an interesting scar ON
his left cheek just such a scar as a good
general ought to have; Japanese student,
distract and all that-a California gambler
at least he looks like gambler, and |
believe he comes from San Francisco; a
United States senator; an Irish patriot; a
Swedish-well, as he doesn't seem to be
anything in particular, II call him an am
bassador. That sounds well. He is a tall
man, and it 5 a good long word. =
Il hope your list is not yet exhausted,
Miss Stuyvesant. 1t is too interesting to
be cut short.
''That is not my fault, sir. I didn' i'm
agine it worth while to include the few
commonplace Americans we have on board,
like YOU and me, for instance, All, here
comes the French general. I always see
the scar first. >
Mr.. Clyde drew back as the gentleman
approached. He might be very erect on
the tented field but On the steamer deck
his bearing was little unsteady.
''You are facing the wind, Miss Stuy-
vesant, was his remark, as he laid his
hand on the arm of the chair in which she
was reclining.
Gas you face the music, general. am
trying to be brave in woman way"
Every fair weather for this time of the
year, remarked the senator, John Morgan,
as he approached the group. mot a very
large company, either, so everybody can be
sociable."
Eyes, if one so desires, was the lady S
reply, 1.-The worst part of that fact being
that one must be in a measure, whether
one wishes it or not. -
She opened book which lay in her lap,
looked over a few pages, closed it, and
occupied herself in twisting her fingers
through the fringes of the hood she
wore. Miss Stuyvesant was evidently
bored.
The clouds were settling down heavily;
a few drops of rain began to fall, then gave
place to snowaakes, which danced through
the chilly air. But there was wind, and
most Of the passengers were on deck. Of
course Switchboard and quoits received due
attention.
To those who cared nothing for such ex-
hilarating sports, were not addicted to
cards, and had read all the novels in gen
eral circulation, there was but one other
attraction-Miss Stuyvesant. With the
exception of the wife of the English lord,
she was the only lady on board. She
was handsome, witty, entertaining when
she chose to be, and was seldom without
group about her, each one of the num-
Der showing the most marked admiration.
Miss Stuyvesant evidently found it dull
on the steamer. Perhaps she had crossed
the ocean before, and unfavorably COM
pared the voyage to the more pleasant ones
which had preceded it. But she was a
woman who gave no history of her past, no
hint of the future, and she was not one of
whom people would venture to ask ques-
TONS New York" stood on the passer-
ger list against her name, and she was en-
route for Glasgow.
The Japanese student evidently disap-
proved Of her, but then he was not &C
custOmed to seeing women use such free
dom in speech and action
The Swedish grandee understood very
little English, and spoke less. The Ital-
ian prince was only Is, and had apparently
not reached an emotional stage of exist
ence; the Californian played euchre most
persistently with three of the common
place Americans, and the English lord
was afflicted with the rheumatism.
With these exceptions the gentlemen on
board were interested In the lady, some
enough so to be very uncomfortable in their
minds.
Mr. Morgan wondered what she would
thing of his elegant house out west which
had been three years without a mistress.
The French general was sure she would en-
Joy Paris and Mr. Clyde's memorandum
book was filed with distracted arithmetical
problems, wherein he tried to prove that
fifteen hundred dollars would luxuriously
support two persons and leave slight sur
plus over.
How do you gentlemen manage to
live without the daily papers?" Miss
Stuyvesant suddenly asked one day. Il
saw one of you reading a Herald this
morning, probably for the sake of keep
ing in mind what a newspaper is like.
| should enjoy looking at it myself, Mr.,
Sargent .
with pleasure, Miss Stuyvesant.' y
'"Thank you.
at was my last purchase before leaving
New York. | gave the boy dollar for it,
having no further use for American money.
There was a general laugh.
is there any special news in it?" Miss
Stuyvesant asked carelessly, as she turned
it over; 1T could scarcely be called news,
though, at this late day"
"Well. there is a fine editorial on the
Belden sensation. That the bother of
spending ten days on the ocean. Now Il
give $50 this minute if | knew whether
they've discovered anything more.
'.Ah, yes, Miss Stuvyesant said | re-
member it was the talk of the city when |
sailed"
''You could not have felt much interest
in it Miss Stuyvesant, if it has left your
mind at this early date. >
mo, not nearly as much as you seem to
do But, really, these affairs seldom inter
est me. Crime is an old story to the world
Cain killed Abel. Murder has ceased to
have any novelty since the first one was
committed. All these modern exploits are
only variations of the original theme"
But I'm sure, remarked Mr.. Sargent
presently. adhering to the subject, that
the Belden mystery will sooner or later be
cleared up. / saw Holt the detective, the
day before we left and he believed he could
put MS niger on MS man IN Europe.
in Europe! Then the arm of the law
not only strong, but long, = laughed Miss
Stuyvesant.
''Of course ne telegraphed on remark
ed Mr. Clyde
Most likely. He's got a brother over
there now helping him work up the case.
They're shrewd; but as l was saying, I'd
give $50 to know what's been discovered
since we left. =
The senator came up with dish of fruit