San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-11-04
PAUL JONES'S ALIAS.
BY DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY.
Author of "Josephs Coat" "Aunt Racls-
el," "Cyptc Fortune" Etc.
Commenced in


position he occupied, or the disdain in
which he was held Dy people who still
lived in the circle he had left. After all,
he had only done on very little money
what many people did who had great
deal. He had never been detected in
sharp practice, and no man could lay a
finger on any known episode of his life
and say, Herein thou art rogue Ii
he, in his own interior knowledge of him
self, could have guided thesaccusing fin
ger pretty often, it made no difference.
If the people of his own set were shy of
him it was because they thought him dan
gerous, and not because they ever proved
him So Give him money enough to be re-
spectacle, and he would keep his hands so
clean that no man would dare to hint that
he had ever soiled them.
That harebrained vision of the Majors
got somehow into his mind and stuck
there. The obstinate, good-hearted fool
might win, if not SO much as he dreamt OF,
enough to make good his promise; and If
that should happen, his word was as good
as his bond. Medhurst had no faith in
the success of the Majors scheme, and yet
the hold this fancy took upon him was re-
markable. He caught himself declaring
with an inward stress, at which he laughed
mockingly a second later, that the money
should be tied so tightly on the child that
he should be unable to rob her of penny
of it in the Majors interest.
1t was not . pretty thing to think OF,
with that pretty little girl clinging affec'
tionately round his neck: but had they not
tinkered with that American fellow long
enough and wasn't it time to begin seri-
ously with hims To let him win next time
and make the stakes higher while he was
winning, and then to sweep the board?
Even after that he might come back again
If he were keen set enough, and nothing
they were likely to get out of him would
hurt him much.
"Papar' The childish voice recalled
him with pretty imperiousness. Il don't
want you to go away again"
mo, my dear" he answered. But l
have had to travel about great deal, and
could not take you with me away from
your lessons. / shall not have to travel so
much now. and we are going to be togeth-
er always"
She gave him a vivid kiss at that, and
he dropped back into his fancies, until the
governess warned him that it was time
to start. Lila was excited beyond meas
ure at the carriage-drive, and the prospect
of the brief railway journey beyond it.
ut is the season at Monte Carlo, papa"
she said. Madame says so. She says that
everybody is there. Everybody who is
anybody. But everybody is somebody,
isn't he, papa"
How pretty, fresh, innocent and mirth-
full the childish prattle seemedl The little
mouth was like a surprise-box, from
which something new and pleasing per-
petually issued; touches of naivete, at
which, he would have yawned dismally if
they had been recounted by anybody else's
child, made him bubble with sudden mer-
riment, and sayings, nowise wonderful or
profound, made him start to think how
wise and observant Lila was gong. He
had always kept a tender place for her;
but he wondered, more and more, how it
was Shat he had never known how much
he loved herI Before they reached the
hotel he was overfiowing with paternal
tenderness, and felt himself even fluttered
and disturbed by it. When he command
ed a bedroom for her at the hotel he said
to the head-waiter, This is my little
daughtery' with proud fondness which
quite pleased that stately parsonage, who
had little daughters of his own. The Cap
tain inspected the room in which she was
to sleep, saw fire lighted on the hearth,
CROPPED with his hands about the bed to
assure himself that the linen was we'll
aired, and generally pOttered about with
an old-bachelOr kind of care for her until
he completely enlisted the sympathies of
the femme-dG-chdnlbre. He commanded
sweet biscuits and UNDERGRADUATE and
fed the child with those dainties as she
sat upon his knee. He babe her Good
bye for the night very tenderly, and then
went to the rooms the Major and he Occu-
pied in common, in the hope of finding his
companion there. Not finding him, he
strOlled back, ten minutes later, to his
Lila, as she lay in bed, and sat chatting
with her for some ten minutes before he
could tear himself away again.
The touch of youth and innocence shed
a sort of reflex of youth and innocence
upon his own spirit, and he went down
stairs gayly to renew his inquiries for the
Major. That gentleman, he was informed,
had finished dinner half an hour ago, had
left the hotel, and had been seen to cross
towards the Casino. Medhurst, having
lighted an excellent cigar, was 10th to
part with it, and so wandered up and
down in the atrium, weaving his way
through and through the crowd disgorged
by the mushroom at the close of the first
half of the nightly concert. There was no
Daisy to be seen there, nor yet in the read
ing room. He could hardly have gone
back to Ieay again after his solemn prom
Use to the contrary; and yet Medhurst was