The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1891-10-17
HARRY vINCENT,s u1SFORTUNE


I'd rather not tell the story, but
suppose l must, because you've
heard garbled account oft; so I've
got to tell it in self defence. l as
sure you there was no row of any
sort. People said all sorts of things.
as they always do, and there was a
scandal and fuss, and the thing
was a nine days wonder. You
needn't grin like that, Pumper; l
came out of it with clean hands. Oh.
you've heard several versions of the
story, have you? I don't believe a
word of it; you merely say that to
draw me. You will have it? Well.
then, here goes.
Harry Vincent belonged to a fast
set: There was nothing particularly
bad about them, but they had more
money than was good tor them; ifit
had not been for that, think
should have seen more of Harry Vim
cent. We came from the same part
of the country, you know; we had
known each other all our lives; we
were both Magdalen men, and when
came up to Oxford for the first
time as freshman, Vincent was al
ready in his fourth term, and, of
course, that made a considerable gulf
between us. Vincent owed any
amount of money at Oxford; the
tradesmen were only too glad to
get his name upon their books.
1t did not matter very much, for
Vincent's father was rich man.
and, as everybody knew, the chair
man of the Great Wangdoodle gold
mine.
Then came the crash. The Wang
doodle gold mine turned out to be a
swindle, Old Vincent fed to what is
commonly known as " foreign parts, !"
and then, to put it shortly, the Assy-
rian came down. Vincent did not
come back to Magdalen; how could
he, poor fellow?
lost sight Of Vincent for eight
years and, to tell you the truth,
though once upon time we had been
as thick as thisyese ..,,ze had dropnAd
~ocs 81 MY mlna a.vvso ,..c. "a.
went to the Portico Theatre one
night, and whom should | see but
Vincent. And where do you think
1 saw him? Why, of all places in the
world, upon the stage. | could hard
ly believe my eyes. / looked at
Vincent. / stared at him through
my opera glass then | consulted my
play bill. This is what | read "Capt.
Jack Strongitharm, Mr.. Vincent Ma
let" That settled it. Of course
Vincent Malet there could not be a
shadow of doubt. | had heard of Mr.
Vincent Malet before, as a young
actor who had had a great success,
principally owing to his good looks.
He was supposed to be an Antonious,
beauty man ones sisters and ones
cousins and ones aunts always
raved about INDEPENDENTLY ones
aunt. There could not be a doubt
about it !; it was Harry Vincent.
I was delighted to see him. 1
nodded, winked but he took not
the slightest notice of me. So d.
rectly the curtain fell, | marched
round to the stage door. and sent
my card in to Mr.. Vincent Malet.
"Down in two minutes, sir" said the
stage doorkeeper-who lived in a
little box which resembed Punch
and Judy show-after calling up the
speaking tube and receiving his an.
swer.
There was big swing door GOV.
cred with oilcloth, above which was
nailed rusty horseshoe. 1t did
not look very inviting, that "fairy
portal" every now and again the
door would swing open and some
one or other would hurry out. Will
one exception, they all spoke to the
doorkeeper. The remark was al
ways the same. "Any letters, Boult?'
And he replied punctiliously, ad
dressing them as Sir or Miss or Mad
am. Most of the people who passed
ont were stability and roughl,
dressed. saw the popular tavorite
Miss Lottie Utterly. l did no
think much of Miss Lottie Titterl,
in private life she was pale, not t,
say fabby looking and her moutl
wss-well, it was not exactly rose
bud, and she must have left tina
arch smile of hers, which we all s.
much admire, upstairs in her dress
ing room. Then a gorgeous visio
appeared. 1t wore a tremendou
far coat, which was flung open t
display it's huge shirt front, it's dia
mond solitaire and it's gigantic a.
bert it wore dress shoes and dove
colored silk socks, it's wristband
reached to its knuckles. On its fir
gers sparkled valuable gems. 1t
nair was scanty, and it's nose wa