Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-01-14

yet entirely at an end. and'-
"You may say nothing Of the sort,
SIR" interrupted Lord George in his
turn. ~ owe no account Of my actions
to you; nor, to my best belief. does Mrs.
WillAtts, whom i have always under.
stood to be a lady Of independent means
II your object in requesting this inter.
view was to cross examine me you will
gain nothing by protracting it."
Mr.. Willatts remained seated. my
object" said he calmly and deliberately,
twas not to be offensive-quite the re.
verse. | am not here to sit in Judgment
upon you English aristocrats. am a
simple business man, Lord George, and
have a simple business proposal to
make to you. Mrs. Willatts, / believe.
intends to give ball on the twenty-sixth
Of this month"
Lord George stared and nodded.
"Well, myself have it in contempla-
ton to give ball on the same date.
That ball is going to cost more than any
ball that has ever been given in this city
for the last ten years, and it is going,
hope, to be graced by the presence of
their royal highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Wales, aud all the most
prominent members of your London So
ciety, and from what have heard and
read about you believe you are the
man to assist me. For your assistance
am willing to pay you much larger
sum than you have had from Mrs. Will
latts, and l may add that, if you are
successful, shall consider the money
well spent and well earned. Excuse my
bluntness, as you know am quite un-
accustomed to civilized ways of doing
things. Now, sir, what do you sayf'
Lord George hardly knew what to say.
He was in debt, and had before this had
recourse to divers expedients for raising
the wind which had been at least as dis
creditable as that now suggested to him.
Moreover, he was so well known and so
popular that he had little doubt of his
ability to earn Mr.. Willatts' check. At
the same time he felt some natural COM
junction about betraying the lady whose
cause he had hitherto espoused.
at is very short notice." he said at
length. ''There is an empty house in
Grosvenor place, and, assuming money
to be no object, dare say could man
age to secure everybody for you except
the royalties, who are out of the ques-
tion. But couldn't you fix a rather later
date?'
Mr. Willatts made a gesture of dis
sent. "Money is no object" he replied,
land as my wife hasn't contrived to get
the royalties | can do without them,
though | should be glad if you could en-.
gage some sort of a serenity for me. But
/ need not point out to you that there
would be no sense in my giving ball
unless ] gave it on the same night as
hers"
After some further discussion Lord
George agreed to accept the part as
signed to him. He knew, if his inter.
locutor did not, that in London the
clashing of two entertainments does moi
necessarily imply the fiasco of one oi
them. Besides, he had really done al
that he possibly could do for Mrs. Will
latts. People who accepted the wife,
hospitality would assuredly wish to com
pare it with that of her husband; and al
though the latter would probably have
to forego the patronage of the Duchess oi
Stratford, he would scarcely grieve ovel
an abstention the significance Of which
he would be protected from realizing by
his ignorance.
Mr.. Wiliatfs, it may be, did not realize
the social importance of the Duchess O
Stratfor9, except in so far as he con
ceived all duchesses to be socially i'm
portant; still she was one Of the ladie
whom he hoped to see at his ball.
The duke, who had recently visitet
the United States and had purchased
large tracts of land in the far west, wa
extremely desirous of acquiring a Ger
tain property which was now in the pos
session of his would be entertainer. s,
that the latter, in the event of his con
senting to part with that Naboth's vine
yard at price slightly below its marke
value, would be fairly entitled to reques
some small recognition of his generosity
Two days liter, therefore, Mr.. Willatt
betook himself to Stratford house, where
on giving his name, he was at once ad
mitted. In the meantime, he had no
allowed the grass to grow under his feet
The house il Grosvenor place had beer
secured, while not few ladies of ranl
had intinated their intention Of lookins
in on the evening of the twenty tC
see what the American millionaire couli
do in the way of eclipsing indigenous
plutocrats. Thus Mr.. Willatts was fully
prepared to transact business with tn,
amiable looking parsonage into who's
presence he was shown.
"How do YOU do, Duke OF Stratfordi
said he; Il IN obliged to you for accord
ing me the favor of a personal inter
view"
TIE duke said: Not at ALL VERY
glad to see you."
In the course of some subsequent re
marks he allowed it to be inferred tina
he usually left the transaction Of bust
ness matters to his agent, but that HI
had been happy to depart from his gen
eral rule in this particular instance.
"Well, " observed Mr.. Willatts, "thert
is saving of time in most instances
when principals meet.
In less than five minutes he had ex
planned that he was ready to deal will
his noble friend in a truly liberal spirit
and the duke, while gladly closing witt
the proposal, could not help wondering
where this apparently keen witted Amer
leans profit was to come in.
"Now, l think you'll allow, duke,
said Mr.. Wi'7atts, "that this bargain il
pretty advantageous one, and if | asl
a small favor of you conclude yot
wouldn't wish to hurt my feelings by ,
raF,,eo1