Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1893-08-24

sweet rose, lie lightly above
The pure heart of my love.
Meredith Rhys in Kate Fields Washington.
AFTER THE SUPPER.
Dating from certain moment-the
second bottle, / believe-I no more re-
member what happened to me. A cur
tain, like misty cloud, descended upon
my memory, similar to the between acts
baize Of fairy spectacles.
Nevertheless nothing is surer than
something did happen to me; many
things even. Everything proves it tc
me. My coat on the floor, my cravat as
a nightcap and, above all else, if ever
doubted it, my haggard face, fatigued
and pale.
Truly fine business! At my age
eight and thirty years, to allow myself
to be surprised by champagne like 0
schoolboy on holidayl Stupidity's nc
name for it!
But what plaques me most is to guess
what l did last night, particulars, you
know, as to the events of the evening.
Question my servant?
Perish the thought of it! Expose my.
self to the blushing before a lackeyl Be.
sides he would only be able to formu-
late theories from the hour of my re-
turn and-and my behavior on reaching
my bedroom.
divine it, that behavior, It's enough
They pretend that with q single bone
Cuvier was able to entirely reconstruct
an antediluvian animal. 1t remains to
me then only to find some analogous
thing to as readily reconstruct my ex-
istence for the last 12 or is hours
suggestion. a hint, one or two indica-
tions, more or less.
Where find them?
Ah-h, my pocketsl
A childish habit of burying everything
there clings to me still and will now
perhaps serve me well. Behold the mo
ment of rummaging, then, like the cul-
prit that am.
tremble guiltily. What am going
to discover?
Gingerly l slip two fingers into the
side pocket Of my vest and draw out my
lportmonnaie.
Empty?
By Jovei
In seeking to pick up my overcoat my
notebook falls, scattering upon the car
pet heap of papers.
The first of these papers that catches
my eye is the slip of the Cafe Anglais.
The trump card Of the nights misde-
rleanor
Thanks to this bill learn immediate
ly that the misdemeanor occurred in:
"Salon H." could have sworn it.
'Tis always, some way, "salon IA" to
which I gravitate.
The total: Eight hundred and twenty
francs. Peste! Eve not been stingy, it
appears.
How many were they, wonder? Who
were they? My habitual friends, it is
probable, but still-no?
An inspiration! This menu, in be-
traying their tastes, will also to me re-
veal their names. Let us try to de-
cipher it.
Huitres Portugaises-Thes are the
kind that Lucien prefers and that they
import from Arrachon expressly for him.
Lucien was of the suppers. then, it is
clear. So much for No. /.
Potage la puree de gibier-I greatly
deceive myself, or that potage is one to
which Maxine is specially partial Max
ime, then, for No. Q.
Filets de sole La Joinville- Fernand,
to certainty; an Orleanist filet, pure
and simple.
Canetons de Rouen Forange-No one
but Polastron for that, an out and out
Rouennais, he.
Salades de legumes a La Russe-'Tis
useless to ask if Semenow was there.
Bombe a la Cardinal From whom
could this have come? Stay, Marcell
Who but Marcel is cousin to cardinal?
Lucien, Maxine, Fernand, Polastron,
Semenow, Marcel-Behold my table re-
composed.
Women also were at that supper then?
Beyond doubt. These scattered pho
tographs attest it. Female suppers out
on supperesses. if | may call them SO,
have always rage for distributing their
portraits. Henriette of the Varieties in
her costume of the Revue, her great
English coal hoppers squeezed into tight
French slippers. Quick, conceal thyself I
And Jeanne, the eternal, in powdered
hair and leering over her shoulder at the
risk of wry neck.
The third-ah, the third | do not
know her. 'Tis strange.
Not bad lot, either, the third. She's
even pretty. Small head, low brow, tiny
nose, a mite Of mouth. Nothing but
eyes-superb eyes at thatl Lashes like
a fringe, and genuine blond.
Deuce take it! No, do not know her.
The little yellow curls that dance about
her brow look even in this photograph
like golden smoke.
Nearly a child, tools years perhaps,
at farthest. Dressed modestly besides.
A high neck robe, puritanical in cut, but
which only the better develops that
which it envelopes. Exquisite figure.
slim and 1.-THE as a bending willow.
Decidedly she is a very pretty little
girl. And-and see in her ears neither
pearls nor diamonds, nor even on her
fingers single jewel. The reason pos
sibly for her air of disilaia.
|, Disdain. did say? This child, who as
yet knows nothing OF life, yet seems al
ready bored and weariedI Bahl women
or girls, they are all alike.
i Still, where did she come from? Who
is it that I have had, unknown, to sft at
my table? Maybe it was her debut-the
opening of great success that already
foresee and predict.
She sat beside me, of course. talked
with her, It's certain-all the madnesses
probably that came to my head. She
refused me. or left me. Behold the rea-
son why, perhaps that | made myself
drunk.
But let us resume. There were then
in salon IA six men and three women.
My personners complete. What hap
pened then? have the actors. but not
yet the drama
Let US continue the voyage in my
pocket.
THE cARTEs DE vIsITE.
The devil.