St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-09-06
Selected Story.
PROVING HIS THEORIES.

dppSdIS0 III SON01 al VI lLIN AOhdOh
dailies. At 10 O'Clock the same
morning a short, thickset man, with
an extremely red nose showing that
he had been high liver in the serv
ants hall, knocked at the door ofthe
house on Kings Road. A neatly at
tired servant girl. with a muslin cap
perched over her pretty features, ap-
peared on the threshold.
as Mr.. Goodman i'm" asked the
caller.
He isl responded the girl, with
several critical glances at the man
who stood before her.
Il should like to see him on bust
ness"
"Step in
The visitor was ushered into
bright front room.
What name shall | say!"
Mr.. Smiler.'
The girl disappeared. Then the man
began to examine the apartment in
leisurely manner. Several handsome
paintings and quite a collection of
rare bric-a-brac bore ample testi-
mony to the artistic propensities of
the master of the house.
"Some swell, evidently" muir
INJURED the man with the red face.
The girl reappeared.
Master wants to know what's
your business"
81 called in reference to an adver-
tisement for valet"
"Oh" She tossed her head and
again vanished. About FIVE minutes
elapsed and then the girl entered the
room.
"You can wait here" she said,
Master isn't up yet"
For 40 minutes the visitor was
left to his reflections.
Must be some blooming SPORT"
he commented. Then the door
opened and a tall, pale gentleman
entered the room in a languid fash
ion, picked up the morning paper
and carelessly scanned the contents,
as though oblivious to the presence
of the visitor. He read the tele-
graphic news and then the local. The
servant brought in a tray on which
reposed breakfast bacon, eggs, a cup
of coffee and rolls. The gentleman
put up his nose and said:
Jane, take away those dishes.
Leave the coffee"
The servant silently obeyed.
His appetite isn't good to-day"
commented the caller. The gentle
man slipped the coffee with apparent
relish, read again the cable article
from Paris and finally lighted a cigar.
All this time the visitor remained
standing respectfully. At last he
ventured to cough, and the gentle
man, turning to him, Remarked
"Aw-you called about the adver-
tisement?"
Yes, sir"
Where are your references?"
Here SIR" and he took from his |
pocket bulky package.
"Well, don't care to see them
II served last the Duke Of
What the devil do l care whom
you served? Will you accept a guinea
a week and expenses"
Yes, sir"
Very we'll; we leave tonight for |
Paris. See that everything is ready" |
With that the gentleman took up |
his hat and cane and strolled out of |
the house in a leisurely, half bored |
way.
"He is a rum un," commented the
visitor.
Two days later the gentleman and |
his servants were quartered in Paris.
The former had rented a magni6-
Gently furnished house in a fashion
able part of the city. Try as he
would, Smiler could learn little of his
new master. He usually arrived |
home about 2 in the morning, and |
sometimes Smiler had to put him to
bed. He got up anywhere between
10 O'Clock and noon. Sometimes he
breakfasted heartily; at other times
he merely slipped his coffee. Smiler
was commissioned to buy tickets to
every fashionable event, from the
opera to the races, and he always
came and departed in a private car
riage, quite an elegant equipage.
About this time the Partisan news
papers were agitating the matter Of
the remarkable tests in spiritualism
given before the eminent gentleman
by a peasant woman in Milan. The
psychological society was in session
in the French capital, and the COM
ments on the feats performed in Italy
were made more interesting by the
presence of a renowned English mind
reader. This gentleman showed
great aptitude in ferreting out crini-
nails, and his accuracy in this respect
made him feared by the wrongdoers.
Mr.. Smiler read of these wonders,
but being of skeptical disposition,
pooh-poohed them. One morning
when the gentleman was slipping his
coffee, into which he had placed a
few drops of cognac, he looked up
from his paper and said to Smiler:
Markham, the mind reader, has
run down another criminal, Smiler.
What do you think of that?"
"If l might venture an opinion,
sir, l should say that it was all
bosh."
"All bosh, eh? May ask why?"