Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-09-03

decided to let furnished lodgings il
order TO keep herself and her daugh
ter.
Until last winter I led the unevent
full studiOus life Of which I have giyeI
you some faint picture. In the earlies
days Of December, 1929, I came acros!
Rastignac, who, in spite Of the shabby
condition OF my wardrobe linked hi!
eIm in mine and inquired into LAY
affairs with quite brotheriy interest
Caught by his engaging manner, l gave
him a brief account of my life anC
hopes: he began TO laugh and treated
me as 4 mixture Of a man of genius
and a fool. According to him l ought
70 go into society, to accustom people
10 the sound Of my name and to rio
myself Of the simple title of monsieur.
which sits but i'll on a great man il
his lifetime.
Come here tomorrow evening by
way Of a beginning I Will introduce
you to a house where all Paris goes
all our Paris, that is-the Paris of ex-
quisites, miiliOnaires celebrities. al
the folk who talk gold like Chrysos-
tom When they have taken up a book
that book becomes the fashion. and il
it is something really good for once
they will have declared it to be a work
Of genius without knowing it. If you
have any sense, my dear fellow, you
will insure the success OF your 'theo-
ry' by q better understanding Of the
theory Of success. Tomorrow evening
you shall go to see that queen of the
mOment-the beautiful Countess Fee
dora
/ have never heard of her. =
You Hottentotr laughed Rastig-
nae; you do not know Fedora? A
great match with an income of nearly
10000 livres, who has taken a fancy
to nobody or else nobody has taken a
fancy to her. A sort of feminine enig-
ma, half-Russian Parisienne or a
half-Parisian Russian. & Good
by, till tomorrow
Fortunately [ owned a fairly cred
liable black coat and a white waist
coat; of all my fortune there now re-
NAMED abojt thirty francs. This scar
city Of specie will give you some idea
Of the value of that squandered upon
gloves and cab hire; a months bread
disappeared at one fell swoop.
"Rastignac, punctual to his appoint
ment, smiled at the transformation
and joked about it. On the way he
gave me benevolent advice as to nv
conduct with the countess; he describ-
ed her as mean, vain and suspicious
but though mean she was ostentatious,
her vanity was transparent and her
mistrust good-humored.
Il found woman of about twenty
two years of age; she was of average
height, was dressed in white and held
a fire-screen in her hand: a group of
men stood around her. She rose at
the sight of Rastignac and came to-
wards us with a gracious smile and a
unsteady uttered compliment, prepared
no doubt beforehand, for me. Our
friend had spoken of me as a rising
man, and his clever way of making the
most Of me had procured me this fiat
tering reception.
The rooms were furnished in excel
lent taste. Each apartment had a
character of it's own, as in wealthy
English houses, and the silken hang
ings, the style of the furniture and the
ornaments, even the most trif1ing, were
all surbordinated to the original idea
In gothic boudoir the doors were
concealed by tapestried curtains and
the paneling by hangings; the clock
and the pattern of the carpet were
made to harmonic with the gothic
surroundings.
81 went away completely enraptured
with this woman, daZzled by the luxury
around her, gratif1ed in every faculty
of my soul-noble and base. good and
evil
To be Continued.