El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-23
coPrs,e.I 1895. 81 r.s AuT.oa


met him anywhere? Not soul who Will
come forward to speak. l tell you, Amy,
there's something uncanny about this Fat
ricK Cambcl. He turns up here periodic
ally i'm London after some vague exploring
trip to n place which isn't mapped, and
you can never pir him to tell exactly where
he's been. He comes with money, spends
it en- prince and then goes off again, NOM
inally perhaps to the Cobb desert, and re-
turns with another cargo.
How ronanticr' said Miss Rivers.
Yes isn't it, said her fance dryly
''If he'd lived century earlier, one would
have said he'd got a sound business con-
nection as n pirate somewhere West In
dies way. AS this year is 1898 and that
explanations barred, one simply has to
accept him az an uncomfortable mystery
Hamilton, how absurd you are! Wher-
ever did all this rigmarole come from?'
From the club and London gossiping
places generally. L suppose we ought to
be indebted to Cambel for providing us
something to talk about
But tell me, if his antecedents are so
queer, how is it he goes about so much
here? He's apparently asked everywhere
at least so Mrs. Shelfsa ys-and he knows
everybody who's worth knowing"
Fairfax laughed. Why does London
society take up with an ex-b ushranger
from Australia CIR "a glorified advertising
cowboy from the wild, wild west? Simply
because London society is extremely paro-
chial and gets desperately bored with its
own little self undiluted. Now, Cambel
has undoubtedly wandered about outside
the parish, and occasionally he lets drop
hints which makes one guess he's seen
some queerish rough and tumbles in
places where polite society doesn't GO
and, in fact, preserves good humored ret
icence about most of his doings. This
makes people thoughtful and speculative.
If Chinese eXtradition warrant was to
turn up tomorrow to arrest him for stick
ing up Il two hutton mandarin beyond the
great wall, nobody would be bit surpris
ed, or if he We're to tell the city this after
noon that he'd q concession for silver
mine in Paraguay which he wished to dis
pose of at reasonable rates we'd take it
with pleased equanimity. Now, you
know, Amy, there's fearful joy in enter
tanning man of that stamp
Especially when he's entirely fas-
cinating as Mr.. Cambel can be when he
chooses And such a Walter! But you
speak as if he were a savage from some
back settlement come into decent society
for the first time. He isn't that in the
least. He's gentleman distinctly
my dear girl, never meant to suggest
that he was not. There's no particular Sc
cret about his raising. He comes of a
good west county family, was Elton
boy and played in their eleven, went
through Cambridge and afterward found
q berth in the diplomatic service. Then
by way of variety he got engaged to be
married to a girl who Tilted him, ON the
strength of which he began to run wild
He started on six months leave for a trip
into Tibet, but he staid beyond the linn
it's of the postal system for two years and
a half and when he got back to England
the diplomatic corps found that they could
get on very well without him. So he con-
tinued his rambles. He doesn't seem able
to settle down.
That's because he can't forget the girl
who threw him over" exclaimed Miss
Rivers. How awfully romantici won
der who she was. She couldn't have been
any body nice, or she wouldn't have done
it, because he's a regular dear. And fancy
his remembering her all this time. just
love him for it
Some fellows" remarked Fairfax ju
diciously, would get jealous if the girl
they were going to marry talked about an
other man this way
Miss Rivers treasured him first practi-
cally and then in word. - You goose, said
she, If cared for him in that way, don't
you see I shouldn't have spoken about
him to you at all:''
Fairfax did not answer directly. He
kissed her thoughtfully, and after awhile
he said: I'm not superstitious dear, a
general thing. Work in shipping office
tends to make one painfully matter Of fact.
But for all that 1 wish this fellow Cambel
would either marry the queen, or get
crushed up in cab accident, or have him
self safely fastened down out of harms
way somewhere. I've got foreboding,
Amy, that he's going TO do a bad turn
either to you or to me, which means both
of us. ! know it's absurd. but can; t get
rid of it
How creepy" said Amy Rivers. But
what nonsense, Hamiltonl''