Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1900-03-24
CHAPTER XI.

Throwing up her head with proud,
spirited little gesture, she walked
quickly to the door. and passed out in
TO the hall
1t had, indeed, been Sir Walter and
Lady Tressidy and Carson MILDRED
whose voices we had heard.
why did you run away? We have
been looking for you everywhere, and
wasting so much timer l heard Lady
Tressidy say fretfully.
81 was very tired Of standing,"- the
girl promptly returned, land of wait
Ing, too"-with a certain imperiousness
I'm her tone. al wandered away to fill
up the time till Mr.. Wildred should
have Strengthened matters in the din
ing room"
She had contrived to satisfy their
curiosity without telling an actual
falsehood, of which l knew irstipctiv-
ely she would greatly dislike making
herself guilty.
1t did not seem to occur to them to
enter the drawing room where she had
left me, and when 1 was sure that they
had passed out of sight and hearing 1
came forth from the igrominious
hiding place to which her command
had condemned me.
In the exalted mood which had pos
would have been abhorrent. For the
rest OF the evening 1 kept my room,
meditating many things and becoming
more and more DESTROYS OF learning
Carson Wildred's secret, if secret In
deed he had.
At all events, / still had six weeks
In which to work, with the hope ever
before me OF saving Karine Cunning
ham from the man whom, by her own
confession, she did not love.
On the following day, Monday, I
went to my old club, the Wayfarers,
which had not yet troubled with my
presence, and picked out a man named
Driscoll, who made a business of
knowing everybody and everything.
Beginning with some conventional
talk about the changes in England in
general, and London In particular.
since L had seen il last, 1 managed to
mention Carson MILDRED without ap-
pearing to have dragged his name into
the conversation for any particular
purpose of my own.
1t sprang from some talk about n
British Christmas, and made as
humorous story as L could about my
having gone down to the house by
the lock, only to miss my friend and
my dinner after all.
1T is n queer place indeed" I said.
81 wonder how he came by it?"
"Oh, If the stories are true. in n way
as peculiar as the place itself there
fore appropriate. 1t was owned. I
know for matter of fact. by an Ital-
ian whose father was exiled, and came
over here TO live after As; Il chap by
the name OF Di TortorelIi, belonging to
good family and all that-had the
entree everywhere. The son, n nice
fellow except that he was weak, loved
nothing so well as baccarat. Some
how he and Wildred got acquainted.
when Wildred was little known, if ii
all, in society, and the two played
cards on rather big scale at the house
of a mutual friend. Di Tortorelli had
bad luck one night, lost q pot of
money, and finally, having nothing
else left that was worth having, staked
the house by the lock-very dilapida-
ted and in a shocking state of repair.
well, that's the way Wildred got it.
and there are those that do saw that
after having won almost everything
Tortorelli had Mildred financed him
till his marriage with n rich American.
on the proviso that Tortorelli should
get him into the smart set Those are
only Wildred's enemies, of course, for.
like most men Of strong character, he
has few, though, on the whole. his
generosity has made him extremely
popular"
Then he knew no one when he first
appeared over the social horizon?" /
went on questioning.
Driscoll laughed. ~ never heard of
anyone who knew him before the
day when he first blazed forth as a
social luminary, about three or four
years ago. He took a house in town
for the season, l remember-it was the
Duke of Torquay's-one of the finest in
town, and let for a fabulous sum-
Then he and Tortorelli gave a ball to-
gether, somehow securing seyefal
royalties, to say nothing of Paderew-
ski and La Belle Otero and one or two
other celebrities, who must each have
cost him somewhere from a thousand
to two thousand pounds for the one
night
After that MILDRED was made, of
course, for the ball was a brilliant sue
cess. BY the way, that was the first
time he ever met the beautiful Miss
Cunningham, who had just made a
triumphant debut as the beauty of her
season-in fact, most people think, the
most beautiful girl who has been seen
since the day when Mrs. Langtry Gre
ated her first sensation in London.
Miss Cunningham was at the ball with
the Tressidy's and, blase chap as he
was even then, Wildred went down at
the first shot from pair of dark eyes
Embellishments no one ever vet was
was sure of their color. OF course
she's great heiress. but the man must
be blind and paralyzed who couldn't
fall in love with Karine Cunningham
for herself, and, however he gets il.
Carson Wildred has no lack of money
of his own
How does gossip say he gets itY' /
went on to inquire with eagerness
which concealed as best as 1 could.
'Oh, gossip doesn't trouble itself
much in that way" Driscoll laughed
cit only concerns itself to eat his din
ners, for, as a matter OF fact, Though
can't exactly vouch for ii myself
there isn't much secret about the wa,
the money pours in It's the mans ex
traordinary luck! He seems to have q
Dot of relations who are always good.
naturally going off the hooks and ieav.
ing Wildred fortunes lust when he