St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-06-29
Al RESTAURANT EPISODE.
Situation That was Embarrassing to
Say the Least.

in a strange restaurant, said i young
man about town to . New Orleans
Times Democrat reporter, and dis
cover, Just as you received the check,
that you didn't have cent ii your
clothess I had an adventure Of that
kind fire or SIX years ago that was
attended BY some very peculiar, not
to say narrowing, circumstances; and
incidentally but IIltell you how the
thing happened, and you can judge
for yourself how [ felt. It was short
" after { came to New Orleans, and
one Of the few people | knew was 4
bright, charming girl who lived on
St. Charles avenue and whom used
to encounter pretty frequently III the
shopping district. One afternoon /
met her tripping out of a store and
invited her, as d lark, to come and
lunch with me at q restaurant then
noted forts fine cuisine. She prompt
y accepted, and IN few minutes we
were seated at one Of the coziest tables
II the establishment, ordering what
turned out to be d very d delightful lit
tie repast. / believe every item Of
that luncheon is impressed On my
memory q this day, but I won't bore
you with irreleyent details. The point
Is that when the garcan deposited a.
check for s4.15 at my elbow and ]
felt mechanically il my vest pocket
It suddenly flashed across my mind
that I didn't have penny. I had
intended drawing some money at the
Office earlier il the day, but forgot
all about it, and, to cap the climax,
4 saw by the clock that the cashier
had By that time gone home. My
CONSERVATION must have been re-
fected IN my face, but my companion
seemed to have noticed nothing
wrong, and 7 pulled myself together
with 8 violent effort and did some
swift thinking. Of course the only
thing to do was to explain to the man
ager, who sat behind d little wicket
at the other end Of the room, and
after a few words Of very badly-forcea
gayety I pretended to notice an error
in the check and made an excuse to
go back to have II recfifed. Unluckily
an extra-ofieious waiter heard me say
there was mistake and rushed ahead
with the news, SO I found the man at
the wicket already bristling and on
the defensive. He spoke English i'm
perfectly, and the more { explained
the less he understood. Idunno what
You mean, he explained, angrily, aft
er I had exhausted my eloquenee;
first you say de bill es wrong, then
You say You got no mon. 7 tell you
one thin you got to pay him fore
you go; that's a sure fac He was
evidently convinced that / was q beat, |
and 4 saw that further talk would be
hopeless and liable to bring on an ex-
plosion. Then I tried to slip him my I
watch, but he pushed it aside. This
ain no paWnshop, he groWled; s
want the mon
q was sweating blood as I walked
back to the table,, continued the
young man, reminiseently, for { was
1t total loss to know what to do, and
the possibility Of our being elected
Or arrested as beats was simply too
horrible to contemplate. / found my
companion smiling bright OH
Mr. she exclaimed, as I ap-
preached, IS this yours? I found it
lnder your chair. She took out q
fre-dollar bill. I glanced
It her sharply and sllspiciously, but
he returned my look with perfect
'rankness. TT was lying On the floor,
hesaid, and I pickedit up. Thought
maybe it dropped out of your pocket.
I seemed too marvelously good, TOO
niraculously opportnne to be true,
,ut the candid tone and perfectly IN
embarrassed manner convinced me
hat she had really found the money I,
xaetly as she had stated. So 4 put Il
d bold front. Yes, / believe it Ii
nine, I said, frightening it out; in
act I recognize i now By this little 4
ORR place IN the corner; + pasted to
ogether only this morning I'm sol
lad you can positively identify it,
aid she, for of course we couldn't Il
.eep it if there was the least doubt.
Of course not Iassented promptly;
,ut I'd know it in a thousand Ire i
aember had quite q time finding the !
aucilage 70 aend the corner, and this /
title patch behind I clipped from the j
aargin Of d news per. think I'll | t
ast put It IN circulation, added, for
EAR il gets lost, Here, garconp and i
paid our bill We parted oa theeor I
&, and { went home con ratulating .
lyself on the biggest piece Of pure, IS
4 scs+4 ,sa cdr s.r 81 1rss,,, III I