Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-12-27

There were many reasons why Mrs.
Blake's boarding house became the
home Of more odd characters than any
place of it's size west of the Mississippi.
Being a Dublin lady, Whose husband
had peer in the French army, she
called her house the "Maison de Vile
Then her son Roderick, who had even
~scandalized the Latin quarter before
he was Of age, was something OF q
painter. and to his mothers o
brought every vagrom Bohemian VINO
drifted into Kansas City from Paris
Vienna or Rome. Sometimes they
failed to pay board, but n was "
canny little woman, n when she
couldn't get the cash h made them
work out the bill.
AS long ago as 1879 the Hotel de
Vile was populous with statuary, or
nate with all sorts of paintings ana
vocal of the characteristics ana nahdl-
crafts Of nearly a decade or queer
tenants. School teachers, soldiers OF
fortune, painters, sCulptors, writers,
mostly made up the clientele Of the
Maison, and therefore Mrs. Blake did
not flourish financially. But she was
content. | hope she has never been
driven to the extremity OF an auction
sale, but If she ever comes TO that, Ia
like to know 1t. Some of the wan
dering painters who paid her with UNI
framed pictures are famous now, ana
when last l was in her kitchen there
was q landscape over the bread board
that is the best work of a master hand.
The only rule of the Maison de vile
that was held inviolable was Mrs.
Blake's .~0rbiddance Of female guests.
She seemed TO have q deep-set dislike
for her own sex, and even When her
lead husbands sister called at the
-. H. ,yva nnnT fort "A hln MIMI
she had gotten her out of the place.
She wouldn't even sleep in her own
house, but every evening at dusk
turned the management over 10
Pond" a ChinamAn, and went to her
own lonely room over Miss FiniSter'S
millinery shop. Well, Pond, the emma
| man, slept all day in a little closet in
the attic, and in the early SOS the place
was always full. One evening In May
n dapper little man came in while we
were all at supper. In a pronounced
French accent he asked for Nine.
Blake. lie had come right into the
dining ROOM, where we were all at tea,
and we couldn't help observing the
contrast between his naively audacious
intrusion and the self-deprecating man
ner of his address. When he found
that madame vas gone he asked for
"M'sieu Roderick." He had n letter
from Bruce Patrick, an artist then in
Paris, and in five minutes young Blake
had read the letter n given the
stranger an enthusiastic welcome TO
the hospitality Of his mothers house.
The newcomer was named CASTOR
Theriot. He hailed from Rheims and
was a teacher of French and fencing
'Maitre d'armes," he called 1t. He fitted
well into the mixed company, spoke
English with a most piquant and saucy
assurance and was everybody's friend
before Pond brought In the buckwheat.
The cuisine of the Maison de VILE, you
see, was not Partisan. Theriot was a
handsome young rascal with glltterlnS'
big. black eyes closely cropped curls
and the face of a boy. He said he was
| %. but he didn't ooh it.. though he was
| broadly built and spoke with the glib
abandon of u man of the world.
Professor Dillon, a Trinity college
| man who had served under Blake al
| Paris and had tried his patience in the
| Papal guard, was one of the stan