The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1902-06-05
CHAPTER NU.
"The Crimson Blind"

| evening dress was OF the smartest and
his cab he took small square brown
paper parcel. which he deposited in Da-
vid's study with particular care.
He made no allusion whatever to the
sterner business of the evening; he was
gay and light hearted as n child so
that Mrs. Steel sat up quite an hour
later than her usual time, absolutely
unconscious of the fact that she had
broken rigid rule of ten years stand
ing.
Now, let us go into the study and
smoke a cigar" David suggested
| Bell dragged along a deck-chair into
the conservatory and lighted a Massa.
| Steers offer of whisky and soda was
| declined.
IAN ideal place for a novelist who has
| a keen eyes for the beautiful" he said.
| There you have your books and pic
| lures, your stained glass and china, and
| when you turn your eyes this way
they are gladdenef by green foliage and
! lovevly flowers. It's hard to connect
such room with a tragedy"
And yet, the tragedy was worked
out clcsc by where you are sitting But
never mind that; come 10 your story
| and let me see IL we can fit 1t into
| mine"
Bell took a fresh pull at his cigar and
| plunged into his subject.
about seven years ago professional
business took me to Amsterdam; a
brilliant young medical genius who was
drinking himself prematurely into the
grave had made some wonderful dis
coveries relating to the brain and psy-
| chology generally, so decided to learn
what / could before it was too late l
found the young doctor to be an exceed
| ingly good fellow, only too ready TO
speak of his discoveries, and there
stayed for year. My word. what do 1
not owe to that misguided mind! And
what a revolution he would have made
in medicine and surgery had he only
livedl
We'll. in Amsterdam I got to know
everybody who was worth knowing
medical. artistic, social. And among
the rest was an Englishman called
Lord Littmer, his son, and an exceed
ingly clever nephew OF his, Henson by
nance who was the sons tutor. Lift
mer was a savant, scholar and fine
connoisseur as regarded pictures. He
was popularity supposed to have the
finest collection of old prints in Eng
land He would travel anywhere in
search of something fresh, and the ru-
NOR of some apocryphal treasure in
Amsterdam had brought him thither
| He and I were friends from the first
as, indeed, We're the son and myself
Hcnsen, the nephew, was more quiet
| and reserved, but fond, as I discovered,
of little secret dissipation.
I'm these days l was not aVerse TO
| little Hfe myself. i was passionately
| fcnd of all games of cards, and I am
| afraid that was in the habit of gam
| bling to a greater extent than 1 could
| afford. don't gamble now, and don't
| play cards: in fact, shall never touch
a card again as long as live. Why,
| you shall hear all in good time.
I'VE were all getting on very well to-
| gether at tLat time when Lord Lift
mer's sister paid us visit. She came
| accompanied by daughter called Enid.
/ will not describe her, because no
words OF mine could do her Justice. In
a word, fell head over heels in love
| with Enid, and in that state have re-
| manned ever since. OF all the crosses
| that have to bear, the knowledge that
! I love Enid and that she loves-and de-
| spises-me, is by far the heaviest. But
| don't want to dwell upon that.
1--WE were q very happy party then,
| until Van Sneck and Won Gulden
| turned up. Enid and had come to an
| understanding, and though we kept our
| secret, we were not to do so for long.
| From the very first, Won Gulden adj
mired her He was a handsome, swag-
| gering soldier. a good-looking, wealthy
man, who had a great reputation for
| gallantry, and something worse Per-
! haps the fellow guessed how things lay,
| for he never troubled to conceal his dis
! like and contempt for me. IT is no fault
| OF mine that l am extremely sensitive
! as TO my personal appearance, but Won
! Gulder played upon IL until he drove
4 me nearly mai. He challenged me,
| sneeringly, to certain sports wherein he
| knew could not shine; he challenged
| me to ecarte where fancied was his
master.
WAS I? Well, we had been dining
! that night, and perhaps too freely, for
| / entirely lost my head before 1 began
| the game in earnest. Those covert
| sneers had driven me nearly mad. To
make a long story short, when got up
| from the table that night I owed my
| opponent nearly $500 without the faint
est prospect of paying a tenth part OF 1t.
| was only a poor. ambitious young
man then, with my way to make in the
world. And IL that money was not
| forthcoming in the next few days /
was utterly ruined.
1.-THE following morning the great dis
| covery was made. The Van Sneck
1 have alluded to was an artist, dealer,
| a man of the shadiest reputation, whom
my patron. Lord Littmer, had picked
! up. II was Van Sneck who produced
/ the copy of The Crimson Blind Not
only did he produce the copy, but he
! produced the history from some recent
| undiscovered papers relating to the
Keiserskroon Tavern of the year 1856.
| which would have satisfied a more ex-
| acting man than Littmer. In the end
the viscount purchased the engraving
| for $500 English.
You can imagine how delighted he
was with his prize--he had secured an
| engraving by Rembrandt that was abb
| solutely unique. Under more favor
| able circumstances I should have
| shared that pleasure. But ! was face
to face with ruin, and, therefore. had
! little heart for rejoicing.
II