The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-25
THE SPEN DE RS
TALE OF THE THIRD CENERATIoN
By Harry Leon Wilson
by
CHAPTER Xxi.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE DIVERSIONS OF A YOUNG Null
TI-MILLIONAIRE

THE DIVERSIONS OF A YOUNG Null
TI-MILLIONAIRE.
To be idle and lavish of money, twenty
five years old. with the appetites keen and
the need for action always pressing; then
to have loved a girl with quick, strong,
youthful ardor. and to have had the Ideal
smirched by gossip then shattered before
his amazed eyes-this is situation In
which the male animal is apt TO behave in
equally. In the language OF the estimaoie
Herr DR.. Won Herzlich, he will seek those
avenues of modification in which the least
struggle is required. In the simpler phras-
ing Of Uncle Peter Bines, he will "cut
loose
During the winter that now followed Per-
civaI Bines behaved according to either
formula, as the reader may prefer. He
carly ascertained his limitations with re-
spect to New York and its people.
Say, old man." he asked Herbert Delan-
cey Livingston one night, across the table
at their college club, ''are all the people In
New York society impecunious?
Livingston had been with him at Har-
| ward, and Livingstons family was so no.
torously not impecunious that the question
was devoid of any personal element Liv>
| ingston, moreover, had dined just unwisely
enough TO be truthful.
We'll to be candid with you, Bines." the
young man had replied, in burst of alco-
holic confidence, about all that you are
! likely to meet are broke-else you wouldn't
meet EN-, you know" he explained. cheer
fully. You know, old chap, few of you
Western people have got into the right set
here; there's the Nesbits, for instance. On
my word the good wife and mother hasn't
/
louses from her hands, by Jove! She worked
SO hard COOKING and washing wooden shirts
| for miners before Nesbit made his strike.
| AS for him-well caviare, I'm afraid, will
always be caviare to Jimmy Nesbit. And
now the sons married a girl that had ev-
| erything but money-my boy, Nellie Wem-
pie has fairly got that family of Nesbits
awe-stricKen since she married into it. just
| by the way she spend money-but
what was l saying, old chap? On, yes,
about getting init takes time, you know;
on my word, l think they were as much as
eight years, and had to start in abroad at
that. AT first, you know, you can only ex-
pect TO meet crowd that can't AFFORD to be
exclusive any longer.
From which friendly counsel, and from
| certain connrming observations of his own,
Percival had concluded that his lot in New
| York was to spend money. This he began
! to do with a large Western careleSSneSS
that speedily earned him fame OF a sort.
Along upper Broadway, his advent was a
golden joy. Tradesmen learned to love him;
| florists, jewelers. and tailors hailed his COM
ing with honest fervor walters told NOV
ing tales of his tips; cabmen fought for
| their privilege of transporting him; and the
| hangers-on of rich young men picked pieces
of lint assiduously and solcitously from
his coat.
One of his favorite resorts was the sump-
tuous gambling house in Forty-fourth
liz
of the stout oaken door early learned to well
| come him through the slit, barred by its
I grill of wrought iron. The attendant who
took his coat aud hat the waiter who took
| his order for food, and the croupier who
| took his money, were all gladdened by his
coming; for his gratuities were as large
when ne lost as when he won. Even the re-
4 served proprietor, accustomed he to
wealthy and careless clientele, treated
Percival with marked consideration after a
to Withdraw the i limit at roulette and spent
a large sum in testing system for break
ing the wheel, given to him by a friend late
ly returned from Monte Carlo.
Il think. really, the fellow who gave me
that system is ass he said, lighting a
cigarette when the play was done. Now
I'm going down and demolish eight dollars
worth OF food and drink-you won't be all to
the good on that. you know"
His host decided that a young man who
was hungry. after losing hundred thou
sand dollars in five hours play, was a per-
son to be not lightly considered.
And, though he loved the rhythmic whir
and the ensuing rattle of the little ivory
ball the roulette wheel, he did not dis
dain the quieter faro, playing that dignfied
game exclusively with the chocolate colored
chips. which cost a thousand dollars stack
Sometimes he won; but not often enough to
disturb his hosts belief that there is less OF
chance in his business than in any other
known to the captains of industry.
There We're too, sOcable games of poker
played with GARNER, of the lead trust. Bur
man. the intrepid young wheat opera toI
from Chicago, and half a dozen other we'll
moneyed spirits; games in which the limit
to use the Chicagoans phrase, 1.-The
beautiful but lofty North Star" At these
games he lost even more regularly than al
percentage, he was solely at the mercy OF
chance. But he was a joyous loser, endear.
ing himself to the other players: to GARNER
whom Burman habitually accused of being
''closer than warm night" as well as &c
! the open-handed son of the chewing gum
| magnate, who had been raised abroad anc
who protested nightly that there was an ele-
ment of beastly American commercialism
/; in the game. When Percival was by som,
chance absent from sitting, the others cal
culated the precise sum he probably would
| have lost and humorously acquainted him
with the amount by telegraph next morn.
ing-it was apt to be nine hundred and som,
odd dollars-requestinS that he cover by
| check at his early convenience.
Yet the diversion was not all gambling
There were long sessions at all-night restau
rants where the element of chance in his
1
| eliminated; suppers for hungry Thespian.
and thirsty parasites, protracted with sons
and talk until the gasfames grew pale vel
| low, and the cabmen. when the party went
out into the wan light, would be low-voiced
confidential and suggestive in their ap
proaches.
Broadway would be weirdly quiet at sucf
times, save for the occasional frenzied ciat
ter of hurrying milk wagon. Even the car.
. seemed to move with less sound than b,
Z day, and the early-rising workers inside
holding dinner nails and lunch baskpfS vrer.
subdued and silent, yet strangely observing
as il the hour were one in which the vision
was made clear to appraise the values o.
life Justly. To the north whence the car,
bulked silently, would be an awakening SKI
of such tender beauty that the reveler,
often paid it the tribute of a moments no
tice.
Pure turquoise one would declare
with a dash of orange bitters in it.
another might add.
And then perhaps they burst into sons
what the professional gentlemen termed
{ 'barber-shOp harm0nies," until policeman
would saunter across the street pretending
! however, that he was not aware of them
) Then perhaps ride toward the beautiful
northern sky would be proposed, whereupol
three or four hanson coupe loads woul,
begin a journey that wound up through Cen
trail Park toward the northern light, bu
which never attained point remoter thar
/ some suburban roadhouse. where sleep.
+ cooks and bartenders would have TO b.
: Oftener the party fell away into stragg
ling groups with notions for sleep, chantin;
at last, perhaps:
| ola