The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-06

him go in the whole length of the i'm
passe and disappears under the arch at the
inner end, number I g bis. it is, and by the
saints, could have howled aloud for
sheer joy! Man, 1 know every inch of
is bis impasse du Maine, know 1T light
or dark, drunk or sober-but chiefly drunk.
A very good pal of mine used to live there,
and many's the night I bunked on his
divan when I-well, when trying to get
home would have been-inhiscreet-'in a
manner O. speakin', Mackenzie.
II .loafed about for five minutes and
then went into the impasse to number Is
bis. and knocked at the concierge's loge.
trembled in my boots, by the same token,
for it was six to half a dozen that the
old lady would remember me. II she did,
I knew 'tWould come to a case OF bribery
and corruption; but; thank God, She S
blind as a bat in daytime, and had never
to her knowledge, set eyes on me before.
'I called up an atrocious bad accent
'twould have brought the tears to your
eyes with laughing-mixed in a great deal
Of English, waved my arms and talked
very loud-to make her understand .the
better-in fact, played the lately arrived
nouveau as best could. and demanded II
she'd any vacant studios. told her Una I
my friend Cheltenham had said, In Lon
don, that he had lived there and liked the
place. Cheltenham, Honorable Dicky, was
the pal who really had lived there. She nearly
wept at Cheltenham's name, the good OLD
soul had worshipped Dicky., She said that
his suite was occupied at the moment by
some pigs Of Prussians, four messieurs
and one grandes dame-'Aha,' said 1 to
myself, is it, though? We're growing
warm!'-But if I would like to see the
rooms she'd take me up. The Pruss1ans,
she thought. weren't to be there long.
$50 we went up after she'd whistled out
Cheltenham' old cat Giovanni, and
! 111 f1,ofi ivuoc n n O
barrassing minute, for Giovanni knew me
at once, and treated me like brother.
"And now, before I go on, let me show
you with q bit of paper just how the
court and the rooms are arranged You i
have to know your way about, later. AS
I've said, the place is at the inner END
of the impasse. The impasse runs right
i into it, There's square, stone paved
court that YOU enter through. an archWay
i The lodge Of the concierge Is under this
4 arch at the right Now the house rises
on all three sides of the court-the arcf
fills the fourth side. At the right, on the
q ground floor there's "a sort of machine
i atelier, shop OF metal workers closed
i Of course, at night. To reach the suite
where Cheltenham used to live. and where
1; the princess Is being held now, you go II
: back of this shop under another arch
:. a small one and up one winding stair
J, But the rooms don't open over the court
e~AAOJ
s the other side. The space directly Owe
the machine shop is filed by an archi
tect's studio, suntenanted. On the littl
, alley there's nothing but row Of shed
like sculptors' studios one story high. NJ
/ one has ever occupied them since cal
remember Now the suite itself, consist
i. Of a fair sized studio square, with q BIZ
! side light and a very narrow little pas
t sage, running from it out to the door. o
the suite, upon which open a sleepini
5 room and kitchen with a tiled cookin
stove built into the wall. But since
5 knew the place, another room has bee
3 added, beyond the studio. This room use
E to be another studio separated from tn
first by only a partition of boards, on
e thickness. You could hear perfectly any
s thing that was said in the other room. j
e is in this last room, recently added to tn
u suite, that the princess is quartered.
. Now are you quite sure that you, Sc
o how the place lies? You'll observe there
! nothing next 1t or under it that is ten
aeEanted. It's quite Isolated. No noise les
: than pistol shot could reach any neigh
y boring ears. andzthats IS q point for. US,