The San Francisco call., 1903-09-06

q, nous evone,"-with O magnificent gest-
ure, ''vous avez." The French members
Of the company were not equal to his pro-
nunciation and were under the impress
sion that he was still talking Eng1sn.
They were profoundly impressed with his
Difference and grace and accorded his pre-
amble q round Of applause. The Amerl-
cans did their utmost to persuade him 10
be seated, but their uproar was mistaken
by the others for enthusiasm. and the APP
plause grew louder than ever. Subway
held up his hand for silence, and his
manner suggested that he was about TO
utter some peculiarly important thought.
He waited until pinfall could have
been heard before he went on.
"Maitre corbeau sur un arbre perche-
he finished the speech as he was being
carried bodily from the room by DeMille
and Bragdon. The Frenchmen then i'm
agined that Smiths remarks had been
insulting. and his friends had silenced
MIN on that account. A riot seemed Inn
Ing silence. and with few tactful re-
marks about Franklin and Lafayette
Quieted the excited guests.
me evening ended with fireworks and
q dance In the open ARA dance that
grew gay under the masks. The wheels
had been well oiled and there was no
visible failure of the carnival spirit. To
round II less easy to play a part behind
the foolish mask than he expected. His
own friends seemed to elude him, and the
coquetries Of the village damsels had
merely feeting charm. He was stand
Ing apart to watch the glimmering crowd
when he was startled by a smothered cry.
Turning to investigate, he discovered a
little red domino. unmistakably fright
ened, and trying to release herself from
q too ardent Punchinello. Monty's ar
rival prevented him from tearing off the
glrfs mask and gave him an entirely new
conception OF the strenuous life. He arose
running and sputtering, but he was taken
IN hand by the crowd and whirled from
ono to another in whimsical mockery.
mask had dropped during the encounter.
was astonished to feel the little hand of
the red domino on his arm and to hear a
voice not all unfamiliar to his ear.
Monty, you are dear. I love you for
that. You looked like a Greek athlete.
DO you know-it was foolish, but 1 really
was frightened"
Child. how could it have happened7"
No whispered leading her away Fancy
my little Peggy with no one to look after
ner: What a beast 1 was to trust you
to Pettingill. 1 might have known the
chump would have been knocked out by
all this color" He stopped to look down
at her and a light came into his eyes.
Little Peggy in the great world" he
you need-just me-
But Mrs. Valentine had seen him as he
stood revealed. and came up in search
OF Peggy. 1t was almost morning, she
told her. and quite time to go back to
the hotel and sleep. So in Bragdon's
charge they wandered off, bit reluctant
ly. a bit lingeringly.
It was not until Monty was summoned
to rescue Reggie Vanderpool from the
stern arm Of the law that he discovered
the identity of Punchinello. Manifestly
he had not been in condition to recog-
nize his assailant, and a subsequent dis
agreement had driven the first out OF his
head. The poor boy was sadly bruised
about the face and his arrest had prob
ably saved him from worse punishment.
II told you l couldn't wear a mask" he
explained ruefully as Monty led him
home. But how could I know that he
could hear me all the timer
The day after the carnival Brewster
drove his guests over to- Monte Carlo
He meant to stay only long enough to
try his luck at the tables and lose enough
to make up for the days at sea when his
purse was necessarily idle. Swearengen
Jones was forgotten. and soon after his
arrival he began to plunge. At first he
lost heavily, and IT was with difficulty
LndC ne concealed MS JOY. PeRSY tray
was watching him, and In whispers i'm
plored him to stop. but Mrs. Dan excited
ly urged him TO continue until the luck
changed. To the girls chagrin 1t was
the more reckless advice that he followed.
In so desperate a situation he felt that
he could not stop. But his luck turned
too soon.
"I can't afford to give up" he said,
miserably, to himself, after time. I'm
already a winner by five thousand dollars,
and ! must at least get rid of that
Brewster became the center Of interest
to those who were not playing and
people marveled at his luck They
quite misinterpreted his eagerness
and the flushed anxious look with
which he followed each spin of the wheel.
He had chosen a seat beside English
Duchess whose practice 1T was to appro-
pirate the winnings of the more inexpe-
rienced players. and he was aware that
many of his gold pieces were being de-
liberately stolen. Here he thought was at
least a helping hand. and he was on the
point of moving his stack toward her
side when DeMille interfered. He had
watched the Duchess, and had called the
croupier's attention to her neat little
method. But that austere individual ST.
fenced him by saying in surprise. "Mais
cest madame la Duchesse, que voulez-
Yous?"
Not to be downed so easily, DeMille
watched the play from behind Monty s
chair and cautioned his friend at the first
opportunity
Better cash in and change your seat,
Monty. They're robbing you" lie whis-
pered.
"Cash in when I'm away ahead of the
game? Neveri" and Monty did his best
to assume a joyful tone.
At first he played with no effort at sys-
TEN, piling his money fiat on the numbers
which seemed to have least chance of
winning, but he simply could not lose.
Then he tried to reverse different systems
he had heard of, but they turned out to
be winners. Finally in desperation he be-
gan doubling on one color in the hope that
be would surely lose in the end, but his
particular fate was against him. With
his entire stake on the red the ball con-
tinued to fall in the red holes until the
croupier announced that the bank was
broken.
Dan DeMille gathered in the money and
counted forty thousand dollars before he
handed 1t to Monty. His friends were
overjoyed when he left the table and
wondered why he looked so downhearted.
Inwardly he berated himself for not TAX
L. D. =