The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-03-20

IL Was lUE bulOhG-IOOll VI NAAS wv
mopolitan club, In Piccadilly.
had strolled in for the want OF
something better to do, and without
any thought or idea Of anything or
anybody.
There were only about half dozen
members present, to one only Of whom
Charlie Maxwell, in his pre-nuptial
days an inyeterate globe-trotter, as l
myself still was-I was personally
known.
| Just nodded to him, as saw that
he was engaged in conversation with
an individual whom l never remem-
bered to have seen at the club before.
Though he was sitting back in the
depths of a big armchair, l gathered
that he was tall and athletically built.
His hair and heavy moustache were
snowy white, yet his features had that
look of perpetual youth about them
which some men retain to the close
even of patriarchal life.
But it was not so much the wonder
ful youthfulness of the man Il reck-
oned him to be at least sixty years OF
age) as the almost womanly express
sion of tenderness in his eyes that at
tracted me. 1t did not detract one
iota from his manliness; it simply sup
piled the one thing necessary to make
that manliness perfect and complete.
l was on the point of leaving when
there entered the room a man for
WHOM /, in common with most OF the
club members, had an unmitigated dis
like.
Coarse Of speech, ostentatiously vul-
gar in his manner, and, in fact, an
absolute Impossible" from the social
point of view, it was a perennial
source Of wonder with everybody how
he could ever have been admitted to
Cosmopolitan" membership.
1t was rumored that he was the mil
lionaire son Of a deceased East-end
''ready-made" tailor Of Semitic de-
scent, and that he owed his admission
among us to the largely exerted in
fluence of a certain impecunious peer
his great friend, and one of the orig
inal promoters of the club.
The truth of this could not be ex-
actly proved, although after events
showed that for once rumor did moi
act up to its reputation for lying.
Almost Immediately after this very
estimable individuals entrance-his
name, by the way, was Marcus Disch-
NANNY friend Maxwell came across
to where l stood looking out of the
window into Piccadilly and shool
hands, asking me to excuse him fol
ten minutes, and saying that he would
have a chat with me on his return
Complete silence reigned in the room
after Maxwelps departure, broker
only by the rustic Of newspapers or al
occasional cough.
Then l was suddenly startled by
the voice Of Dischman, raised in louC
alteration.
/ turned sharply round, and saw
that he was standing, straddle-legged
in front of the white-haired gentle
mans chair, wagging his head anC
forehnger in time to stream of an
CRY abuse.
4 you've monopolized that pape
ever since I've been in the room, ant
for how long before, goodness onl!
knows! Do you think you've bough
the place, just because you've beef
in the army?"
The occupant of the armchair ros
UP out of it to his full height of wei
over six feet, and calmly laid dow
the paper he had been reading on tn
I table beside him.
It was then that l noticed for tn
first time that his right sleeve wa
empty, indicating the loss of his arm
"Sir," he said, with quiet irony, 81
Is evident to ne that you have no
been in the army, inasmuch as tn
officer invariably implies the gentle
man -