The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-07-01
The BLOW Of TalCrGd.

aged 70, and fairly we'll OH, went 10
Paris on a visit Of leisure, he met SO
many Englishmen who called them
selves Smith-BroWn or Brown-Jones
that he calmly cut out Che hyphen and
called himself Dering.
1t was the family name anyhow, the
Mainwaring tag having been tackled on
with a golden hammer, and he did
not feel and the worse for shortening
his signature.
In Paris he foregathered with Gull
laume Henri Francois Ste, Marie d'Au-
vergne, Who had name enough for both
OF them.
Henri, as he preferred to be called,
was a graduate of the Ecole Polytech-
nique. and, having money and desire
to be easy, had bought himself out
of the army through one of those pro-
cesses peculiar to the republic OF
Rochefort.
Together these youngsters explored
the city from the Bots de Boulogne to
the Bourse. from the Bourse to places
more respectable and more virtuous
Among other pleasures to which
Henri with the superfluity OF title in
Quoted his Virginian friend was sale
d'armes.
The master of the place was a wary,
cool old sworder," who had served
his time in Africa, in China and in
vain endeavor to stem the onward rush
of Uhlans from beyond the Rhine.
BY the looks of him he might, too,
have served some of his time in the
galleys, but he knew his business,
which was fencing, and he took an es-
pecial fancy to Dering.
"Ah!' he would say. smirking vii
lainously and sending in a high thrust
in carte that flickered past the ear
like a snakes tongue, lit is you, mon
sieur, who have the true fencing form
not too tall, not too broad-and the
eye and the wrist. After all that is 1t
the eye and the wrist. The riposte
with single disengage! Touche! Bon!
bon!"
Dering learned most of the illnesses
of q fine art, won first honor in great
assault, fought trifling duel or two,
and took ship at Havre on little trip
TO America Henri was not there TO
bid him good-by, for the reason that
his relatives from Marseilles had come
70 town, taken him away, and shut
him up to mediate.
La Gascogne reached New York on
the 25th of April, 1898, and Dering
found the town wild with excitement
Congress had in effect declared war
against Spain He had known. OF
course, that such thing was possible,
but in his life as a bouieyardler had
paid little attention to 1T.
Now, however, he was in an at
mosphere of grim earnest. The coun-
try had arisen like slumberihg giant
and yawned and stretched it's arms.
The male behring's had always been
fighters, and that was one OF the rea-
sons why the present representative
of the line joined the first regiment
which was sent out.
It is true that this regiment got no
farther than Florida. but that was
-oa1y because the fun was over too
soon. 1t is true also that a part OF
it was sent to Havana when hostilitles
closed and Dering was among the
lucky ones. There he did provost duty
in a town which badly needed pro-
vosting for few days, and then SIM
rnered down into fairness.
The life, however, suited him well
enough. The restaurants we're reason
ably good the nights were endurabie'
there was much of picturesqueness on
,-iew that he had little to do In
few weeks this little became nothing
at all AS a natural consequence ne
got into mischief.
Rosa Villareal, daughter OF a Spanish
merchant, walked round and round
4he nlaza while the band played. was
escorted only by her duenna. herself
mt more than 80 and still susceptible.
private "Tom" DerinG. walking
ro,;nd the plaza in an opposite dfec-
ZION. got several glances into Co
ouettish eyes. There were other Walks
on the plazas, then an exchange OF
,o+es then a deposit of small coin into
Tho nalm of the she-drason. then oiiss
ful lovemaking.
This lasted week. Going TO the
eryst Dering saw his loved one a'ien
need ss usual. With the women now
a~sr was a slender, pale man OF 30
9Th a black Vandyke beard ana heaF'
ily penciled eyebrows nj,
Reing of the prompt school: Derin'
u,.ad his hat and asked the honor o
i.lso senorita Villareal. Thi'
forced an introduction. -,
# appeared that the name Of IN IN