The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-24


would actually point to that interpre-
tat1on-but-you'r man, presume,
and can supply the hiatus AS | was
leaving, she said, I hope we shall print
some more of your clever essays-and
they mustn't be quite so-quite so deeD
In future. "Nanetti" is too good for us
really
Now. why did she say we and why
dld she say 'us?' | remember her
words distinctly, and the emphasis, and
the nandshake, and the ghost of
threat under the velvet. They were
ike young Nanetti's forgeries-nobody
could prove them. Have Won ever NAV
ed with tiger-a tiger on it's best be-
haVlor-it must feel like that. Too
sood Tor us'-the phrase made common
ground; 1t was cleverly mana ped-voI,
could take 1t or leave it; its inner
ceptibIe baseness existed-or did NOT
exist. "A fancy!' you may saw WeII
believe in fancies.
She asked me again for the follow
ing Sunday. pleaded an engagement
wasn't squeamish in those days-b1t
one draws line. What is it-seIf-
respect or pride? There is no need tn
labor the thing. 1t was impossible The
last week of the month she sent me- a
stan Tor the Opera-she had SO MANY
sne SAID. gave it to a friend. and he
sat next to- Lola Gamble for an act
She left at 10, quietly, without a sign
young Nanetti all over again. January
ended and the first week Of February
MY twenty guineas did not come and
she mad been so explicit on that point
wrote FOR them. No answer. A
week later wrote again / was work.
ing on The Redeemers' at the time
ana novels cost money to write. Won
earn nothing till they are done. and
@ nau run IL pretty fine. And then there
hot -
weeks as well. Yes, 1 had a conscience
dt the beginning, but little cash.
AT the end of February I wrote
asaln-a blunt one, this tirne-an aw-
IuI plunt one. L was paWning things
tnen; The Redeemers' was all hut fin-
lshed' and the 20 guineas would have
seen me through. l had countad or,
them; I had run into debt At NV Ioaotl ~
lngs, and now it was pawning dav
let Lola have it. And this is what han
pened-" mat nap
He produced the third and last letter
as ne spoke, and declaimed as under:
ne editor of The Woman of Fash
ION pegs TO acknowledge Mr.. Lutter-
worth three notes and to say that If
MI. LutterWOrth cannot wait for nav
ment Tor his article 'Nanettf until If is
attended to IN the ordinary course Of
business, the editor will be very hapnv
10 return the MS. at once"
claimed.
"No-not at all. How could To-, ash
ed Lutterworth. 81 owed rent. nv
watch and pin were in pawn, and The
Redeemers' wanted five more CHAPTERS,
L had to swallow It, Rnt all
the same, l had her fast. Delightful
llluslon! l quoted letter No. 2 to her.
with Its written engagement to paw
during the first week of next month,
mentioned my solicitors. / chuckIed
as posted this-and came home to
nnd her cOmpany'S check for 90 p1i-
meas! Had she relented? That even
ing L sent her a most charming note
cashed the check and returned to The
Redeemers.'
Next month my book was finished,
and was aft1uent. I dined out several
times, and once took in Lola Gamble.
Sne was brilliant as ever and wonder
fully civtl-but dangerous. I had fat
tered myself that l had scored in our
little encounter; yet, somehow she re-
nected subtle suggestion to the con-
trary. Again one could not proye If.
There was something feline and SER
pentlne about that woman-a quality
dlmcult to express, more difficult to
seize on and attack. You may have met
the type?"
had. It's in the thirties, as a rule"
was my reply.
UACh OI4S ulS0IS 1C-yeS, SAID Lut-
terWorth. 'I walked home
surmising dangers" he pursued. "and
at last l struck the truth. She had
bought Nanetti' and 1 had cashed her
check. +Nanettf was, therefore, hers.
to deal with as she liked-and Ma
nettp has disappeared. A clever wom-
an but what our friend, Tom Hardy,
calls a bee.'"
You kept copy, thought" I inter-
posed.
mo; that was the difficulty. I told
you OF my impulse-how, to avoid fur
ther temptation, / put 'Nanetti' into a
registered envelope and sent him off
nave had no more impulses since then!"
L looked round the ordered study in
which We sat, and now / understand its
neatness.
You think she stuck to it!'
II think she burned it-she couldn't
very well burn me, you see.'
But you wrote q second article?" I
ventured.
That was impossible. How could /
recapture that first fine careless rap
ture?" he laughed. 'T tried but the
memory of No. l came in between. 1t
daunted me-"
I mentioned Carlyle and his second
French Revolution
But it was not his best; his discov-
cry, his revelations, his virgin soili
was all that; was your topmost bios
the best thing I ever wrote."-The By
stander.