, 1905-12-13

villa on the lake of Como. Instantly a
new act of the comedy presented itself
to him. He sought out Pettingill and
demanded a description of his castle in
the air.
"Oh, it's a WONDER exclaimed the
artist. And his eyes grew dreamy. ut
shines u at you with its white ter
races and turrets like those fascinat-
ing castles that Maxfield Parrish draws
for children. 1t is fairyland. You ex-
pect to wake and find it gone.'
"Oh, drop that, Petty" said Brew
ster, "or it will make you poetical.
What | want to know Is who OWNS it
and is it likely to be occupied at this
season."
1T belongs to a certain marquise,
who is IL widow with no children. They
say she has a horror of the place for
some reason and has never been neal
1t. 1t is kept as though she were to
turn up the next day, but except for
the servants it is always deserted"
THE very thing declared Brewster.
Petty, We'll have "a house party
You'd better not count on that, Mon
ty. A nan | know ran across the
place once and tried for a year to buy
it. But the lady has ideas OF her own"
"Well, if you wish to give him a hint
or two about how to do things, watch
me. If you don't spend two weeks in
your dream castle | will cut the crowd
and sail for home"
He secured the name of the owner
and found that Pettingill had eyen II
remote idea of the address of her agent.
Armed with these facts, he set out in
search of Il courier, and through Phi
lippe he secured a Frenchman named
Bertier, who was guaranteed to be sur
prisingly ingenious in providing meth
DDS Of spending money. To him Brew
ster colidei his scheme, and Bertier
realized with rising enthusiasm that at
last he had secured Il client after his
own heart. He was able to complete
the address of the agent of the mys-
FERROUS marquise, and an inquiry was
Immediately t~elegraphed to him.
The agents reply would have been
discouraging to any one but Brewster.
1t stated that the owner had no inten-
ton of leasing her forsaken castle for
any period whatever. The p~rofligate
learned that a fair price for an estate
of that kind for a month was 10000
francs, and he wired an offer of five
times that sum for two weeks. The
agent replied that some delay would be
necessary while he communicated with
his principal. Delay vas the one word
that Brewster did not understand, SO
he wired him an address in Genoa. and
the Filter was made ready for sea
Steam had been kept up, and her coal
account would compare %favorably with
that of an ocean liner. Philippe was
breathless with JOY when he was paid
in advance for another month at the
hotel on the assumption that the party
might be moved to return at any mo-
ment. The little town was gay at part
ing, and Brewster and his guests We're
given a royal farewell.
At Genoa the mail had accumulated
and held the attention of the yacht
to the exclusion of everything else.
Brewster was somewhat c%restfallen to
learn that the lady of the villa haughti-
ly refused his princely offer. He won
the lifelong devotion of his courier by
promptly increasing it to 100000
francs. When this, too. met with re-
lection there was a pause as well as
a serious consultation between the
two.
'Bertier," exclaimed Brewster, 81
must have the thing now. What's to
be done? You've got to help me out"
But the courier, prodigal as he was
of gestures, had no words which SEEM
ed pertinent.
There must be some way of getting
at this marquise," Monty continued re-
lectively. What are her tastes? Do
you know anything about herr
Suddenly the face of the courier
grew bright. u have it," he said, and
then he faltered. But the expense,
monsieur-it would be heavy"
perhaps we can meet it," suggested
Monty quietly. whats the idea?"
1t was explained, with plenty of ac-
ton to make it clear. The courier had
heard in Florence that madame la
marquise had a passion for automo-
biles. But. with her inadequate for
tune and the many demands upon it
it was a weakness not readily graft
fed. The machine she had used dur
ing the winter was by no means up to
date. Possibly if monsieur Yet it
was too much. No villa
But Brewster's decision was made.
Wire the fellow" he said, that l will
add to my last offer a French machine