The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-07-14
The Man on
the Box
By HAROLD MacCRATH \
Puppet Crown"
CHAPTER NvII.-CoxrlSrEp.
Copyright, 1904, The Bobbs.Me1rill Company.

buIlIS lulS speculative inventory,
Warbnrtons face was gravely set;
indeed. it pictured his exact feelings.
He was grave He even wanted Pierre's
approval. He was about to pass
through a very trying ordeal; he might
not even pass through it. There was
no deceiving his colonel's eyes, hang
him! Whatever had induced fate TO
force this old Argus-eyed soldier upon
the scene? He glanced into the Kitchen
mirror. He instantly saw the salient
flaw in his dress II was the cravat.
Tie it as he would. ii never approached
the likeness of the conventional cravat
of the waiter. 1t still remained poll
ished cravat. a worldly cravat. the
cravat seen in bathrooms. drawing
rooms. in the theater stalls and boxes
anywhere but in the servants hall.
Oh. for the ready-made craval that
there was that servants low turned
down collar. glossy as celluloid He
felt as diftidcnt in his bare throat as
debutante feels in her first decollette
ball-gown, not very we'll covered up,
as it were. And, heaven and earth,
how appallingly large his hands had
grown. how clumsy his feet! Would
the colonel expose him? Would he
keep silent? This remained to he
found out; wherein lay the terror of
suspense.
'Remembair," went on Monsieur
Pierre. after pause. feeling that he
had a duty to fulfill and responsible
ity to shift to other shoulders than his
own, "remembair, eef you spill zee
soup, keel YOU. You carry zee tmeen
in, zen you deesh out zee soup. and
| sairve. Zee oyStaires should be on zee
table tree minutes before zee guests
haf arrive. Now, can you make zee
American cocktail?"
II n,"-with ghost of smile
make heem, with a. pompous
wave of the hand toward the fayorite
ingredients.
What kind?'
"Vot kind! Eez zare more cocktails,
zen?"
Only two that are proper. the man.
haitian and the martini"
Make zee martini: l know heem."
But cocktails ought not he mixed
before serving"
II say. make zee one cocktail
colby and skeptically. 81 test heem"
Warburton made one. Monsieur
slipped it slowly. making WY face,
| for. true Gaul that he was only two
kinds of stimulants appealed to his
palate. liqueurs and wines. He found
it as good as any he had ever tasted.
"Ver' good," -softening. Fare ees
zen, one ting Eat all zee Americans can
make, zee cocktail? am educate;
l learn. Now leaf me till eight. Keep
zee collect head. land Monsieur Pierre
| turned his attention to his cartridges.
| James went out of doors to get a
breath of fresh aid and to collect his
thoughts, which were wool-gathering,
whatever that may mean. They
needed collecting. these thoughts of
his, and labelling, for they were at all
| points of the compass. and he was at
a loss upon which to draw for support.
no possible way of escaping except by
absolutely boiling; and he vowed that
| he wouldn't bolt. not if he stood the
chance of being exposed so times over.
He had danced; he was going to pay
the fiddler like n man. He had never
ran away from anything, and he wasn't
going to begin now.
AT the worst, they could only laugh
at him; put his secret would be his no
longer. Ass tina; he had been! How
to tell this girl that he icyad her? How
to appear to her as his natural self?
What chance he had wilfullv thrown
away! He might have been a guest
tonight; he might have sat next to
her. turned the pages of her music,
and perhaps sighed love in her ear all
OF which would have been very proper
and conventional. All, If he only knew
what was going on behind those Med
iterranean eyes of hers. those heavenly
sapphires. Had she any suspicion?
No, 1t could not be possible; she had
Inundated him too often, to suspect
the imposturc. Alackaday!
Had any one else applied the dis
reputable terms he applied to himself
there would have been battle royal
When he became out OF breath, he re-
entered the house to have final look
at the table before the ordeal began.
Covers had been laid for l2: immac-
ulate linen, beautiful silver, and spark
ling c,lt-ylaSs He wondered how much
the girl was worth. and thought of his
own miserable $4,000 the year. True.
his capital could at any time be con-
verted into cash, some $4,000, but it
would be no longer the goose with the
golden egg. A great bowl of roses
stood on a glass center-piece. AS he
leaned toward them to inhale their per-
fume he heard sound. He turned
She stood framed in doorway, a
picture such as artists conjure up TO
fit in sunlit corners of gloomy studios;
beauty. youth, radiance, lnster, happi-
ness. To his ardent eyes she was SUI
premeIy beautiful. How wildly his
heart beat! This was the first time he
had seen her in all her glory. His
emotion was so strong that he did not
observe that she was biting her neither
| lip.
"ls everything well, .Jamcs?' she
asked, meaning the possibilities OF SER
vice and not the cardiac intranquilty
Of the servant.
Every well, Miss Annesley,"-with q