Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-14

that fateful interview in the blue drawingroom
Of Bullace Conquest Her set knew little Monty
no more He was not the only person in the
world who cheated at cards, certainly-but then,
he had been found out The fact that Lord Car
we'll and Philip Gey had deliberately laid trap
for him. and that in Carwes own house, did not
make much difference to society at large He was
"a little bounder, little BEAST, and, as some
body had been cheating, Carwell, not quite un-
naturally had hoped as he phrased it, to catch
him out. And he had been caught out under
quite exceptionally disgraceful circumstances
that was the end of him.
poor little beggar, he was awfuIy gone on
Vic" Charlie Bullace would say occasionally, II
his name was mentioned; and that so far as SO
ciety was concerned, was Monty Montagues epi-
taph.
Victoria Bullace's second engagement was
brief one. Already the school children at Bullace
Conquest were looking forward to the wild dis
spation Of wedding at the big house; already
beAaqped arches were rising swiftly in the vii
lagos Victoria and Valentine were alone in the
blue drawing.room in which Monty Montague had
been sent about his business. Victoria remem
bered him suddenly, in the midst OF her own hap
piness.
'Poor Mr. Montague" she said. "Do you re-
member the night you caught him cheating, Val!
wonder what has become of him?
Valentine grinned. Some men get drunk on
as successfully as others do on ntoxicants
Of less airy nature. Val was drunk with success
that day He was very much in love with Vic
toria, and still more in love with Yictoria's for
tune; most of all he was in love with his own
luck, with his own eleverness.
"Poor little beast!" he said charitably, What
"a cad he was, wasn't he darling? But you know
the cheating business was all moonshne,"
"MoenshineF
Humbug-rubbish- anything you like. work
ed it awfully well. If it hadn't been for that,
you'd be Mrs Monty Montague by now, sure as
fate
Victoria sat up very straight. She did not un-
derstand -,
""yVhat I saw Tt was the only way out, you
know. 1t was something Carwell said put it into
nv head. He was awfully sorry for you, and he
said what n pitv it was we couldn't prove the lit
tle beast had another wife, or cheated at cards,
or something that would stop the marriage. That
made me think"
''N[ade you think?..,.. Go on, Val. Made
you think-what?"
"Well | cheated little for night OF two,
inst TO see if they spotted tiff they'd suspect
anvone Awfully sorry, darling. | didn't want
the money you kuow-I only did it for you They
tumblcd to it beautifully, and then-wells then,
couldn't help going on. / marked the cards
knowing that Carwe meant to catch Morty out
that night--and he did, you know"
s.You marked the cards-knowing that
your" s'
Valentine BuIlace, with all the superb self-con-
eeit of a long line of Bullaces strong within him,
began to feel little doubtful as to the entire
wisdom of his condolences He looked uncom-
fortably at victoria's white face.
''Hang it, Vic darling, all's fair in love and war
YOU know. Well, perhaps it was a bit of low
down trick to play; but then, you see, I did it
for you. And he was a little boundsr-he
oughtn't to have been in our set at all-it served
him right to get him kicked out of it. And
dare say he did something much worse than
cheat if we'd happened to know what it was
only we didn't; and it was my last chance of get
ting YOU. I'd have done anything to do that
and I've done it, haven't /, Vic?'
He bent down to kiss the white face that star