Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-08-16
CHAPTER XvII.-CoNr1NunD.
Copyright. I9o4. The BObbs-Merrill Company

During this speculative inventory,
Warburton's face was gravely set;
indeed, it pictured his exact feelings
lie was grave. He even wanted Pierres
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 1t was the cravat.
Tie il as he would it never approached
the likeness of the conventional craVat
Of the waiter. 1t still remained a pol
ished Cravat, a worldly cravat, the
crayat seen in bathrooms, drawing
rooms. in the theater stalls and boxes,
anywhere but in the servants hall.
Oh for the ready-made cravat that
hitched to the lar-button! And then
there was that servants low turned
down collar, glossy as celluloid. He
Crt as diffident in his bare throat as
a dcbutante feels in her first decollette
ball-gown, not very well covered up,
as it were. And, heaven and earth,
how appallingly large his hands had
crown, how clumsy his feet! Would
the colonel expose him? Would he
keep silent? This remained to be
found out; Wherein lay the terror of
suspense.
"Rcmembair," went on Monsieur
Picfre, after a 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 tureen
in. zen you deesh out zee soup, and
sairye Zee oystaires should be on zee
table tree minutes before zee guests
hat arrive. Now, can you make zee
American cocktail?"
Il can, with a ghost of a smile.
Make heem, with a pompous
wave of the hand toward the favorite
ingredients.
WHAT kind?"
"Vot kind! Eez zare more cocktails,
zen?"
Only two that are proper, the man
haitian and the martini"
Make zee MARTINI | know heem."
But cocktails ought not be mixed
before serving"
Il say, make zee one cocktail, -
coldIy and skeptically. 81 test heem."
Warburton made one. Monsieur
slipped it slowly, making wry face,
for. true Gaul that he was, only two
kinds of stimulants appealed to his
palate liqueurs and wines. He found
At as good as any he had ever tasted.
Yer good, '-softening. "Zare ees
zen. one ting Eat all zee Americans can
make, zee cocktail? | am educate;
learn Now leaf me till eight Keep
zee collect head, and Monsieur Pierre
turned his attention to his partridges.
James went out of doors to get
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.
Here he was, in a devil of fix, and
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 a man. He had never
ran away from anything, and he wasnt
going to begin now.
At the worst, they could only laugh
at him but his secret would be his no
Longer Ass that he had been! How
to tell this girl that he loved her? How
to appear to her as his natural self?
What a chance he had wilfully thrown
away He might have been a guest
tonight, he might have sat next TO
her, turned the pages OF her music,
ana 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
lterranean eyes of hers, those heavenly
sapphreS Had she any suspicion?
No, it could not be possible; she had
humiiated him too often, to suspect
the tmposture. 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
al the table before the ordeal began.
Covers had been laid for IL; immac-
1iate linen. beautiful silver, and spark
ling cut-glass. He wondered how much
the girl was worth. and thought of his
own miserable $4,000 the year. True,
ms capital could at any time be con-
yerted 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 theirper-
fume he heard a sound. He turned,
She stood framed in a doorway, a
picture mcb as artists conjure up to