Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1906-12-15

shrsnk back out OF the light. stopped
In the shadow OF q post and watched
tho passengers crowding past him
Anita came so close he might easily
have touched her
He followed her cautiously through
the station 20 the street. At the edge
OF the bsnqustte he heard Mrs. Ash
ton give the cabman her address.
Hotel Louis 10 Grande. 7157 valols
street" While they waited for their
luggage he sprang into another cab
and ordered the driver 20 the corner
OF vslois and EspIanade."
II was the Thursday night before
Mardi Grss. A moist and sticky fog
hung over the low-pitchsd roofs and
red-tiled gables of the quaint old Gre
ole town. Canal street blazed with
lights. Revelers crowded along it's
bEnQuettes and paraded the streets
grotesQue. kaleidoscope happy The
neutral ground seothed and beaved. n
bedlam Of Mosques, fiambeaux. tin
horns and coed humor. Beyond all
this lay the domain OF darkness, OF
narrow streets and quietude.
Dukes cab worked its way slowly
through the dense mass. and had a.
most crossed Canal when IT came to
a congested halt at the corner OF
Valois.
Hurry. driver, hurry" he called:
what are you waiting for7" He
looked out upon a smiling sea. the
cleaning teeth OF Creole girls, people
pushing TO and fro. surging human
pillows tipped with laughter. The
crowd jeercd and laughed-everyDody
Is gcod-natured In New Orleans, but
they cannot understand why one
should want 70 hurry. Presently they
parted and let him pass.
The wheels ratified and clattered
down a narrow street. getting farther
and farther from the lights, the music
and the jollity behind him. Duke
recognized the wide Esplanade as he
crossed IL, the neutral ground. the
whitewashed trees. the houses-noth-
Ing ever changes on Esplanade.
The cab stopped again. rs this
your place. sir?' the driver asked.
Yes. this will DO" He stepped out
and paid the man.
when the cab had gone he pursued
his way on foot looking about him
until he located the dingy entrance TO
the Hotel Louis lie Grande Il thought
I'd remember the place" he said. and
crossed TO the other side
Opposite IL was a little restaurant.
Pedro's Place. and Duke hid himself
ia the recess OF a doorway.
A hundred years ago when Napoleon
reared his dazzling despotism. this
Hotel Louis le Grande had been the
center OF fashion for a loyal colony.
Even before that. those two pickering
lamps In front had shone down upon
many a brilliant gathering OF the Mar
quis de Vaudreuil. But the colony
had been bartered away like a bauble.
and the empire fell. shattered into
star-dust. The hotels glamour passed.
II degenerated into a mere pension
where an occasional stranger came
out OF curiosity 20 view the rooms
wherein had slept so many noble and
il-starred guests.
Mardi Gras brought high tide OF
prosperity 20 the old hotel During
that one maddening week Monsieur
Victor LSbouisse reaped his annual
harvest.
Suddenly a man stepped out or
tAAR t~NNf AFANN NNAA aim MNt' NNA
into the shadow and let him pass.
II could not have been very long
until a second cab, loaded with lug
gage and travelling more slowly, rum
bled down the street and drew up in
front OF the hotel. Monsieur Victor
rushed across the hanquette like a
fitting bat, and opened the cab door
with a Frenchman's much-ado.
"Arthemise. Arthemise, Hipleet,
Hipleet." he shouted back. and his
voice echoed ia the vau.ted passage
way as though II struggled through
the damp aisles OF a catacomb.
Alice drew back. halflaughing. half
frightened. as she came face 10 face
with this singular little caricature in
black and white. Monsieur Victors
clothing was very black. and his linen
Immediately white; his face was
pinched and thin and pale. but his
mustache-ah. the glossy glory OF that
mustache. Il stuck out sumy on
either side. hnepointed. glistening
with wax. and black as the unstinted
use OF dye could make IT,
Old HippolyJe. the porter. even more
antique than the hotel. hobb,ed out
behind his master and began lifting
down their luggage. Arthemise. in
starched cap and apron. nuttered
through the entry to take the ladies'
wraps
Anita alighted from the cab. then
Alice. Both girls glanced doubtfully
through those medieval looking doors
OF iron. curlOusly wrought Back. far
back behind il all, there burned a dim
light in the rear.
Alice felt that she was surely in
New Orleans. really in New Orleans
no other place could be just like IL.
"Oh. Anita. Anita" she whispered,
I'VE are really and truly in New Or
leans-can't you feel it?"
Those green-painted shutters looked
Ike New Orleans; the slippery ban
quette felt like New Orleans; Mon
sieur Victor with his shrugs and bows: