Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-14

/ that it was to be carried out by somebody else;
and as for Carberry, not the least attractive part
of him, I think of such an enterprise lay chiefly
in the delightful uncertainty Of its issue.
We drank good deal Of champagne at dinner
that night, ! remember; and on subsequent
rapid calculation Of our Joint resources, discover
cd that we could between us muster exactly thr.
ty-6ve francs. Everything therefore, depended
upon the success of Carberry's suicide; and | i'm
pressed this upon him very earnestly over our
coffee and liuueurs He seemed very sensible Of
the gravity Of the occasion, and was for max
ing his will--indeed, was so affected by the mem
ory of our old and tried friendship that he vowed
he would leave me everything he possessed in it.
AS he possessed nothing to leave l was more
touched by the generosity of the impulse than
by sense of any solid advantage that might ac-
crue from it. The second cup of coffee, however,
restored him to a recollection Of the merely fcti-
tious character of the dreadful act he was con-
complaining and to which, there is no doubt, that
the champagne had lent transient cooring of
reality. He leaned back in his chair and laughed
heartily
1--WE will score heavily off the administration" :"
he exclaimed; and, indeed the idea Of scoring
heavily off the administration seemed to cause
him keener qualification almost than the pros
pect of being able to discharge his hotel bill the
following morning
As the evening approached, l must confess that
began to entertain serious apprehensions as to
the upshot Of Carberry's venture; but he himself
seemed troubled with nervous scruples the
head of its success We went to the rooms as
usual after dinner, and dled away couple of
hours watching the tables and listening to the
concert in the theatre, very pleasantly. AT about
half-past ten Carberry announced his intention of
starting out to commit suicide. There was a
bright moon shining as we passed out through
the spring doors of the casino, and down the
marble steps into the gardens A crowd of peo-
pie thronged the entrance. We threaded our way
through them and presently paused on the oppo-
site side of the walk near the Cafe de Paris.
"Now," said Carberry "you just hang about
here, and don't make yourself unnecessarily con-
spicuous. When you hear my pistol shot you
cam If you like, address some casual inquiries to,
any of the officials you may happen to be near
But be discreet" So saying, and with cheerful
nod of farewell Carberry turned on his heel and
walked off in the direction of the pavilion | sat
down chair and watched his retreating figure.
saw him the gravel walk and pass along
the side of the building, past knot of officials
who were lounging about the entrance of the
guard room. Here he slasckened his pace and it
was with some amusement that 1 observed he be-
gan suddenly to assume most detected and alb
sent-minded department
He pulled his hat down over his eyes and hung
his head His attitude was one of extreme for
lornness. The officials could not have failed to
notice this as he passed them with an unsteady
step, and have no doubt the circumstances, If
it did not excite their suspicion at least awaken
ed their vigilance
few steps further on Carberry paused again,
and cast quick, furtive glance to right and left
of him; then plunged down side path into the
overhanging gloom of the gardens beyond and was
lost to view. 1 passed the next five minutes in
considerable uneasiness; apart from the humor of
the trick, it appeared by the light of calmer re-
Aection to be most foohardy experiment, and
one likely to be attended with awkward conse-
uuences should it miscarry.
However, it was too late to indulge in
fears OF regrets, and / could only trust to Car
berry's undoubted ingenuity and resource to
bring the matter to successful ISSUE Fortu-
nately, was not kept very long in suspense
Clear and sharp through the night air there
rang out suddenly the report of pistol was
on the alert for the sound, and may have exag-
gerated its penetrative intensity, for though L