Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-02-15

DarOQ Q8S lOuS SLICE Deeu OUllSeu lO confess that a suitable mesalliance is none too easy of achievement, and, in testimony of his vicissitudes, he has written for a Paris comic paper a series of grimly satiric essays upon New York society. Recently, moreover, he has been upon the verge of accept ing employment in the candy factory of bourgeois compatriot. But hope has a little revived in the noble breast since chance brought him and his title under the scrutiny of the bewitching Miss Millicent Higbee and her appre- ciative mother.
 And tonight there is not only the pretty Miss Higbee, but the winning Miss Zines. whose dot. the baron has been led to understand, would permit his beloved father unlimited piquet at his club, to say nothing of regenerat- ing the family chateau. Yet these are hardly matters to be gossiped of. It is enough to know that the Baron Ronault de Palliac when he discovers himself at table between Miss Zines and the adorable Miss Higbee, becomes less saturnine than has for some time been his wont. He does rot forget nre- vious disappointments, but desperately snaps his swarthy jaws in commend able superiority to any adverse fate.
 The other alien, Launton Oldaker, was present under terms of honorable truce, willingly and without ulterior motive saving-as he confessed to himself a consuming desire to see "how the other half lives" He was no longer the hunted and dismayed being Per ciyal had met in that far-off and im- possible Montana; but was now un- troubled, remembering, it is true, that this summing expedition" as he termed it, had taken him beyond the recognized bounds of his beloved New York, but serene in the consciousness that half an hours drive would land him safely back at his club.
 Oldaker observed Miss Psyche Bines approvingly.
 We are so glad to be in New York;" she had confided to him, sitting at her right.
 My dear young woman," he warned her, you haven't reached New York yet" The talk being general and loud, he ventured further.
 This is Pittsburg, Chicago, Kansas City, Denver-almost anything but New York"
 "Of course I know these are not the swell old families"
 Oldaker slipped his glass of old Olo- roso sherry and discesrsed.
 And our prominent families, the ones whose names you read, are not New York any more. either. They are rather London and Paris. Their furni- ture, clothing, plate. pictures and serv- ants come from one or the other. Yes, and their manners, too. their interests and sympathies and concerns, their fashions-and-somet their-er- morals. They are assuredly not New York any more than Gobelin tapestries and Fortuny pictures anG Louis Seize chairs are New, York"
 How queerly you talk. Where is New York, then?"
 0ldaker sighed thoughtfully between two spoonfuls of tortue verte, claire.
 Well. suppose the truth is that there isn't much of New York left in New York As matter of fact think it died with the old volunteer fire de- partment Anyway the surviving remnant Is coy. Real old New Workers like myself-neither poor nor rich-are swamped in these days like those pre- historic animals whose bones we find. There comes a time when We can't live. and deposits form over us and we're lost to memory"
 But this talk was even harder for Miss Zines to understand thGn the English speech of the Baron Ronault de Palliac, and she turned to that noble gentleman as the turbot with sauce CoraIl was served
 The dining-room, its wall wainscot- cd from floor to ceiling in Spanish oak, was flooded with soft light from the red silk dome that depended from it's crown of gold above the table. The laughter and talk were as little sub dued as ;he scheme of the rooms. IL was an atmosphere of prodigal and confident opuleace. From the music room near by came inc soft strains of a Haydn quartetts. exquisitely per formed by finished and expensive art ists.
 Say. Higbee," 1t was the oil chief from Texas. see if them hddlers of yours can't play Ma Honolulu Lulul'
 oldaker. Eincinz and turning 10 Miss Bines for sympathy. heard her say:
 Yes. do. Mir Higbee. do love those ragtime sonEs-snd then have them play Tell Ne. Pretty Maiden and the Intermezzo'
 He groaned in anguish
 The talk ran mostly on practical af- fairs. the current values of the great staple commodities: why the corn crop had been light: what wheat promised 10 bring. hox young Burman. of The Chicago board of trade. had been pinehed la his oEn wheat corner for four nillio1s-put up" by his admir- ing father: uhat beef ca the h1os how the Federal Oil eom uzny would presently own the state oi Ts1zs.
 AlnOs; every Barbzrizn al the table had made his Ovn fortune Hardly one but could reesIl early days when hs toiled o1 farm or ia shop or forest. 1sr5ei cattle prosp@eied- sought zd-