The Marshall republican., 1906-12-21
CHAPTER ..

your entrance to the Castle OF Adven.
ture. One does not have to scale its
beetling parapets or assault its acarps
and %frowning bastions: neither 10 %
obliged TO force with clamor and blair.
ing trumpets and glitterins gorgets
the drawbridge and %portcullis. Rather
the pathway lies through one Of those
many little doors, obscure, yet easily
accessible. latchless and boltless, TO
which the average person gives no
particular attention. and yet which In.
var!ably lead to the very heart OF this
Castle Detachable. The whimsical
chatelaine Of this enchanted keep 10
d shy goddess. Circumspcction has M
part In her AFFAIRS, nor caution, nor
practically; nor does her eye linger
upon the dullard and the blunderer.
Imagination solves the secret riddle.
aud wit Is the guide that leads the
seeker through the winding. bewllder.
ing labyrinths
And there IL something Ia being
idle. toe,
II ] had not gone idly into Mou.
duin's cellar for dinner that night. I
should have missed the most engaging
adventure that ever fell to my lot. II
IN second nature for me to be guided
by impulse rather than By reason:
reason IL always NO square.toed and
impulse is always no alluring. You
will ind that nearly all the great
captains were and are creatures OF
impulse: nothing brilliant In ever
achieved by calculation. All this In
not TO say that | am a great captain;
Il IN offered only to inform you that
! am often impulslve.
A Times. four days old: and n I
hadn't fallen upon II Ia pass the
twcnty.odd minutes between my order
and the service Of II. I shouldn't have
made the acquaintance OF the police
IN that pretty little suburb i've In
New Jersey: nor should have met
the enchanting Blue Domino; nor
would fate have written Kismet. The
c~lairvoyant never has any fun In this
cycle; he has no surprises.
| had been away from New York
for several weeks, and had returned
only that afternoon. Thus. the spirit
OF unrest acquired by travel was still
upon me-. II was nearly holiday week.
and those c%ongenial friends I might
have called upon. Ia while away the
evening. were either buslly occupied
with shopping or were out Of town;
aud I determined not to 40 10 the club
and be bored by some Indifferent bill.
Hard player. ! would dine quietly.
listen TO some light music. and then
go q the theator. I was searching
the theatrical amusements. when the
society column i%ndifferently attacked
my eye. ] do not know why II In. but
have a wholesome contempt for the
so-called society columns OF the daily
newspaper In New York. Mayhap, II
IL because ] do not belong.
I read this paragraph with q shrug.
and that n with a smirk. was In
no name surprised AT the announce
ment that Miss Hight Culture was 20.
ing to wed the Duke OF Impecune;
had always been certain this girl
would do some such fool thing. That
Mrs. Hyphen.Bonds was giving a fare
well dinner nj the Waldorf. prior 10
her departure To Europe. interested
my curiosity not In the least degree.
II would be all the same TO me II she
never came back. None Of the wishy'
washy tittle-tattle interested me. In
fact. There vas only one little six
line paragraph that really caught me
On Friday night THAT 10 TO say, the
night Of my adventures In B%lankshirel,
the Hunt Club was to give a charity
masquerade dance. This grasped my
adventurous spirit by tho throat and
refused to let 90.
The atmosphere surrounding the
paragraph was spirituons with en-
chantment. There was a genuine
novelty about this dance. Two packs
Of playing cards had been sent out AZ
tickets; one pack 10 the ladies' and
one to the gentlemen. Charming Idea
wasn't II? Thee cards to bt
shown at the door, together with ter
dollars, hut were to be retained BY
the recipients till two o'clock tsupHel
time). at which moment everybod,
was TO unmask and take his partner
who held the corresponding card. In u
supper. Its n strongly appealed
to me. I found myself reading thu
paragraph over and over.
ny Jove. what an inspiration!
knew the Blankshire Hunt Club
with It's colonial architecture, Its grea
ball room. its quaint ireplaces. III
stables and sheds. and the fame Of III
chef. II was one Of those great coun
try clubs that keep open house thu
year round. Il stood back from thu
sea about four miles and was within
ave miles OF the village. There wa
. nns course inland. q crcss-countr,
going OF moi less than twenty miles
. shootipg-box, and excellent sol
links. In the winter II vas coxy; II
the summer It was ideal.
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