The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-07-14
The Man on
the Box
: BY HAROLD MacGRATH \
Author OF The Grey Cloak, THE
Puppet Crown"
CHAPTER XVII.-CoxrlSuEp.
Copyright. 1904, The Bobbs.Me1rill Company.

CHAPTER XVH.-CoNrlNuED.
During this speculative inventory.
Warburton's face was sravely set;
indeed. it pictured his exact feelings
He was grave He even wanted Picrre's
! approval. He was about TO pass
through 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 II was the cravat.
| Tie it as he would. ii never approached
i the likeness of the convent onal cravat
| of the waiter. 1t still remained poll
iShed cravat, a worldly cravat. the
cravat 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 collar-bulton! And then
there was that servants low turned
down collar. glossy as celluloid. He
| AVlI dS uIlllllcHl Ill HIS Dare lHEOdl dS
debntante 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
grown. 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.
"Remembair," went on Monsieur
Pierre, after pause. feeling that he
had duty to fulfill and a 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
sairve. Zee oyStaires should be on zee
| table tree minutes before zee guests
hat arrive. Now, can you make zee
! American coclitail?"
Il can, with ghost of smile.
Make heem. with a. pompous
| 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
colby and skeptically 81 test heem."
| Warburton made one. Monsieur
slipped it slowly making a WY face,
for. true Gaul that he was. only two
kinds of stimulants appealed to his
palate, liqueurs and wines. He found
it as good as any he had ever tasted.
"Ver' good, Fare ees
zen, one ting Eat all zee Americans can
make, zee cocktail? i am educate;
l 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 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 a 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 man. He had never
a hivofr I'm
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 chance he had wilfully thrown
away! He might have been guest
tonight; he might have sat next to
her, turned the pages Of her music,
and perhaps sighed love in her ear. all
or which would have been very proper
and conventional. All, If he only knew
what was going on behind those Med
1terranean eyes of hers those heavenly
sapphires. Had she any suspicion?
No, 1t could not be possible; she had
Inundated him too often, to suspect
the impOsture. 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 a final look
at the table before the ordeal began.
Covers had been laid for IL; immac-
ulate linen, beautiful silver, and spark
ling cnt-glass. He wondered how much
the girl was worth, and thought of his
own miserable $4,000 the year. True.
his capital could at any time be con-
verted into cash, some $75,O0O 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 inhaIe thcirper-
fume he heard sound. He turned.
She stood framed in doorway, a
picture such as artists conjure up to
tit In sunlit corners of gloomy studios;
beauty, youth, radiance lnster, happi-
ness. TO his ardent eyes she was su-
preme]y beautiful. How wildly his
heart beat! This was the first time he
had seen her in all her glory. His
emotion was so strong that he did not
observe that she was biting her neither
lip.
as everything WELL James," she