The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-05-30
CHAPTER l.
THE ANTECEDENTs OF PATRICK
CAMREI,

science or manner which seems rather
taking with some people. But confess
shouldn't have thought him the man
you would have cared to see twice,
Amy"
You are preJudiced obviously, and
I've q good mind to say maliciously
prejudiced. l don't know how much
YOU saw of him because l can't be in
vIted to a Wanderers club dinner. You
don't know how much / saw of him be-
cause you missed some distant train
and didn't come here to the ball last
night. But I'll tell you. l saw all I
could. He's perfectly and entirely
charming. He's been everywhere, done
everything. and isn't a bit blase."
Il heard" said Fairfax, that Mrs.
Shelf was trotting him around, last
night as the great traveller. Is he OF
the advertised variety Of a globe trot-
ter? Did he sit in side room and hold
a small audience spellbound with a Sc
lection from his adventures
Miss Rivers shrugged her shoulders.
Not he, but you know what Mrs.
Shelf is when she gets any show per-
son at one of her functions. He had
to stand 1t for while because she
hcl1 on to him as though he might
have been her fan. But he escaped as
soon as he decently could by saying
that he wanted to dance. He asked me
TO give him the fourth waltz l did
1t out of sheer pity, because i saw
Mrs. Shelfs thumbscrews were raaking
him writhe"
Shows how little man may know
about the girl he is engaged to. Now,
/ had always imagined that havi..g
the pick of the men, you invariably
wrote down the best dancers, and
never saddled yourself withpa stranger
who was a very possible duffer."
Amy Rivers laughed. That's gan
1lf or
night because Z am, so to speak, a
member Of the household here. A ward
counts as a sort OF q niece, doesn't she,
or between that and an adopted
daughter? But anyhow 1t was out of
sheer pity for Mr.. Cambel in the first
instance, and it was with distinct
qualms that let him take me down to
dance. quite intended after half a
round to say the room was too crowd
ed and go and sit somewhere. That is
to say, 1 made up my mind to do this
when he asked me.
However, when I dropped my fin
gers on his arm to go down stairs, l
had my doubts. You know after two
seasons one gets instinctively to know
by the first touch how a man will
dance. And when he put his arm
around me and we moved to the music
/. felt like going forever. Waltzing is
hard just now because it's in q transi-
tion state between two styles, but his
dancing was something to dream
about. We started off with the new
est quick waltz. Hamilton, 1t was just
lovely. He was so perfect that just
for experiment ! alter my step-by de-
grees, you know. Automatically, with
out anything being seen, he changed,
too, and we were dancing the old slow
glide before knew. And his steering
was perfect. In that whirltng, teem-
ing, tangled mob he never bumped me
once. / gave him two more legal
waltzes and cut another couple in his
favor"
(which makes five In ALL" said Fair
fax rathe stiffiy.
Amy Rivers took his hand and pat
ted 1t. Don't be cross dear You
know I love q good dance, and one
doesn't meet a partner like Mr.. Cam
bel every day. 1 suppose he's done
his waltzing in Vienna and Paris and
Yorkshire and New Orleans as well as
here In London, and by averaging them
all up he can't help but be good"
''Is 1t from going to those places that
Mrs. Shelf called him the great
traveler?'
"Of course not. Hamilton. how
stupid you are about him! Why, he's
rummaged about in every back corner
of the world, SO they say"
buktu. But what does he say himself
about his wanderings beyond the tram
lines? Shuffles mostly, doesn't he?
And who's met him anywhere? Not a.
soul who will come forward to speak.
/ tell you, Amy, there's something un-
canny about this Patrick Cambel. He
turns up here periodically in London
after some vague exploring trip to a
place which isn't mapped, and you can
never pin him to tell exactly where
he's been. He comes with money,
spends 1t en- prince and then goes off
again, nominally perhaps to the Cobb
desert. and returns with another
cargo"
How romantic!" said Miss Rivers.
Yes, isn't it?" said her fiance dryly.
IF he'd lived a century earlier, one
would have said he'd got a sound bus
iness connection as pirate some-
| where West Indies way. AS this year
| is 1898 and that explanations barred,
one simply has to accept him as an
uncomfortable mystery"
Hamilton, how absurd you are!
Wherever did all this rigmarole come
| from?"
From the club and London gossip
ing places generally. / suppose we
ought to be indebted to Cambel for
providing us something to talk about"
| But, tell me, II his antecedents are
| 80 queer, no" - IL ne goes ABOUT SO
much here2 He's apparently asked
! everywhere-at least so Mrs. Shelf says
and he knows everybody who's worth
| knowing" -.. ..a
Fairfax laughed. why does London
society take UP with an ex-bushranger
from Australia or a glorified advertis-
ing cowboy from the wild, wild west ?
Simply because London society Is ex-
tremely parochial and gets desperately
bored with its own little self undiluted
Now, Cambel has undoubtedly wan
casionallY he lets drop hints which
makes one guess he's seen some queer
Ssh rough and tumbles in places where
polite society doesn't go, and, In fact
preserves good humored reticence