Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-09-05
CHAPTER V

all kinds of failures in life and all kinds
of successes-the poor genius who dis
patches himself in an attic, and the
financial magnate. The Vicomte de Va
lair was one of those gentlemen who
might be placed in the latter category.
At bound he had risen from COMPARE
tive obscur:ty to sudden wealth and such
social position as his title, having its
source in the king of the Belgians, could
insure him in a society which cared rath-
er more for good dinners than old blood
The Vicomte de Valiar's great hit had
been the successful floating of the City
and Suburban Messenger Company. Lon
don had refused to accept this scheme,
preferring TO send its servants out into
the rain and ruin its liveries to having
a little instrument in the house by which
to summon at a trifiing charge a messen-
ger, doctor or cab. De Valiar, with
an eye keen as a hawk, had watched the
career of the enterprise in the English
metropolis He saw that it was insult
ed to the phlegmatic and exclusive tenn
permanent of the Briton. In the Ameri-
can colony at Paris alone was to be
found a successful field for its opera
tons.
The projectors of the London com
pany, Americans, were glad enough to
sell the French patents. They even
laughed IN their sleeves at the vicomte,
as they pocketed his cash, regarding him
already as a ruined man. At the same
time they could not help admiring his
audacity The Vicomte de Valiar was
audacious, and he displayed consummate
tact in putting his scheme before the
public. He opened a large and snowy
office. He subsidized the most venal of
the Paris newspapers; he pulled thou
sand strings Then, when all was ready,
he opened his subscription books. Hun
dreds came to his office, rang up a mes,
senger, and having subscribed, called ND
q cab on the queer little buzzing instru-
ment, and departed rejoicing in their
hearts that there were such. enterprising
men in existence as the Vicomte de Va
liar.
All that was five years ago. Once
foated, the vicomte had promptly with
drawn himself from the messenger enter
prise, and invested the increased capital
which that speculation had brought him
in the Mutual Credit and Trust Com
pany. A very limited number of shares
of this concern had been offered TO tba
public Such was the prestige of the
vicomte's name that they had been sub-
scribed for over and over again in a very
few hours.
But it was not alone in the field of
business that de Faliar had achieved
such remarkable success. The vicom-
Jesse was brilliant, dark-eyed. handsome
woman, whom de Valiar claimed to have
met abroad during his travels in the West
Indies Martinique, rumor had it. Her
entertainments were much sought after.
and who shall say that she was not a
useful and excellent helpmeet? If .
wealthy subscriber wavered. an invita-
ton to the house where they could teux
the matter over almost invariably result
ed in the closing of the transaction It
was not possible that man with sucb
an establishment-above all such a wife
could go wrong. If the vicomte's idea
Of an Office was rather loud one. the
undoubted good taste of his wife cor
rected these things at home.
Those deep blue eyes of the vicomtesse
were not the only attraction at the de
Valiar mansion There was always high
play for those who relished that kind of
thing. and a sprinkling of those ladies
whom such q woman as the de Valiar.
as she was Familiarity called at the clubs,
would be sure to gather around her. They
were women of great personal attractions.
some of them Divorces, others on the
high road to that enviable state the
quasi-separat;on, which leaves the wife in
position to enjoy herself without dan
ger of comment, and supplies her, under
the French law, moreover, with the means
of doing 80.
Of the many frequenters of the vicom-
tesse's establishment in the Avenue Wag-
ram perhaps NJ. Jules Chabot was as well
come a guest as any. His undoubted re-
spectability made him an exceedingly de-
sirable acquaintance. NJ. Chabot, on the
other hand, liked the free-and-easy at
mosphere of the de Valiar mansion De
| Valiar was a man who always had some
young, rich fool dangling after him, de-
sirous of seeing life. A certain portion
of the money only of these innocents
could be diverted to the innumerable and
mysterious uses of the Mutual Credit
and Trust Company. They were then at
forded an opportunity of losing the resi-
due at the card tables in the Avenue
Wagram.
Many, doubtless, who trequented the
vioomte's establishment were totally I'M
aware of the risks they ran. These were
rarely suffered to go behind the curtain.
N. Chabot wss one Of those who had for
| some time not been admitted to the priv
ileged circle without great care. To do
him justice, it is highly probable that if
| the veil had been removed all at once, he
| would have ceased his visits altogether.
BE lived in bachelor apartments. Pro
| foundry impressed with a sense Of his
J personal dignity, he sudeavored on veg