The daily Alaskan., 1907-05-06
A Compromised Fee
Original

rigorous than ID tue uOll4. AAg NAet cry agitation was on, and the north erner found making au entry either socially or professionally slow work. But there is one field In which at the age of tweuty-three progress is never sIow-the field of love. Otis and An tofuette Le Bert the daughter of sugar planter, met. and their hearts fused as readily us if there was no war cloud gathering between their respective sections.
 But while Autojuette's futher had no objection to Ous on account of be ing a u0rtheruer. he had serious ob- jectiOus to him on account of his pow erty. for the young man on his ar rival at his new home had not SlOO in the world. Nevertheless Mir Le Bert was friendly to his daughters lover probably because Otis was too manly to pay court to girl he was not able to marry. Indeed, Otis con sIdered marriage with Miss Le Bert as impossible as did her father Mir Ie Bert gave him what little law busi- Cess he had and was impressed with the ingenious methods the young man employed to gain hIs ends.
 One day AIr. Le Bert placed col lection for a goodly sum in the law yer's hands and in doing so said to him:
 "Ie Grand BOuvier, who owes me this debt. Is a fire eater of the worst kind. He hates a uortheruer as he hates snakes. He is a duelisL a dead shot. and has killed several men under the code duellO. There is no lawyer hereabout who will take the collection. The amount is Sl2OOO. If you will find a way to force or persuade him to pay lt you shall have half for fee. But remember y1u must exercise the great est care not to offend hjm, for if you do he will challenge you. and if you re- Fusr him satisfaction sentiment here will be against yoU and you will have to 20 elsewhere. Besides, do not care to antagouize Le Grand Bouvier my self-not that l fear him. but We south eruers consider 1t beneath Us to press claim for debt. especially from one or our own class"
 Otis took the papers in the case and said that be would look into it. He neither spoke to AIr L. Bert about it nor Mir. Le Bert to him tin one morning week later when the client rushed Into Otis office with a letter in his hand and threw it down before him. thread:
 sir-I have received an insulting letter from. a vourE gutter sutpa from the north damandIrg payment of my Indebtedness to you. ln which he uses the word dead beat and accuses me ot having obtained your property under false pretenses.. J desire 60 know f you assume respoUsiolI' ity for the puppys insults. l have the honor t6 be vour most abad.enr servant,
 LE GRAND BOyNIER
 Le Bert expected to see Otis pale when he read the letter, but he did not He wrote on the face of it:
 My note was written without the knowl. edge of MT. Le Bert, and I alone am re- sponsloIe for iL OLIVER OTIS.
 Handing it back to Le Bert, he re sumed the work at which be was en- gagged as if nothing unusual had oc- cured.
 Are you aware" asked Le Bert ''what this means?
 Perfectly"
 "yery we'll If you want to get a hole in yOu, go aheud.'
 That evening a gentleman with very black hair and eyes who spoke softly the creole dialect called upon Otis with a demand for satisfaction on the part of Bouyier. Otis asked if he would be expected 10 fight under the Louisiana code. The visitor said that his principal was so eurUged that he would fight under any code, where upon Otis said that in some states the code especially stipulated that there should be no meeting between two persons wherein one owed the other money; that he was personally Interest ed In the debt due from Mir. BOuyiera therefore his challenger was his debt or. He could not accept any challenge from Mir. BOuyier until the debt had been paid.
 The visitor departed, and nothing more was heard Of the affair for ten days. when Mr. Le Bert received a check for the full amount of his claim with interest. The payment had not been made five minutes when NIT. Bouyier's second called ot Otls' office. AIr. Le Bert came in at the same mo, ment with his check. The second pO- lltsly informed Orls that, there being nothing in the way of tue meeting, his principal expected it would take place without delay.
 Then Otis placed his hand on his heart made a profound=bow and said:
 May I ask you to convey to MT Bouvter my sincere and humble opol- ogy? l supposed him to be what l called him, but I see I was mistaken. I have proof in the payment of this ! debt that he is an honorable man." The creole looked surprise through l his soft black eyes, bowed, turned and ! left the office. And that was the last ! of the prospective duel between Oliver ! Otis and Le Grand Bouyier. Th8t afternoon Mir. Le Bert sent