The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-02-01
The RoupeH Mystery
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BOSSlp OI SOClely, OF pfePdIcO W eoAA
cleverly on deeper topics. The dinner
was irreproachable. Had Cassagne's mind
not been so preoccupied he would doubt
less have enjoyed it. There are some
dinners money will not purchase.
I'VE are to have no cards, believe"
said the broker: that is the edict to-
night, is it not?''
YES" replied the vicomtesse, I'VE are
to have for once quiet evening hope
you will manage to amuse yourself.
There is Madame Froizart she will sing
you something, doubtless, if you ask
And you, madame
"Oh! for me, have reserved q special
treat for myself. | am going to show
Monsieur Lazare my Conservatives,
while he tells me something about peas
ant life in the Swiss mountains"
NJ. Lazare wandered under the palms
in the conservatory. 1t was but dimly
lighted A few colored lamps alone were
suspended from the glass roof of the spa
cious building, so spacious indeed that in
winter it appeared as garden, covered
with glass and so heated as to protect
the rare collection of plants and flowers
from the killing frosts.
There were little paths running here
and there. The vicomtesse led her guest
along one which took them to the very
center Of the building, where some lofty
palms reared their heads under the great
glass dome. There was a rustic bench
facing the FLASHING waters of the foun-
tain and sheltered from observation by
thick growth.
ho Nv Of of fha via
Her manner was the well-bred one Of
woman thoroughly accustomed to meet
men of all ages and dispositions, of all
minds and temperaments.
Monsieur de Valiar has gone to play
cards, feel convinced" she said, look
ing at Cassagne with her soft, liquid
eyes, "let us sit here and talk, you and
I. Do you know, it is a rare thing for
me to have quiet evening. Don't think
my husband discourteous. He has some
peculiar ways. He thinks he has dis
charged much of his duty as host when
he has given his guests good dinner,
and then everybody in this house feels
SO much at home. The world has treated
you very nicely" she continued, has it
not? My husband tells me you have
yet forty, should judge. Why don't
you go into politics and make a great
name? l think if had been a man
should have done So You should have
me talk to your friend Monsieur D'Au
buron.'
You think Monsieur D'Auburon has a
career before him?"
The vicomtesse laughed very merrily
indeed.
"A career-your friend Monsieur
D'Auburon. Why, no, he is far too lazy.
That is why we have had such interest
ing conversations. I have kept urging
upon him the necessity for exertion. He
maintains that work of any kind will
kill him.
"And yet when he visited me in Swift
of climbers. I had hard work to keep
up with him, can tell you"
II thought Monsieur D'Auburon had
never been in Switzerland. At any rate
l know he says he detests mountains"
Our friend possesses the rare merit
of being modest. Ask him about Chamou
nix and the Matterhorn when you next
see him. He can tell you few stories
which would surprise you. But let us
talk of more immediate things, madame.
Monsieur D'Auburon is not in Partisan
society, and just now I am particularly
interested in Partisan society. Your own
circle, for instance. You seem to have
drawn around you some charming people
the Colbert Remplins, for instance"
"You like them?'
fho hy,ch o nd 10 co inf
ed don't mean merely on matters of
finance, but on all topics. l was greatly
interested in what he was talking about
during dinner-the dissolution of your
second empire. By the way, what an
ideal lady of the court his wife, with her
white hair and aristocratic features,
would have made under the Third Napo-
Leon"
do you admire herr"
''Greatly-in a way. Is she not a
woman with history? She looks like
it,
The words were spoken SO quietly and
naturally, that though she started with
surprise at the directness of the uues-
ton, the vicomtesse could nd possibly
doubt her guests good faith in putting it.
YES" she replied, "she has a his
tory"
81 thought was right. I am read
err of. human faces in way. If l had
been asked, should have said, looking
at her, There is one who has suffered for
ambitions sake"
The vicomtesse turned around on the
bench, with half smile parting her
lovely lips, and said:
Really, Monsieur Lazafe, in addition
to your attachments as mountaineers, you
Swiss gentlemen seem to count that Of
undertaking. Do you know what you
say comes remarkably near the truth?'
Then lowering her voice, and first look
ing cautiously around, she added: ut is
not generally known, but it can do no
harm to tell you, who have guessed so
near the mark but Madame Remplin
sacrificed her heart to her ambitions.
You know what mean; you are man
of the world, monsieur. There was q
young man, with nothing but his profess
sion, whom she adored, Of course. There
was middle-aged man with fortune,
whom she tolerated at first, for the sake
OF the DOSitiOn he 3nvo her and loo r,ro7