The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-06-11
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Cornoyer remarked, somewhat
stiffly, as Quaintance looked over
at the 1ovial stranger, q tall.
broad-shouldered man, brown
faced, alert, bluff1y at his ease,
and yet, In some intangible aspect,
out OF tone with the rest of the
Quaintance took quick
Inward exception to him.
The unknown nodded to him,
and, approaching Quaintance, said:
81. Us genuine SPORT" he ex-
claimed. "I'm going to get him to-
put me up for membership here.
A den like this Is Just what need.
to drop into when I'm In town. Is
there a card room upstairs, ]. J.?"
Cornoyer replied civily, and. In
the interval, Quaintrance turned to
to escape the too genial
outsider. The others had gathered
into groups, all talkink, listening
among themselves. OFFER
raj drew his friend toward one of
these. and Quaintrance might have
forgotten the couple behind him
but for stray sentences which
reached him from their direction
and which he could not but over
hear. "And, say, j. j." the stran-
ger exclaimed, blatantly regardless
of his hosts politely uninterested
pose, including the rest of the
room in a rakish wink, 81 met a
peach, a pippin, last night on my
way in from Long Beach. I give
my word that she was the pick of
the basket. a full-blown American
Beauty and ripe to the minute.
"She was driving her own little
car, and 1t had broken down Just
as / came along-a Cadillac
He lowered his voice, and the
rest of his story was almost in
audible. But all could hear the
coarse chuckle with which 1t con-
and Quaintance's blood
boiled at the thought that 1t might
have been the distressed damsel in
whom he himself was so deeply in
terested who had fallen into the
clutches of this obnoxious boor.
He sat still, till he had simmer
ed down sufficiently to interrogate
the offender unmoved, and, turn
ing found that Cornoyer and he
had left the room.
I'D like to have a few words
with Cornoyer's friend" he ex-
planned in apology and moved to-
ward the door.
O'Ferral followed him.
They're probably in the card
ROOM" said he. .I'll take you up.
D'you know the fellow.
Quaintance hurriedly told him
the story he had overheard, and
O'Ferral frowned.
"I'1l have to talk with J. j." he
growled, about bringing a loafer
Of that sort here. But keep cool,
Steve. Don't lose your temper. It
may not have been the same girl"
The cardroom, however, was
empty, and neither Cornoyer nor
the other was to be seen in the
library.
billiard ROOM" said o'Ferral,
and they Owed downstairs again;
but with no better result.
Quaintance uttered grunt Of
disgust when the hall boy said
that Mr.. Cornoyer and his friend
had gone, and when, on an IN
spiration, he turned up the Wis
itors' book, he gave vent to a. still
louder ejaculation, one still more
strongly indicative of disconnected
surprise.
O'Ferral came across to him,
and, peering over his shoulder,
read a line at the foot of a full
page, which said:
Stephen Quaintance - intro
duced by. J. Cornoyer."
He turned. to look wryly at
O'Ferral, and O'Ferral. forehead
wrinkled, returned his glance
with just suspicion of a lurking
smile. Quaintance closed the book.
The two turned upstairs again,
and scarcely had they disappeared
when Cornoyer came in.
"a nice sort of namesake
Steye!" commented O'Ferral,
steering his friend toward a quiet
corner. cts probably Just as
we'll that - Here's ]. j. again!
Let's hear what he has to say for
himself.
"Well ]. j.? You're a nice sort
or
Cornoyer came forward, his
face expressing most abject peni-
tence.
IT have put my foot into the
hot water, right up to the elbow"
said he once more, "but / did not
know that he was not a gentle
man. And SO asked him here to
luncheon. And it was not possible
then to turn him away from the
door. But I have given him the
mitt, o'Ferral, as quick as I
could"
"All right, I'm not complain
ing. But - since he was here I
wish you had kept him a few min
utes longer. Qu-er-Newman
wanted a few words with him."
"I couldn't help hearing some
mart of his conversation" said
Quaintance. what was the end
of his story about some girl he
met in a motorf"
Cornoyer. looked much relieved.
His features instantaneously
changed to a mask of the most
profound contempt.
"Paffl" said he. "He told me
she kissed him--and he let her
CO."
Quainance's face flushed darkIy.
"D'you know where he lives?"
he demanded.
s'Tell us all you know about
him, J. j." supplemented O'Fer-
raj.
But the information to be OBJ
tanned from Cornoyer was all too
meager and Quaintance had to
forego. for the present, his almost
overpowering ambition to thrash
his unworthy namesake.
Cornoyer had come across him,
he sorrowfully explained, At an all
night cafe uptown. They two had
been simultaneously Inspired to
improve on the program, but, the
management not approving Of