Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-02
Septinus
A
BY WILLIAM J.LOCKE
Copyright, 1905. by the Phillips Publish
ing Company
Copyright, 1907, by John Lane Company
CHAPTER XIV.

If you travel on the high road which
skirts the cliff-bound coast of Normandy
you may come to board bearing the
legend "Hottetot-sur-Mer and a hand
pointing down a narrow gorge. If you
follow the direction and descend for half
q mile you come to a couple of villas,
humble cafe, some fishermen's cottages.
one Of which is also general shop and
a debit de tabac, a view of a triangle of
sea, and eventually to a patch of shingly
beach between two great bastions Of
cliffs. The beach itself contains a dim
inutive jetty, tiny fleet of fishing
smacks, some nets, three bathing ma
chimes joined together by ropes. on which
hang q few towels and bathing costumes.
dog. child or SO with spade and
bucket, two English maiden ladies writ
ing picture postcards. a Frenchman In
black reading a Rouen newspaper under
q gray umbrella, his wife and daughter,
and a stall of muSSelS presided over by
an old woman with skin like seaweed.
Just above the beach. on one side of the
road leading up the gorge, is a miniature
barn with red cupOla, which is the
Casino, and, on the other, long, mar
row, blue-washed building. with the words
written in great black letters across the
facade, "Hotel de Ia PLACE"
AS soon as Emmy could travel she I'M
plored Septimus to find her a quiet spot
Dy the sea Wnltner the IdshloidDle 10 nol
resort. Septimus naturally consulted
Hegisippe Cruchot Hegisippe asked for
time to consult his comrades. He re-
turned with news of an ideal spot. 1t
was village in the Pyrenees about six
thousand feet up in the air and forty
miles from q railway station. They could
shoot bears all day long. When Emmy
explained that village on the top of the
Pyrenees was not by the seaside, and
that neither she nor his aunt, Nine. Boil
IT, h. n <S<>,,
of bears. he retired somewhat crestfallen.
and went with his difficulties to An
geliQue, the young lady in the wine shop
in the Rue des TRANSFORMERS. An
gelique informed him that a brave sailor
on leave from his torpedo boat was in the
habit Of visiting the wine shop every
evening. He ought to know something
Of the sea. A meeting was arranged by
Angelique between Hegisippe, Septimus
and the brave sailor, much to Emmy's
sailor, after absorbing prodigious guam
titles OF alcohol and reviewing all the
places on the earth'S coastline from
Yokohama to ParisPlage, declared that
the veritable Eden by the sea was none
other than his native village Of Hottetot-
sur-Mer. He made a plan Of it on the
! table, two square packets of tobacco rep
resenting the cliffs. pipe stem the road
leading up the gorge, some tobacco dust
the beach. and some coffee Stops applied
Septimus came back to Emmy. Il have
found the place 1t is Hottetot-sur-Mer.
1t has one hotel. You can catch shrimpS,
and its mussels are famous all over the
world"
After consultation of a guide to Nor
mandy, on which Emmy's prudence in
sisted, they found the brave sailors facts
mainly correct and decided on HottetOt-
sur-Mer.
II will take you there. see that you are
comfortably settled and then come back
to Paris" said Septimus. You'll be
quite happy with Nine. Bolvard. won't
you?"
"Of course" said Emmy. looking away
from him. What are you going to do
in Paris all by yourself?'
"Guns." he replied. Then he added, re-
get out Of the Hotel Godet. I've been
there some time, and 1 don't know how
much to give the servants in tips. The
only thing is to stay on
Emmy sighed, just a bit wistfully, and
made no attempt to prove the futility of
his last argument. The wonderfully sweet
of life had come to her of late mingled
with the unutterably bitter. She was in
the state OF being when a woman &C
cepts, without question. Septimus then
went to the st. Lazare station to make
arrangements, and discovered an official
who knew a surprising amount about rail-
way travelling and the means Of bringing
a family from domicile to station. He en-
tered Septimus' requirements in a book,
and assured him that at the appointed
hour an omnibus would be waiting out
Septimus thought him person of mar
velous intellect and gave him five francs.
So the quaint quartet started in COM
foFt-Septimus and Emmy and Nine. Boil