Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1911-08-16
THE CHEVALIER.
By C. B. LEWIS

breast the instincts and sentiments
Of cheValier of old, the speaker
would have been suspected as up to
some confidence game. And yet he
would have been right. James Pen
nington did not know himself. Those
instincts and sentiments were lying
dormant and waiting, like newly
planted Early Rose potatoes, for their
chance to grow and expand.
Even the chevalier stunt comes to
him who waits, and though it had lain
in ambush for many long years, it
finally appeared in the open. Business
called him to Liverpool, and he went
to Montreal to take one of the slow
steamers to that famous port Friends
of his warned him against many
perils, but strangely enough they for
got to warn him against the main
one. His steamer had not sailed yet
when he made the acquaintance of
Miss Elite Clay. 1t was one of those
simple events that are always occur
ring aboard of a passenger steamer,
even when she is fast to her dock
The lady dropped her handkerchief on
deck and he picked it up and restored
it, and 10! they were acquainted. 1t
was not until several hours later, how
ever, that the young lady gave him
her confidence. Then she was rather
forced to do so. The passage had
been booked for her aunt and her.
self, and some dreadful accident must
have detained the aunt at the last
moment. Indeed, until the steamer
was miles down the river, it was be-
lieved that her relative was on
board.
The captain was of course appealed
to, but he could do nothing Owners
and officers of ocean liners do not
know aunts from uncles, and the tears
and sobs of nieces have no effect on
them Miss Clay's Aunt Sarah must
come on the next boat or give up the
trip Miss Clay herself must wipe her
weeping eyes and prepare them ready
to see whales and icebergs. She must
cOnfide in some one, and why not in
Chevalier Pennington? AS they sat
together in the moonlight she did not
hesitate to tell him that she had read
romance, courage and nobility of char
ncter in his face at first glance. Mr..
Pennington, in his home city, was
carrying on the business of selling
sand, lime and guano at wholesale and
retail, and the compliments of the
young lady at his side made his heart
swell, determining him to buy some
adjacent property and add the cement
business Days afterwards, when he
came to think of that moonlight talk
on deck, he could remember that he
told Miss Clay all there was to tell,
even to his stealing eggs when a boy,
whole lot she had really told him
nothing.
1t cannot be truthfully said that Mr.
Pennington fell in love at first sight,
or that he fell in love at all. He had
got into the rut of the sand, lime and
guano business, and he was not man
who cared for changes. Miss Clay did
not seek to arouse his love. She want
ed to look on him as her chevalier
and knight for the yoyage-the sturdy
oak from the shores of Lake Erie to
which the clinging vine might cling,
and that's how that moonlight night
settled things.
Almost within a day it was under
stood by all that Mr.. Pennington and
Miss Clay were old acquaintances, and
that when the aunt was first missed,
he had volunteered to jump overheard
and swim back and tell her that she
had missed the boat He did not do
any bOasting in regard to himself, but
Miss Clay, who seemed perfectly at
home and made acquaintance right
and left, called general attention to
his many noble qualities. She was so
persistent about this that the purser
felt that he had made a great mis-
take in not seating the man at the
captains table
The steamer did not collide nor
founder nor attempt to stand on her
head. She went ahead in a manner
that called out encomiums, and ev.
erybody was happy. Mr.. Pennington
found himself in full charge of Miss
Clay, and both of them rather liked
the situation The sturdy oak braced
himself, and the clinging vine chung
At the end of the third day, however
something descended upon the decks
of that ship with a flop. 1t was as
If a farmer had thrown a summer
squash against the port side of an
old brindle COW. One of the lady
passengers had missed three diamond
rings and a bracelet from her state.
room. They try to keep all such mat.
tiers still on shipboard, which is the
reason why they are speedily known
to all
There was talk, and talk and more
talk, and then the theft was of course
laid to a steward Of the ship and
nothing more done about it.
Next day two other rings were
missing, and on the next a bracelet
and 500 in bills. Then the passengers
began to sit up and take notice. and
every woman had suspicion in her
eye as she looked at her neighbor
There was a thief aboard, and with
great unanimity it was declared that
the said thief must be a female. The
stewardesses were given the third
degree by the captain without avail