The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-03-28
CASH OR CREDIT

Ia kfest hoHof' HI SuI u ~ w3S foiS
kind OF them to send you here. Where
is your luggage
Il am stopping at swans Hotel"
We shall have your things up this
very night"
OH said Ferraud, In protest;
though this was the very thing he
desired.
Not a word" The admiral sum
moned the butler. who was the gen.
erai factotem at The Pines. and gave
a. dozen orders.
All, you Americans laughed NJ.
Ferraud. pyramidtng his fingera You
leave u breathless."
You, book has delighted me. But
I'm a!Sraid my collection will not
pay you for your trouble"
THAT is for me to decide. My
South American specimens are all
seconds on tho other hand, you have
netted yours yourself"
And straightway a bond of friend
ship was riveted between these two
men which still remains bright and
untarnished by either absence or for
getfulness. They bent over the cases,
agreed and disagreed. the one with
the sharp gestures the other with
the rise and fall OF the voice. For
then nothing else existed: they were
truly engrossed.
Breitmann. hiding a smile that was
partly a yawn. stole quietly away.
Butterflies did not excite his con-
Germ in the least.
M. Ferraud was charmed. He was
voiuble. Never had he entered
more homelike place. large enough
to be called chateau. yet as cheer
full as writer's fire. And the daugh-
ter! Her French was the elegant
speech of Tours, her German Han
overiHn. Incomparable, And she was
not married? Helas! How many
luckless fellows walked the world
desolate? And this was NJ. Fitzger-
aid the journalist? And NJ. Brett
mann had also been one? How de-
lighted he was to be here. All this
flowed on with perfect naturalness:
there wasn't n false note anywhere
AT dinner he diffused a warmth and
geniality which were infectious Laura
was pleased and amused: and she
adored her father for these impulses
which brought to the board, unex-
pectedly, such men as NJ Ferraud.
NJ. Ferraud did not smoke. bat he
dissipated to the extent of drinking
three small cups OF coffee after din
ner.
You are right" he acknowledged
there had been a slight dispute
relative to the methods of roasting the
berry--"Europe does not roast its rof-
fee. II burns II. The aroma, the oou-
quet. / am beaten"
so am L. Fitzgerald reflected sad
ly, snatching vision Of the girls
animated face,
Three days he had ridden mo the
country with her, or played tennis
or driven down To the village ana In
spected the yacht. He had been lone
ly SO long and this beautiful girl was
such a good comrade. one moment
he blessed the prospective treasure
hunt. another he execrated it. To be
with this girl was TO love her: and
whittier this pleasurable idleness
would lead him he was neither blind
nor self-deceiving But with the semi
humorous recklessness which was the
leaven of his success, he thrust pru-
dence behind him and stuck to the
primrose path. He had played with
fire before. but never had the Goals
burned so brightly. He did not say
that she was above him; mentally
and by birth they were equals: sim
ply. he was compelled to admit OF
the truth that she vas beyond him.
Money, That was the obstacle. For
what man win live on his wifes boun-
ty: Suppose they found the treas
ure (apd with his old journalistic sus-
picion he was stiil skeptieaD, and
divided 1t; why. the interest on his
share would not pay for her dresses.
To the ordinary male eye her gowns
looked Inexpensive, but to him who
had picked up odd bits Of inrorma.
ton not usually in the pathway Of
man, to him there was no secret about
II. That bodice and those sleeves Of
old Venetian point would have eaten
up the gains or any three OF his most
prosperous months,
And Breitma'nn, dropping OCCASION
ally the ash of his cigarette on the
tres he. too, was pondering. But
his German strain did not make IL
so easy for him as for Fitzgerald to
give concrete form To his thought,
The star. as he saw II. had nebu-
lous appearance,
Mr.. Ferraud chatted galley. Usually
a man who holds his audience is of
single purpose. The little French
man had two aims: one, to keep the
conversation on subjects OF his own
selection. ana the other, 10 study
without being observed. Among one
OF his own tales tbutterflies) he told
OF q chase he once had made in the
mountains OF the Moors, In Abyssinia.
To illustrate IL he took up one OF
the nets standing in the corner. In
his cxcitable way he was a very
good actor. And when he swooped
down the net to demonstrate the
end OF the story. II caught ON a but
ton on Breitmann's coat.
Pardon" said N. Ferraud, with
a blithe laugh. THE butterfly was
AAa ~ 30 III