Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1912-03-08
CHAPTER 1.

one of those days whose sole function
seems to reside In reno ering us irri-
tably conscious of our too-close cas-
1ngs of too-solid flesh; whose humid
and inert atmosphere, sodden with
tepid moisture, clings palpably to the
body, causing men to feel as If they
crawled. half-suffocated, at the bot
tom of sea of rarefied water.
The hour may have been eight; it
may have been not quite that, but it
was almost dark The windows were
oblongs, black as night in the yellow
walls Of O'Rourke's bedchamber in the
Hotel dOrient, Monte Carlo.
have the honor to make known
to you the O'Rourke of. Castle
O'Rourke in the county of Galway,
Ireland; otherwise and more widely
known as Colonel Terence O'Rourke;
a chevalier of the Legion of Honor of
Trance; sometime an officer in the
Foreign Legion in Algiers; wander
err, spendthrift, free-lance, cosmopol-
ite-a OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES he's been
termed
glare of half a dozen electric bulbs dis
covered him all but ready for public
appearance-not,h however, quite ready.
In his shirt sleeves he faced a cheval-
glass, pluckily (if with the haggard
eye Of e&asperation) endeavoring to
Outmaneuver d demon of inanimate
perversity which had entered into his
sumo, for all his coaxing and his STRAIT
agems, that effect of nonchalant per-
lection so much sought after, so sell
dom achieved.
Patiently was the thing possessed
by devil; O'Rourke made no manner
of doubt of that. Though for minutes
at time he fumbled, fidgeted, fumed
it was without avail.
His room itself was in a state of
considerable Notwithstanding due
mainly to O'Rourke's characteristic eff
forts so find just what he might hap
pen to desire at any given time With
out troubling to think where it ought
properly to be-
Something of this confusion, mir
rored in the glass, was likewise re-
Elected in O'Rourke's eyes, what time
he paused for breath and profanity.
Faith, it's worse than DAVIS nest,
the place." he admitted, scandalized.
How ever did lone lone man-do
all that, will We be telling me?" He
flung out two helpless baffled hands,
and let them fall. After a meditative
fhof
tian!"-with reference to his latest
and least competent valet, who had
out recently been discharged with
flea in his ear and a months uuearn-
ed wage In his pocket. For knowing
me ways" sighed O'Rourke, there
was never anyone the like of Danny.
For as many as three livelong days
This man had been reduced to the ne
cessity of dressing himself with his
own fair hands-and that at least
thrice daily, who did nothing by
halves. And, somehow, mysteriously.
his discarded garments had for the
most part remained where he had
thrown them, despite the earnest eff
forts of the femme de chambre to re-
store something resembling order from
this man-made chaos For servants
all liked we'll the O'Rourke, improvi-
dent soul that he was, freehanded
to a fault.
you are invited TO picture to your
self O'Rourke as invariably he was
In one of his not infrequent but ever
transient phases of affluence: that is,
. very magnificent figure indeed
standing a bit over six feet, deep OF
chest and lean of flank, with his long,
straight legs he looked what he had
been meant to be, man of arms and
cotton His head was shapely, Its
dark hair curling the least IN the
world: and, incredibly stained. trans
.,orent brown, his features were lean,
aoger and rendered very attractive
nv ouick boyish eyes in whose warm
hIue-gray depths humor twinxled
more--often than not. though those
same ewes were not seldom thought
tuI trace wistful. perhaps. with
+be look of one who recalls dear mem
cries old friends and sweethearts
-, o,5 lost For he had
,,,s,,n tn live early in life and had
,,uch to look back upon. though for
~ that it's doubtful If he were more
than thirty at the time he became IN
,volved in the fortunes of the Pool
of Flame.
For the rest of him. barring the re-
sroctory tie. the man was strlklngiy
we'll groomed, while his surroundings
.,,ota for comfortable circumstances.
on the authority of the absent and re-
oretted Danny. who had long served
tbe O'Rourke in the intimate capacl-
.;as of oody-servant. confidant and
Dranca,lor of the exchequer (this last,
- course. whenever there happened
- be any exchequer to require a cnan a,
,1Ior1 there was never anyone d. al