The Southern herald., 1912-04-19
CHAPTER 1.

tA9A9 NlAeN4Juc VI NuE lVV-Clusc taS-
tags Of too-solid flesh; whose humid
and inert atmosphere. sodden with
tspid moisture. clings palpably to the
body. causing men to feel as il they
orAWled. half-suffocated, at the bot
tom Of a sea Of rarefed water.
The hour may have been eight; It
may have been not quite that. but 4
was almost dark The windows were
cblongs. black as night IN the yellow
walls OF 0'Rourke's bedchamber In the
Hotel d'Orient. Monte Carlo.
I have the honor to make known
b you the O'Rourke OF Castle
O'Rourke in the county of Galway,
Ireland; otherwise and more widely
known as Colonel Terence ORourke;
4 ehevalier Of the Legion OF Honor OF
France; sometime an officer in the
Foreign Legion in Algiers; wander
or, spendthrift. free-lance, eosmopol-
its-a gentleman-adventurer, he's been
termed.
He was. dressing for dinner. The
glare OF half dozen electric bulbs dis
covered him all but ready for public
!. appearance-not, however, quite ready.
In HIS shirt sleeves he faced cheval-
glass. pluckily (if with the haggard
eye Of exasperation) endeayoring to
outmaneuver a demon OF inanimate
perversity which had entered into his
dress tie, melting It to refuse to as
sumo. for all his coaxing and his STRAIT
Agems. that effect Of nonchalant per
fection so much sought after, so sell
dom achieved.
Patiently was the thing possessed
by devil; O'Rourke made no manner
n0uDI OF Lnal. 4AiVuSaa
at a time he fumbled, fidgeted, funs,,
II was without avail.
His room itself was In a state Of
considerable disorder-something due
mainly to 0'Rourke's characteristic ef
forts to find just what he might hap
pen to desire at any given time with
cut troubling to think whe.e It ought
properly to be.
Something Of this confusion, mir
rored In the glass, was likewise re-
hected In o'Rourl.s's eyes, what time
he paused for breath and profanity.
Faith, It's worse than a davis nest,
the place" ne admitted, scandalzed.
How ever did lone lone man--do
al that, will ye be telling me-" He
hung out two helpless baffled hands,
and let them fall. After a meditative
pause he added Damn that Alsa-
danl"-with reference to his latest
and least competent valet, who had
but recently been discharged with
hca In his ear and months unearn-
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 mRn had been reduced to the ne
eeEslty 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 ef.
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
70 q fault.
Yoa are invited to picture to your
psIf O'Rourke as invariably he was
in ore Of his not infrequent but ever
tranftent 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
action. His head was shapely, Its
dark hair curling the least in the
world; and, incredibly stained, trans
parent brown, his features were lean,
eagOE, and rendered very attractive
BY quick boyish eyes In whose warm
BAuer8Ehy uSptun nuulOt JHAhhlCu
more often than not, though those
same eyes we're not seldom thought
fuI, trace wistful, perhaps, with
The look OF one who recalls dear mem.
ories, old friends and swOethearts
loved and lost. For he had
begun to live early in life and had
much to look back upon, though for
ali that It's doubtful If he we're more
than thirty at the time he became in,
vowed In the fortunes Of the Pool
Of Flame.
Tor the rest OF him, barring the re
frAct0ry tio. the man was strikingly
well groomed, while his surroundings
spoke FOR comfortable circumstances
On the authority Of the absent and re-
@fetted Danny, who had long served
e O'Rourke in the intimate capacl
ii 5ody-servant, coniidant and
NsiIsF Of the exchequer (this last
vse, whenever there happened
vexehequer to require chan
..ta 4ssaa 4.auo4t ox,vnno AZ all