Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-02-27

| arrived from London the Qay preceu-
Ing and was leaving for Corfu on the
morrow, and perforce he must crowd
many things into this short grace Of
! time.
Today his sightseeing ended In the
| hall of Turenne. before the souvenirs
of the Due de Reichstadt, 80 called
the king of Rome. Poor, little lead
soldiers, tarnished and broken; what
a pathetic history! Abused. ignored
his childish aspirations trampled on.
the name and glory Of his father made
sport Of: worried as cruel children
worry puppy. tantalized. hoping
! against hope that this night or the
| next his father would dash In ut the
head OF the Old Guard and take him
back to Paris A plaything for Meter
mich. Who can gaze upon these little
toys without thrill Of pity2
"Poor little codger" Fitzgerald mur-
INJURED aloud.
"Yes. yes" agreed voice in good
English, over his shoulder. "Who will
ever realize the misery Of that boy?
Fitzgerald at once recognized his
jousting opponent Of the previous hour.
Further. this second appearance re-
freshed his memory. He knew now
where he had met the man; he even
recalled his name.
"Are you not Karl BreitmannT he
ooLod NTH dirocfneas
Eyes. And yon are-let me think.
Yes; l have It You are the American
correspondent. Fitzgerald%
"And we met in Macedonia during
the Greek war"
Fright! And you and ], with hand
full of other scribblers slept that night
under the same tent"
by George?'
~ did not recall you when we
bumped awhile ago. but once had
gone by you your face became singu'
larly familiar"
"Funny. isn't itr And Fitzgerald
took hold Of the extended hand. "The
sight of these toys always gets into my
heart"
Unto mine also. Who can say what
might have been had they not crushed
out the great spirit lying dormant In
his little soul?"
Fitzgerald smiled. "You are an en-
thusiast like myself"
"Who wouldn't be who has visited
every battlefield, who has spent days
wandering about Corsica. Elba. St
Helena? But your
"My word. ! have done the same
things"
They exchanged smiles and drifted
into q long conversation and fought q
dozen battles. compared this general
and that and built Idle fancies upon
what the outcome would have been
had Napoleon won at Waterloo. This
might have gone on indefinitely had
not the patient attendant finally dan
died his keys and yawned over his
watch. 1t was 4 o'clock. and they had
been talking for full hour. They ex-
changed cards. and Fitzgerald. with
his usual disregard Of convention, in
vited Breitmann to dine with him that
evening ut the Meurice.
He selected a table by the window.
dining at 7:30 Breitmann was prompt.
In evening clothes there was some
thing distinctive about the man. Fitz-
gerald, who was himself wide trav-
eler and man of the world, instantly
saw and was agreeably surprised that
he had asked gentleman to dine.
Fitzgerald was no cad; he would have
been Just as much interested in Brett
mann had he arrived In cutaway
sack. But chance acquaintances, as a
rule. are rudimental experiments.
They sat down. Breitmann was
full Of surprises. and as the evening
wore on Fitzgerald remembered
having seen Breitmann's name at the
foot of big newspaper stories. The
man had travelled everywhere. spoke
five languages. had been a war cor
respondent. q sailor in the sonth seas
and heaven knew what else. He had
ridden camels and polo ponies In the
Sudan, he had been shot IN the
Greco-Turkish war shortly after his
having met Fitzgerald. he had played
a part In the recent Spanish-Ameri-
can and had fought against the Eng
lish in the Transvaal.
"And now I am resting" he con-
.luded. IL nm thirty-eight. Into
twenty of those years I have crowded
a century"
"You don't look It"
"Ah, one does not need to dissipate
to live quickly. The life l have LED
has kept me In health and vigor. But
you? You are not man who travels
without gaining material"
T have had few adventures,
something like yours. only not so
widely diversified. wrote some sue
cessful short stories about China once.
have had some good sport, too. here
and there"
"You live well for newspaper cor
respondent" suggested Breitmann.
,odiing at the bottle Of twenty y-eight-
year-old Burgundy.
"Oh, it's a habit We Americans
have" amiably. I'VE rough 1t for
few months on bacon and liver and
then turn our attention to truf1es and
old wines and Cabanas at two francs
fifty. We are collectively good sort
Of yagabond. I have q little besides
INV work: not much, but enough to loaf
on when no newspaper or magazine
cares to pay my expenses In Europe
Anyhow, prefer this work to staying
home to be hampered BY intellectual
boundaries. My vest will never reach
the true proportions which would
make me successful In politics"
"You are luckier than I am" Brett
mann replied. He slipped bis wine
slowly and with relish. How long was
II since he had tasted a good chamber
tini
Perhaps Fitzgerald had noticed Il
when Breitmann came in. The latters
velvet collar was worn. there was
suspicious gloss at the elbows, the cum
buttons were Of cheap metal. his IN
gers were without rings. But the
American readily understood. There
are lean years and tat years IN jour