The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1912-09-06

Madame" he said, "a rubber OF whist
could not be safer"
Then" said the woman, 81 bid you
good. morning"
A little snow was falling. and I &C.
companied Miss Caroline Pickney 70
Bishop Simonton's carriage, tucked in
the skirts OF her great coat and closed
the door. ! think she must have tax.
en- me for a sort Of upper servant,
since she gave no evidence OF my pres
ence. except a stately nod at the car.
riage window.
Here was a fine bundle of mysteries,
coupled with the direction OF Mason
10 &c out and find Madame versay.
Find an unknown variety actress, only
the DEVILS imps knew where. Such
birds had no marked tree 10 roost in:
besides, this person was probably Mad
m Gladys by now, or Estelle some.
thing or other. I could not 60 back
TO Mason for further light. He would
stare at me and walk away. My di.
rections were accurate; find Madame
Nersay first and then go to Richmond.
! turned up the collar OF my great
coat, and went down for a conference
with the omniscent Scally. found
him directing commerce with the ges.
lures Of a Roman praetor. l darted
past the row Of cabs 10 his island of
safety and seized his hand. A mo-
ment later, when the tide had passed,
he took my bill from between the fin.
gers Of his glove and held IL under his
broad thumb: then he smiled benignly.
"Misther Parks" he said, "'tis the
speed limit you are after wishin' to
eSceed?"
mo" I said; 81 am the King Of the
Golden Mountain on the quest of a
fairy"
go along; you're foolin'," he said.
by no means" I answered: II want
to find Madame Versay."
He whistled softly. Madame Yer
say, is Il! It's only the devil that
knows where she is now, but where
she'll be at n tonight, it's Scally that
knows as we'll as the devil. In a dago
cafe on the Bowery, which is next door
10 Paddy Moran's dance hall, she will
be attn and drinkin' and carryin' on.
She's a bad one, this Madame Versay.
'Tis back to the tall weeds your friend
Scally would advise you to be goin'."
At half-past twelve that night, l
found Madame Versay, and the cafe
called "dago" by my friend Scally. II
was a fragment of Paris. transplanted
to the Bowery by Monsieur Popinot,
an oily. ~obsequious little creature from
the Montmartre. He came running out
TO the curb 10 bow me in-the com.
ing OF a hanson was an event.
He enumerated his wares with true
Latin enthusiasm. His caviare had
arrived that very day. II WIS mag.
nifque," and his wines! ali, monsieur,
he alone in all this raw land had
wines! His brother Anselem hunted
France, nosed II, fingered It, tasted 1t,
that he. Popinot, might have cham.
payne, fragrant like those little mead.
ows nesting at the foothills of the
Pyrenees. Burgundy. red like the pop
pies in the wheat fields of the Disc;
and absinthe-here language failed
him. He clasped his hands, 'Ravis-
sante, monsieur"
Madame Popinot, who presided over
the cash drawer by the door, beamed
upon me as / entered. She was a
daughter of the little shops along the
Seine, fat and vigilant, knowing in
stantly II the newcomer had the price
OF a glass of wine in his pocket. A
virtue Of the highest order to her;
doubtless the only n remaining.
I selected a little table by the wall,
and. not wishing to be poisoned, or
dred a bottle Of bass ale and and a
plate of dry biscuits, wiping out Po-
pinot's disgust with a generous tip.
The place was evidently a Bohemian
rendezvous Of a low order. The at
mosphere was e stencil OF tobacco and
sour wine. the floor was freshly sprink.
led with new sawdust. The chairs
and tables were of metal. Iron alone
could resist large primitive emotions
when they got In action. The crash
OF an elbow. the heave Of a heavy boot
tOt, Olu HUI WTcCk u WiTc CudlE. ~
could be Strengthened presently In the
crack Of a door. The place was fill
ing up with jetsam from the under
currents of New York. Gentlemen go
ing swiftly down to the sill Of the
world, beasts coming up from II, get
somehow into evening clothes, sat we'll
together under Monsieur Popinot's
many-colored lights. II was the de-
pravity Of Paris without a touch Of It's
seductive esprit. The naive. mischiev-
Gus greeting Of the Moulin Rouge and
the Folie Bergere, "Je vous Anne. DON
nez-moi cinQ francs" was not here.
This place vas m oak for crows. I
wondered on what limb Of Il perched
Madame versay.
I was about to summon the good
Popinot to my assistance, when q
young man, very drunk. came in. ac-
compenied by a woman in a superb
opera coat. They took the table OPP
posite to mine. The young man wore
a soft SLOUGH hat, which he promptly
threw on the door. Then he began to
hammer on the table with the ferrule