Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1912-09-20
He answered me with a listless IN. |


concern, still looking after the de-
parting Pietro, IT is not to be avoid.
ed" he said. Let the man sign it
and pay his debt to the bank
L caught helplessly at the last straw
floating out from my disastrous ship
wreck; What them" / said.
What them" he repeated, with the
same indolent indifference. why,
then, there will be another day tomor-
row."
And he went out of the room and
up to his bedchamber, where the ST
lent Pietro made ready for his eccen-
trio master.
I had long talk that night with
Pietro. He had a cousin in Polian-
no, a village about league from &C.
noa, where the Mediterranean makes
a little sunny pocket. The place. he
| thought, ran with General Cruger's
! dream of the Riviera, the bay was
| paved with topaz, the far-off back Of
the sea wine-red, as in the days of
Homer, the air soft as down-only the
/ natives were not to be desired They
| were picturesque enough for theatric
1 eye, but they were very dirty, very
| stout liars, and all sons of the forty
| thieves. His cousin, Guido, was no
| better than the worst of them, but he
kept a very comfortable inn, if the
| fleas in it were only dead. His wife,
Gabrielle, had once been in the service
| Of the old Marquis Ferretti at Genoa
and knew how to serve gentleman.
Pietro would write to this cousin
and drive bargain for every detail
of General Cruger's needs.
There was no comfort to be had
a Baedecker, some current fiction on
Italy, and, taking the evilfated mort
gage in my pocket, went to Cliffcourt
the next evening.
/ I almost cried when I saw Gen
eral Cruger, his face was so greatly
troubled. He looked white and feeble.
an old man in two days.
He tried to make a little genial
| talk at dinner, and get back into his
| old CHEEKY SELF But it was an effort
he gave up presently with rather
bitter smile.
Mr.. Parks" ne said, when we were
again in the .ii5-G-yy, Victor Hugo once
said that bad fortune always grew
| worse, and pretended it a quotation
from the Sybilline books. He believed
| that Destiny, when it seized a man,
| always hurried him from one disaster
/ to another until it flung him, finally,
| into the grave. The first blow was not
always the one to be wept over. It
was the second, the third, that he
| feared. Well, here is the second"
He took up letter from the mantel
and drew out the sheets as though he
would read it to me; then he sat down
in his chair still holding the sheets
| in his fingers.
'I got this letter yesterday from
Emily. It was written from the St.
Louis as she went out to sea, and
brought in by the pilot
He stopped moment and sat star
| ing into the fire, as if caught by some
vagrant memory. Then he read the
letter.
It was happy letter, charmingly
put, full of tenderness for the old IA
/ ther in hie lonely house, carrying lit
tie directions to him, little messages
which he should deliver, little duties
he must perform.
He folded the letter and laid it on
the table. Then he spoke with the dis
| tinctness of one going firmly to his
| ruin. Italy was now out OF tia Qnes-
ton; he must remain and get employ
ment somewhere. But, first, this bust
ness with the bank must be cOnclud-
ed He would go up to the city with
me in the morning, execute the mort
/ gage and take up the note. He did
not ask me about my conference with
/ Randolph Mason, and so was spared
| the recital of that failure. When the
candles burned down, slept again
| in the guest-chamber above the IL
| brary, but no aid came through the
gate of dreams. Hope had abandoned
| this derelict to the seas.
| We went into the VOLTS bank at ten
o'clock the next morning. General Cru
ger executed the mortgage, and no
| tary Of the bank filled in the prepared
acknowledgment below his signature.
The bonds were delivered to the sec
rotary of Myron Gates, the money
| paid by him to General Cruger, who
| delivered the cash to the bank and got
the note stamped paid" Then, when
the transaction was concluded, we had
| luncheon at club and / returned to
/ lower Broadway after having promised
| General Cruger to meet him for dinner
| at the Holland.
When entered the house. Randolph
| Mason was coming down the stairway.
He inquired what business had taken
up the morning, and told him. as bit
terly as could, the sequel to my 9th
er story. General Cruger was now
penniless, Myron Gates had boarded
| his galleon and sailed away with its
cargo without a shot at his black flag
| or the hack Of cutlass on his gun
wales. He was over the horizon with
-.