Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1912-06-13
HER GREAT
FEAR
By GERALD DAVIS

Colonel Rogers of Virginia was Il
man of the world. bachelor and an
excellent fellow at heart. though he
was only understood by his intimate
friends. No one ever thought of Rog-
ers as a husband or father As to
living with man, woman or child or
having his affairs mixed with those of
any one else than himself. the idea was
preposterous He was very fond Of
women's society and was popular with
them, but always in Il general. never in
a particular. way. He had reached the
age of fifty without any entanglements.
but was not disposed TO consider him
self "out of the woods so long as he
lived. His one aim was to so conduct
himself that no woman could get lin
advantage Of him. for though he nd
mired the sex. he held the theory that
no man could stand against any one Of
them either i'll duplicity or to prevent
sthe Accomplishment of amy purpose on
which she might have set her mind
Rogers was very fond of play-that
is, among gentlemen. He never played
at gambling house. Indeed he once
spent a week ut Monte Carlo without
investing il franc Il never play to
make money" he said II play only
a gentleman's game for the purpose of
passing the time"
Rogers went TO Paris and was intro
duced at an aristoeratic club there
One night st social game he won
from young man named I,utan some
ten or Twelve thousand francs The
amount expressed in the French coin
age sounds large, but 1t was 4 little
over $1,000 sutan WIS understood to
be well off aud did not seem 20 take his
loss to heart and as for rogers, there
was nothing uraSnal IN his winning or
losing SUI an alnonnt ii any time
The settlement was made By Rutan's
paying lsYers his winnings in new
crisp bills Of LOCO francs denomina-
ton
The next morning Rogers was sit
ding III the reading roo:n Of his hotel
seeming newspaper when u waiter
announced to liip hat a lady desired
to see hihi in ii re option parior
~ lady 10 see me-. exclaimed the
colonel Are you sure you nave come
to the tiphi aJany
"She wishes TO see Colonei Rogers of
Virginia
Being the only aud original Rogers
of Virginia the colonel raised himself
from his comfortable leather covered
chair and followed the servant TO the
lady He found !. very attractive look
ing person about thirty years old. but
4 with Il worried expression on her face.
Colonel Rogers | believe" she be-
/ gan in toerable En- lish.
cat your service. madame"
"You won last night from my hus
band 10000 francs?"
81 believe | did. madame. win some
money from Mr. Rutan."
Would you mind taking from me in
! place of the notes he gave You other
notes to Il similar amount?"
II would gladly do anything to oblige
I you, madame. but would like to be
enlightened as to the reason for the
/ change
And | would not think of permit
4 ting you 20 10 me favor without civ
ing you some inking as to the cause
/ have always heard that the chivaly
of americans toward our sex comes
largely from you southerners. Every
I one knows what may be expected from
I Colonel Rogers of Virginia
i The colonel bowed
Il will trust you with the secret on
4 that account | know it Will remain
with you My husbands father is
4 wealthy. and my husband has hing
i | have. fortunately, some money II my
own. My husband is an inveterate
4 gambler He has lost all the money
/ his father has given him and broken
4 every promise to reform. Yesterday.
on his promise not to gamble Mr..
/ Rutan. Sr.. gave him $4,000 francs,
marked some Of The bills and set Il
i detective to watch his son. | discover
ed through an accident that the bills
were marked. and my husband io!d me
/ that he had lost them to you | desire
4 to save him from break with his
father. which. if it occurs. will never
be healed BY replacing these notes
he has given you with others | can
/ avert this calamity"
There was nothing for the colonel to
do but make the exchange Indeed, he
was glad enough to do so. for he was
terror stricken lest he be connected
with family scandal Taking the
notes from his pock@boOk. he counted
! 10000 francs and handed them 70 the
lady receiving in return those she took
from her own portemonnaie Then.
with a profusion of thanks. she left
him.
The next day a gendarme called t.
the hotel. and the colonel was charged
with passing counterfeit money. Every
note the lady had given him was spuri-
Gus.
To Colonel Rogers his loss was moth
j ING nor was the DOSiti0n in which he