The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-05-16
CHAPTER L.


closing an oppressive, wearing day
one of those days whose sole function
seems 10 reside in rendering rs irri-
tably CONSCIOUS Of our tooclose cas-
ings OF tou.sOli4 flesh. whose humid
and inert atmosphere, sodd"n with
tcpid moisture. clings pa'pahly 70 m"
body. causing men TO feel as II they
crawlcd, half sufIocated. at the bot
tom of sea of rnrenod water.
The hour may have been eight; II
may have been not quit" that, but II
was almost dark The windows w'r"
oblongs black as night in the yellow
walls Of O'Rourke's bcdchambcr IN The
Hotel dOrirnt Monte Carlo
have the honor to make known
90 you the ORourk" Of Castle
OROurkr in the county NJ Galway
ireland otherwise and moro widely
known ms Colonel Tercuc" ORourkc
a chcvallcr Of the Legion uf Honor ~
France. sometime an officer IN the
Foreign legion In Algi'rs, a wander
or. spcndthrin. frcc.lancr. cosmopol'
Ste gentleman adycnturrr. he's been
termed
Tie Was dressing for dinner The
glar" Of half dozen electric bulbs dis.
covered him all but ready for public
appearmcc-uut. however quit" ready.
IN hi shirt sleeves hc faced chcyal.
glnss. pluckily III with the hagEard
aye Of cNa,prrationl cnlcayoring to
outmanouycr demon Of inanimate
pervcrsiiy which had entered into his
dress tie melting 1t to refuse to as.
Rumc. for all his coaxing and his STRAIT
Agems that effect OF noTChalant per.
lection so much sought after, 50 sci
dom achieved.
Patiently was the thing possessed
by devil, ORourke made no manner
of doubt Of that Though for minutes
at a time he fumbled, hig'ted iumcd
81 was without avail
His room itself was in a state OF
considerable disorder something due
mainly Ia O'Rourkc's characteristic ef.
forts 10 find Just what he might hap
pen tO desire at any given time with
out troubling To think where II ought
properly to be.
Something OF this confusion. mir
Torud In the glass, was likewise re
Elected In O'Rourkc'E eyes what time
me paused for breath and profanity
Faith, It's worse than n davis nest
the placc." he admitted. scandalizcd
''IIov ever did I-onr lone man-Hdo
all that will ye he telling me-" He
dung out two helpless baffcd hands
and let them tall After a mcditative
pause he added Damn that ASA
tian' with reference to his latest
and least competent valet, who had
but recently been discharged with
flea in his ear aud q months unearn.
ed wage In his puCEct For knowing
mo Ways" sighed ORnurke, there
was never anyone the like Of Danny
For as many az three livcloug days
CHS man had been reduced to the ne
ccssity OF dressing himself with his
own fair hands and that at least
thrice daily, who did nothing by
halves And, somehow. mysteriously,
mis- discarded garments had for the
most part remained where he had
thrown them, despite the earnest Of.
forts of the femme de- chambrc to re.
store something resembling order from
this manmadc chaos For servants
all liked well the ORourkc. improvi.
dent soul that he was. freehanded
so fault
You are invited to picture to your.
self O'Rourke as invariably he was
In one of his not infrcquent but ever
transient phases of affluence: that Is,
n very magnificent figure indeed.
Standing bit over six feet. deep OF
chest and lean of flank. with his long,
straight legs he looked what he had
been meant 10 be. n man OF arms and
action His head was shapey. its
dark hair curling the least in the
world: and, incredibly stained. a trans.
parent brown his features were lean.
eager, and rendered very attractive
by quick boyish eyes in whose warm
blue-gray depths humor twinkled
more often than not, though those
Same eyes were not seldom thought.
full, trace wistful, perhaps. with
the look of one who recalls dear mem.
.ories. old friends and sweethearts
loved ana lost. For he had
begun TO live early in life and had
much to look back upon. though for
all that it's doubtful II he were more
than thirty at the time he became in.
volved In the fortunes of the Pool
of Flame.
For the rest of him. barring the re.
fractory tie. the man was strikingly
well groomed, while his surroundings
SPOKE for comfortable circumstances.
On the authority of the absent and re-
GREETED Danny, who had long served
che O'Rourke In the Intimate capnci.
tiles Of jody.servant conndant and
chancellor OF the exchequer (this last,
of course, whenever there happened
to be any excheGuer to require a chan
--.4.ilori. thera WAS never anyone at all