The herald., 1912-06-06
GREAT
FEAR
By GERALD DAVIS

man of the world, u bachelor aud an
excellent fellow at heart. though he
was only understood by his intimate
friends. No one ever thought OF ROG-
ers as husband or q father Is 70
living with man. woman or child or
having his affairs mixed with those Df
any one else than himself, the idea was
prepOSterous. He was very fond NJ
wOmen'S society ana WAS popular with
them. but always in Il general. never In
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 an
advantage Of him, for. though be ad-
mlred the sex, he held the theory that
no man could stand against any one OF
them either in duplicity or to prevent
the accomplishment of any purpose on
which she might have set her mind.
Rogers was very fond Of play-that
is, among gentlemen. He never played
at n gambling house. Indeed, he once
spent a week ut Monte Carlo without
investing a franc. Il never play tn
make money" he said. 81 play only
a gentleman's game for the purpose Of
passing the time"
Rogers went TO Paris and was intro
duced at an arlstocratic club there.
One night Mt a social game he won
from q young man named Rutan some
ten or twelve thousand francs The
amount expressed in the French coin
age sounds large, but 1t was little
over $1,000. Rutan was understood to
be well of and did not seem to take his
loss to heart, and, as for Rogers, there
was nothing unusual in his winning or
losing such an amount at any time.
The settlement was made by Rutan's
paying Rogers his winnings in new
crisp bills OF 1000 francs denomina-
ton.
The next morning Rogers was sit
ting in the reading room Of his hotel
scanning a newspaper when waiter
announced to him that a lady desired
to see him in d reception parlor.
"a lady to see mer exclaimed the
colonel. Are you sure you have come
to the right mani"
"She wishes to see Colonel Rogers of
Virginia"
Being the only and original Rogers
of Virginia, the colonel raised himself
from his comfortable leather covered
chair and followed the servant to the
lady. He found a very attractive look
ing person about thirty years old, but
with a worried expression on her face.
Colonel Rogers. I believe" she be-
gan in tolerable English
"At your service, madame"
"You won last night from my hus-
band 1900 francs"
az believe l 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 a similar amount"
"Iwould gladly do anything to oblige
you, madame, but l would like to be
enlightened as to the reason for the
change"
"And l would not think Of permit
ting you to do me favor without CIV
ing you some inkling as to the cause.
l have always heard that the chivalry
of Americans toward our sex comes
largely from you southerners. Every
one knows what may be expected from
Colonel Rogers Of Virginia"
The colonel bowed.
81 will trust you with the secret on
that account know It will remain
with you. My husbands father Is
wealthy, and my husband has nothing.
l have. fortunately, some money Of my
own. My husband is an inveterate
gambler. He has lost all the money
his father has given him and broken
every promise to reform. Yesterday.
on his promise not to gamble, Mr..
Rutan, ST., gave him 1900 francs,
marked some Of the bills and set a
detective to watch his son. discover
ed through an accident that the bills
were marked, and my husband told me
that he had lost them to you. | desire
to save him from a break with his
father. which, If it occurs. will never
be healed. By replacing these notes
he has given you with others I 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 a family scandal. Taking the
notes from bis pocketbook. he counted
1900 francs and handed them to 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 at
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
ing, nor was the position in which he
was placed especially appalling, for he
was above suspicion. 1t was the fact
that after all his fears and all his eau
ton he had been made the dupe of
woman. From that time forward he
gave strict orders that no woman
should ever be admitted to his pres