Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1912-06-27
CHAPTER XVIII.
Such Stuff as Dreams.

Dan was in his room at the nOtel.
He woke and then slept again. Moth
ing seemed strange to hlm-nothlng
seemed real. 1t was three O'CLOCK III
the morning, the rumble OF Paris was
dull: it did not disturb him, for he
seemed without the body and to have
grown giantlike, and to fill the room.
He had a sense of suffocation and the
need to break through the windows
and to escape into ether.
! The entrance of Poniotowsky's two
friends was a part with the unreal
naturalness. One was Rouman1an,
| the other a Frenchman-both spoke
fluent English. Dan. his eyes fixed on
| the foreign faces, only half saw tnem;
they blurred, their voices were small
and far away. Finally he said:
"All right, all right, can shoot
we'll enough; this kind of thing isn't
our custom, you know-I'd as soon kill
him one way as another, as a matter
of fact. No, l don't know a darned
soul here" There was confab In
COMPREHENSIVE to Dan. Its all one
to me, gentlemen" he said I'D rath-
err not drag in my friends. Fix 1t up
to suit yourselves"
He wanted them to go-to be alone
Ito stretch his arms, to rid himself
of the burden of sense and be free.
And after they had left, he remained
in his window till dawn. 1t came soon,
midsummer dawn, singularly tender
| in, hic
worked with great rapidity. He had
made his will in the States. He
wished he could have left everything
, to Lefty Lane, but If, as Ruggles said,
he was pauper? Perhaps 1t wasn't
, a lie after all. Dan had written and
telegraphed Ruggles asking for the
j. solemn truth, and also telling him
where he was and asking the older
man to come over. If Ruggles proved
he was poor, why, some of his bur-
den was gone. His money had been
burden, he knew it now. He might
have no use for money the next day
What good could it do him in fix
like this? He was to meet Pon1o
towsky at five o'clock in place whose
name he couldn't recall. He had seen
| 1t advertised, though; people went
there for lunch.
They were to shoot at twenty-five
paces-he might be Rockefeller OF
q beggar for all the good his money
could do him in pinch like this.
His father wouldn't approve, the
> old man wouldn't approve. but he hac
sent him here to sIeaIn the ways VI
the old world. A Pickering smile
. crossed his beautiful, set face. His les
sons hadn't done him much good; he
would like to have seen good old Cor
don Galorey again. he loved him-he
had no use for Ruggles, no use-it
, had been all his fault. His mind
rea ched out to his father, and the old
: mans words came DINING back:
: Buy the things that stay above
ground, my boy" What were those
things? He had thought they were
passionate had thought they were
owe, and he had put all on one WON
an. She couldn't stand by him, now
that he was poor.
The spasm in his heart was so SHARP
that he made low sound in his throat
and leaned against the casing of the
, window He must see her, touch hel
? once more.
The fellows Poniotowsky's seconds
had chosen to be Dams representatives
came in to Elk him up" They were
n frock coats and carried their sill
hats and their gloves. He could have
laughed at them. Then they made
him think of undertakers, and his
!. blood grew cold. He handled the re
= volvers with care and interest.
D I'm not going to let him murde
Inc, you know" he told his seconds.
a They helped him to dress, at leas
one of them did, while the other tool
Dams place by the window and looket
to the boy like figure of death.
The hour vas getting on; he heart
his own motor drive up, and they wen
down, through the deserted hotel
The men who had consented to act TO
Dan regarded their principal curious
ly. He wasn't pale, there was bright
j ness on his face.
"Partons," said one of them, AM
: told Blair's chauffeur where to go an'
now to run. "Partons."
\