The Elbert County tribune., 1912-02-16
CHAPTER !.

still and sultry dusk had fallen,
closing an oppressive, wearing day:
one Of those days whose sole function
seems to reside in rendering US irri-
tably conscious of our too-close cas-
ings of too-solid flesh: whose humid
and inert atmosphere, sodden with
tepid moisture, clings palpably to the
body. causing men to feel as II they
crawled, halfsuffocated. at the bot
tom Of sea of rarefied water.
The hour may have been eight; it
may have been not quite that, but 1t
was almost dark. The windows were
oblongs, black as night in the yellow
walls of O'Rourke's bedchamber In the
Hotel d'Orient. Monte Carlo.
have the honor to make known
to you the O'Rourke of Castle
O'Rourke in the county of Galway.
Ireland; otherwise and more widely
known as Colonel Terence O'Rourke;
chevalier Of the Legion of Honor OF
France: sometime an officer In the
Foreign Legion in Algiers; wander
er, spendthrift, free-lance. cosmopol-
ite-a gentleman-adventurer he's been
termed.
He was dressing for dinner. The
glare of half dozen electric bulbs dis
covered him all but ready for public
appearance-not, however, quite ready.
In his shirt sleeves he faced a cheval-
glass, pluckily if with the haggard
eye of exasperation) endeavoring to
outmaneuver demon of inanimate
perversity which had entered into his
dress tie. melting 1t to refuse to as
sumo. for all his coaxing and his STRAIT
agems, that effect of nonchalant per-
fection SO much sought after. so sell
dom achieved.
Patiently was the thing possessed
by devil; O'Rourke made no manner
Of doubt of that Though for minutes
at time he fumbled. fidgeted, fumed
1t was without avail
His room itself was in state of
considerable Notwithstanding due
mainly to O'Rourke's characteristic ef-
forts to find just what he might hap
pen to desire at any given time with
out troubling to think where 1t ought
properly to be.
Something of this confusion, mir
rored in the glass, was likewise re-
fiected In O'Rourke's eyes. what time
he paused for breath and profanity.
Faith, It's worse than a davis nest,
the place." he admitted. scandalized.
How ever did lone lone man-do
all that. will ye be telling me?" He
flung out two helpless baffled hands.
and let them fall After a meditative
pause he added: Damn that Alsa-
tianE-with reference to his latest
and least competent valet. who had
but recently been discharged with
flea in his ear and a months unearn-
ed wage in his pocket. For knowing
me ways" sighed O'Rourke, there
was never anyone the like OF Danny"
For as many as three livelong days
this man had been reduced to the me-
cessity of dressing himself with his
own fair hands-and that at least
thrice daily, who did nothing by
halves. And. somehow. mysteriously,
his discarded garments had for the
most part remained where he had
thrown them, despite the earnest ef-
forts of the femme de chambre to re-
store something resembling order from
this man-made chaos. For servants
all liked we'll the O'Rourke, improvi-
dent soul that he was. freehanded
to fault
You are invited to picture to your
self O'Rourke as invariably he was
in one of his not infrequent but ever
transient phases of affluence: that is.
very magnificent figure indeed.
Standing a bit over six feet. deep of
cha ~ xryffh n &c
straight legs he looked what he had
been meant to be, man of arms and
action. His head was shapely, it's
dark hair curling the least in the
world; and. incredibly stained. 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
cries. old friends and sweethearts
loved and 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-
gretted Danny. who had long served
the O'Rourke in the intimate capaci-
ties Of 5ody-servant, confidant and
chancellor of the exchequer (this last.
of course. whenever there happened
to be any exchequer to require chan
cellor). there was never anyone at all