The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-06

tria as companion to a wealthy Eng
lishman lived ION the land in com
munist- colony, told American stories
before a royal prince, posed for artists,
studied Persian manuscripts at the
British Museum, written short stories
and incidentally found time to perpe-
trate novel and get 1t accepted by an
English publisher who already has paid
a substantial advance royalty.
More than once. however. as you may
ina gine, she has been right up against
it, more than once she has had to have
dealings with uncle" more than one
wratSful landlady has held up her lug
gage in lieu of payment that was not
forthcoming, and more than once she
has had no more than vague idea
where her next meal was coming from,
yet when | talked with her, the other
day, she was verify as cocky as SPAR
row, though she is not exactly rolling
in wealth, and has several more con-
tinents to conquer before she can claim
to have won. Jack London's wager for
him.
When she landed in the British me-
tropolis on January Is, 1911, she had
exactly 10 shillngs, or $3.50 in her pos
session, so she told her cabby to drive
to the Hotel Cecil and there rewarded
him with half crown, thus reducing
her available capital to about $l,S0 in
American money, a sum which would
scarcely cover the rent of her room at
the "cecilr' for one day. This hostelry,
as no doubt you know, is one of the
best in London and Hilda Gilbefts ac-
ton in putting up there on cash
capital of less than So is a typical piece
of audacity on her part, which she eX-
cused, to some extent, in telling about
it, however by the fact that, as the
globe girdling feat she had attempted
had been advertised to some extent in
the London press, she was counting on
getting music hall engagement here
lust about as soon as she applied for
one. That fond delusion vanished,
however. before many hours had passed.
1t happened that the London halls
had had lot of turns by various wom-
en- who had been 'in the news Violet
Charles sworth, the motor car embezzler
and supposed suicide. was responsible
for one of these, and all of them had
been frosts. so the mana agerial hearts
failed to warm to Hilda Gilbert's bland :
ishments.
Then. all of sudden she found herr
self on Easy Street. friend in Amer
'ica who had owed her $50 forwarded a
money order for that amount, which
paid her hotel bill, and by the merest
accident-a tumble downstairs--slfe
made the acquaintance VI q Ntii-to-uo
Englishwoman who was also stopping
at the hotel and who. on being told the
story of Jack Londons wager, prompt Z
Iy engaged the American girl as her
companion on a motor tour on the con-
tinent upon which she was about TO set
forth. The salary of $50 week and
expenses which Mrs. Casweli offered
commended itself highly to Hilda Gil
bert and the two set off forthwith,
travelling in the Englishwomans car
and visiting Stockholm. Berlin, Vienna
and Brussels where they parted COM
pany.
The Englis womans social engage
ments obliged her to return to Eng
land and she wanted her companion
to come with her. but Mrs. Gilbert's
contract called for some real work on
the continent and she didn't feel that
she had done any so far Paris struck
her as a likely field for a scheme she
had in mind so to the gay city she
went She knows how to coax some
highly agreeable music out Of man
dolin, so she conceived the idea Of