The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1914-12-18

Five hundred francs. On the word Of
q gentleman l mean mademoiselle no
harm. ! am known to her. All she
has to do 10 to appeal to you. and you
can stop the car and summon the %
lice"
The chauffeur drew In his legs and
leaned toward his tempter. Monsieur,
II you are not testing, then you are .
mailman. Who are you? What do I
know about you? l never saw you be-
fore, and for two seasons l have driv-
en- mademoiselle in Paris. She wears
beautiful jewels tonight. How do I
know that you are not q gentlemanly
thief? Ride home with ~mademoiselle!
You are crazy. Make yourself scarce,
the police"
"Blockhead!"
English OF this order the %Frenchman
perfectly understood. La, La" he
cried. rising to execute his threat.
Courtlandt was furious. but his fury
was directed at himself as much as at
the trustworthy young man getting
down from the limousine. His eager
ness had led him to mistake stupidity
for cleverness. He had gone about the
affair with all the clumsiness of a boy
who was making his first appearance
at the stage entrance. 1t was nightly
d~iscOncerting, too, to have found an
honest man when he was In desperate
need Of a dishonest one. He had faced
with fine courage ali sorts Of danger
Gus wild animals: but at this moment
he hadn't the courage to face a po.
liceman and endeavor to explain, In .
foreign tongue. q situation at once SO
delicate and SO singularly open to mis-
construction. So, for the second time
In his life he took to his heels. OF
the first time, more anon. He scram-
bled back to his own car. slammed the
door, and told the driver to drop him
at the Grand. However, he did not re-
turn to the hotel.
Mademoiselle da Toscana's chauf-
feur scratched his chin in perplexity.
In frightening OF his tempter he rec
Ognized that now he would never be
able to find out who he was. He should
have played with him until mademoi-
selle came out. She would have known
instantly. That would have beer the
time for the police. To hide in the
car! What the devil! Only a mad
man would have offered such a propo-
sition. The nan had been either an
American or an Englishman, for all
his accuracy In the tongue. Bah! Per
haps he had heard her sing that night.
and had come away from the Opera.
moonstruck. 1t was not an isolated
case. The fools were always poster
Ing him, but no one had ever offered
SO uncommon a bribe; five hundred
francs. Mademoiselle might % be-
lieve that part of the tale. Mademoi-
selle was clever. There was a stand
ing agreement between them that she
would always give. him half of what
ever was offered him In the way Of
brides. 1t paid. 1t was easier to sell
his loyalty to her for two hundred and
fifty francs than to betray her for Ave
hundred. She had yet to find him un-
truthful, and tonight he would be Is
- NAh a. AO q way DCCA.
But who was this fellow in the Ba-
varian hat. who patrolled the side
walk? He had been watching him
when the mailman approached. For
hour or more he had walked up
and down, never going twenty feet be-
You'd the limousine. He couldn't see
the face. The long dark coat had a
military cut about the hips and shout
ders. From time to time he saw him
glance up at the lighted windows. Ell,
we'll: there were other women in the
world besides mademoiselle, several
He had to wait only half an hour for
her appearance. He opened the door
and saw to 1t that she was comfort
ably seated: then he paused by the
window. touching his cap.
What Is 1t, francois"
"A gentleman offered me five hun
dred francs, mademoiselle, If I would
permit him to hide in the car"
Five hundred francs? To hide in
the car? Why didn't you call the po-
lice Z"
4 started to, mademoiselle. but he
ran away"
"Oh! What was he like?" The
prima donna dropped the bunch of
roses on the seat beside her.
"Oh, he looked we'll enough. He had
the air OF a gentleman. He was tall,
with light hair and mustache. But as
I had never seen him before. and as
wore some fine Jewels, |
I babe him be or"
would you know him again."
Surely mademoiselle."
1.-The next time anyone bothers you,
call the police. You have done well,
and I shall remember 1t. Home"
The man In the Bavarian hat hur-
Red back to the third car from the
and followed at q reason.
ably safe distance.
She shut on the light and closed her
eyes. She reclined against the cushion
once more. striving not to think. Once,
her hands shut tightly. Never. never,
never! She pressed down the burning