The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-05-22

thiui hlue nome WIN llduNihoinNliui
You are crazy Make yourself scarce,
monsieur: In one minute ! shall call
the police"
"BlockheadI"
English of this order the Frenchmah
perfectly understood la, la!" he
cried. rising to execute his threat
Courtandt was furious, but his fury
was directed at himself as much as al
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 boy
who was making his first appearance
at the stage entrance. lt was nightly
disconcerting, too, to have found an
honest man when he was In desperate
need Of a dishonest one. He had faced
with fine courage all sorts OF danger
Gus wild Hnmals but at this moment
he hadn't the courage to face a po-
liceman and endeavor TO explain, in a
foreign tongue, situation at once so
delicate and 80 singularly open 10 mis-
construction. So, for the second time
In his life he took to his heels. or
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 10 the hotel.
Mademoselle da Toscana's chauf-
feur scratched his chin in perplexity.
In frightening off his tempter he rec
ogni2ed that now he would never be
able to find oat who he was. He should
have played with him until mademoi-
selle came out. She would have known
instantly. That would have been the
time for the police. To hide in the
car! What the devil! Only a mad
man would have offered such propo.
stion. The man had been either an
American or an Englishman, for ali
his accuracy in the tongue. Bah! Per.
haps he had heard her sing that night,
and had come away from the Opera,
moonstruck II 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 not 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
bribes. II paid. It was easier to sell
his loyalty to her for two hundred and
fifty francs than to betray her for five
hundred. She had yet to find him un-
truthful, and tonight he would be as
frank as he had always been.
But who was this fellow in the Ba-
varian hat, who patrolled the side
walk? He had been watching him
when the madman approached. For
an hour or more he had walked up
and down, never going twenty feet be
yond the limousine. He couldn't see
the face. The long dark coat had a !
military cut about the hips and shoul- |
ders. From time to time he saw him |
glance up at the lighted windows. Eth, |.
well: there were other women in the |
world besides mademoiselle, several I.
others.
He had to wait only half an hour for /.
her appearance. He opened the door |
and saw to It that she was comfort |
ably seated then he paused by the .
window, touching his cap.
What is it, Francois?"
"A gentleman offered me five hun
dred francs, mademoiselle, if | would |
permit him to hide in the car"
give hundred francs? To hide in
the car? Why didn't you call the po.
lice?"
Il 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
/ had never seen him before, and as
wore some fine jewels.
| bade him be off"
Would you know him again?"
Surely mademoisele."
THE next time anyone bothers you,
call the police. You have done well.
and | shall remember it, Home
The man in the Bavarian hat hur.
ried back to the third car from the
limousine, and followed at reason.
ably safe distance.
She shut off 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
thoughts by recalling the brighs