Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1914-09-04

Five hundred francs. On the word OF
a gentleman / mean mademoiselle no
harm. l am known to her. All she
has to do is to appeal to you, and you
can stop the car and summon the p0-
lice"
The chauffeur drew In his legs and
leaned toward his tempter. Monsieur.
IL you are not testing, then you are .
mailman. Who are you? What do
know about you? never saw you be-
fore, and for two seasons l have driv-
en- mademoiselle in Paris. She wears
beautiful jewels tonight. How do l
know that you are not q gentlemanly
thief? Ride home with mademoiselle!
You are crazy. Make yourself scarce,
monsieur; in one minute l shall call
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 clumsinese OF boy
who was making his first appearance
at the stage entrance. 1t was nightly
disconcerting, too, to have found an
honest man when he was In desperate
need of dishonest one. He had faced
with fine courage all sorts of danger
GUS wild animals; but at this moment
he hadn't the courage to face po-
liceman and endeavor to explain, In
foreign tongue. a 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. 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 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 been the
time for the police. To hide In the
car! What the devil! Only mad
man would have offered such propo
sition. The man 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. It was not an isolated
case. The fools were always poster
ing him, but no one had ever offered
80 uncommon bride; 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
brides. It paid. 1t was easier to sci
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 al
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 hin
when the mailman approached. Fol
an hour or more he had walked VI
and down, never going twenty feet be
yond the limousine. He couldn't SCI
the face. The long dark coat had ,
military cut about the hips and shout
ders. From time to time he saw hin
glance up at the lighted windows. Eth
we'll; there were other women in thu
world besides mademoiselle, severa
others.
He had to wait only half an hour TO
her appearance. He opened the doc
and saw to 1t that she was comfort
ably seated; then he paused by thu
window, touching his cap.
What is it, Francois?"
"A gentleman offered me FIVE hun
bred francs, mademoiselle, II l woult
permit him to hide in the car"
Five hundred francs? To hide IL
the car? Why didn't you call the pc
lice?"
81 started to. mademoiselle. but h
ran away"
"Oh! What was he like?" Tn,
prima donna dropped the bunch o
roses on the seat beside her.
"Oh, he looked well enough. He hat
the air OF a gentleman. He was tall
with light hair and mustache. But Al
had never seen him before. and a,
mademoiselle wore some fine jewels
l babe him be off,"
would you know him again?"
Surely mademoiselle."
THE next time anyone bothers you
call the police. You have done we'll
and l shall remember 1t. Home"
The man in the Bavarian hat hur
ried back to the third car from the
limousine, and followed at a reason
ably safe distance.
She shut off the light and closed hel
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 bright
scenes at the ambassadors, the rea
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