Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1914-09-11
CHAPTER w.
Captive or Runaway.

Captive or Runaway.
At the age of twenty-six Donald Abb
bolt had become a prosperous and dis
tinguished painter In water colors.
His work was individual, and at the
same time 1t was delicate and charm
ing One saw his Italian landscapes
blossoms of Sicily. the rose-laden walls
OF Florence. the vineyards of Chianti,
the poppy-glowing Campagna out of
Rome. His Italian lakes had brought
him fame. He knew very little Of the
grind and hunger that attended the
careers of his whilom associates. His
father had left him some valuable pat
snts-wash-tubs carpet-cleaners and
other labor-saving devices-and the
royalties from these we're quite suf-
ficient to keep him pleasantly housed.
His earnings mot inconsiderable,
for tourists found much to admire In
both the pictures and the artist he
spent In gratifying his mild extrava-
gances. SO there we're no lines In his
handsome, boyish, beardless face; and
his eyes were unusually clear and
happy. Perhaps once or twice, since
his majority, he had returned to Amer
lea to prove that he was not an ex-
patriate, though certainly he was one,
the only tie existing between him and
his native land being the bankers who
regularly honored his drafts And who
shall condemn him for preferring Italy
to the desolate center of New York
uta4a ryhora oood carvonto ond COod
weather are as rare as are fiawless
emeralds?
Half after three, on Wednesday aft
ernoon, Abbott stared modify at the
weather-tarnished group by Dalou In
the Luxembourg gardens-the Tri.
umph of Silenus. His gaze was de-
oeptive, for the rollicking old bibulous
scoundrel had not stirred his critical
sense nor impressed the delicate films
OF thought. He was looking through
the bronze, into the far-away things.
He had arrived early that morning, all
the way from Como, to find a thunder
bolt driven in at his feet. Across his
knees fiuttered an open newspaper
the Paris edition of the New York
Herald. All that kept it from blowing
away was the tense If sprawling fin
gers of his right hand; his left hung
Imply at his side.
1t was not possible. Such things die
not happen these unromantic days tc
musical celebrities. She had writer
that on Monday night she would sins
in La Boheme and on Wednesday
Faust She had since vanished, van
ished as completely as though she hat
taken wings and flown away. II was
unreal. She had left the apartment
in the Avenue de Wagram on Satur
day afternoon, and nothing had beer
seen or heard of her since. At tn,
last moment they had had to find 1
substitute for her part in the Puccin
opera The maid testified that he
mistress had gone on an errand o
mercy. She had not mentioned where
but she had said that she would return
In time to dress for dinner, which
proved conclusively that something
out of the ordinary had befallen her.
The automobile that had carried he
away had not been her own, and thu
chauffeur was unknown. None of tn,
directors at the opera had been mott
fed of any change In the singer
plans. She had disappeared, and the.
we're deeply concerned. Singers wer'
generally erratic. full of sudden indis
positions, unaccountable whims; bu
the Signorina da Toscana was one II
a thousand. She never broke an en-
gagement. If she was Ill she said s.
at once; she never left them in aoub
until the last moment. Indecision wa
not one of her characteristics. Sh
was as reliable as the sun. II the d
rectors did not hear definitely iron
her by noon today. they would have {
find another Marguerite.
The police began to move, and the
stirred up some curious bits of infol
nation. A man had tried to bride tn
singers chauffeur, while she was sins
ing at the Austrian ambassadors. Tn
chauffeur was sble to describe tn
stranger with some accuracy. The
came the bewildering episode In tn
apartment; the pistol-shot, the fiigh
of the man, the astonished concierg
to whom the beautiful American woul
offer no explanations. The man (wh
tailed with the description given b