River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1916-02-03
CHAPTER VII-Con.inued.

To the driver of the first taxicab he
met he said 'IAbbaye;" then, shut
Eing himself within the conveyance,
ne surrendered to the most morose re-
Elections.
Nothing of his mood was, however,
apparent in his manner on alighting.
He bore a countenance of amiable in
souciance through the portals of this
9estal institution, whose proudest
BOAST and, incidentally, sole claim to
luniqueness is that it never opens it's
doors before midnight nor closes them
before dawn.
He had moved about with such celer-
3ty since entering his fat on the Rue
Roget that 1t was even now only two
O'Clock, an hour at which revelry might
he expected to have reached it's apo
gee in this, the soidisant smartest
place in Paris.
less sophisticated adventurer
might have been fattered by the cor
duality of his reception at the hands Of
the maitre d'hotel.
"Ah-h, NJ Lanyar'! But 1t is long
E.nce we have been so favored. How
ever, have kept your table for you"
Have you, indeed?"
Gould it be otherwise, after receipt
of your honored order?"
NO" said Lanyard cooIly, 81 pre-
sumo not, If you value your peace Of
mind"
Monsieur is e?"-this with an
accent of disappointment
Temporarily, perhaps"
"But this way, If you please"
In the wake Of the functionary Lam
yard traversed that frowsy anteroom,
where doubtful MASTERS are herded on
suspicion in company with the corps
OF automatic bacchanalians and fgu-
fantes, to the main restaurant, the in
ner sanctum toward which the naive
soul Of the travel-bitten Anglo-Saxon
Rspires SO ardently.
1t was not large room; irregularly
pentagonal in shape, lined with wall
seats behind closest rank Of tables;
better lighted than most Partisan res
> taurants, that is to say, less glaring-
ay; ill-ventilated; the open space In
the middle of the floor devoted to
handful of haggard young professional
dancers, their stunted bodies more or
less costumed in brilliant colors, foot
Ing 1t with all the vivacity to be ex-
pected of Eve francs per night per
head; the tables occupied by parties
Anglo-Saxon and French in the pro-
portion of five to one, served by a
company of bored and apathetic wait
ers; string orchestra Raging inces-
sanity; vicious buck-nigger on a dais
Bhining with self-complacency while
he vamped and shouted: "Waitin' fob
Eh' Robuht E. Lee"
Lanyard permitted himself to be
penned in a corner behind table, told
The waiter to bring him champagne
not because he wanted it, but because
1t was etiquette-suppresse a yawn,
lighted cigarette, and reviewed the
assemblage with languid but shrewd
glance.
He slipped his wine sparingly, with
out relish, considering the single sub
sidiary fact which did impress him
with some wonderland he was being
left severely to himself; something
which doesn't often fall to the lot of
the unattached male at PAbbaye Evil
IDENTIFY an order had been issued with
respect to him. Ordinarily he would
have been grateful, tonight he was
merely irritated; it rendered him con-
spicuous.
The fixed round OF de1irious diver
easement unfolded-as per schedule.
A Spanish dancing girl was given
clear floor for her specialty-which
consisted in singing several verses un-
derstoud by nobody-and emphasized
her vivacity by making frantic sashes
OF and rumpling the hair of several
yariously surprised, indignant and fat
tered male guests-among these Lam
yard, who submitted with resignation.
And then, just when he was on the
point of consigning the Pack to the
devil for inficting upon him such cruel
and inhuman punishment, the Spanish
girl picked her way through the mob