The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1916-04-12
ant was not given to persIaage.

inquired the prince gayly.
NO" said the count. Congratulate
ing ourselves on his coup is better"
"Good! And you might add that we
also are trusting to luck. IL may give
him something TO think about. And
now where is Hobbs?" said royalty.
"Here, SIR" said Hobbs. appearing
In the bedroom door
THANK you. Hobbs. You may or
der luncheon for us in the Ritz res
tauraut. The head waiter has been
instructed to reserve the corner table
for the whole voyage"
In two minutes Hobbs was back win
the information that two ladies had
taken the table and refused to be
dislodgcd, although the head waiter
had vainly tried to convince them
that it was reserved for the passage
by r. Schmidt and party.
al am quite sure, sir, he put it TO
them very hagreeably and politely,
/ but the young lady gave i'm the
'aughtiest look I've ever seen on NOR
tai fee, sir, and he came back to me
so tumble that could 'ardly believe
he was the cad waiter"
az hope he was not unnecessarily
persistent" sail the prince. annoyed.
at really is of no consequence where
we sit"
"Ladies first, world without end"
said Dank. Especially at sea-"
/ Twenty minutes later Il. Schmidt,
seated in the Ritz restaurant, hap
pened to look fairly into the eyes of
the loveliest girl he had ever seen,
and on the instant forgave the ex-
traordinary delinquency of the hith-
erto infallib'e Hobbs.
Later on r. Schmidt sat alone in a
sheltered corner of the promenade
deck, where chairs had been secured
by the forehanded Hobbs. The thin
drizzle now aspired to something more
| definite in the shape of a steady down.
pour, and the decks were almost de-
serted save for the few who huddled
in the unexposed hooks where the
sweep and swish of the rain failed to
penetrate. There was faraway look
in the young mans eyes, as of one
who dreams pleasantly with little ef-
fort, but excellent effect. His pipe
| had gone out, so his dream must have
been long and uninterrupted. Eight
| bells sounded. But what is time to a
dreamer? Then came one bell and
! two, and now his eyes were closed.
/ Two women came and stood over
him, but little did they suspect that
/ his dream was of one of them-the
one with the lovely eyes and the soft
! brown hair They surveyed him, whis-
/ pering, the one with little perpleXed
/ frown on her brow, the other with dis
| tinct signs of annoyance in her face.
The girl was not more than twenty,
her companion quite old enough to be
her mother, a considerate if not COM
plimentary estimate, for a girls moth
er may be either forty, fifty or even
! fifty-fve when you come to think of it.
They were looking for something.
That was quite clear. And it was de-
plorably clear that whatever it was r.
Schmidt was sitting upon it, They
saw that he was asleep, which made
the search if not the actual recovery
quite out of the question. The older
woman was on the point of poking the
sleeper with the toe of her shoe, be-
| ing matter of fact sort of person,
when the girl imperatively shook her
head and frowned upon the lady in a
way to prove that. even though she
was old enough to be the mother of q
! girl of twenty, she was by no means
the mother of this one.
At that very instant r. Schmidt
opened his eyes. 1t must have been a
kindly poke by the god of sleep that
aroused him so OPPORTUNITY; but. even
so, the toe of shoe could not have
created a graver catastrophe than that
which Immediately befell him. He
completely lost his head. If one had
suddenly asked what had become of
it he couldn't have told, not for the
life of him. For that matter he
couldn't have put his finger, so to
speak, on any part of his person and
proclaimed with confidence that it be-
longed to r. Schmidt of Vienna. He
was looking directly up into pair of
dark, startled eyes, in which there was
very pretty confusion and a far from
impervious blink.
81 beg your pardon" said the older
woman without the faintest trace of
embarrassment-indeed, with some
asperity-"I think you are occupying
one of our chairs"
He scrambled out of the steamer
rug and came to his feet, blushing to
the roots of his hair.
81 beg your pardon" he stammered
and found his awkwardness rewarded
by an extremely sweet smile-in the
eyes of the one he addressed
I'VE were looking for a letter that
am quite sure was left in my chair"
said she.
"A letter" he murmured vaguely
and at once began to search with his
eyes.
From her father" volunteered the
elderly one. as if it were a necessary
/ bit of information Then she ierked