The Arvada enterprise., 1921-07-21

head waiter. Let dinner be served In
five minutes exactly"
With bow the man left the room,
and the door closed.
During that five minutes. gentle
men, ! propose to Introduce myself to
you, and you to one another. The
business which I wish to discuss we
will postpone. with your permission,
till after the coffee, when we shall be
undisturbed"
In silence the three guests waited
until he unwOund the thick white muf-
fer; then. with undisguised curiosity.
they studied their host. In appearance
he was striking. He had short dark
beard. and in profile his face was aqui.
line and stern. The eyes. which had
70 impressed the manager. seemed
now to be q cold grey.blne: the thick
brown hair. flecked slightly with grey,
was brushed back from q broad fore.
head. To even the most superficial OBJ
server the giver Of the feast was
man Of power: man capable of form.
ing Instant decisions and Of carrying
tHtm through.
And II 20 much was obvious to the
superficial observer, II was more than
obvious to the three men who stood by
the fire watching him. Each one Of
them. a. he watched the host, realized
that he was In the presence Of q great
man. 1t was enough: great men do
not send fool invitations to dinner to
men Of international repute. II mat
tered not what form his greatness took
there was money In greatness. big
money. And money was their life.
The count advanced first to the Am.
erican.
Mr.. Hooking. believe" he re-
marked In English. holding out his
hand. II am glad you managed to
come"
The American shook the proffered
hand. while the two Germans looked At
him with sudden interest. Az the man
at the head Of the great American cot
ton trust, worth more In millions than
he could count, he was entitled to
their respect. -.
That's me, Count" returned the mill
tVuu"e uarAi 0Uu
terexted to know to what am indebt-
ed for this invitation"
"All in good time. Mr.. Hooking"
smiled the host. II have hopes that
the dinner will oil in that time salts
factorily."
He turned to the taller Of the two
Germans. who without his coat seemed
more like q Goldfish than ever.
Herr Steinemann, Is It notf' This
time he spoke in German.
The man whose interest In German
coal was hardly less well Known than
Hocking's In cotton. bowed stihly.
And Herr Won GratzT The Count
turned to the last member Of the par
~ and shook hands. Though LEES well
known than either Of the other two In
the realms Of international finance. Won
Grats's name In the steel trade Of Cen.
trail Europe was one to conjurs with.
"Well. gentlemen" said the Count,
before We sit down to dinner. may
perhaps he permitted to ray q few
words Of Introduction. The nations
Of the world have recently been en-
gagged In . performance Of unrivaled
stupidity. A. far a. one can tell that
| performance 10 now over. The last
thing I wish to do 10 to discuss the
war-except In 10 far a. II concerns
our meeting here tonight. Mr.. Hook.
ing 10 an American. you two gentlemen
are Germans. 1.-THE Count smiled
siishtly-"have no nationality. Or
rather. shall I say. I have every ma
tionaiity. Completely cosmopolitan. e.
Gentlemen. the war was waged BY
idiots. and when idiots get busy on .
large scale. II IL time for clever men to
step In. That 10 the raison d..
etre for this little dinner I
claim that We four men are suficiently
international to be able to disregard
any stupid and petty feelings about
this country and that country. and to
regard the world outlook At the present
moment from ono point Of view and
one point Of view Only-Our own
The Esunt American gave 4 hosrxe
chuckle.
1T will b. my object after dinner"
continued the Count, ito try and prove
to you that We have \ common point
Of view. Until then-Shall We merely
concentrate on = pious hope that the
Hotel Rationale will not poison US
with their foosir'
The next moment the head waiter
opened the door. and the four men sat
down TO dine.
II must be admitted TINT the average