The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1922-09-08
The tale of a carnival
joke that led to grim reaIi-
ties.
CHAPTE |.
Carnival.


and Checkers club, and gazed out upC
the rfotous streets OF New Orlean
Half an hour he had been waiting hel
in the lounge room for DIR. Cyril An
lev. middle-aged bachelor who ha
practiced In Opelousas for twent
years. and who had come TO the cit
FOR the Mardl Gras festivities. Al
other man might have seemed irritate
by the wait. but joachim Fell was quit
unruffled.
He had much the air OF a clerk. I'll
features were thin and uncomfortable
his pale eyes constantly wore an eS
preston Of wondering aloofness, a
though he saw around him much tina
he vainly tried to understand. In hi
entire manner was a shy reticence. Ill
was no clerk, however; this was evi
dent from his attire. He was garbeC
from head to foot In soberly blending
shades OF gray whose richness was
notable only at close view. One fan
cied him very precise sort OF man, an
old maid Of the wrong sex.
Doctor Ansley, an Inverness flung
over his evening clothes, entered the
lounge room, and Fell turned to him
with a dry, toneless chuckle.
you're the limit Did you forget
we were going TO the Maillards' to-
night? However, we need not leave for
fifteen minutes yet. at least"
Doctor Ansley laid aside his cape.
stick and hat and dropped into one OF
the comfortable big chairs.
"You intend to mask for the Mail
lards'?" Ansley cast his eye over the
gray business attire of the little man.
81 never mask" joachim Fell shook
his head. an get domino and go as
] am. Excuse me-Tll order a domino
now Back in a moment"
Doctor Ansley followed the slight
figure of the other man with specula-
tive eyes. Well as he knew joachim
Fell he invariably found the man a
source of puzzled speculation.
During many years joachim Fell had
been a member of the most exclusive
New Orleans clubs. He was even re-
ceived in the inner circles of Creole
society, which In Itself was evidence SUI
preme as to his position. At this par
ticular club he was famed as wizard
master of chess. He never entered a
tournament. yet he consistently defeat
ed the champions in private matches
defeated them with a bewildering ease.
a shy and apologize ease, an ease
which left the beholders incredulous
and aghast.
with all this, joachim Fell was very
much of a mystery, even among his
closest friends. Very little was known
of him: he was lawyer, and certainly
maintained offices in the Maison
blanche building, but he never APP
peared in the courts and no case Of his
pleading was known.
Ansley knew him as well as did most
men, and Ansley knew of a few who
could boast of having been a guest In
joachim Fell's home. There was a moth
er. an invalid, of whom Fell sometimes
spoke and to whom he appeared to de-
vote himself The family, an old one
IN the city. promised to die out with
joachim Fell.
Ansey pulled at his cigar and con-
sidered these things. Outside. In the
New Orleans streets, was rocketing
the mad mirth of carnival. The week
preceding Mardi Gras was at its close.
Now. rs ever, was Mardi Gras sym
bolized by Mosques. In New Orleans
the masquerade was not the pale and
pitifGl frolic of colder chimes, where
the occasion is but one for display OF
Jewels and costumes, and where actual
conceulment of identity is a farce.
Here in New Orleans were Jewels and
costumes in a profusion of splendor;
bat here was preserved the underlying |
idea of the masque itself-that in con-
ccalinent Of Identity lay the life Of the |
thing
When joachim Fell returned and light |
ed his cigar he sank into one of the
luxurious chairs beside Ansley and in |
dicaied newspaper lying across the
lattor's knee, its tlaring headlines
out blackly.
What's that about the Midnight
Alasquer? He's not appeared again?
"What?" Ansley glanced at him in
surprise. You've not heard? Good
heavens, man. lie showed up last
night AT the Lapeyrouse dance. two
inmates before midnight, as usual A
detective had been engaged, but was
afserward found locked in a closet
bound with his own handouts. The
Nlasomer wore his usual cOstume-and
y on' through the party famously,
stripping everyone in sight. Then he
hacked through tn, doors and van
'slied !
Fell soin;ed his cigar at the ceiling,
md sished. "Ah, most interesting
Tie lnor was valued at about a nun
dtpd ihorSH6dT
~ ihn~grt Won said you'c not heard
Of Il demanded Ansley.
pr laughed softly and shyiy. 81
iidr merely hazarded gIless"