Evening star., 1924-06-01

Il
fully across the table at his
friend. Roscoe Sheriff, the press
agent.
The more / see of America" sighed
Archie. the more it amazes me. Alb
solutely. All you birds seem to have
been doing things from the cradle up
ward. 1 wish l could do things"
"Well. why don't you?"
oh, l don't know, YOU know" he
said. Somehow none OF our family
aver have"
Roscoe Sheriff slipped his coffee
th"ghtfully. He was an apostle OF
energy, and it seemed to him that he
could make convert Of Archie and
incidentally do himself q bit of good
Would you have any objection to
putting up snake for me-"
Pctting up snake?"
"Juft for day or two"
Il don't seem absolutely to have
grasped the affair in all its aspects, II
you know what I mean" Archie said
81 mean to say, in the first place, why
would it brighten your young exist
ence il | entertained this snake OF
. yours?"
It's not mine. 1t belongs to
Nine. Brudowska. You've heard OF
her, of course?"
"Oh, yes. She's some sort of per
forming snake female in vaudeville or
something, isn't she, or something OF
that species or order?"
You're near it. but not quite right
She is the leading exponent of high
brow tragedy on any stage in the
civilized world"
Absolutely. remember reading
in some journal or other that she had
pet snake. given her by some Rus
sian prince or other-what?'
That" said Sheriff, was the i'm
preston l intended to convey when
1 sent the story to the papers I'm
l.er press agent. AS a matter of fact
l bought Peter--its names Peter
myself down on the East Side. / al
ways believe in animals for press
agent stunts. So now I'm going to
steal her snake"
steal it? Pinch 1t. as it were:"
Yes. Big story for the papers. you
see. She's grown Very much attached
to Peter He's her mascot. If 7 can
sneak it away and keep it away for
a day or two, she'll do the rest. She'll
make such a fuss that the pspers will
be full of it,
II see
Now, any ordinary woman would
work in with me. But not her nibs.
She would call it cheap and degrad
ing and a lot of other things. It's got
to be a genuine steal, and, if I'm
caught at 1t, Il lose my job. So that's
where YOU come in"
But where am l to keep the jolly
old reptile?"
'Oh, anywhere. Punch few holes
in hat-box and make IT up shake
down inside. Itn be company for
you"
Something in that. My wife's
away just now. and it's a bit lonely in
the evenings"
You'll never be lonely with Peter
around. He's great scout. Always
merry and bright"
"Oh, all right. I'll take him. BY
the way, touching the matter of
browsing and sluicing-what do 1
feed him on?"
oh, anything. Bread and milk or
fruit or soft-boiled egg or dog bis
cult or ants eggs. You know-any-
thing you have yourself. By the way.
her nibs lives at the Cosmopolis. too.
Very convenient. Well, so long. See
you later"
A RICHIE, left alone, began, for the
first time, to have serious doubts.
He wandered out into 9TH avenue.
'Moffam. Ny dear fellow.
The voice, speaking suddenly in his
ear from behind, reused Archie from
iis reflections. Indeed, 1t reused him
so effectually that he jumped a clear
inch off the ground and bit his tongue.
Revolving on his axis, he found him.
self confronting a middle aged man
with a face like a horse. The man
was dressed in something of an old
. world style. His clothes had an Eng
3 lish cut. He had a dropping gray
mustache. He also wore a gray derby
hat flattened at the crown--but who
are we to judge him?
Archie had placed him now. He
had not seen Gen. Mannister for sew
eral years-not, indeed, since the
days when he used to meet him at the
home OF young Lord Seacliff, his
nephew. Archie had been at Eton
and Oxford with Seacliff.
"Hullo, general, What no. What
no, What on earth are you doing
over here"
Lets get out of this crush. my
boy" Gen. Mannister steered Archie
= into side street. That's better"
He cleared his throat once or twice,
as If embarrassed. I've brought Sea-
cliff over" he said finally.
Dear old Squifry here? Oh, say!
Great work"
Gen. Mannister did not seem to
share his enthusiasm. He looked like
a horse with a secret sorrow.
You will find SSeacliff changed" he
said. Let me see-how long is it
since you and he metz
Archie reflected.
II was demobed just about a year
ago. / saw him in Paris about year
before that. The old egg got bit
of shrapnel in his foot or something,
didn't he? Anyhow, 1 remember he
was sent home"
His foot Is perfectly well again
now But, unfortunately. the en-
forced inaction led to disastrous re-
cults. You recolleot. no doubt. that
Seacliff always had IA tendency