Evening star., 1925-06-07
LOutre
BY LISA YSAYE TARLEAU.
Copyright, 1925, by the Ridgway Co.

in short, that pays we'll and is safe
Because Loutre is a coward. Despite
his splendid physique-you must i'm
againe him over feet tall and de-
cidedly andsome-despite his splen-
did physique, l say, he is as yellow
as they make them. Never takes a
risk. Always out to save his skin.
Would betray anything and anybody
unscrupulously II he sees his advan-
tage in it, and is consequently de-
spised by the police as we'll as by his
fellow criminals. Only women fall for
him. AS l told you, he is a handsome
devil.
"One day the Matin, having nothing
else to do, runs a series of articles
about the crime wave, and In conse.
quence the police get busy. The usual
thing you know. Raids, arrests, in
vestigations, and so forth Crime be.
comes less profitable and more danger
Gus than ever. And Loutre hates
every danger. He decides, there.
fore, to leave his old haunts and his
chosen associates and to disappear for
a while. To do something else. But
what? Suddenly he remembers a Ger.
tain girl who had been arrested for
shoplifting and sentenced to the re-
formatory. Somebody had told him
only lately that this girl had gone
into the movies and was making a
lot of money. He determined to find
out with what company she Is work
ing, and so he does. One fair morn
ing he accoSts that poor girl on her
way 10 the studio, and in his best
matchmaking manner he puts the
proposition before heri Either you
get me position with your com.
pany or I'll tell what l know. III
spare YOU all the details of the dicker-
lng-SuTtClGnt Ia
he demands. He is introduced as
relative of the girl and the di-
rector gives him a tryout. And by
queer chance Loutre does well. He
screens quite wonderfully. and his
gestures have a savage, natural ef-
fectivenesS which Is most astounding
Loutre becomes thus at once a full
fledged screen actor, and as he is
really good looking they make him
play the heroes.
Every day now he rescues limo
cence out of the clutches of vice;
every day he succors the poor; every
day he withers the villain with his
proud silence; every day. in short, he
is more virtuous than Sir Galahad
in person. And since this virtue pays,
he enjoys it. His salary becomes
ever more fantastic, his contracts
ever more favorable, his name more
movie mad world of ours. And that
goes on for years. And then sud
denly comes a crash. A hotel affair.
Too much wine, too much drugs, too
much everything, and a girl dies. And
Loutre, the idol of the public, becomes
an outcast. His contracts are not
renewed, his pictures are no longer
booked, he is done for. He drops out.
From one day to another he is for
gotten. Nothing is left for him but to
return to his former lifer'
Aristide paused and reached for an
other cigarette. kersac showed the box
over to him. and even gave him d
light. We'll" he asked, "and what
them"
Then" explained Aristide, begins
the real tragedy. Loutre finds out
that one cannot be virtuous for years
without paying for it in the end. One
cannot constantly parade as a hero
and be afterward successful as a VII
lain. Poor Loutre cannot bully his
women any more-for too long a time
his cue was TO protect and to defend
them. Even at blackmail he is now
failure. Why, he is constantly tempt
ed to take himself by the scruff of the
neck and to hand himself over to the
police, He has done it over and over
again with his partners who were cast
for this thanklesS role. Thus he de-
teriorates and goes to pieces-a help
less victim of stern and pitiless
virtue"
Kersac smiled a bit. 'Musset says;
On ne badine pas avec l'amour-
One must not toy with love; your
opinion evidently Is: On ne badine
pas avec la Vertu.
Aristide nodded "One must not toy
idly with. or for that matter at, any
emotion without paying some price for
it. In the end you feel what you
pretend TO feel, you become what you
play at being. At this point, you
see, my little conte gains breadth
depth, perspective. I refer, then, not
only to the results of modern psy-
chology-Coue, you know, auto-sugges-
ton, the subconscious self, and so