Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1926-02-26
PAUL,
AN UNLUCKY
FELLOW
SsSSSSeSSSSSsSSSSN
BY MARJORIE R. JOHNSON
"a by Short Story Pub. Co

7 Up To about Eve years ago
Paul Preston was lucky
~ man, having everything in life
that he wanted to make him
happy, and nothing to worry him. He
was young and healthy, standing five
feet eleven in his stockings, was not
In love, and, BEST Of all, he thought,
had not cent in the world and no
head for business.
His ill-luck began when his great
uncle Morrison died and saddled the
burden of his millions upon him. He
had not expected this, and fumed and
fretted, vowing he would never bear
1t. He had just taken passage for
Europe in the steerage Of a cattle
steamer sailing from Quebec, had had
a hard time to raise the money for
even that, and now, in the very height
of his triumph at having accomplished
the acme of his ambition, down came
that crushing Inheritance, and life lost
its roseate hue and became black.
Reluctantly he gave up thoughts OF
the steerage, and secured deck cabin
on one of the flrst-class steamships
from New York, but all the way over,
while outwardly enjoying himself and
making himself agreeable to the ladies,
he was planning how to get rid Of his
monetary incubus.
It Paris he gave everybody the slip
and went straight to the Latin Quar-
ter. There he took an attic, fitted 1t
up with secondhand furniture, had a
mean pallet" for a bed, tumbledown
easel, some scarecrow chairs and other
shabby things, and then settled down
to work with strong hope Of some de-
gree of happiness. He asked the boys
about the cheapest restaurants and
was soon going 1t with the most pow
erty-stricken Of the lot, having a good
time and almost succeeding In forget
ting his money when, one unlucky day,
his lawyer tracked him out, and Sc
crecy was no longer possible. HIS
comrades of the Quarter distrusted
him after that, and turned the cold
shoulder, and there was nothing to do
but quit Paris
In Munich, whittier he went, he
didn't go 1t quite so strong, taking
fairly decent apartment, working or
not as he liked, spending and losing
all the money he could without arous-
ing suspicion. Working as he did, by
fits and starts, 1t required no manage
ment to acquire a reputation for lazi-
ness, and he soon had the happiness
Of learning that he was spoken Of as
ne'er-do-well who would never
make his mark This encouraged him
to believe that he could safely exhibit
with good prospect Of being skied,
and finding no sale for his work.
What, then, was his dlsmay on going
into the gallery to see his picture
hung on the line, with an admiring
crowd before 1t, and to receive the
next day an offer Of sixteen thousand
marks for 1t. He had to accept, Of
course, or be found out, but 1t con-
vInced him that Munich was, for his
purposes worse than Paris.
Next he tried Leningrad, think
ing that II there were such thing as
getting into a scrape, Russia was the
country for the purpose. Here he did
all the reckless things he could think
Of any one OF which would have re-
suited in the Punishment Of an Ordi-
narily lucky individual. Before he had
been In the city q month he found him
self being sought out and treated
as II he had been a prince in disguise.
This enabled him to try an experiment
which, although he decidedly objected
to II, he had wished to try for some
time. The thought occurred to him
that, had he been a gambler, he might
have got rid Of any amount Of money
in a very short time. He had heard
and read of fortunes being lost In
single night, and, though 1t was much
against his inclination, he tried the
thing with a party Of professional
gamblers-swells, all Of them-but pro-
fessional gamblers all the same.
OF course, he knew that he should
win the first night or two-in stories
tyros always do-and he didn't mind
1t for awhile; but when 1t kept on
night after night for month, and he
found that he had more than doubled
the amounts he had at stake, he
thought 1t was high time to throw up
the undertaking.
Discouraged and disguised, he went
to London, where he frequented the
East End with large sums Of money
In his pockets visited the places of
popular amusement with bulglng
pocketbooks, ill-concealed In the hope
Of thus losing at least few thousand
pounds. Either the police were I'M
usually on the alert or the pickpockets
had all experienced change Of heart,
for never penny could he lose.
Then he returned to New York and
tried investments. Knowing that he
had no head for business, he reckOned
this lack the strongest asset In his
new plan. Whenever he heard Of
particularly uppromlslng wildcat
scheme, he would take a few thou
sand shares in 1t, with liability II
possible, thinking this about the sur
est way to secure good, healthy loss.
Not a loss could he make, for, as sure
as he took shares in the fishlest-look-
ing Of all mining or other schemes, the
thing would flare up into the biggest
boom 1t had ever had, and Preston's
money would be trebled before he
could get rid Of his stock.
1t seemed to him awful.
Then he settled large sums on all
Ills relatives. and had serious thoughts