Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-29

y,
cruel goddess. He wandered about
for time through the streets
of the little tropc town. The
hotels were brilliantly alight; he could hear
snatches of dance music. and all this seemed
to him pitiabe. He acutely aware that
these lights this music. manifest upon
little island of coral in the midst of waste
of water; that the moon was dead, hideously
barren and cold. lie was, in short, out of sorts,
for no very good reason.
. For a while he almost relished his bitter.
Awareness but presently it began to alarm him
a little and he turned to seek refuge with his
fellow creatures. He had been elected tenn
porary member of certain club and he went
there now, wanting to talk and to drink
He found four men sitting there, smoking.
Three of them were Colonials quiet, matter
of-fact men. but the fourth was fellow coun-
TRUMAN of Hackett's, an American, big swag-
geTing fellow with a black mustache, a sort
of Porthos. Hackett knew him by sight, knew
that his name was Consadine, and that he was
reputed to be very rich. He had, hitherto, not
wanted to know any more. but tonight, in his
black depression he responded almost eagerly
to the others friendly salutation. And before
long he came to see this fellow as a godsend,
because of his vigorous and dverting CONVEX
Sation.
One of the Colonials made some remark
about the tourist trade.
Every ones tourist" said Consadine, with
out return ticket. When we're young they
give us all the booklets and folders about the
lands we are going to see. Ha! /. Bright
colored pictures-the land of hearts desire
the castles in Spain. Then it depends on the
purser what accommodation you get And he's
not fair One fellow gets cabin de luxe and
one gets an upper berth, just by caprice.
And once you're on board you've got to go
wherever the captain chooses to take YOU You
can't get of, unless you go overheard"
II see what you mean by the captain said
Hackett but who's this purser?"
EGE%ATE!" said Consadine. "Destiny-Luck.
People tell you that if you're good, he'll
give you the best accommodation. But he
doesn't. He likes his joke"
Il don't agree with you there" said one Of
the islanders. "I think we get pretty much
what We deserve"
.'Then business must be good with you" muir
INJURED Consadine, and, louder: But who's TO
be the Judge of what we deserve? No. e" He
was silent for moment. NO" he repeated.
There's only one way to handle the purser,
and that's to observe his conditions. You can
get anything you want-on condition"
81 don't see that said the islander.
"I can tell you a little story" said Consadine
ito illustrate my point If you'd care to hear it?'
He stopped and lit cigar. 1T happened 70
friend of mine-weT call him Ansell-and when
this thing happened, he was in trouble serious
trouble nalI SICK Win worry ana misery.
lost every penny he owned, on the market,
and he'd lost his job and he saw that he'd
have to Jose his girl. She was a nice GIRL she
would have stood by him but he didn't want
that He wanted TO give her everything
"Her sister was getting married and she'd
asked Ansell out to the wedding, and he hadn't
even answered her letter. Because just when
he got it, the crash came and he was sunk.
He couldn't go unless he were properly dressed
and could give the sister present He didn't
want TO refuse, because he had desperate
hope that something would turn up.
Sore had given him the tip TO buy
Barnstable common at once, and he was trying
TO borrow from every one he knew. He felt
perfectly sure that if he could raise $4,000 he
could clean up something pretty, and pay all
his debts. 1t didn't seem to him worth while
TO look for another job just then, because even
. good salary wouldn't get him clear for
months-years. He just had TO get that
$1,000.
well one person after another turned him
down, until there was left but an uncle
who extremely unlikely TO give him any
thing but the worst sort of good advice. But
one morning Ansel set of to tackle him. He
had lain awake most Of the night, and when
he got up he in bad state.
"He stopped at counter fer cup Of coffee,
then he went to the Grand Central and bought
ticket for the suburb where his uncle lived.
He didn't have enough for return ticket; his
last coin went for package Of cigarettes. His