Evening star., 1934-03-06
INSTALLMENT xxx.


not chivyy girls across the lobby OF
q hotel. Beatrice had begun to make
for the door at pace so brisk thai
Pscky's only alternative to letting hei
20 was to pursue her at a gallop. He
let her 60.
The envelope cracked in his hand
He opened 1t duly. He did not anti
cipate that 1t would add much to his
existing information. After those last
words of hers, so Enthusiastically lu-
cid, he presumed It to be the bird OF
Bronx cheer in written form.
He had guessed correctly. The let
ter ran to three pages and little
over, but its giSt could have beer
condensed into that poignant phrase
so familiar to lovers Of melodrama-
Those wedding bells shall not ring
out"
The marriage which had been ar
ranged between Lady Beatrice Bracken
(who Is, of course. the daughter OF
the Earl of Stableford) and Patrick B
Franklyn twho is, of course. the well
known young American millionaire
and sportsman) would not take place
Statisticians who have gone care
fully into the figures-the name OF
Schwertfeger of Berlin is one that
springs to the mind-inform us that
of young men who have just received
q negative answer to a proposal OF
marriage land with these must, OF
course, be grouped those whose en-
gagements have been broken Off 6.O8
per cent clench their hands and stare
silently before them, 1902 take the
next train to the Rocky Mountains
and shoot grizzlies, while 1107 sit
down at their desks and become mod
ern novellsts.
The first impulse of the remainder
And these, it will be seen, constitute
Q large malority-is to nip off round
the corner and get good stiff drink.
Into this class Packy fell. The i'm
perious urge to put something cold
and stimulating inside him swept over
him within 10 seconds of his perusal
of the opening sentences of Beatrice
letter. Two minutes later he was IN
the cocktail bar entreating the kindly
Gustave to come to the aid OF the
party. And it was while the latter was
reaching for bottles and doing musical
things with ice that he observed Sen
ator Opal bearing down on him.
He was not surprised to see Sena-
tor Opal. To the others thin story
about having come to the Hotel des
Etrangers to dispatch cable he had
attached little credence. He was per-
5ectly aware that If he entered the
cocktail bar one OF the first sights
which met his eye would be the great
dry legislator with his foot on the
rail and his head back, restoring his
tissues. All he felt on perceiving him
now was merely that well-marked
sensation Of nausea which comes to
broken hearted young men who see
would-be conversationalists making
In their direction. He had no wish
TO chat with the Senator, and only
the intense desire to get outside a
Gustave Special Immediately held him
where he stood.
Before proceeding to the more vital
agenda, Senator Opal had a word of
warning to impart.
There was girl out there just
how, asking about you he said. i
stalled her all right, but better keep
out Of the way"
Packy's Gustave Special had ar
rived. He drained it without replying
and asked for another. The kindly
Gustave, who could read facts, had
foreseen the repeat order He filled
enatched at the glass like a fright
sened child reaching for its mothers
hand.
II don't know who she was. She
knew you all right But I told her
Pou were the Vicomte de Blissac. and
she went off quite satisfied. You GO
out by this door here, and she'll
never see you
Having disposed Of this minor mat
ter. Senator Opal came straight to
that other which was nearest his
heart.
We'll, have you fixed everything
Gp7"
Packy. now dealing with his third
Gustave Special, stared with no hu-
man sparkle in his eye. The Senator's
eholer, always near the surface, be-
gan to rise.
What the devil" he demanded
"are you goggling like a fish for?" A
faint mauve, the first beginning of
that royal purple which was wont to
sufiuse 1t in his berserk moments,
came into his face. Are you doped?"
he asked sharply. Cant you talk?
You went up half an hour ago to
arrange things with that man of
yours. What happened"
With an effort Packy contrived to
bring his mind to bear on the ques-
ton. The strain of this made him
feel as if the top of his head had
worked loose. But something told him
that only when he had supplied the
desired information would he be per-
m1tted to return to his sorrow unno-
Tested.
"Oh, that's all off," he said.
The Senator was now completely
purple. "All OFF,"
YES Slattery says he won't do it."
why not? He's a burglar, isn't
he?"
Yes. But apparently when he was
doing some burgling the other night
you planted him out on window
sill, and he didn't like 1t"
"Goosh! The Senator paused for a
moment, aghast. You don't mean
that was the fellow"
"Yes."
"And he's sore?"
Very sore. He says If you're
drowning he'll throw you a flatiron,
but outside of that he doesn't want
anything to do with you"
Senator Opal fermented silently.
How true 1t is, he was feeling. that
We never know how devastating the
results Of our most trivial actions may
be. Just because he had done an or
dinary everyday thing like putting
burglar on a window sill. the sort Of
thing one does and forgets about next
minute. ruin stared him in the face
He mourned as many a stout fellow
had mourned before him, over the
Erevocability of the past.
Packy welcomed his silence. It en-
abled him to turn his mind to his own
troubles. He was brooding on these
when an insistent noise at his side
brought him to earth. and with con-
siderable annoyance he saw that the
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