Bellefonte, Pa., March 22, 1929.
i
FARM RELIEF,
By Arthur Guiterman.
Tell me how about this farming,
Dirck,” said I. “It's quite alarming.
You alone among the neighbors
Seem to profit by your labors;
Few among them loaf, if any,
Yet they hardly save a penny
While you prosper every season.
What's the answer? What's the reason!”
Dirck replied, “I teil you true!
When it’s time to do, I do.
“There's one time, you got to mind it,
Not before and mot behind it,
When a job is ripe and ready;
Then you do it, hard and steady.
When it's what the corn is needing
That's the time to do the weeding;
And you have to be as knowing
With your sowing and your hoeing
And your berry picking too.
When you ought to do, you do.
“Wegetables wegetating”
Never let you keep them waiting;
When they're fit for folks to use "em.
You must take ‘em or you lose ‘em.
There's a time for orchard spraying.
And anther time for haying
And to keep the chicken layin’,
If your farm jis run for paying,
That's ‘the way ‘the whole year through:
When you got to do, you do!”
GAMBLER'S CHOICE.
At a corner table of the architec-
turally superb, but grotesquely deco-
rated restaurant of the Hotel de Paris,
at Monte Carlo, four very distinguish-
ed local notabilities were enjoying a
a carefully chosen, almost Lucullian
midday banguet. They were indeed
men of consequence.
Monsieur Robert, the director of
the hotel, was host, white-haired but
vigorous, with keen dark eyes and a
presence immortalized by the leading
cartoonists of Europe.
On ‘his right sat Monsieur le Gen-
eral «de St. Hilarie, from the barracks
@t Nice, ‘a rather short, round, but
soldierly-logking person, with fierce
gray mustaches, ‘who wore his im-
‘posing row ‘of ribbons with the air of
one who has earned them. He was in
command of the troops in the district,
and with the continual frontier scars
and graver outbursts of political dis-
content, suppressed in the local pa-
‘pers, but known well enough to the
cellent staff of clerks, and his own
advice was seldom sought save in
cases of extreme necessity. Yet here
at his elbow stood Henri of the re-
ception bureau, with a paper in his
hand.
“What is this, Henri?” he demand-
ed. Monsieur Grammont is in the
office. You see that I lunch with
friends? An occasion, this! Why am
I disturbed?”
Henri, very correctly dressed, be-
comingly pale, worthy, to all appear-
ance, of his post of senior recep-
overweighted with apologies.
“It is Monsieur Grammont who
thought you should see this, without
delay,” ‘he confided. “It is a thing
incomprehensible. One does not know
whether to allot the room.”
Monsieur Robert produced a horn-
rimmed eye glass, and adjusted it
with irritation. “The allotment of
the rooms is no concern of mine,”
he grumbled.
“You will permit a word of expla-
nation, Monsieur,” the young man
begged eagerly. “From the Blue Train
there arrived, a quarter of an hour
ago, this gentleman, Monsieur An-
drew Tresholm, an Englishman. He
had engaged by correspondence a
room looking over the gardens with
bath and small salon. Monsieur
Grammont suggested Suite 39. I took
him to it upon his arrival.
“He was satisfied with the apart-
ments and the price, which was none
too small. All goes well, you per-
ceive. I hand him the papers from
the Bureau of Police, and invite him
to sign them. He fills in his name—
‘you see it there—Tresholm, prenom
Andrew. His age, thirty-six. His
place of birth, a county in England.
He arrives at ‘profession.’ He leaves
that blank. Monsieur Desrolles,” the
young man added, “will remember his
recent injunction.”
“Certainly,” the Chef de Surete as-
sented.
this profession stated. There has
spect.’
Henri bowed his grateful acknowl-
edgements across the table.
“I desire to carry out the official
request,” he continued, “and I press
Monsieur Tresholm to fill in the
space. He protests mildly. Gently
but firmly I insist. He takes up the
pen and hesitates. Then he smiles.
He is of that type—he smiles to him-
self. Then he writes. Behold, Mon-
sieur Robert, what he writes.”
The great man took the paper into
tion clerk of the Hotel de Paris, was
“We wish in all cases to have '
been a certain slackness in this re-
with the eyes of the shearer who has
opened his gates to the sheep. ‘‘He
is of the type,’ he decided. “They
believe in themselves, these young
Englishmen with systems. We shall
see.”
| Monsieur Robert grunted once
more. “All very well, Gustave, mon
vieux,” he declared, “that man is no
fool. Discoveries are being made now
which startled the world— things
that were declared impossible. Why
should it not have arrived at last—
the perfect system?”
Gustave Sordel watched the cham-
pagne poured into his glass with a
placid smile. “The gambler with in-
spiration,” he observed, ‘sometimes
gives temporary inconvenience, but
it is upon the world with systems
{that we thrive. I will drink to the
health of this brave man.”
They raised their glasses. All un-
conscious of their speculations, the
Subject of their conversation was or-
dering his luncheon.
Andrew Tresholm, an hour or so
later, quite unaware of the interest
which his passing through the lounge
had excited, stood upon the steps of
the hotel, looking out upon the gay
‘little scene. A small boy, posted there
for that purpose, rushed to the tele-
phone to announce to the chefs de
parte and officials of the Casino the
impending arrival of this menace to
their prosperity. There was a little
stir in the hall, and everyone neglect-
‘ed his coffee to lean forward and
stare. The Senegalese porter ap-
proached with a low bow and a smile.
“The Casino, sir,” he announced,
pointing to the stucco building acress
the way.
“I see it,” was the somewhat sur-
prised reply. “Darned ugly place,
too!”
The man, who spoke only French,
let it go at that. Tresholm pointed
to a quaint little building perched on
the side of the mountain overhead.
“What place is that?” he asked in
French.
“The Vistaero Restaurant, sir,” the
‘man replied. “The Salles Privees
have been open since two o'clock. The
Sporting Club will be open at four.”
Tresholm showed no particular
sign of interest in either anmounce-
ment. A moment later he descended
the steps, and the four very pros-
perous-looking Frenchmen seated in
the lounge, enjoying their coffee and
cigars, rose to their feet to watch
him.
| “The battle commences,” Gustave
Sordel exclaimed, with a chuckle.
his and stared at it for a moment But apparently the battle was not
as though. bewildered. “ ‘Occupa- going to commence, for to the sur-
tion,” ” he read out, “ ‘professional prise of the four, of the Senegalese
‘world at large, his post was surely no
‘Sinecure.
©n the’left of his host was Monsieur
Desrdlles, ‘the Chef de Surete of Mon-
ace, a. man of mysteries if ever there
was one, tdll, dark and hatchet-faced,
gambler.” ”
“Qu’est-ce que c’est que ca?” the
Chef de Surete gasped.
“ ‘Professional gambler,’ ~ Mon-
sieur Robert repeated, reading from
severe «of deportment, as befitted the | the paper. E
custodian of many secrets. The fourth | They all exchanged bewildered
mam at the table was Gustave Sordel, | glances.
‘the leading ‘spirit ‘in the Societe des | ‘A joke perhaps?” the General
‘Bains «le Mer, that vast organization Suggested.
The young man shock his head.
“This Monsieur Tresholm seemed
perfectly serious,” he declared. “1
respansilile primarily for the gam- |
‘bling rooms, :and ‘in a minor degree '
for such ‘less ‘important institutions
«as the Baths, the Tir aux Pigeons, asked him if he were in earnest, and ,
‘the Cafe de Paris-and the golf course. he replied, ‘Certainly *** It is the
He was ‘the ‘youngest of the party, only profession I have’ he assured
-and he hadl the gir of a man who wel- me, ‘and it keeps me fuily occupied.
comes responsibility with both hands, | Those were his words. ‘Am I to semd
deals with iit summarily, and if he ' this into the police?’ 1 asked him.
makes mistakes stands by them. He ‘Certainly,’ he assented. ‘If they must
‘was celan-shaven, with hard features, | Know my profession, there it is.’ ”
‘a rapid tongue, and he spoke with the | Humor is without doubt a subtle
tone of authority. A gathering this, | quality. Here were four men of en-
‘indeed, of people of note—the rulers !
of the place, men with whom it would
‘have ‘been ‘ill-advised, even danger-
ous, ‘to quarnel.
The conversation was of food and
its glorious ceordllary, ‘wine. Mon-
sienr Robert was engaged in the
‘pleasing ‘task of making the mouths
of his guests water. He spoke of
‘news that morning, over the tele-
‘phone from Prunier’s, of caviar, gray
:and smadll-grained, ‘a limited ship-
ment, dlas, and at a price unmention-
-able—but dlready sauthward bound.
Fortunately, in Monte Carlo, the
visiter’s sense of money values is
curiously disturbed and extravagance
‘becomes a cult. He spoke of prawns
‘brought in that day from the ‘River
‘Vesubie, large and luscious, the shells
of which ‘were soon to Tie upon ‘their
‘plates; a consignment of woodcock
from Corsica, fat with their feast of
‘insects under ‘the cork trees of Corte;
a crate of quails from the rice fields
of Menaffi; some Norfolk pheasants,
landed that morning at Nice from
a fast aeroplane. The General, who
more than any of them loved good
food, and better still good wine, Tis-
tened with glistening eyes.
“With the woodcock, my friends,”
he exclaimed, “some priceless Bur-
1 Wot warmed, mind, but with
the chill off. A Chambertin of 1911
perhaps.”
“Y could accommodate you, Mon-
sieur Robert boasted.
teen bottles in the cellar. Ah, it
is our friend the General indeed who |
knows what is good! The Chamber-
tin or a Clos Vougeot, eh? A per-
fume like violets, wine to stir the
blood!”
“The General is a great connoisuer,
“I have seven- °
tirely different outlook upon life, who
simultaneously recovered from a fit
of astonishment and simultameously
realized that the reception clerk's
announcement was very funmy in-
deed. In his own way each laughed
to the limit of his capacity. Mon-
sieur Sordel, when he had finished,
found it necessary to remove the
| tears from his |
“You find it funny, Gustave?” his
host chaffed him, as soon as he had
recovered his own breath. “Yet here,
perhaps, is the end of the world for
us. A professional gambler, mark
you. He may know something. A
defeating system may have arrived.
Soon you may have to close your
doors, Gustave, and I my hotel.”
There was a second outburst not
quite so prolonged.
Henri waited patiently by. “What
am I to do about the gentleman’s
room, Monsieur Robert?’ he inquired.
“ Give it to him, by all means,”
was the prompt reply. “See that
Madame Grund adorns it with flow-
ers, that the servants, too, show this
eccentric every attention. Stop,
though! His luggage!”
“He has a great deal of very sup-
erior quality,” Henri confided. “There
is also a motor-car of expensive make
. which arrived this morning by road.”
“Ma foi! He makes it pay!” Mon-
sieur Robert grunted. “But that is
very good. Excellent!”
Henri took his leave, and they all
began to talk at once. ?
“An imbecile without a doubt.”
“Perhaps a humorist.”
“Stop, stop, my friends!” Gustave
Sordel begged. “There have been
others who have arrived here with
| equal confidence. We have heard be-
Monsieur,” Monsieur Desroiles declar- fore—we of the Casino—of the in-
ed, “butIclaim tobe theone who vincible system. Our visitor may be
made the discovery that we were very much in earnest. All I can say
drinking the veritable vodka with our is, he is welcome.”
caviar.” | The young man from the reception
“Ah, spirits! I have no palate for bureau once more approached their
them,” the General asknowledged. table.
“The Fin? Yes, the Fin perhaps, but “I thought it would interest you,
no others, and of that there is little sir,” he announced, addressing his
now that enchants. I looked at your chief, “to see this gentleman. He
wine list a few days ago, Robert. has asked for a corner table for
Your 1812, your 1815, your 1830, they luncheon. He arrives now, in the
‘hall porter, of the attendants who
had all gathered to see this gold
stranger depart upon his mission,
"Tresholm stepped into a very hand-
some two-seated car which a chauf-
feur had just brought round, took his
place at the wheel, and, skirting the
gardens, mounted the hill.
“Ha, ha!” Monsieur Robert joked.
“Your victim escapes, Gustave.”
“On the contrary,” was the com-
placment reply, “he mounts ‘to the
Joank.”
In less ‘than half an hour, instead
of dealing out his packets of mille
motes to the ghouls of the Casino ac-
cording to plan, Andrew Tresholm was
leaning over tthe crazy balcony of the
most ‘picturesquely situated wrestan-
rant in Eurepe looking down at ‘what
seemed fo be :a collection of toy
buildings out of a child’s play-box.
Even the Casino, its crudity effaced
fight ‘have been the
somewhat fanciful palace of a King-
dom of dwarfs and the peaceful 1it-
tie port beyemd, with its twin light-
houses, fitting karborage for a Lilli-
putian squadron. His eyes wander-
ed appreciatively but without enthus-
iasm over the somewhat artificial and
too much advertised 'beamties of the
principality, to rest upon the spark-
ling blue of the sea with its flushes
of mauve and purple, its thomsand
scintillations where the sunlight
caught the breaking waves®**
it A waiter at his elbow coughed
suggestively, and Tresholm erdered
coffee amd Grand Marmier. He
stretched himself out in a wicker
chair, and for a professional gam-
bler removed from the scene of his
activities be seemed singularly con-
tent. The afternoon was ‘warm, and
‘Tresholm, who "had endured the
lack of ventilation in his so-called
train de luxe the might before, dozed
peacefully in his chair. He awoke
to the sound of familiar voices—a
woman’s musical and pleading, a
man’s dogged and irritable.
© “Can’t you understand the common
sense of the thing, Norah?” the lat-
ter was arguing. “The luck must
turn. H's got to turn. Take my
case. Ive lost for four nights. "To-
night, therefore, I am all the more
likely to win. What's the good of
going home with the paltry sum we
have left? Much better try to get
the whole lot back.”
“Five thousand pounds isn’t a pal-
try sum by any means,” the girl pro-
tested. “It would make things much
more comfortable for us even though
you still had to go on at the bank.”
“Darn the b: !” was the vicious
‘rejoinder.
Tresholm, who was now quite
awake, rose deliberately to his feet
and moved across to them.
“Darn the bank by all means,” he
‘acquiesced, “so long as it isn’t the
one in which my poor savings are in-
vested. Do I, by any chance, come
across my young friends of An-
gouleme once more in some slight
trouble? Can I be of any assist-
ance?”
by distance,
nt A CTR
leme, I think I really was of some as-
sistance. You - would never have
reached the place but for my chauf-
feur, who fortunately knows more
about cars than I do. A little pathet-
ic you looked, Miss Norah—for-
give me, but I never heard your oth-
er name—Ileaning against the wall by
the side of that exquisite mountain
road, wondering whether any good-
natured person would stop and ask
if you were in trouble.”
She smiled at the recollection.
“And you did stop,” she reminded
him gratefully. “You helped us won-
derfully.”
~ “It was my good fortune,” he said
lightly, but with a faint note of sin-
cerity in his tone. “And this time?
What about it? May I be told the
trouble again? A discussion about
gambling apparently. Well, I know
more about gambling than I do about
motor-cars. Let me be your advis-
er.”
“Much obliged. It's no one else's
trouble except our own,” the young
man intervened.
“Or business, I suppose you would
like to add,” Tresholm observed
equably. “Perhaps your sister will
be more communicative.
“I told you that night at the hotel
at Angouleme of my reputation. I
am a meddler in other people's af-
fairs. I like giving advice, and the
advice I give is pretty sound stuff
too. You young people have heen
disputing about something. I can
see it in your faces. I felt it in the
atmosphere round me when Iawoke.
Let me settle the matter for you.”
“Why not?” the girl agreed with
enthusiasm. “Let me tell him, Jack.
“You can do as you jolly weil
please,” was the surly rejoinder.
The girl leaned across the little
round table towards Tresholm.
She would have been very good-
looking indeed if she had not been so
pale, and if there had not been dark
lines under her violet eyes. Never-
theless, even as she was, Tresholm
decided that this further glimpse of
her was quite worth the abandonment
of his motor tour and the uncom-
fortable train journey.
“We told you a little about our-
selves at Angouleme during the even-
ing of the day when you had been
so kind to us,” she reminded him.
“We are orphans and we have been
living together at Norwich, just on
the salary Jack gets from the bank
where he is junior cashier. Our
name, by the by, is Bartlett. Our
father was a poor clergyman and we
hadn’t a penny in the world except
what Jack earned.
“Then two months ago, quite un-
expectedly, a distant relative, whom
we had scarcely ever heard of, died
and left us five thousand pounds each.
We decided to pool the money, have
a holiday—Jack’s vacation was al-
most due—and, for once in our lives,
have a thoroughly good time.’
“A very sound idea,” Tresholm
murmured.
“The place we both wanted to come
to,” she went on, “was Monte Carlo.
‘We bought a little mator-car—you
know something about that—and we
reached here a few days ago. It was
lots of fun, but, alas, ever since we
arrived Jack and I have disagreed.
His point of view——"
“I'l tell him that myself,” her
‘brother interrupted. “Ten thousand
pounds our legacy was—nine thous-
and we recokned when our holiday's
paid for, and the car.
posing 1 imvested it, what would it
mean ? Four hundred and fifty a year.
‘Neither one thing nor the other. It's
just about what T'm getting from the
bank. Tt wouldn't have helped me to
escape. 1 should have had to go on
‘there fjust the same and I hate the
‘work like poison.”
“Four hundred and fifty a year
‘would have made life very much easi-
er for us, even though you had to go
‘on working,” she remarked wistfully.
“Thinking of yourself as usual,” he
growled. “Well, anyhow, you agreed
at first)”
“Agreed to what?”
quired.
“To taking our chance of making
a bit whilst we were here,” he ex-
plained. “We decided to risk a couple
of thousand pounds and see if w=
could make enough to chuck the bank
aad live quietly somewhere in the
country where was golf and a bit of
shooting.”
“It wasn't my idea,” she ventured.
“Of course it wasn’t,” he scoffed.
“You're like all women. You're too
frightened of losing to make a good
sportsman.”
“Well, we have lost,” she rejoined
Adryly—“not two thousand but four.”
“That seems unfortunate,” was
Tresholm’s grave comment. “What is
the present subject of your dispute?”
Well, sup-
Tresholm in-
“Simply this,” the young man con-
fided. “We have spent, or shall have
spent by the time we get home, a
thousand pounds of the legacy. We
have lost at the tables four thousand,
and sold the littie car we bought for
half what we gave for it. We have
five thousand left. Norah wants me
to promise not to go into the Casino
again, and to leave for home at once
with five thousand pounds in the
bank. I want to go neck or nothing
—win back at least our five thousand
——perhaps a good bit more. The luck
must turn.”
| “Quite so,” Tresholm agreed.
: “There's a certain amount of reason
in ‘what your brother says, Miss
Norah.”
| She looked at him in horror. “You
{ don’t mean to say that you're going
chance .in thirty-five against you—
and zero, of course.”
“You may call that fair,” Tresholm
said calmly; I don’t. I am assuming
that with your small capital you're
backing the numbers. Very well. The
bank has the pull on you the whole of
the time to the extent of five or six
per cent. If you play chemin de fer
the cagnotte amounts to about the
same thing.
" “I am with you in spirit, my young
friend, but gambling at Monte Carlo
isn’t what I call gambling at all
You're fighting a man of equal ability
a stone heavier than yourself. It
can’t be done. It’s automatic. You
must lose.”
“That's what I say,” the girl de-
clared triumphantly. “We're simply
foolish to dream of throwing away
the last of our money.”
“But people do win,” her brother
insisted. ‘There’s that Hungarian
who won half a million francs the
night before last.”
“The Casino takes pretty good care
to advertise it when anything of that
‘sort happens,” Tresholm pointed out.
“He'll probably be in again tonight
and lose the lot, and more besides.
Now listen to me, Bartlett,” he went
on. “I'm not against you in spirit.
I'm against you in this particular
proposal because you want to take on
an impossibility.
“The people who win here are just
the people who play to amuse them-
selves, and go away when they've
had their fun. People in your posi-
tion, with a few thousand pounds left
over from a legacy and nothing else
to fall back upon in the world, are
the people who inevitably lose.”
The young man thrust his hands
into his trousers pockets. His natur-
al good looks were completely spoilt
by his sullen expression.
“It’s no good trying to be scientific
in gambling,” he said. “If you want
to have a plunge you always must
have a bit up against you, of course.
What's it matter so long as you win?
I never mind backing a horse at odds
on so long as it’s a certainty.”
“There is such a thing as fair
gambling,” Tresholm pointed out.
“I'll toss you for your five thousand
pounds, if you like. That's a level
affair—no cagnotte, no zero. You can
choose the coin.”
The girl gave a little cry.
brother gasped.
“You're not serious?” he exclaim-
ed.
“Mr. Tresholm !” she remonstrated.
“I'm perfectly serious,” he assured
them both. “You seem to think that I
know nothing about gambling. On the
contrary, I am described in the police
‘records of this principality as a pro-
fessional gambler. I must live up to
my reputation. I will toss you for
five thousand pounds. I shall prob-
ably win as I am usually lucky, and
you, I should think, are not. This mo-
ment, if you like. Shall I send for a
coin?”
“No !” the girl shrieked.
Tresholm shrugged his shoulders.
“Very well,” he acquiesced. “You
would like to prolong the agony. Dine
with me, both of you, tonight at the
Hotel de Paris at half past eight. We
will either toss, or play any game you
like where the odds are level, for
whatever. sum you like up to five
thousand pounds.”
The girl looked at him reproach-
fully through a mist of tears. Her
brother was exuberant.
“You're a sportsman,” he declared.
“I wanted to dine at the Paris once
more before we left. We'll be there
at half past eight.”
Gustave Sordel paid a special visit
to the hotel just before dinner-time
that evening. He encountered Mon-
sieur Robert in the hall.
“But what has arrived !”
Her
he ex-
claimed. “All the afternoon my chefs °
have been on the qui vive. I have re-
inforced every table to the extent of a
hundred thousand francs. I arranged
for a high table at chemin de fer, and
if Monsieur Tresholm had wished to
take a bank at baccarat tonight it
could have been managed. Yet be-
hold the strange thing which has ar-
rived. He has not as yet taken out his |
ticket.”
“In the Sporting Club perhaps?”
Monsieur Robert suggested.
“Three times I have sent there. No
one of his name has applied for a
card.”
“This affair gives one to think,”
Monsieur Robert admitted. “At pres-
ent he dines with a young English-
man and his sister-—a couple bien
distingue, but poor. They left here
last week for a cheaper hotel. Of
what interest can they be to him?”
Sordel shrugged his shoulders.
“After all,” he pointed out, “even a
professional gambler must have his
moments. He waits for the night
without a doubt.”
Meanwhile, in the restaurant, Tres-
holm, to all appearance, was very
much enjoying his dinner. Bartlett
was excited, and drank perhaps a lit-
tle more wine than was good for him.
Norah, on the other hand, was very
silent. She ate and drank little, and
‘her manner, especially towards her
host, was reserved, not to say cold.
“Your sister, Bartlett,” the latter
a,
you yourself have used all your per-
suasions. Your brother would have
lost every penny in the Casino.if I
had not offered him a saner chance
of gambling with me.”
“I can’t explain,” she sighed.
‘am just disappointed.”
Dinner drew towards a close, but.
Tresholm waved aside the waiter's:
suggestion of coffee.
“I have ordered it in my sitting-
room,” he explained to his guests.
“It shall be the prelude to the duel.”
They left the table, crossed the
lounge and entered the elevator. In
the corridor Bartlett stopped to speak
to an acquaintance. The girl sud-
denly turned to her companion.
“Mr. Tresholm,” she begged, “don't
do this. Let him lose his money im
the Casino if he must. I don’t like
the idea of you two sitting down to
play against one another. I don’t
like it. There's something horrible:
about it.”
“Don’t you think,” he asked, “that
if your brother must throw his mon-
ey away, I might as well have it as
anybody else?”
“Do you mean—do you really mean
that you are what you said?”
“I am afraid there is a certain
amount of truth in what I told you,”
he acknowledged. “If you go to the
Chef de Surete here in Monaco, he
will show you my papers.’ ’
“Then I think it is all very ter-
rible,” she pronounced sadly. “Even
the nicest people seem poisoned with
this gambling. I am very sorry that
we ever came to Monte Carlo.”
“Now for the terms,” Tresholm
said, as he and Bartlett seated them-
selves at a small table. “First of all,
here are two tickets for the Blue
Train tomorrow. It is understood
that whether you win my money or
I win yours you make use of them.”
“Right-o!” the young man agreed,
pocketing the yellow slips.
“I require more than a casual ac-
ceptance of that proposal,” Tresholm
“T
persisted. “I require your word of
honor.”
“That’s all right,” the other ac-
quiesced. “I promise upon my hon-
or.”
“And I am your witness,” Noral
intervened gravely.
“Furthermore, whether you win or
lose,” Tresholm continued, “you must
promise not to return within twelve
months.”
“Agreed. Come along. Let’s start.”
“The game I leave entirely to you,”
Tresholm announced. “There are, as:
you see, four new packs of cards. I
will cut you highest or lowest to win,
whichever you like, or I will play you
two-handed poker, or piquet, or any
other game you prefer.”
There was a sudden gleam in the
young man’s eyes. “Piquet?” he re-
peated. “You play piquet?”
“Rather well,” Tresholm warned
him. “I should advise you to choose
something else.”
| Barlett laughed confidently. “Pi-
quet’s good enough for me,” he de-
clared. “I used to play it with my
old governor every night. Let's go
on with it,” he added, moistening his
dry lips. “A hundred pounds a time,
eh?”
“Whatever you like,” was the reply.
It was midnight before the matter
was concluded. Bartlett, white and’
distraught, with a dangerous, almost.
lunatic gleam in his eyes, was pac--
ing the room excitedly. Norah, un-
expectedly calm, was still seated in
the chair from which she had watch-
ed the gambling with changeless ex-
pression. Tresholm remained at the:
table. Before him lay a check for
five thousand pounds which the
young man had just signed.
“Ready, Jack?” she asked at last.
| “I suppose so,” he growled. “Come
along.”
Tresholm rose to his feet. “You've
had a fair deal with level odds for
your money, haven't you?” he asked
his late opponent.
“I'm not complaining,” was the
broken reply. “I suppose it's no use:
asking you to lend me a hundred just.
to have one shot at the Sporting
Club ?” = a on
“Not the least use in the world,”
| Tresholm refused. The hundred:
pounds would go just where the rest:
of your money has gone. There are:
some of us who are made to winat
games of chance; others to lose. You
are one of the predestined losers. If
you take my advice, you will never
again, so long as you live, indulge in.
any game of chance for money.” He
opened the door. The girl passed out,
slim and dignified, without a glance:
in his direction.
“Good night,
ventured.
' “Good night, Mr. Tresholm,” she
replied. “I congratulate you upon
your profitable evening.”
With that they both disapepared.
Tresholm mixed himself a drink and
returned to his place at the table,
playing idly with the cards.
The Blue Train, disturbingly early
upon its return journey, just as it is.
usually outrageously late upon its:
arrival, came groaning round the:
bend from Mentone, snorting and:
puffing into the Monte Carlo station.
Miss Bartlett,” he
have disappeared, alas!”
Monsieur Robert smiled the smile .
of a wise man who knows a thing or
two.
“From the wine list?
from the wine list, perhaps, my
friends. But wait!*** Now with the
prawns I shall give you a dry Pouilly,
a fine and delicate wine. This to pre-
pare your palate for what comes. I
have not forgotten your Clicquot
either, Gustave. When the cham-
pagne arrives, there is a little sur-
prise for you*** What is this?”
He broke off with a frown. His
duties with regard to the hotel were
th now almost of the past. He
had an execellent manager, an ex-
Why, yes.
i doorway.”
They looked at him with very gen-
uine curiosity. A slim but well-built
young man, of a little over medium
height, carefully but not foppishly
dressed in gray tweeds, with admir-
ably chosen tie, collar and shirt. He
was fair, and his hair had a slight
tendency towards curliness. His com-
plexion was sunburnt, his eyes blue,
his features good, and there was a
quizzical drive at the corners of his
lips and faint lines by his eyes which
Right have denoted a humorous out-
look.
“Un jenue homme tres chic,” was
Monsieur Robert's’ criticism.
| Gustave Sordel looked at his victim
The youth, good-looking but mo- to advise him to risk the whole of the
rose, glanced across at him and rest of our legacy!” she exclaimed.
scowled. The girl swung round in: Tresholm made no direct reply. He
her chair, and a litle cry of pleasure passed around his case and lighted a
broke from her lips. | cigaret himself.
“Mr. Tresholm!” she exclaimed. “Well,” he pronounced, “I have a
“Fancy your being here! Aren't we : certain amount of sympathy for your
‘terrible people, squabbling at the brother's point of view. If I were in
top of our voices in such a beautiful
place?”
Tresholm sank into the chair which
the young man, with an ungracious
greeting, had pushed towards him.
“YT seem fated to come up Sains
you two in moments of tribulation,”
he remarked, speaking languidly, al-
most with & drawl, as thoug]
h to give
them time to recover. “At Angou-
his position and had lost as much as
| you say, I think I should want a shot
at getting some of it back, but,” He
added, checking the young man’s ex-
| clamation of delight and the girl's
little cry of disappointment with the
‘same gesture, “I should want to know
| that the odds were level.”
| “Roulette’s a fair enough game,”
.the young man protested. “One
confided, when the second bottle of Norah settled down sadly in her com-
champagne was opened, “is displeas- partment while her brother made his-
ed with me. I wonder whether I way to the restaurant car to secure -
‘might ask why.” . seats for dinner.
| “Because you have taken his side _ Then, glancing idly out of the win- .
"against me,” she said, looking at him dow, she suddenly gave a little gasp.
with a smoldering anger in her eyes. ' Very deliberately along the platform .
“You are encouraging him to gamble came Tresholm, calm and undisturb- .
| with that last five thousand pounds. ed. Behind him was a small boy car- .
I hoped so much that you would rying an enormous bouquet of roses. .
have been on my side, that you would She shank back in her place. Any- .
have told him to keep that money, thing rather than see him! Before -
for both our sakes, and not to enter she could decide upon any means of -
: the Casino again.” escape, however, the roses were on -
“And if I had told him that,” the seat by her side, and Tresholm,
Tresholm asked calmly, “would it neat and debonnair as usual was .
have made any difference?” , standing bare-headed before her.
She reflected for a moment. “Per-! “A little farewell offering for you, -.
haps it would not,” she admitted. Miss Bartlett, which you must please
“He is very self-willed. He would accept, and a farewell note here for -
probably have had his own way, and you to read as soon as fhe train has -
yet somehow or other I am sorry that ' started,’ he added, handing her a let-
it should have been you who encourag- ter. “Will you shake hands?”
ed this.” In her moment of indecision she
“I don’t think that you are quite forgot, and she looked up at him.
just to blame me,” he complained. | Directly her eyes met his, clear, gray -
“You must realize that nothing I |and somehow compelling, she gave in.
could have said would have made the [Her fingers rested for a moment in .
slightest difference. You know that (Continued on page 7, Col. 1.)