i ine i j ^ > ! "No, no," shivers Georgina. Then she grows crimson to the roots of her pig- A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 97 tail, next cold and trembling to her very toes. This horrible creature is observing: "Oh, don't try to deny it. I saw you when you came in at eleven o'clock at night, hanging upon Jack's arm about three weeks ago into the Hotel Saint Quentin. You and your husband had rooms opposite me. You had just walked over from the Gare du Nord. Reckon you had arrived on the London Night Express." The terrific thought that this man knows her se- cret would probably produce a fit of hysterics in the detected bride did not the awful voice of her ex- schoolmistress from the hall, saying: "Alphonse, is the gentleman in the parlor ?" force young Mrs. Hor- ton to make a desperate effort to control her nerves. She pleads with pallid lips: "Oh, mercy, don't don't tell Madame Perrique !" and holds herself up by a chair, so agitated she can hardly stand, as the' landlady enters the apartment with Rosenbaum's card in her hand and business in her eye. Noting the extraordinary attitude of her charge, the ex-schoolmistress says shortly: "Georgina, what's the matter with you? Come here." Crushed by her embarrassing situation, young Mrs. Horton falters meekly : "Yes, ma'am," and does as she is bid. Putting an arm protectingly over the fluttering 98 A PRINCE 2N THE GARRET shoulders and assuming her old monitorial tone, Su- zanne looks at her charge searchingly and remarks in sudden suspicion: "What makes you tremble?" "N" noth nothing," stammers the youthful ma- tron, dropping her head. "Ah, you're confused. You know I never permit you to be sentimental in the presence of gentlemen." This scene has been instructive to Daniel Webster. Observing Madame Perrique's authoritative tone and the submissive way in which G-eorgina had answered, into his mind has flown this sudden idea : "By Jove, a schoolgirl elopement!" He now laughs: "A spoilt child, Madame?" "I'm afraid so," answers the ex-schoolmistress. "Georgina, go and sit over there while I speak to this gentleman." Sha points to a distant chair. Appalled by fear of discovery, young Mrs. Horton falters: "Yes, Madame Perrique," and, trying to look defiant, throws herself in childish attitude upon the chair indicated, sitting upon one pretty foot and kicking the other nervously about. She reflects af- frightedly: "If that sneaking, four-eyed wretch should tell Perrique she will telegraph my uncle sure." But unheeding her, Suzanne has already turned to the astute Daniel Webster, and looking him over A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 99 searchingly, has remarked: "You wish to engage rooms, Monsieur?" "Certainly," answers the lawyer, adding, with busi- ness caution, "if your charges are all right." "My charges are all right for me," replies Madame Perrique, stoutly. "I can give you a single bedded room on the top floor for one hundred and fifty francs a week." "Holy poker!" ejaculates Daniel with a whistle. In his mind is; the unpleasant thought : "I've got to stand it, though. One hundred and fifty francs a week shall not drive me out." Therefore, he replies shortly: "Madame, I'll go you!" observing in ex- planation : "You must set a good table. Every other boarding-house about here is empty. Yours is crowded to the roof." "Very well," replies Madame Perrique. "My pay- ments are strictly in advance." As Mr. Rosenbaum produces a well-filled pocket- book and counts out the billets de banque, Suzanne, glancing at Georgina, who is fidgeting nervously upon her chair, commands, testily : "Why are you so rest- less? First position!" The dread of being questioned as to her agitation makes Georgina docile; she mutters sulkily: "Yes, ma'am/' and puts her hands behind her back as if she were in the school-room again. 100 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "You can make out ai receipt at your leisure," re- marks the lawyer. "I presume you noticed by my card that I am Daniel Webster Kosenbaum, a mem- ber of the New Orleans Bar, divorces a specialty. That always justifies inquisitive examination on the most private domestic topics," he laughs. This remark about examination into private topics doesn't seem to please Perrique very greatly. She tosses the card petulantly on a nearby table, saying: "I will write a receipt, Monsieur Daniel "Webster Rosenbaum," then glances at the billets de banque to be sure they are not counterfeits. As she rises, she suggests to Georgina : "Remember what I said to you." "Ah, one of the pupils left over from your board- ing-school, I presume," observes the lawyer. "My boarding-school!" ejaculates the instructress in a startled tone. "How do you know that ?" "Oh, you will find that I know most everything," giggles Daniel Webster, pleasantly. This facetious suggestion produces a very disagree- able effect upon Suzanne. She hurriedly runs over in her mind : "This lawyer investigates private domestic affairs. He has discovered I was a boarding-school mistress." Then it suddenly flashes through her: "He's been investigating me. My Heaven, can he be 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 101 ft detective trying to discover by what ruse I have lured all these male boarders to my house?'' With this she turns at the door, and, coming back, remarks austerely : "My terms are two hundred francs a week." "You said one hundred and fifty," answers Daniel Webster. "Besides, you accepted that amount. A legal contract, Madame Perrique." Legal contracts are very little to the average boarding-house lady. Suzanne returns: "My only vacant apartment, now I think of it, is two hundred and fifty francs a week. You can sue me if you like. But there is no record in a French court of an Ameri- can ever obtaining judgment against a Parisian." "By Blackstone, I believe you're right," sighs Dan- iel Webster, impressed by this peculiarity of French justice. Then he says resolutely : "Put me down for the two hundred and fifty francs apartment. I'm & fixture. Here's another hundred francs. That should clinch the matter." It does! Madame Perrique grabs the additional billet de banque, but Mr. Rosenbaum's very readiness to endure extortion frightens her; she falters to her- self : "My prices won't frighten him off. He must be a detective!" "I'll just step out and have my luggage brought 102 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET here from the Hotel Saint Quentin/' remarks the gentleman, giving a furtive wink to Georgina, who again nearly faints at the mention of her honeymoon resting place. Fortunately, Madame Perrique doesn't note this: she is absorbed in the sickening thought : "Two hun- dred and fifty francs didn't drive him away. Is this man here to discover why, with every other boarding- house empty mine is full to overflowing?" Perceiving his new landlady's abstraction, as she leaves the room, Daniel Webster Rosenbaum, of the New Orleans Bar, rather sharply cogitates: "The old dragon is suspicious of something. But there is only one woman who could by any chance bother me in this matter, and I've made her innoxious," and drifts into a moody reverie about a lady whose charming allurements had produced the mistake of his crafty life. To himself he jeers: "I, a divorce lawyer, marrying a divorced French actress in a New Orleans theatre." But he consoles himself with the reflection: "After she left America, I had the bond cut in Utah,* service by publication." Then he favors his divorced wife with the delicate compli- *The Territory of Utah -was from 1867 to 1874 quite a South Dakota or Rhode Island as regards divorces. EDITOR. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 103 ment : "Pish, with her temperament, Euphrosne will by this time have married half a dozen other hus- bands. Besides, she is not here. At last accounts, she was in Algeria with the Theatre de Racine Dra- matic Company." During this Georgina has regarded him trembling- ly; she is about to sneak nervously away from this man holding her awful secret. The rustle of her short but well starched skirts catches Rosenbaum's ear. She inspires a novel idea. Daniel "Webster's bright eyes gleam through his glasses. He suddenly thinks: "The fears of this little runaway schoolgirl bride will make her tell me everything about this house." His voice is dominant as he says: "Step here, my pet." "Don't you dare call me pet!" mutters the dis- tracted Mrs. Horton, coming straight at him with flaming eyes. But he crushes her with: "Don't be saucy, girl. Your secret, my overgrown schoolgirl eloper, is safe if you do as I wish." "What is is that?" shudders Georgina, terror and consternation making her voice husky. "Tell me all about Mademoiselle Gertrude Ham- mond. You were at school with her at No. 32 Rue du Rocher." 104 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Tell you?" answers Georgina, frantically. "Never !" "Perhaps it is best for me to relate to Madame Perrique the story of your honeymoon at the Hotel Saint Quentin," he observes, craftily. "Then you can confess to her, show her your marriage certificate iind your wedding ring and beg to be forgiven.'* The suggestion has such a fearful effect upon young Mrs. Horton that she utters a plaintive cry and nearly swoons. Recollecting that Jack has taken with him the proofs of their marriage, in her brain is surg- ing: "This man will tell Perrique I posed as a bride at the Hotel Saint Quentin! And I, with no wed- ding ring, no marriage lines! What awful thing will Suzanne telegraph to my uncle?'"' Seeing her terrific consternation, Mr. Daniel Web- ster Eosenbaum scoffs mentally: "By criminology, I don't think she's a bride at all. This short-skirted trembling chit has simply sneaked off on an assigna- tion and been caught at it. Paris is a fast place, but this schoolgirl Messalina is about the swiftest daisy in it." This consideration banishes all sympathy for the unfortunate Georgina. Rosenbaum says, coercively: "Tell me everything I ask or I'll blow on you to Perrique," and proceeds to put the trembling juvenile A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 105 matron through 'what he calls "The Third Degree" with such effect that he very shortly receives some revelations about Miss Gertrude Hammond that strike him with consternation. At the close of the examination he says hurriedty, but threateningly, to his shuddering witness: "Open your mouth about this, and your stern old boss shall know of your Hotel Saint Quentin racket in a sec- ond!" Then Mr. Daniel "Webster Eosenbaum veritably staggers from Madame Perrique's house, snaps his teeth together under his thin lips and emits this startling proposition: "Holy Moses, do twenty-two other men know what I know?" CHAPTER IV. ARMANDE DE MILLEFLEUKS. This consideration weighs so heavily upon Mr. Rosenbaum's spirits that as he reaches the Rue de La Fayette he hails a voiture, believing he can think bet- ter in the seclusion of a cab. As he rolls towards the Hotel Saint Quentin, he hastily runs the matter over. "That overgrown child was too scared to lie to me," he reflects. "I must accept her astounding statements as facts. By gum, the ancient landlady has adopted the penniless Ger- trude Hammond. That's a startler! Has Perriqufi caught on as well? Holy poker!'' he utters a low whistle. 'Hinder the French law, my objective can't marry without her new mamma's consent ! I'm sure she won't elope with me to England. Even starva- tion didn't coerce her to accept yours truly. But if Perriqu6 says 'Yes' to me! That's an idea." He gnaws his moustache. "Girls in Paris wed the men their guardians tell them to. Gertrude shall not be 106 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 107 my objective, but Perrique" shall. Now to get a clinch on the girl's new mamma." Turning this over in a mind which is more crafty than astute, Mr. Rosenbaum's face grows more hope- fuL "There's a little mystery about that 'ere board- ing-house of Perrique's," he concludes. "During my search for Gertie Hammond in the last few weeks I have wandered into a good many pensions in that neighborhood, and every one of them was very sparse- ly settled. But Perrique's is so full, she had the cheek to charge me two hundred and fifty francs for a little bedroom. Why is her house full only of men ? It can't be they've all discovered. There's some other reason for it. Just let me get a good criminal grip on Perrique and I'll make her consent to her daugh- ter's marriage with Daniel Webster Rosenbaum. Arriving at the Hotel Saint Quentin, Mr. Rosen- baum hastily packs his trunk in his room, prepara- tory to dispatching it to Madame Perrique's. This being finished, he abruptly mutters: "I'll clinch the proof on Georgina!" steps across the hallway to the suite of apartments Jack and his bride had occupied, and ascertains the numbers of the rooms. Strolling to the office of the hotel, he cautiously looks back to the date he wants on the registration book. Finding opposite the numbers of the honeymoon apartment the 108 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET names of Mr. and Mrs. John Winter Horton, he makes careful note of the same. As he, accompanied by a trunk, valise and hat box, drives back to Madame Perrique's, a greater confi- dence is in Mr. Rosenbaum's bearing. He reflects: "Anyway, I've got my hand upon one person in the house. That child eloper is too scared to do anything but what I tell her." In this the legal gentleman is perfectly correct. Terrified by the crafty lawyer's threats, young Mrs. Horton hasn't dared to tell Miss Hammond that the dreaded man has entered the house. In fact, there is naught in her dazed mind except a wild thought : "Jack ! If my husband comes, I need no longer dread this horrible wretch's revelation to Perrique." Georgina is therefore more than ever anxious to receive her husband's letter, and hearing the post- man's knock upon the servant's entrance, she has sneaked downstairs in hope of coming epistle. Entering the dining-room of Madame Perrique's pension, she is astonished to find it en fete. Its table is set for an elaborate dejeuner a la fourchette. A bunch of flowers marks ostentatiously one of the places at the dining table. On it is a card inscribed with the congratulations of Madame Perrique on her daughter, Gertrude's, convalescence. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 109 In a little anteroom, arranged on a table, are bas- kets of flowers, bouquets and two or three ornamental knick-knacks, all having cards or notes attached to them. The landlady has said she is going to celebrate Miss Hammond's complete return to health, and these are presents for the poor but fascinating Ger- trude from the crowd of fortune-hunters who are still in pursuit of her. Alphonse, arranging the breakfast table, has just remarked with a Gallic sneer : "How stupidly cleanly some people are. Ambigue has actually dared to de- mand a fresh napkin every meal for Mademoiselle Gertrude Hammond. Diable, she'll get it. Per- rique seems to adore her as much as any gentleman in the house. Ah, Monsieur Acropolis and Hadji Pacha." These last words have been addressed to the Turk- ish official and the Greek diplomatist as they enter, each bearing a big bouquet with a note attached. "These, I presume, are your offerings for Mademoi- selle Gertrude Hammond upon this fete in honor of her complete restoration to health," remarks the waiter. Both the Turk and the Greek murmur words of assent as Alphonse carries their offerings to the little anteroom. Looking about hungrily and discovering 110 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET that breakfast is not yet ready, both gentlemen light cigarettes ; though noting each other's present to the object of general pursuit, they glare savagely at each other as they pass from the room. Observing their amity, Alphonse, as he resumes his dining-room duties, smilingly philosophizes: "This extraordinary universal devotion for a poor slavey is gigantically curious. The dashing actress, Annande de Millefleurs, has been here for three weeks and not a man looks at her, though she gazes at every man." These reflections the waiting Georgina ventures to interrupt, suggesting anxiously: "Alphonse, another postman came a few minutes ago." "Void, petite" answers the waiter, affably, and hands her the longed-for epistle. Pouncing upon the letter with a cry of joy, the bride carries it away to the little alcove. Sinking into a chair, she tears the envelope open and kisses Jack's signature. Her face grows bright as the win- ter sunshine coming in the windows as she laughs to herself: "Jack says the rash is all gone, and he will soon fix up matters with his aunt, who refuses to see him until all danger of contagion is entirely past. Timid old woman, to dread the measles at Tier age. But Jack writes he's coming in a day or two." She A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 111 kisses the letter rapturously, then giggles : "He's glad I'm in such a safe place." Her meditations are interrupted by Gertrude's voice: "Alphonse, Madame Perrique asks me to tell you to go to the kitchen and be sure they have break- fast ready promptly. She told me to set the table during your absence." "Yes, mademoiselle," answers the waiter, politely, and he goes out musing, sympathetically : "Perrique gets without wages a servant's work out of this poor American girl, who is so exquisite every man in the house adores her." Picking up a pile of plates from the sideboard, Miss Hammond unaffectedly and contentedly takes up the garden's labors. Not hearing from Georgina, she has regained her spirits, believing she has es- caped from her pursuing Nemesis. The bouquet for her on the table attracts her eye, and glancing at Perrique's attached card, a grateful smile flits over her expressive features. Just here Georgina, looking up from her letter and finding herself in much better spirits for it, says abruptly: "Gertie, why are you doing that lazy Al- phonse's work?" "I should do something for my bread/' returns Miss Hammond simply. 112 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET Conscience is smiting Georgina, urging her to warn Gertrude of the pursuing Eosenbaum. But, terri- fied by his threat of revelation, she does not dare to speak. Remorsefully young Mrs. Horton starts up and, assisting in her friend's labors, exclaims : "Shucks, you needn't be a genteel slavey long, Gertie. Marry !" "Marry whom?" smiles Gertrude. "The gentle- men who run after me continuously with extravagant compliments ?" "How about the man who only gives you mighty sighs?" suggests Georgina, roguishly, "the one who stalks about this house like a priest in despair." "Ah, the erratic Gaspard. I only laugh at him." Miss Hammond emits a sigh. "Pshaw, you don't always laugh at him. You sighed as you spoke his name," says the other. "When he built the wood fire for you in the parlor the other day and your other admirers affected not to see you so that they need not demean themselves by soiling their aristocratic hands, did you laugh at him then ?" "No, I I cried at him," mutters Gertrude, "and then " a roguish smile ripples her face "he looked so indignant that I laughed at him." "Well," assents Georgina, "Annande de Mille- A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 113 fleurs, the leading actress of the Theatre Cluny, who tells me she is going to make an enormous success to- night in 'The Passions of Calypso/ doesn't laugh at him. For some reason, that fascinating actress makes love to Moliere." "What !" A plate drops from Gertrude's hand with a crash and breaks into half a dozen pieces on the floor. "Oh, murder, you've broken a plate !" shivers Geor- gina. But, unheeding her, Miss Hammond, her little hand upon her beating heart, stands gazing with a wild look in her beautiful eyes into the past. "Cracky, won't mamma give it to you!" giggles the girl matron with a playful gesture of nursery chastisement. "For Heaven's sake, don't call her my mother!" murmurs Gertie, piteously. But after a moment she half laughs, half sighs: "Madame Perrique won't be very stern to me. Look at this pretty bouquet she has given me with her compliments on my complete restoration to health." "That's thundering curious," whispers Georgina. "Perrique was never known to make a gift before, and that bouquet must have cost three francs ! Why, it smells like the one Jack gave me when we were 114 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET " she checks herself, faltering disconcertedly : "Mine was all all white." "Why, one would think yours was a bride's bou- quet," observes Miss Hammond, roguishly. "This Jack of yours is a very peculiar brother." "Yes; he's he's the most peculiar brother you ever saw," ejaculates Georgina, striving to hide a red face and embarrassment by looking through the dining-room window. Glancing after her, Gertrude muses : "Georgina is fibbing to me about that Jack." A look of relief flits over her sensitive countenance as she meditates : "Perchance she) fibbed to me about the actress." Inspecting the table in the alcove littered with her presents, tears fly into Miss Hammond's brown eyes. She sighs: "Not even a violet from him. But but then he is so poor." Just at this moment the bohemian stalks into the dining-room bearing Madame Perrique's No. 4 high- lows, polished till they shine like Japanese lacquer. Bowing before the astonished girl, he observes : "Ma- dame Perrique's boots!" "Suzanne's boots!" stammers Gertie. "Yes; those that she requested you to polish. I took the liberty. Those delicate fingers must not be soiled! I polish off Perrique herself when I am A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET 115 rich !" and with this ambiguous threat Moliere seats himself morosely in a distant corner of the apart- ment. Gliding to the disconcerted young lady, who is con- fusedly placing Perrique's boots out of the way, Geor- gina whispers : "Eich ! Is Ambigue crazy ?" "No } but sometimes I fear his poverty will make him lose his brilliant mind," sighs Miss Hammond. "Brilliant mind ?" grins Georgina. "Luny mind !" she taps her forehead mockingly. But as she speaks Gertrude starts and looks agitat- edly at the fragments of the broken plate upon the floor, for her new mother is heard outside calling to the kitchen : "Alphonse, tell the cook to be sure and overdo the cutlets so they won't eat so many of them." "Thank you," is the waiter's pleasant response. "There will be more for me to eat." This suggestion doesn't seem to please the entering landlady, whose sharp eyes encounter the broken crockery. She gives a snort of dismay, and, glaring about the room, demands: "What wretch broke that plate? Georgina, did you?" "No, ma'am," gasps young Mrs. Horton. "Gertie, did you ?" The new guardian's face looks decidedly austere to her pretty ward, who, however, resolutely steps forward to her, her brown eyes un- abashed, her frank lips about to answer. 116 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "If you did," mutters Madame Perrique But at this instant Ambigue, the bohemian, spring- ing alertly from his distant corner, steps in front of the irate landlady and, bowing humbly, remarks: "I broke that plate." "You ? Impossible ! What have you to do about the table?" "Nevertheless, I broke that plate," remarks Mo- liere. "I am perfectly capable of breaking plates." Picking up two or three delicate pieces of china from the table, he smashes them on the floor and observes, convincingly: "You see!" Then as Madame Per- rique emits a snort of dismay and rage, he remarks grandly : "Charge them to the royalties of my play," and returns to his distant seat. Georgina, despite her terror, emits a giggle, and even Gertrude smiles. "Mountebank!" screams the landlady, ferociously, pursuing him to his lair. "The royalties of your play! That's what you've been telling me for six months. The royalties of a play that will never be performed !" "Be not so sure of that !" exclaims Ambigue, turn- ing upon her. "And have a care," he whispers, "for your paltry board, you are subjecting that innocent to the labors of a menial." 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 117 But this is scarcely noticed, Georgina has drawn Gertie to one side as the Count de Pichoir follows Alphonse from the; hall whispering : "Be careful my card isn't torn from it when she gets my basket of flowers." "Certainly, Monsieur." And a moment after, Rousette, arriving from morning rehearsal at the Theatre Cluny, leads the waiter to the alcove and whispers : "A free ticket for the new play to-night. Be sure she receives my box of gloves." Catching site of the object of his pursuit, Paul forgets he is a fortune hunter as he looks into her sweet brown eyes, notes her modestly blushing cheeks and divines that her cheap muslin robe conceals a Hebe's form. But now all the gentlemen in the house come to the dining-room to offer their attentions to a girl whose very elusiveness increases their ardor. Though they woo her for her money, the eyes of many of them light up with more than the love of Mammon as they gaze upon a supposed heiress who, with returning health, has become a Venus. The French officer from Mexico, Captain Davoust, bows very low to Miss Hammond and hopes the ivory idol which he had looted from an old Aztec temple 118 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET will be to her pleasure, and an English betting man tells her she looks like a Derby winner. Bather jealous of the masculine attentions show- ered upon Miss Hammond, Georgina sits kicking her feet about discontentedly. None pay any attention to the forlorn bride except the British bookmaker, who says: "Blow my eyes, you're a rum child. What are you always kicking your legs about so for? Run out and chase a hoop in the street." But just at this time, behind the gentlemen, young Mrs. Horton sees the short, dapper figure of Mr. Daniel Webster Rosenbaum, who, standing on tiptoe, gives her a suggestive glance and motions her to pri- vate interview in the parlor. With a shiver the youthful matron sneaks abjectly from the assembly. About this time the landlady, noting the eager faces of the gentlemen bowing before her exquisite lure, thinks it proper to make a startling announce- ment. "Gentlemen," she observes, suavely, "you are all very kind to my ward on her convalescence." "Your ward!" ejaculates Ambigue, starting up from a gloomy reverie. "Yes, I may say my adopted daughter." "Adopted daughter !" Rousette of the Cluny The- atre seizes her by the right hand, the Comte de Pich- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 119 oir by the left, while the others voice their congrat- ulations, eager to gain the good will of the lady who will have the disposal of the hand of the immensely dowered heiress. "Yes ; I adopted her according to French law with her consent yesterday/* says the landlady, affably. Here Ambigue, after meditating distractedly: "What hideous machination does this portend!" stammers affrightedly. "No, no; impossible!" "Gentlemen," remarks Suzanne, half-laughingly, though her eyes gleam threateningly at the man of letters, "he seems astounded that I love the sunbeam of the house," and puts her arm about the slight waist that yields itself to her clasp. "Mon Dieu, Ambigue is an imbecile!" sneers the Comte de Pichoir. "Pah, he has as much sentiment as the rats that run around in his garret," laughs Eousette. "Sentiment," cries Ambigue, turning on the man- ager. "Have you ever seen any of my plays, Eou- sette?" "Thank God, no," jeers the man of the theatre, "though you have persecuted me with them for the last three weeks. But to-night, if you can get an admission to the Cluny, you will see the first per- formance of a very great one." 120 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "God bless you for the words !" screams Ambigue as he embraces the astonished manager, kissing him fervidly on both cheeks. "He's he's crazy!" stammers Paul, pulling him- self away. "Eccentric !" remarks the officer. "Luny as a March hare!" mutters the English betting man. But, unheeding them, Ambigue remarks, grandly: "I shall have a box for 'The Passions of Calypso.' ' "Box ? Nonsense !" cries Madame Perrique. "He has no more money than he has soul." "Soul!" echoes Gertrude, indignantly. "He had soul enough to black your boots, Madame Perrique, to save my hands. To save me from reproof, he had soul enough to say he broke that plate which I de- stroyed." At this unexpected eulogy of the eccentric man of letters every one looks at his beautiful champion astounded. "Mademoiselle, I kiss your hand," murmurs the grateful Ambigue. As he does so he wonders : "What divine thing is in her eyes ?" "My poor dear," remarks Madame Perrique", sooth- ingly, "you are hysterical. Let me take you to your room." A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 121 For catching some flash in Ambigue's answering glance, Gertrude, blushing to the roots of her hair, has become agitated. Placing her arm affectionate- ly about her ward's waist, Madame Perrique leads her from the room. But at the door she pauses and makes the follow- ing startlingly unpleasant announcement: "Such is the demand for my rooms, I beg to state, gentlemen, that after to-day my charges for board and lodging are increased twenty per cent." Her arm about the girl's waist tells the fortune hunters they must accede to her terms to gain per- mission to address her ward. Notwithstanding this, there is a flurry of miserable dissent. The impecuni- ous Count de Pichoir puts his hand into his empty pockets and reflects: "Mille diables, I cannot afford it and yet I cannot leave," and calling: "Madame Perrique! Madame Perrique!" he runs out after her to expostulate. "Morbleu, I hope the new play will make money," growls the manager of the Cluny Theatre, and he as well as all the other guests follow the Count to reason with their landlady on her extortionate prices. "You don't seem affected by Madame's increased charges?" grins Alphonse to the bohemian. "No," observes Ambigue, philosophically. "A 122 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET raise of twenty per cent, on nothing means nothing! What the devil do I care!" and snaps his fingers nonchalantly. Mentally he asks: "What did Mignonette's eyes mean as I thanked her?" Gas- pard's slight yet sinuous frame begins to expand; his face glows ; he puts his hand to a heart that beats more rapidly, and yet more lightly, than it has done since Mignonette was stolen from him by a remorse- less schoolmistress. His day dream is interrupted by a voice of brilliant yet softly passionate timbre saying, merrily: "Mus- ing of a new dramatic situation, my dear Ambigue ?" With a start the bohemian awakes and finds him- self face to face with a lady whose dashing charms are such that Alphonse has often wondered why she has received no more attention from the male bipeds about the house. Arrayed in an exquisite toilette, but so dashing it is almost sensational, Armande de Millefleurs, the leading lady of the Cluny Theatre, looks exactly what she is an actress, piquant enough to play light comedy, yet passionate enough to dis- play the stronger emotions of the tragedienne. But for her roaming, erratic disposition, she would prob- ably have made a great success on the Parisian stage. Had she remained in the capital she might have be- come its idol, but she had wandered everywhere, ap- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 123 pearing behind the footlights on every French stage from Martinique to Algeria. Returned to Paris, for the last year she has been the bright luminary at the Theatre Cluny. Avaricious, yet extravagant, spend- ing more than she makes, she is forever demanding an increase of salary from Rousette, its manager, and always in debt. Apparently she and the dramatist are quite in- timate, which is reasonable enough, as Ambigue has been very attentive to the actress during the last few weeks, trying to pick up scraps of information as to how the rehearsals of his play have gone. Bowing before her, he laughs: "My dear Armande, I am glad you were not here a few moments ago or you would have been shocked. Madame Perrique has announced that she has increased her prices twenty per cent." "Oh, what matters that to me?'' remarks the lad}', nonchalantly. "I have not paid Madame Perrique since I came here any more than you have." "Yes," interjects Alphonse, pausing in the ar- rangement of the breakfast-table, "and Madame Per- rique is commencing to talk savage about your bill." "Then thank God she is not present," observes the actress, lightly. "That horrible old woman always deranges my artistic senses. You can remove my 134 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET cloak, dear Ambigue." She has just arrived from the theatre. "Dear Ambigue/' reflects the bohemian, as he removes a very expensive manteau de promenade from the beautifully moulded shoulders Armande turns to- wards him. "Does the cordiality of this great actress indicate she suspects I have written Calypso?" During this Alphonse departs for the kitchen on some errand connected with the coming meal. "Rehearsals went very well," continues the lady, favoring Moliere with a peculiar glance from her soft, sensuous, passionate eyes, "everybody a little nervous, though. Eousette cut a few of the lines of the drama." "Cut a few lines!" screams Ambigue, with rage and horror in his voice; adding a muttered: "I'll cut his throat!" "You know we play it to-night for the first time," observes the actress, concealing a smile, but suggest- ing modestly : "I shall be superb as Calypso." "Thank God!" ejaculates the bohemian, raptur- ously. "No, thank me" she whispers, "when I have made your play a success." "del, you know?" Ambigue looks at her ner- vously. 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 125 'That you are the author of 'Calypso' ? Of course, T do," says Annande, vivaciously. "Don't you recol- lect you read the play to me a year ago, immediately after my return from Algeria, before I entered the Cluny Theatre. I remembered it as soon as it was in rehearsal. Who could forget that last divine scene ah! For my grand acting to-night, I hope you will be grateful to me." "Very grateful," murmurs the author, kissing her delicate hand rapturously and repeatedly. "Don't salute my fingers too often," laughs the lady, "they don't lead to my lips." She taps the au- thor with her parasol. "Even after I make your play a triumph, remember, I can never marry." "Didble, who asked you to !" growls Ambigue, mo- rosely. "Man ami, I always tell my admirers that before they grow too passionately desperate," observes the artiste, modestly. "I was so unfortunate as to wed, when a simple ingenue in New Orleans and known by the humble stage name of Euphrosne, a brutal American lawyer, who ill-treated me frightfully." "The miserable ruffian!" mutters the author, who dare not fail to display sympathy with the actress who is going to appear in the title role of his drama this very night. 126 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "I am glad you sympathize with me/' laughs the lady. "He was so unkind as to request me to pay my own board bills out of my own salary. Worse, he wanted to collect my salary for me. But that bru- tality/' she says, angrily, "I would not submit to, and fled back to France. Still, Daniel Webster Rosen- baum was an extremely attractive man. He was in New Orleans about some claims for stolen cotton against the General Butler." "Daniel Webster Rosenbaum a name good for a comedy Yankee," murmurs the bohemian, with an eye to stage character. "I always make my admirers jealous by saying that Dan I use the American diminutive was an ex- tremely attractive creve" continues the actress. "But as Madame Perrique will be coming, and as I believe she intends to demand my paltry board bill, I'll say au revoir, my dear Ambigue." "Adieu, great artiste," murmurs the bohemian, kissing her hand. As Armande steps from the side entrance of the dining-room a handkerchief flutters from her hand. The dramatist picks up the bit of lace and won- ders: "Did she mean this for a gage d'amour? Lace trimmed, monogrammed A. de M. a very ef- fective kerchief to wipe my eyes with as I this evening A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 127 make my bow from the author's box and say 'emotion overcomes.' * He puts it in his pocket. "Mon Dieu, I am so excited I must smoke! Cigarettes! Where are they? Oh, Hadji Pacha, the Turk, has left his case. I'll borrow one or two." Lighting one of these and strolling nervously about the halls of the house, Moliere chances to see a new- comer in close conversation with the perturbed-look- ing Georgina in a corner of the salon. Wondering who the man is, he sees the card that Perrique had carelessly thrown upon the little table in the recep- tion-room. It probably belongs to the new visitor. He picks it up and he reads : "Daniel Webster Ro- senbaum." "This is beyond coincidence," he thinks. Then a cruel terror smites him ; he shudders : "Di- able, Armande's brutal husband ! He is in the house in pursuit of her. Mon Dieu, should she see him the shock will destroy the nerves of the actress who plays this evening the heroine of my great drama. Under her 1 husband's persecution Armande might be too ill to appear at the Cluny to-night." This has such a distracting effect upon the author that, try- ing to think how to protect his actress, he wanders abstractedly into the dining-room. Here the harsh voice of Madame Perrique 1 greets him. She is saying to Alphonse : "And this actress 128 A PRINCE IN THE GAERET has the audacity for three whole weeks to occupy my best apartment, to eat my best food, and doesn't pay. I'll have it out with her now." The landlady is turning from the dining-room with business in her eyes, but is suddenly halted by an authoritative tap upon the shoulder. Ambigue pleads pathetically: "Don't disturb the sensitive nerves of an artiste!" "Why not? This actress never pays," snarls Ma dame Perrique. Then her face grows white. Drawing her aside, Ambigue whispers: "You have more to consider than a board bill! Madame Perrique, you stand upon catastrophe !" "Catastrophe !" stammers the landlady. "Yes; there is a strange man in the parlor. This is his card, I believe." "Yes; Bosenbaum," mutters Suzanne, faintly. "What do you know of him ? He has engaged board with me." "He has no forged letter, but he is questioning your child boarder minutely as to Mademoiselle Gertrude Hammond," whispers Ambigue. These words have scarcely left his lips before Ma- dame Perrique, darting from the apartment, after one terrific shudder: "Mon Dieu, the detective!" is heard calling through the house : "Georgina ! Geor- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 129 gina, come here instantly! If I catch you flirting with a gentleman " "Her fears will make Perrique" drive this pursuing husband of Armande de Millefleurs out of the house," reflects the bohemian, complacently. But thoughts of the actress produce a new consideration, which makes him extremely anxious ; to the waiter he says, hurriedly and appealingly : "Alphonse, have you any money ?" "None to lend," remarks the garqon, doggedly. "Monsieur already owes me seventeen francs and fifty centimes." "Diable" moans the dramatist to himself. "What shall I do for a proper dress suit this evening ? When I am called, the audience will sneer at my dilapidated garments. Money to hire one I must have. Per- rique impossible. To Eousette I do not dare to say 'I am thy author ; let me have thy pocketbook.' The divine look in Gertrude's eyes has made this fortune hunter hate me. He might destroy my drama on its birth. A play on its first night is like an infant coming into the world the slightest accident may produce, a still-born child. When it has run a hun- dred nights, it is strong enough to fight its own battle." Here, catching sight of the numerous gifts ar- 130 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET ranged for his sweetheart, Ambigue sighs: "Mon Dieu, how crushing is poverty. All save me are rich enough to make my Gertrude gifts upon her con- valescence." Passing his hand wildly through his hair, and roll- ing his eyes pathetically, the unfortunate bohemian sinks down in the little alcove and meditates how to raise the wind. While Ambigue is thus engaged the New Orleans lawyer steps into the main dining-room, looking for his breakfast. He is reflecting discontentedly. "This Georgina has confessed to me that Gertrude Ham- mond is half in love with some scribbler. These bo- hemians are such crazy fools they are sometimes dan- gerous to girls' hearts. Four times have I succeeded in expelling Miss Hammond from, situations so star- vation would make her accept me for a husband. Starvation didn't seem to make her like me. Now something to gain her heart. "With all these fellows after her, I must push matters." This pushing matters is one of the weak spots in Rosenbaum's. character. He will not let things take their natural course. He now proceeds to push mat- ters, with dire effect upon himself. An idea, which he thinks immense, strikes him. "Ill hire the wait- er to insult her and permit me to chastise him. Then she'll look upon me as a hero/' r A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 131 Ambigue, from the seclusion of the alcove, sees the dreaded husband of Annande beckon to Alphonse and whisper a few words cautiously in his ear. The waiter starts, gazes at the lawyer, astonished, and mutters, deprecatingly : "I annoy Miss Ham- mond?" "Certainly. I'll give you a napoleon just to make her scream once. You can do it delicately, regular French fashion; disagreeable, but polite. Just enough to give me an excuse to spring out upon you and gain her admiration by thumping you. Since you are reluctant, two napoleons." But the waiter, raising his voice, proudly says: "No one could be impolite to that poor, but charm- ing young lady. Monsieur, I decline your ignoble offer !" and, drawing himself up haughtily, the gar- gon strides from the apartment. But now beside Mr. Daniel Webster Rosenbaum is standing Ambigue, the bohemian, and whispering to him in a voice muffled by agony: "I heard your offer to the waiter. I will make Miss Hammond scream for two napoleons CASH !" The cringing figure before him looks to Daniel what he calls "easy." He answers, eagerly, "Done !" "At last I have the money for the dress suit to- night," reflects the poor author, as he pockets the gold pieces. 132 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "She'll be coming here soon," directs the lawyer, rapidly. "When she screams, 1*11 rush out upon you and thump you lightly. The understanding is you make her scream." "Yes, I'll make her scream. God forgive me, I'll make her scream." "Then I'll await her outcry in this alcove," remarks the lawyer. "When I hear I'll spring out upon you and chastise you." "That is as monsieur pleases." The bohemian is bowing to the earth so that his eyes, glaring like lurid fire-balls, cannot be seen. They are interrupted by the sweep of soft, rustling muslin in the hall. Mr. Daniel Webster Rosenbaum retreats into the alcove. A moment after, Miss Gertie having recovered from her nervous attack, trips into the dining-room, ready for breakfast. Seeing Ambigue awaiting her with appealing eyes, she would turn modestly away. But he steps abruptly to her and whispers beneath his breath: "One favor, Mignonette; please scream." In response to this, strange request, the girl gazes at him, astounded, almost affrighted. His face is flushed, his breath issues from his lips in quick, short gasps. "Please scream, just once, for Gaspard." 'A PEINCE IN THE GARRET 133 Here Gertrude does utter a little nervous yell; she thinks poverty and misery have made Gaspard a maniac. With the cry out rushes Daniel Webster Eosen- baum. He exclaims: "Villain, why did that lady scream? Gertrude, I am here!" and, like a fool, slapg Ambigue. With a bound like a panther, the bohemian is upon him. Ambigue doesn't know how to punch, but he knows how to kick, and he gives Daniel a savate upon the solar plexus that doubles him as if he were a jumping jack. Writhing on the floor, Rosenbaum is gasping: "Murder! Villain, you have not kept your con- tract!" "To the letter! Mon Dieu, do you suppose I would permit you to beat me in her divine presence ? To that I did not agree," whispers Ambigue, quiet- ly. With this he suddenly turns, and, bowing de- votedly, says: "Mignonette, thank you for the scream." But Miss Hammond, recognizing the lawyer's face, has fled, shuddering, from the apartment. With a muffled cry of horror, Ambigue darts after his flying sweetheart, leaving Eosenbaum to the as- sistance of Alphonse, who, hearing the commotion, has darted in to see what is the matter. Through his assistance a great stroke of good luck is bestowed on the writhing schemer. The agile waiter promptly drags the lawyer to a little sofa in the retired alcove, upon which he leaves him, rubbing his stomach and gasping for breath. Guessing the reason of the fracas, Alphonse turns to his duties in the dining-room, grinning to him- self : "Morbleu, he tried to hire Ambigue to insult his own sweetheart, and diable, that's what happened to the scoundrel." Though Eosenbaum's mind is at first concentrated upon the pain in his stomach, as his anguish grows less it gradually turns to revenge. This suddenly, by ill-chance, is placed within his hands. He is still lying on the sofa, when a soft, sensuous feminine voice makes him start and look astounded. It comes to him lightly from the adjoining dining-room : "Al- phonse, I am a little fatigued with rehearsal; serve for me in my parlor a delicate breakfast a dozen petit oysters, a fresh brook trout, a succulent sweet- bread, a chicken partridge, a bunch of hothouse as- paragus, an ethereal omelet souffle't and a pint of Chateau Lafitte." This modest order is broken in upon by the sharp yoice of the landlady, who comes sweeping in: she A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 135 says, sternly : "Alphonse, away, while I see if Madem- oiselle Armande de Millefleurs has an appetite for my bill." The waiter goes laughingly from the room. Then writhing upon the sofa, the startled expression on Daniel Webster's face gradually gives way to one of victory. He listens with all his ears. The ladies are quite close to him, and, though their voices at first are cautious, as rage excites them their tones become more strident. "Savage/' remarks the actress, languidly, "you have your disagreeable bill with you?" "Of course, I have; receipted, too!" Rosenbaum can hear the landlady tap the paper viciously. "Give it to me. I will pay it in full." The artiste's voice is nonchalantly debonair. "Pay me? That's right. I have always said you were a lady." Perrique's manner is more concilia- tory. "Permit me to present it. Here it is." The lawyer cautiously and noiselessly turns his face. He sees a lady he had once known extremely well, looking even more beautiful than she had been years ago, take the bill and coolly pocket it. Then he hears her observe, laughingly: "Thank you." "But my money ?" demands Madame Perrique". "Call to-morrow." The actress is sweeping to* wards the door. "Au revoir." 136 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "My money now!' Suzanne's lean fingers clutch her delicate wrist. "I'll have it now I" "Then take it now I" With her finest tragic sweep, Armande turns upon her landlady. "Madame Per- rique, why for three weeks do you suppose I havo eaten your best dinners and drunk your best wine ?" she remarks, in sneering tones. "Because you are a glutton !" retorts Suzanne, in vindictive frankness. "Because I knew I could get them for nothing." This is in Armande's breeziest comedy way. "Nothing? You don't know me!" says Perrique, savagely. "No; but I know your criminal secret." Though this is in the tone of a stage whisper, Rosenbaum catches it. He also notes the disconcertion of the landlady's manner as she starts and falters : "My secret !" then questions, anxiously : "What do you know ?" "I know you have enticed to your house fortune- hunters in pursuit of a mythical American heiress, one Gertrude Hammond of Mississippi/' replies the actress, in low, laughing voice. "Sh-h-h, not so loud," whispers the landlady. "I'll shout it to the four winds of heaven if I please. That, by means of letters apparently written A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 137 by her, you have made this crowd of dupes believe your imaginary Miss Hammond rich. Supposing I denounce you to the law." "No, no; anything but that!" shudders Madame Perrique. "Shall I hand you over to justice," sneers Ar- mande, "or is my little bill paid in full?" "It is paid in full," stammers the landlady; then queries, astoundedly: "But how did you discover?" "How? Ha ha ha." The actress's laugh is very merry. "The letters signed Gertrude Hammond were all written in a nice, feminine hand." "So they were. I never thought of that/' mutters Madame Perrique. "Well, it was necessary that my friend, Moliere, for the complete success of his ruse, should have a feminine amanuensis. I had known the poor fellow several years in an artistic, bohemian way. He had been imploring me to play one of his pieces. To me he came about the matter and told me his plot, and I wrote those letters to aid poor Ambigue. This hand signed the name of the imaginary Miss Ham- mond to them all." "You you signed her name ? Then I have you !" replies Madame Perrique, suddenly. "Denounce me " she taps the actress on the shoulder, "and we both go to prison together." 138 'A PRINCE IN THE GAEEET "Oh, you jest," sneers De Millefleurs, debonairly. "Signing the name of a mythical person is no crime." "But signing the name of a real one is." "Real? Absurd! You jest." "Miss Gertrude Hammond is in this house now." "Oh," jeers the actress, "the disguised ballet girl you have here for your bait !" "For my bait!" answers Perrique. "Though her presence in the house is but an accident, the young lady you scoff is one of my former pupils. Ambigue took her name from my old school list. She came to me in distress. She is the real Miss Gertrude Ham- mond of Mississippi, America. She is a young lady of high spirit, who will prosecute you for daring to sign her name to letters for so infamous an object. Ah, now you turn pale, Armande de Millefleurs." Perrique's voice is menacing. "Your crime is for- gery, though I shall not denounce you." "Because to denounce me is to denounce your- self!" observes Armande, growing more confident at the thought. "But pack up your things, get out of the house, eat no more of my food don't dare to devour even the breakfast and I spare you," commands the ex- schoolmistress. "I shall leave your house, Madame," replies the 139 artiste, grandly. "I will accept from you no further hospitality if it is unpleasant to you. Yet, remem- ber, if knowledge of this affair comes to the world, your house will not only be empty of all of its lodgers, but very unpleasant things may happen to you. I merely mention this in case, in some avaricious mo- ment, you might try to detain my magnificent werd- robe. Adieu, Madame Perrique, it is the last time you will have the honor of having Armande de Mille- fleurs beneath your ignoble roof," and the leading lady of the Theatre Cluny, in her finest grande dame manner, sweeps proudly from the apartment. "Humph, thank God for the leaving of that non- paying gourmand," growls Perrique" to herself. "Xow I'll look over the gifts of these idiots for my ward, to see what will be useful to me, her mother." She steps into the alcove briskly, then emits a little, faltering shriek, claps her skinny hand to her heart, and gasps: "My God, the detective!" For, lying supinely on the sofa, a hideous smile on his crafty features, is Daniel Webster Rosenbaum. ''Now, Madame Perrique"," he says, imperatively, "I'll take your confession." "My God, you've overheard everything!" and Su- zanne reels, staggers and sinks, half-fainting, into a chair. Before she rises Mr. Rosenbaum has put 140 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET the trembling woman through his "third degree" even more completely than he had the short-skirted bride. At its close, after reciting the penalties for fraud and conspiracy until she nearly faints, Mr. Kosen- baum, with a few words of explanation, makes such a proposition to the affrighted landlady that she starts up and shudders: "No, no; impossible! Gertie would never consent." "Do it!" he commands, menacingly, "or to-night you sleep in prison. Besides, this will be your sal- vation." "How?" she gasps; and he explaining to her, she utters a nervous, shuddering assent, and murmurs: "M on Dieu, you are a wonder !" "Now," remarks Eosenbaum, in brisk vindictive* ness, for the guests are already entering the dining- room, "after breakfast we'll annihilate the pauper who kicked me I" CHAPTER V. GASPABD AND MIGNONETTE. But during this time the pauper who kicked Mr. Bosenbaum. has been doing some lusty work. Astonished and trembling, Miss Gertie Hammond has fled from the scene of battle to the little recep- tion room, where she can be alone. She is terrified at the pursuit of Eosenbaum, but she is horrified by the fear that poverty has made Gaspard crazy. Sighing, she has sunk into an armchair, and rested her head moodily upon one white hand. She is aroused by the other being covered with ten- der kisses. Ambigue is kneeling before her plead- ing : "For thei love of God, forgive me for alarming you, dear Mademoiselle. But when I heard that villain trying to engage poor Alphonse to insult you, that he might play the hero by attacking the waiter, I took the supreme liberty of taking the waiter's place." This statement is somewhat disingenuous Moliere says nothing of the two napoleons that foe pocketed 142 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET by the transaction; but his explanation seems to be acceptable. The beautiful girl murmurs: "Oh, thank you thank you, dear Monsieur Ambigue;" then shud- ders: "That awful man!" "What man?" "The one whose face has always been a misfortune to me." "A misfortune to you !" echoes the bohemian, fero- ciously. "Had I known that, I should have kicked him into the other world." "Yes, through all my poverty in Paris, after the death of my parents by yellow fever," replies Miss Hammond, pensively, yet sadly, "whenever that man's face crossed my vision, it seemed to threaten the very bread I ate." "Mon Dieu, the miscreant!" "If he passed me by, some humble situation that gave me a livelihood, slipped from me and left me helpless," sighs the girl. "And each time this Daniel Webster Rosenbaum offered to marry me." "Offered to marry you !" whispers Ambigue, a hor- ror in his voice as if this were some monstrous crime. Then passion for the lovely being whose eyes are al- luring in their very modesty, overcoming prudence, he asserts in savage ardor: "But fear him no more; A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 143 from to-day no one shall pursue you but I, Am- bigue!" "Oh, mercy!" falters the maiden, and moves so the table is between her and the impassioned dra- matist. Though pleasing to her, the very ardor of Ambigue's eyes almost terrifies her; she bashfully whispers: "Madame Perrique has forbidden me to permit you to address me. You must not stay here. The men coming through the hall to breakfast will see you with me." "I go not from here until you say you have for- given me." Then, though she turns away her head, Gertrude falters tenderly, yet archly: "I I like your sym- pathy. You have my gratitude, dear Monsieur Am- bigue." "Gratitude? Pish!" mutters the lover. "I'd sooner have the jeers with which you flaunted Gas- pard's violets in the Rue du Rocher." "Flaunted your violets jeers? Oh, no," whispers the girl. "Georgina and the other girls laugh. I I cried for you!" "Cried for me! Was that not equally humiliat- ing?" queries the bohemian, morosely. "The scoff of a girl's boarding-school my God, that's what my devotion brought to me!" 144 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Devotion?" Gertrude's eyes glow as she recol- lects the bright face of the fascinating Gaspard who but two years before had made her young heart beat in the Rue du Rocher. She says, in impulsive re- proach: "Then it was your pride that has kept you from me all these weeks when I was alone here, un- protected from the pursuit of all these men. You stood aloof from me because of some petty wound to your false pride." "Thank God, you noticed my coldness !" ejaculates the impassioned Moliere. "Now I must speak." "No, no !" pleads the girl, bashfully. "It were a crime if I remained silent! Made- moiselle Hammond Gertrude Mignonette, wilt listen to a poor few words that come from an almost breaking heart?" "Why not?" answers the maiden, simply and proudly. "Of all the men who pursue me in this house, you are the only one who has given me more than protestations." "Pah, I've saved your white hands from making a fire and blacking Madame Perrique's accursed boots, and your tender spirit from harsh words for a broken plate paltry things, which until to-day your lips have not acknowledged." "Situated as I am, a girl should be very careful of her words/' falters Gertrude, diffidently. 145 "That means that a man should be bold in his!" whispers the fervid Gaspard. "Only poverty has kept my lips closed." He has glided beside the drooping form. His arm is outstretched to clasp the being he loves. He mutters morbidly : "Could I say : 'A paup- er woos you ; come to my garret, Gertrude, we'll have a honeymoon among the rats.' '' "Eats!"' shrieks the startled maid, gathering her skirts about her, and about to spring upon a neighbor- ing chair. "Didble, the very mention frightens you," he sighs. "Only of the the rats," she murmurs, bashfully. "And not of the honeymoon?" He has seized her little wrist. "Ah, your words open my lips. To- night my play is produced at the Cluny." "Your play!*' she whispers, astoundedly for a moment fearing her first divination has been true and misfortune has destroyed her lover's intellect. "Yes, anonymously ; but my name as its author will be announced from the stage." "Oh, I'm so so happy, that you have a chance in life!" Then, while Perriqu6's gong is sounding through- out the house, summoning the fortune hunters who are in pursuit of Miss Hammond to breakfast, as they pass by the reception-room, the prize that they struggle for is ravished from them. 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Without you I have no chance," Ambigue whis- pers. "Wilt take it with me?" "If you ask me to, Gaspard," sighs Gertrude, and hangs her head. "Mignonette!" His voice is very tender; he kisses her hand formally. Then the two lonely hearts begin to speak to each other, and a love that in its first birth had been as- sassinated by cruel circumstances lives all the strong- er in its second life. The girl's face is flaming as the aurora borealis and her eyes sparkle like arctic stars. "Mignonette!" He has her in his arms. His kisses burn like fire upon her lips. Her heart flutters against his, she is sobbing in his arms. "Tears in thy eyes, adoration of my soul !" he whis- pers. "Of of rapture, Gaspard," she falters, and, mod- estly drawing from him, sinks into a chair. Ambigue whips out the lace handkerchief of the actress, wipes his pretty sweetheaart's orbs with it, and laughs: "No red eyes, my adored goddess, to arouse Perrique's suspicions in the dining-room." Then the tramp of masculine feet on their way to breakfast makes him grind his teeth. "Now," he says, in the proud confidence of victory, "if one of those 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 147 fortune hunters dares to say love* to you, send him to Ambigue." "Fortune hunters !" ejaculates Gertrude, and, turn- ing astounded eyes to him, notes her lover's face is contorted with anguish. To himself, Ambigue is moaning : "But I dare not tell this being I adore I have made her the lure of these boulevardiers." With quick wit he asserts: "Yes; fortune hunters! What greater wealth than that of youth, beauty and love? In it I am rich, Mignonette!" His arm encircles her lithe, yielding waist. His kisses show that he feels the maid be- longs to him. "Oh, Gaspard, in your arms, poor as we are, I can be happy!'' she says, sweetly. "Pish, an empty pocket is a curse; want is a crime !" shudders the bohemian. "That's why to-night my soul cries out for triumph. Success for my play means riches for me, wealth for you. Every grote the grasping manager pays me, every salvo of applause the grudging public throws at me, shall be tossed at thy feet. And for this reason my piece must be su- perbly played." Then, to the astonishment of his betrothed, Am- bigue suddenly half-screams : "The actress ; I had for- gotten her accursed husband. Flight is the safest way!" and strides towards the door. 148 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET Rising, Gertrude falters: "Armande, the actress?'* a strange dread in her voice. "Yes; Armande de Millefleurs. You will excuse me. Go to the dining-room and be happy at your breakfast with your adopted mother, before whom, to- morrow, I shall bow and demand your hand. But no word of my play to Kousette. He is my rival; he might destroy it." His sweetheart would call him back for explana- tion, but the door opens abruptly and Madame Per- rique's perturbed face is seen. She says, hurriedly, almost timidly: "My guests are awaiting you at the table, Gertie." "I am coming, Madame Perrique," and Miss Ham- mond arises, abstractedly shoving the actress's hand- kerchief into her pocket. Noting that her ward's eyes are red, her manner embarrassed, and that Ambigue's face seems covered with an excited triumph, Suzanne remarks to Ger- trude, as they pass along the hall, side by side, to- wards the stairs leading to the dining-room: "You remember what I told you about that beggarly fel- low?" "Yes, Madame." "Very well ; don't forget it. I want your love, my child, but shall also exact obedience. You must not 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 149 be foolish about this out-at-elbows bohemian." De- spite the motherly tone of the ex-schoolmistress, it contains an implied warning. To this her adopted daughter doesn't answer, though as she walks down the stairs after Madame Perrique a latent defiance springs up in her lovely eyes. Perhaps it is not altogether for her landlady, but for the assembled gentlemen she sees about the breakfast table, waiting to do her honor. They are all very effusive to sweet Mademoiselle Gertrude this morning, and amid the presentation of their gifts on her restoration to complete health the breakfast runs along. Then they quarrel with each other for the honor of toasting divine Miss Ham- ;mond till Madame Perrique says : "As her mother, I claim that privilege!" At which there are bravos from most of them and shouts of "Mashalldh!" from the Turk and "Evoi!" from the Greek. Upon this, Mr. Rosenbaum, who has seemingly re- covered his appetite, looks from his place of honor, besides the hostess, with a humorous grin, though his eyes at times light up in a sarcastic triumph, that makes the pretty Gertrude droop her orbs modestly upon the tablecloth. But the girl is so supremely happy, as the recollec- tion of Ambigue's impassioned kisses bring the flam- 150 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET ing color to her fair cheeks, that even the pusuing Daniel Webster has little terror for her. She feels there is one true heart in the house that beats for her, and the devotion of Gaspard makes her confident. She even laughs as the Comte de Pichoir sneers at Rosenbaum's Creole French which the lawyer has -picked up in Louisiana. "You just wait, young man," says Daniel, in jovial significance, "when you hear me talk French some day, you'll jump with joy." As he makes this as- sertion, Mr. Eosenbaum winks good-naturedly at Madame Perrique, but the landlady is so embarrassed at his f acetiousness that she gives her English boarder twice as much omelet as she had intended to. Once, during the meal, Gertrude overhears the New Orleans lawyer whisper to her new mother: "Cut this breakfast as soon as you can, so we can have our business confab." Then the adopted girl's cheeks grow pale as Madame Perrique's tones become even more motherly, and every time the ex-schoolmistress calls her "daughter" consternation flies through Miss Hammond, for Rosenbaum's eyes seem to emphasize the title. A moment after, some latent suggestion in them causes her cheeks to become redder than they had even under Ambigue's passionate kisses ; in this man's A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 151 glances there is, not only pursuit, but authority aye, even possession! A sickening dread enters Miss Hammond's heart, not for herself, but for her love in the absence of a father, the power of a mother in France is very great. No daughter can legally wed without her consent till she is twenty-five, and Miss Hammond, by assenting to Madame Perrique's adoption, has under French law given to Suzanne maternal authority. And she has reason to fear. A very unscrupulous gentleman has determined that the young lady sitting before him at the breakfast table shall be his, and no one else's. He has been educated in a school where successfully rascality is much more respected than unsuccessful rectitude that of the Southern States of America during the carpet-bag regime. Originally hatched in Ann Street, New York, the youthful Daniel Webster Eosenbaum had been the clerk of a police court in the early sixties; but, dis- covering that there was more money in government contracts and cotton stealing in Louisiana than there was in driving a quill filling up blank warrants in Mott Street, New York, he had migrated to New Or- leans, and prospered under the latter part of the rule of Benjamin F. Butler, during this time mating with as pretty a soubrette as ever fascinated a Creole audience in the Orleans theatre. 152 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET At the close of the war in the United States, Mr. Bosenbaum had hoisted his shingle as a lawyer on Canal Street, and flourished politically during the early part of the carpet-bag period. But, suddenly discovering a great chance for a fortune, he had one day left his office in charge of his partner, Monsieur Lerue, and for the last few months has been in Paris. His mind is what such an education would natur- ally make it acute, without being broad; crafty, without being astute; and yet full of self-assertive, combative confidence. He would not hesitate to dis- cuss ecclesiastical law with a bench of bishops or to refute a Mansfield or a Blackstone on civil and poli- tical jurisprudence. His motto is : "The means don't count if you get the bill through." He thinks the blushing young lady seated near to him is practically under his thumb, and his manner becomes so confident, his smile so urbane and his glance so possessive, that Grertie shivers as he says: "Now, Madame Perrique, for a few minutes' business confab." Miss Hammond knows it will be about her. She feels that her fate almost depends upon it. Agitation fills her as Suzanne, taking her to one side, whispers : "My dear, you had better leave the breakfast table be- fore me. I have some business with Mr. Eosenbaum. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 153 Keep away from every one of these gentlemen. I don't wish you to receive the attentions of anyone in the house ; remember my words." Eecollecting Gaspard, the adopted daughter's eyes are not obedient; though she says diplomatically: "Yes, Madame, I shall permit the addresses of no gentleman here." About this time she is rather pleased to observe that Mr. Rosenbaum seems disappointed about some- thing. As the meal has progressed, he has glanced quite often towards the door as if expecting some one. There is but one vacant chair at the table, that of the bohemian ; the new arrival occupying the place of De Millefleurs. Apparently he is awaiting Ambigue in order to say or do something unpleasant, but this chance never comes. While the others are eating, Monsieur Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue, taking advantage of their ab- sence, is impatiently trying to get an interview with the actress upstairs. Though the noise of Gertrude's various suitors from the dining-room makes him grind his teeth, and the Comte de Pichoir's voice ex- claiming, "Ma chere, Mademoiselle Hammond, a coronet would look charming on your classic brow," causes him to snarl like a terrier who sees another 154 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET dog eyeing his bone, the dramatist forces himself to keep away from the breakfast table, even though his appetite is good and his sweetheart's eyes grace the repast. With himself he is communing anxiously: "I must prevent this Daniel Webster Bosenbaum, who would apparently also make my Mignonette his vic- tim, asserting his rights as the spouse of Armande. M on Dieu, it would affect that grand actress's nerves so she would not be able to do justice to Calypso to- night." Here a further consideration sends an addi- tional cold chill through the author. "Perhaps this fiend will claim her salary under his rights of hus- band. Then Armande will not act at all; and, diable, there is no understudy !" he moans. "In some way I must get the great artiste out of the house before the monster Eosenbaum recognizes his wife and knows her salary is within his avaricious clutch." Alarmed by this idea, he runs up the stairway to the floor above and raps desperately on Armande's door. "You can't come in now, Ambigue," shouts the actress, through the panel. "I am en dishabille and busy with my maid packing my trunks !" "Packing her trunks!" he shudders. "The poor creature must also have discovered her pursuing hus- band is in the house." Therefore he commands cau- A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 155 tiously : "Don't wait to pack them. You must leave here instantly. I'll have a carriage at the street door!" His words are low and guarded, though every one is below in the dining-room. "You must not remain another minute. You must leave before they come upstairs. I'll be back here on the instant." The agitation in his voice causes the actress to in- quire nervously: "What do you fear?" But Ambigue hasn't waited for her words and is already on his way to the front door. He darts into the Rue de Provence, from there rushes into the Rue de la Fayette, and very shortly returns with a cab. Leaving this in waiting, he glides rapidly into Madame Perrique's front door again. There is no one in the salons or hallways except Georgina, who, being disgusted with the lack of masculine attention her childish costume produces, has left the dining- room before the other guests. He suddenly reflects : "Little girls have tongues." Stepping to the adoles- cent Mrs. Horton, he astounds her by saying: "Petite, all children like sweets," pulls two lumps of sugar from his pocket and presses them into her hand. As she gasps in indignation, he chucks her af- fably under her dimpled chin and whispers: "Not a word as to Armande, little one; silence and discre- tion/' and darts from her mysteriously up the stairs. 156 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Horrors, somebody will be dangling me oa their knees next," half-sobs the juvenile matron. "What would Jack say if he had seen that?" She shakes her fist at the retreating Moliere and mutters: "For this I'll tell on you and Armande, sure !" then thinks sympathetically : "Oh, poor Gertrude and this fickle wretch broke plates and blacked boots for her this morning." But Ambigue, unaware of young Mrs. Horton's threats, is standing at the actress's door and rapping on it. It is immediately opened to him, and Armande de Millefleurs appears costumed for the street. She has made a hasty but effective toilette, though her cheeks are pale. In her hurry she has forgotten to put on the usual touch of rouge. "The carriage is at the door, Mademoiselle de Millefleurs," whispers the author, an anxiety in his voice that frightens his listener. "I have my eye on an apartment that will suit you at No. 80 Eue de la Fayette." "Yes ; will you see that my maid brings my luggage with her after me?" The actress appears eager to go; her escort's manner convinces her he fears some outbreak for unpaid board from Madame Perrique. "Certainly," answers Ambigue, who, impressed by the lady's eagerness to depart, reflects : "Armande has A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 157 discovered her brutal husband is about to claim her. That's the reason she was packing her trunks to fly secretly." Then noting that La De Millefleurs is very nervous, the dramatist's blood runs cold as he ejacu- lates : "Morbleu, you are not going to be sick on the first night of my play. That would be too horrible !" "An incident occurred this morning," murmurs Armande, "which affected my nerves." "If agitation should prevent your acting to-night, I am a ruined author," he shudders, and supports her tenderly down the long stairway, while she, reclining in his arms, whispers : "Dear Ambigue, sweet Moliere, thanks for your kind attention. I don't know what I would have done without my young genius !" "del, by the way Armande clings to me, this ac- tress knows from rehearsal my play will be a triumph !" cogitates the modest man of letters. "Calm yourself, great artiste," he observes reassur- ingly. "Superb creature, grand actress, remember that my fate hangs on you to-night, and stiffen your magnificent spinal column. In your weak state, I shall take you in your cab to your new lodgings. I shall make all arrangements for you." "Thank you," she says gratefully. "Please pay the cabman for me." - "Certainly ; give me your pocketbook," answers 158 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET Ambigue briskly. "Otherwise the hackman would not be paid/' he thinks sadly as he supports the fascinat- ing Armande from the front door and places her care- fully into the hack, stepping in beside her. Consequently Georgina, who has seen a good deal and heard some of this, standing in the big empty salon and looking out of the window into the street, giggles maliciously: "Great thunder, isn't Ambigue sparking the actress ?" Then turning about and seeing Miss Hammond, who has taken advantage of Madame Perrique's in- junction to wander from the masculine compliments and attentions of the breakfast table, young Mrs. Horton calls: "Hi, Gertie, come here! Just take a peep and see him put her in her carriage." "Who?" asks Miss Hammond, with the curiosity of youth. "Ambigue ! His old coat rips under the shoulder as he fairly lifts that stunning Armande de Mille- fleurs into the hack and arranges the skirts about her charming figure like a regular Don Caesar de Bazan." "I am not interested," remarks Miss Hammond, haughtily. "But you ought to see Moliere. How gallantly, how lovingly he plays the cavalier just like my Jack used to do to me." Peering out of the window, Geor- A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 159 gina doesn't notice that the young lady standing be- hind her grows extremely pale and puts a hand to a wildly beating heart. "Oh, jingo/* she continues, ex- citedly, "he he's getting into the carriage beside Armande !" "No, no, impossible!" and Gertrude, refuting her own words, glides to the window and looks out to see a distracting sight. "I knew curiosity would fetch you," giggles the young Mrs. Horton. But the other, unheeding her, is shuddering to herself: "They are driving away together. Oh, in Paris this means so much alone in a carriage with this actress and he had just left my arms." For curiously, tete-a-tete carriage exercise in the French capital with a lady does indicate more intimate re- lations than in most other cities. Then trying to defend the man of- her heart, she says to Georgina: "Monsieur Ambigue's attentions to the actress are not at all remarkable. As an author, he wishes to have her good- will. She plays in his ." Here remembering Moliere's warning, Gertrude abruptly checks her words. "Oh, trying to defend him, my poor Gertie." Young Mrs. Horton puts her arms around her more dignified companion. 1GO A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Poor Gertie !" echoes Miss Hammond, indignant- iy. "Yes, I always sympathize with any girl when her chap does the right-about-face on her." "What do you mean by your horrid slang?" "Oh, I mean Ambigue is head over ears in love with this actress." "Nonsense !" "Yes he is. If my Jack treated me in that way " "Your Jack?" "Yes yes, my brother." "Pish, your Jack is either not your brother or you're a greater fool about your brother than I ever saw a girl before," asserts Miss Hammond, made angry by the stings Georgina has inflicted both on her love and her pride. "I am not such a noodle as you are !" retorts Geor- gina, sturdily. "Why, everyone in the house knows Ambigue is crazy about the great De Millefleurs." "No, no!" "Yes he is. You're too proud to listen or to look, but I'm not. I saw him only two minutes ago in the hall as he brought Armande down the stairs to the carriage, literally carrying her in his arms. She was saying to him : 'Dear Ambigue ; sweet Moliere,' and A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 161 he was whispering: 'Grand actress, magnificent ar- tiste/'- Here the narrator brings additional con- sternation and sorrow to Miss Hammond by assert- ing: "I heard Moliere tell Armande her backbone was the finest in the world. How did he know that ?" "Oh, my heaven !" shudders Gertie at this astound- ing and peculiar information. "Have a little backbone yourself!" counsels Geor- gina, stoutly j for Miss Hammond has sunk into a chair. Tears have come into Gertrude's brown eyes. She is abstractedly wiping them with the handkerchief Moliere had placed in her hand. Suddenly perceiving it is a lady's.mouc/iotr and monogrammed "A. de M." she gasps : "And he had the audacity to wipe my eyes with her souvenir !'' The lace trifle is thrown to the floor and stamped beneath Gertie's pretty feet. "That's right, get good and angry. Now make your young man jealous, that's the proper way,'' whispers the youthful matron. "Jealous!''' sneers the tortured one, trying to ap- pear indifferent. In her heart she knows she's too unhappy to think of making any one else unhappy. "Well, that's the way to do it. That's the way I brought my Jack to terms," laughs Georgina. "Now he simply adores me." 162 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Stop torturing me," commands Miss Hammond, "or I'll tell Madame Perrique what you say about your Jack, a brother who is jealous." But Georgina has run away shuddering. "Great Crystal Palace, don't tell her that! Don't tell her that!" Looking after her, the bereft girl sighs: "Pish, it is. not this child enrages me. It's my jealous love." But still tormenting herself, she sighs : "My Heaven, if he's untrue ? I have given him all I have to give my heart; and he he breaks it. From the very clinging of my arms, he sprang up and called this ac- tress's name. Now he's gone with her privately, secretly, alone, as lovers do in Paris. Oh, God for- give him !" Overcome with the misery of Gaspard's perfidy, Miss Hammond sinks into a chair once more and tears again dim her bright eyes, though she wipes them with her own handkerchief. CHAPTER VI. I'VE LOST YOU THAT IS THE END OF ME. But Mr. Rosenbaum's and Madame Perrique's busi ness conference has for the moment deprived Miss Gertie of her new mother's prying eyes and watchful guardianship to prevent amatory attacks. Miss Hammond is alarmed by a voice whispering: "del, tears ! Are they for me, dear one ?" and finds her hands ardently assaulted by kisses from the young Comte de Pichoir. She starts up astounded and indignant, but the young boulevardier, whose ethics are, "A woman alone is always a woman to be made love to," still holds her delicate white member. Despite her flutter- ing struggles, he observes complacently: 'That's right. A proper modesty is always becoming in a young girl. Your diffidence has prevented you from thanking me personally for my present this morn- ing, I presume. I noticed your guardian's eyes were on you all the time; but now we are alone I offer you, not only the heart, but the hand of the Comte de 163 164 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET Pichoir. My title dates from Louis the Eleventh. I move, not only in the court circle of the Empire, but in those of the ancient noblesse in the Faubourg Saint Germain. So, of course, you will consider none of the parvenu propositions of marriage from these canaille, whom I don't even dignify by the title of rivals. I offer you the honored name of Pichoir." "Monsieur le Comte," answers Gertrude, plucking her hand from him and growing haughty at his per- sistence, "in your rank and class, I believe it is cus- tomary for the bride to furnish a dot. I have noth- ing. Even this poor dress is a present from Madame Perrique." "Ah, yes, I understand," observes the young man in mocking unbelief. "But you are an Americaine." "Yet some Americans are poor," rejoins the girl, "and I am one of them." "And like to be loved as poor," whispers Henri, thinking of the letter he has in his pocket. "There- fore, I tell you that I adore you, dear Mademoiselle. Pauper that you are, I worship you." He sinks upon his knee before her, and, seizing her hand again, de- spite her struggles, covers it with ardent kisses, for the maiden is so beautiful that passion makes the young fortune hunter forget even avarice. But at this moment there is a hasty step behind 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 165 them. A strong hand is inserted in the collar of the kissing boulevardier. He is half dragged to his feet, then thrown into a chair. Between him and the young lady stands Ambigue, returned from placing Armande in her new lodging. To his sweetheart he remarks, reassuringly: "Have no fear, my Gertrude, from this fortune hunter." "Fortune hunter !" stammers the astonished demoi- selle. But Moliere, not answering her, advances threaten- ingly towards the scowling Count, and says: "When you address this young lady again, Monsieur, remem- ber she has an affianced who will protect her." "I will address you, sir," answers the young man, haughtily, "in another way. I am the Comte de Pichoir." "Pish !" jeers the bohemian. "I said Pich-otr," replies the noble, angrily. "Waugh!" laughs Ambigue, merrily. "Monsieur makes fun of me but to-morrow morn- ing in the Bois de Bolougne/' "If on. Dieu!" This is a sigh of terror from the frightened Gertrude. "Before you challenge me, Monsieur le Comte," remarks Moliere, "ask The Elder Sarnac, with whom I fence in the Salle Lepelletier, what he thinks your chances will be of living." 166 "A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Didble, you cross swords with The Elder Sarnac?" mutters Pichoir, astounded. "Yes; sometimes before the divine L'homme Mas- que drives Paris crazy with his Ajax figure and un- conquered wrestling. It is only a suggestion," grins the bohemian. "But a noble like me cannot meet one of the bour- geoisie," replies the Count, in haughty reflection. Though he is not a coward, he doesn't particularly care to be spitted by this out-at-elbows fellow who is in the habit of crossing blades with The Elder Sarnac, a maitre d'armes famed as the deadliest swordsman in all Paris. "Bourgeoisie !" breaks out the dramatist, enraged at this sneer in the presence of the being he adores. "The only low thing about me, Monsieur, is my pocket." The scribbler's bearing is that of the old regime. "You, a paltry Count, dare to turn up your nose at me. Before the Revolution, my family was ." Ambigue's manner is now tremendous. Then he pauses and utters brokenly: "But, no, I'll not announce my title when I haven't a decent coat to my back. A prince should not stick his toes through the holes of his boots." Monsieur Ambigue's grandiloquence is greeted by a chorus of laughter. In pursuit of Gertrude, have A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 167 entered a number of her admirers. The English sporting man guffaws : "A prince ? Blow my eyes, he wears the clothes of a costermonger !" But Rousette, who has come with them, laughs: "You mean* the clothes of an author with an unpro- duced drama." "Or that of a potentate who has lived in the slums so long he has forgotten his title," grins the Comte de Pichoir. To this, Ambigue rejoins: "Every French noble- man isn't hunting American heiresses for their money." This elicits another shriek of unbelieving laughter. Just about this time numerous titled proteges of the Empire have been eagerly seeking several American beauties with very large dowers. Pride now vanquishes prudence; Ambigue breaks out: "But still to-morrow morning, if my play is a success I shall not be ashamed to proclaim my name !'* "Your play? Oho, diable, what play?" guffaws Rousette. "There is only one drama to be produced to-night, and that's at my theatre." " Tis my play that shall to-night make the fortune of your theatre !" observes Ambigue in modest proph- ecy. "Thunder of God, the mountebank is crazy!" as- serts the manager, and all laugh uproariously. 168 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Ah, grinning fiends, you doubt! If any of you poltroon fortune hunters dare " "Fortune hunters!" This is an exclamation from them all. They wonder how he guesses. But he, unheeding them, cries: "Here, take my cards !" and pulls from his pocket a handsome ports monnaie embossed with a glittering monogram. "No. not this one," he laughs, "but this one," and pro- ducing a dilapidated pocketbook, throws it on the table: "Help yourselves, those who wish to cross swords with me. Sarnac will act as my second !" Fortunately, Ambigue is too busy about his de- fiance to notice the cruel effect of the porte monnaie, which he now holds in his hand, upon his sweetheart. Miss Hammond notes its monogram, "A. de M.," in big gold letters, trembles, and with a reproachful sigh sinks overcome into a chair. But this challenge in the presence of the girl whom all wish to win, makes the fortune hunters defiant. The Comte de Pichoir thrusts daintily his fingers into the dilapidated pocketbook. Gazing at it, he looks astounded, then grins: "Didble, this isn't a prince's card, but an author's ticket for your theatre to-night, Eousette." "Blow; my eyes, he's a rum one ; so's mine !" guf- faws the English betting man, who has grabbed an- other. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 169 "Mashallah /" exclaims the Turk, "I'll use mine to- night. It's for a seat in the orchestra/' and he puts it into his pocket. To this, Paul, who has been inspecting the paste- boards placed under his eyes, suddenly ejaculates in a dazed voice : "Great Heavens, they are genuine. I issued these author's tickets to the Dramatic Society myself." "Morbleu, if he's the author of the play that is produced anonymously to-night at your theatre, Rousette, we'll hiss it," says the Count, vindictively. Here a new and very cruel element is introduced into the scene. Mr. Eosenbeaum, who has come quietly in from his conference with Madame Perri- que, followed by that lady, remarks in malicious craft : "Under the circumstances, it may not be nec- essary, Monsieur Rousette, to produce this aspiring gentleman's play at your theatre this evening." "What the deuce do you mean ?" asks the manager, eagerly. "Your contract may not compel its immediate pro- duction," observes the lawyer, astutely. Ambigue gasps for breath ! A despair inflames his eyes, as Rousette, taking up the subtle suggestion, grins: "Sacre bleu, gentlemen, you shan't get your chance to hiss Calypso !" 170 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Mon Dieu, what do you mean?" Trembling ia every limb, Moliere extends imploring hands. "What do I mean?'' says the manager in arrogant power. "I mean the other play is doing well enough. I'll keep the old one on. I'll verify this, and if Am- bigue is the author, I'll postpone Calypso for a year. Under my contract I have that right." "No, no ; mercy !" The appearance of the dramat- ist proves he is the author of the play. He cries in piteous fright : "No, no, take pity on my play. Spare my one hope of success in life. Eousette, you are not cruel enough for that." "Ain't I !" answers the manager in brutal sar- casm, as he departs to make certain at the Dramatic Authors' Society, thinking to himself : "I'll teach this scribbler to jostle me for the hand of an American heiress. For this, I'll postpone this scoundrel's play till he dies of starvation. He'll never get another drama on if it is known that on the day of produc- tion I suddenly refused to fulfill my contract until the very expiration of my time; other managers will think there is some hidden flaw in its construction or dialogue. In the dramatic business we all run in a bunch. The author one produces, the others produce. The author one refuses, the others refuse. This failure of production will be more disastrous to Am- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 171 bigue than if his play had nevor been advertised upon the boulevards." But this is only the beginning of misfortune to the unhappy dramatist. By the astute suggestion of Mr. Rosenbaum, his play is being destroyed; now he is about to be bereft of his sweetheart. The men clustering about scowl savagely at him, for at threatened dramatic disaster, Miss Hammond has uttered some broken words of sympathy and turned tender eyes upon the faltering Gaspard, whose hand still holds the pocketbook of Armande de Mille- fleurs. Noting this, reproach replaces sympathy in the girl's brown orbs; reminded of the actress, they begin to sparkle indignantly. Miss Gertie has plenty of spirit and she is very angry at Gaspard's amour with another. This indignation is soon stimulated tremendously. Grinning at the success of his crafty suggestion to the theatrical manager, the New Orleans lawyer now remarks to the gentlemen Rousette has left behind him: "I am pleased to think the arrogance of this scribbler will be chastised by the non-production of his play. But after what I shall announce to you, under the instruction and at the demand of Madame Perrique " Rosenbaum pauses to give effect to his words. 172 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET They already have a terrible potency on the land- lady. Though she expects them, her knees knock together. "You will soon agree with me, gentlemen/' con- tinues Daniel Webster, oratorically, "that you have a greater cause of animosity against him than his arro- gance. Of course, it will brand you all as fortune hunters." This suggestion is not received placidly. The Comte de Pichoir exclaims ferociously : "Monsieur !" the English bookmaker growls: "Damn yer impu- dence !" and a few, including the Turk and the Greek, expostulate threateningly, while the French officer from Mexico, who has just strolled in cries: "Made- moiselle Hammond will not believe it of me, though I admit my adoration for her. For I have sworn to marry her! And you, sir, will prove your words or " The sabreur looks a nasty customer ; though Eosen- baum's lips tremble, he says desperately : "I'll prove them! Each one of you has a letter addressed to Miss Alice Ballard." An expression of startled con- cern runs over their faces. "She was one of the old pupils of Madame Perrique, who is entirely innocent in the matter " he indicates the landlady, whose agitation is as great as that of any one in the room. 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 173 "Each epistle you gentlemen have in your pockets ia signed Gertrude Eloise Hammond/' Here the young lady mentioned starts and gasps astoundedly: "WHAT!" "It states," continues Daniel Webster, rapidly, "that Gertrude Hammond, who is very rich, but who is afraid of being pursued and married for her great American fortune, is of a romantic temperament. I think I've got the facts straight as a judge's charge to the jury, Madame Perrique," he interjects, sarcas- tically. "Oh, don't mention it in that awful way," shivers the landlady. The Comte de Pichoir, with a muttered oath is fumbling in his pocket. The others are too startled and disconcerted to give her much attention, so the lawyer goes rapidly on: "That Miss Gertrude Hammond being of a very romantic temperament, wishes to be loved for love only, and therefore will go to the boarding-house of Madame Perrique, her old school teacher, of Number 37 Eue de Provence, and pretend to be very poor so that some Adonis of the boulevards may adore her for herself and not her money. It is signed Gertrude Eloise Hammond." "Gertrude Eloise Hammond!" cries that young 174 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET lady, starting up. "Good heavens, who has dared to use my name for such a fraud." "Fraud!" growls the English bookmaker, pulling out his letter with Anglo-Saxon directness. This he shoves under the agitated maid's eyes and demands: "Your handwriting ?" "No," answers the girl. "That isn't my signature. It's an outrageous forgery ! Besides, I'm poor poor as the birds who pick their living from the grass of the Champs Elysee. Poor to starvation you saw me when I came in helpless to Madame Perrique's protecting arms that night from the streets of Paris." "Yes, Gertie, it was a cruel thing!" falters the landlady, who wishes to appear as innocent as pos- sible, and is now more anxious than ever to retain Miss Hammond's confidence. "As soon as I discov- ered it, I directed Mr. Kosenbaum to explain." "And who used my name for this degrading con- spiracy?" Miss Hammond's spirit is in her eyes. She stands like an outraged goddess. Ambigue shud- ders as he looks upon the haughty indignation in the face he loves. <( We will show you that in a minute, my dear young lady," observes Rosenbaum, briskly, "if these gentle- men will but keep quiet." For the dupes producing their letters are compar- 175 ing them, uttering exclamations of rage. "The epistles are all alike," asserts the Count. "We have all been done, gentlemen." This is assented to by a savage "Bishmillah !" from the Turk. "Beware of the law, Madame Perrique !" threatens the French officer, ferociously. But the New Orleans advocate defends the trem- bling landlady, remarking soothingly : "The law will not touch this innocent woman. Neither is she as- sailable by you, not having written the letters and knowing nothing of them until she saw their peculiar effect upon you fortune hunters. A monster invented that ruse. By it he thought to gain his miserable bread ! For when his bill was sent him by his inno- cent and unfortunate landlady, he turned upon her and threatened her with exposure. Madame Perri- que is as much this adroit trickster's victim as you are, gentlemen." Eosenbaum's cat-like eyes turn upon the unfortunate 'Ambigue. A good deal of the first part of this has been wasted upon the bohemian, who has been reduced to a sort of coma by the cruel accident to his play. Ambigue now awakes, and, being of fighting metal, retorts vindictively: "A monster is now addressing me! You are a monster. You stand in the presence 176 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET of one victim, the other I have aided to fly from you." "Ah, you confess to those letters!" cries Daniel Webster, not permitting the conversation to linger on himself. "You, by writing those letters, you Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue have made this sweet girl, in her innocence, the bait for this crowd of for- tune hunters. You tricked all these men to come here by these forged epistles, bearing the name of innocence, beauty and poverty!" A growl of rage and muttered threats arise from the surrounding men; but over their anathemas is heard the horrified voice of Miss Hammond. "No, no !" she screams. "I can't believe Gaspard I can't believe !" Then her tone is low in sad en- treaty. "You couldn't have done this dastard thing with the name of one you pretend to adore." "Pretend? I do adore!" The bohemian would approach her to plead with her, but she, holding up warning hand, says proudly: "Then, of course, you didn't invent those letters that have made these men pursue me with protestations of love and desire!" Her sweetheart cannot answer the reproach in her eyes, and hangs his head before the indignant anguisB of his Mignonette. "Tell me, in the name of manhood," she implores, A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 177 "have you made me the lure for these wretches,'' for the appearance of Madame Perriqu^'s boarders as they compare their letters and utter execrations justifies her term. "I " Moliere's voice is very faint; then sud- denly he droops his head, and murmurs: "Alas! I did." "Oh, shame!" shudders Gertrude, and staggers from him. "But innocently!" he half shrieks. "Till I saw you the blessed night you came in that door help- less, I only knew that I loved one whom I had christened Mignonette." "Then how did you obtain my true name ?" "From the roll book of Madame Perkins' board- ing-school stored up in the garret where I live with the rats." This mention of the privations, poverty and loneli- ness of the once dashing Gaspard produces a tender flutter in the heart of Mignonette. "Oh, how I would like to believe you," she sighs. Perhaps she might forgive him, but, seeing Armande's pocketbook in his hand, she murmurs in broken voice: "There are other things! Oh, Heavens, that actress, the De Millefleurs." "Of course ! He had assignations with her !" ob- serves Madame Perrique, severely. 178 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "He's enamored of her spinal column!" asserts Georgina, who has stolen in from the outerhall, from which she has been enjoying the fracas. "False in one, false in all. Good-hye !" Miss Ham- mond turns haughtily away. Gazing upon her, the dramatist mutters in morose philosophy: "Ah, fickle, fickle, fickle! And yet you would not be a woman unless you were fickle !" "Fickle," cries the girl, "when " Indignation blazes in her eyes. "Don't listen to him, Gertie," says young Mrs. Horton, vindictively, remembering the chuck under the chin. "I saw him have Armande in his arms and she caressed him and called him 'dear Ambigue' and 'sweet Moliere !' * "Bah, baby ! 'twas but the innocent embrace of grand actress to great author," mutters Moliere, fero- ciously. A mocking jeer from the assembly greets this. With an unbelieving, melancholy sigh, Miss Ham- mond turns to Madame Perrique and whispers: "Take me from the room. These men's faces make me ashamed this man's most of all." "You won't believe !" This is a cry from Ambigue's breaking heart. "How can I when, with the words of love to me A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 179 on your very lips, you sprang from my side to take this actress surreptitiously to her new lodgings; when now you come back even carrying her purse. I don't pretend to be a woman of the world," falters Gertrude, "but I know enough to make me doubt the love I thought was mine." "I warn you !" cries her lover, in affrighted voice, "I warn you! This man who has persecuted you, who has made you starve in Paris, has your guard- ian's ear " His oration is interrupted by Alphonse coming hurriedly in and giving into Ambigue's hand a paper, saying : "From the manager of the Theatre Cluny." A shudder racks the dramatist's frame. The last straw has fallen upon Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue. He bows his head and laughs jeeringly: "It never showers but it rains. It is from Eousette. My play is postponed for a year. I'll starve to death before that time! It is his right under the contract; the revenge of the manager." The agony in the voice she still loves is so startling that Miss Hammond, who is being supported from the room by her new mother, suddenly turns and gasps : "Oh, Ambigue, your destroyed play !" "Oh, that's a mere trifle, a bagatelle, a nothing!" scoffs the bohemian, with a yellow laugh. "I have 180 'A PRINCE IN THE QAEEET lost your love, Mignonette; I have lost you! What else matters to Ambigue, the bohemian. If you trust this man more than me/' he points to the suave Eosen- baum, "take him ; let him guard you ! If you trust that woman/' his finger is directed to Perrique, "more than me, let her guide your way in life. But there will be no heart wish you greater good, grander happiness and more supreme joy than that of Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue, who to-night had hoped to be a man of fame, successful in his play and happy in his love, but who is again a penny-a-liner, slaving to keep body and soul together, and wishing body and soul were divorced because he has a broken heart. I've lost you! I have lost you! That's the end of me!" He dashes from the room and out of the house. His despair has softened the haughty heart of Mignonette; she struggles from Madame Perrique and calls faintly, "Gaspard !" Then, as the front door closes with an awful bang, she falls half-swooning into the arms of the woman who now has over her the authority of mother, and is prepared to grimly and austerely assert it. CHAPTER VII. MISS GERTIE VISITS THE AMERICAN CONSUL. The door closing on Ambigue has a very pleasing sound to the crafty Kosenbaum. At the noise he winks his eye and favors himself with this astound- ing observation: "By gum, Fve won her and her fortune, too!" Almost immediately after this, Madame Perrique wisely leads her adopted ward to her bedroom. The sight of the snarling throng seems to cover with un- utterable shame the young lady who had been their lure. Their hostess is also by no means sorry to es- cape from contact with her guests, for nearly all of her boarders are demanding the return of a portion of the exorbitant prices exacted from them. After another short business interview with his hostess, the lawyer, coming downstairs, announces to her guests that in her trouble their landlady has en- gaged him to act for her legally. With this he goes about among Perriqu6's growling boarders trying to show them all how helpless they are in the matter and 181 182 T A PRINCE IN THE GARRET occasionally, in strict confidence, paying grudgingly to the more threatening a portion of their demands. Though the officer from Mexico, who is a very nasty fellow, makes such ferocious threats to Mr. Eosen- baum, that he is compelled to practically return him all the money he had expended in Madame Perrique's house, a very extraordinary transaction, as Bosen- baum doesn't usually liquidate other people's finan- cial obligations. Already a good many of the dupes are going gloomily away, though a few, anxious to get the worth of their money, will remain till their terms of lodging have expired. "We will have all these scalawags out in a day or two," thinks the lawyer, contentedly. "Appreciating the poor figure they would cut in court and how they would be ridiculed in the journals, these lambs will be very dumb under their shearing. In a little time, Madame Perrique", using her authority as her mother, will, French fashion, give the girl to me as my bride, and then ." Mr. Eosenbaum's eyes flash through his glasses. Miss Hammond's blushes and confusion during the last pathetic scene have increased her ethereal loveliness to his gloating eyes. "It will not only be booty, but beauty !" fervidly thinks this legal buccaneer, an expression dominating his face, which, 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 183 did Gertie but see it, would add to her embarrassed shame. But Eosenbaum's thoughts are not all couleur de rose. The landlady's naturally suspicious tempera- ment has been increased by a life of hard experience. To obtain her co-operation, the lawyer has been com- pelled to make her certain explanations and to prom- ise definitely to her a considerable fixed sum upon, as he expresses it, "the delivery of the goods." Madame Perrique being no fool, this has been practically un- avoidable, though Eosenbaum doesn't like it. He would have vastly preferred to have kept a secret pertaining to Miss Hammond entirely in his posses- sion until he could whisper it to his bride with a hus- band's authoritative voice. Still, with considerable confidence 1 he cogitates: "Perrique shall establish her boarding-school again. Under academic discipline, it will seem perfectly natural and also be extremely easy for her legal mother to seclude my Gertrude from all masculine attentions till she is put into her nuptial dress and turned over to yours truly." In this astute scheme, the lawyer would probably be successful ; but to prove his ability to carry out his promise of liquidating Madame Perriqu^'s lease of the big house in the Eue de Provence, he had been compelled to show where the ready money will come 184 'A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET from to the landlady, who had, notwithstanding hia threats of exposure, at first scoffed at and refused his plan. This he had only been able to do by revealing to her that certain moderate funds had been for- warded to the American Consul in Paris for Miss Hammond's use. "All you have got to do is, in a few days, to obtain your daughter's signature to an order for this money. Then I will collect it for you, and you can credit it to me on account of what I have promised you," he has advised. "Having the authority of Miss Ham- mond's legal mother, that will not be difficult for you to do." At first, Madame Perrique had not believed Rosen- baum's assertion that money was coming to this girl, who had wandered to her starving from the streets of Paris. To convince her the lawyer had been com- pelled to exhibit documents he didn't wish to show. But once assured of the fact that her adopted daugh- ter had funds due to her, Suzanne had answered promptly: "Don't fear, I'll get Gertrude's signature. Her only waywardness up to this time has been her deceitful passion for this beggarly scribbler, whom she has now discarded. My charity to her has pro- duced her love and confidence. I have no doubt of her obedience. But if not'' Madame Perrique's face A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 185 is that of the stern schoolmistress "I'll take another way with her." With this she departs to interview her adopted daughter, hoping to find her lovely charge in such de- jection she will be very pliable. Eelieved of the shame of enduring the glances of the crowd of scalawags who had been duped by the forged letters bearing her name, Miss Hammond, in the seclusion of her little bedroom, would be in better spirits, did not Ambigue's miserable fate appall her: She has youth and health, and Gaspard's last kiss upon her lips had been most passionate ! She begins to reflect on the light-hearted lover of her school days. "The poor fellow didn't know my name when he forged those letters," she thinks, "consequently he is innocent of intentionally degrading me. "Since I came here a morose shame has at times contorted his noble face when he has seen the per- sistency of these miserable creatures in their attempts upon my heart. His attentions to Armande might even have been those of an author anxious to secure the good will of the artiste who plays the leading role in his drama to-night. But that will never be !" she sighs. "The villainous theatrical manager jealous of the poor author, because I, the putative American heiress smiled on him, has destroyed Gaspard's play ! 186 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET The play that was to give him fame and gain him money enough to marry me! Alas, that's nonsense now there is no hope for either of us ! Yet, oh, it was Heaven. How radiant his face used to be when he kissed the violets and threw them to me in the Eue du Kocher." She is so distressed about Ambigue, she thinks not of Kosenbaum, though he is shortly brought forcibly to her mind by the entry of Madame Perrique from consultation with the lawyer. Coming to the little bedroom where the girl sits despondently, the land- lady says in relieved tones : "Two-thirds of the scoun- drels are already getting out. They will trouble you no longer, my poor Gertie. Good riddance to bad rubbish. After all is over, I shall again open my school in Paris. In its academic seclusion, my dear child, you will be apart from the attentions of all aspiring gallants." The new mother's tone is very maternal. She places a protecting arm about her adopted daughter's slight waist. This prospective dearth of gallants doesn't seem to delight Miss Gerttrude as much is it should. Am- bigue's kisses still pleasure her lips and the thought that there will be no more of them makes her down- hearted. Tears suffuse her eyes and she responds in listless melancholy : "I don't care much what you do A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 187 with me, Madame Perrique; I'm I'm tired of even-- thing." "Ah, but we will have hopes," says the landlady, encouragingly. "Some day, in the future, I will select a husband for you. Don't think such beauty as yours will be allowed to blush unseen always, my sweet one." Madame Perriqu6 kisses her effusively, but Ger- trude murmurs petulantly : "I want no other lovers !" then sighs: "I've I've had enough of them." "Yes, untrue to you in the first moment of his protestations. Think no more of Gaspard ! For that reason we'll move as soon as possible from this house." Here the eager avarice of Perrique's disposition produces an untoward complication in the astute plot of Daniel Webster Eosenbaum. She speaks be- fore he planned she should. Thinking that the girl will be very docile in this first moment of dejection at Ambigue's unfaith, the new mother whispers to her adopted daughter : "This loss of my boarding-house has been a severe financial blow to me. Therefore, I am sure, my dear child, you will not object to contribute to your mainten- ance." "Certainly not, Madame Perrique; I'll work hard for you in your school," answers the girl, eagerly. 188 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Oh, that will not be necessary. I shall demand only your duty and obedience. But there are some few dollars that await you at the American Con- sul's." "Impossible I" exclaims the young lady. "Yes, they came from your uncle in California." "Oh, God bless him he thought of me at last !" "It is but a trifle," remarks Madame Perrique, to whom Eosenbaum has not imparted the whole truth. "I will have the document necessary for me to ob- tain it drawn up and you will sign it as a daughter would for a mother." "I will," replies the girl, instantly and gratefully, delighted to be able to aid the woman who has in her extremity given her protection and a home. "Thank you, my sweet child !" And Madame Perrique, giving Gertie a maternal buss, goes away smilingly to prepare the document. But when she returns, some quarter of an hour afterwards, she is astounded to find the room empty. Looking about the half-empty house among her few remaining guests, who regard her with no pleasant eyes, she discovers not only her adopted daughter absent, but that neither Alphonse nor Georgina is in the salons or hallway. Suzanne is more annoyed than alarmed at this. 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 189 The two girls have probably gone for a stroll in the nearby Pare de Monceau. She meditates: "Gertrude was doubtless anxious to get away from the few men left in my house, and Georgina has the English pedestrian habit. I am glad they took Alphonse to guard them. No wonder he was ready to go. Instead of giving him tips, the departing dupes have favored the poor garqon with curses, and that awful Englishman threatened to 'hand him one on the knob/ But still these run- nings-out must cease, and when I get Gertie into school again, I'll give the minx enough lessons to keep her nose glued to her exercise book. I hope the American Consul has enough to start my boarding" school well/' For no thought of more than a mod- erate amount of cash coming into her hands through her adopted daughter is in Madame Perrique's imagination. Mr. Eosenbaum hasn't dared to tell his avaricious confrere* what mighty hopes he has in regard to Miss Gertrude Hammond. Consequently meeting the smiling lawyer in her hallway, Suzanne simply says that Gertie and Geor- gina have gone for a walk; and with the document ready for Miss Hammond's signature, she awaits the return of her adopted daughter. But Madame Perrique would be perturbed if she knew what had really happened. 190 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET, For a short moment after her guardian had left her, Miss Hammond meditated gratefully on the faraway uncle in the distant land of gold. Suddenly she starts up ! "Ambigue is starving !" she shudders. "He is in despair at the non-production of his drama." Then hope flies into her face ; she reflects : "A little money would give him the chance to again fight the battle of life a little money would perhaps keep him from suicide. I'll go to the American Con- sul and get my few dollars myself. Gaspard shall have some of them. Perhaps, also, there will be a letter from my uncle with words of encouragement for me, who, he must now know, is bereft of all near relatives but him." She has no money to hire a cab ; but she rings the bell and Alphonse runs up very readily from the hall below, for the departing boarders are answering his implorings for pour boires in a manner that makes the gar<;on fear for his personal safety. To the waiter Gertrude says: "Alphonse, will you lend me money enough to take me to the American Consul's?" The gargon looks astounded at her. He doesn't like to lend his hard-earned francs ; but, made affable by her beauty and distress, he says promptly: "Yes, Mademoiselle; I can get a cheap cab." A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 191 "You can go with me now to the American Con- sul's. There I shall receive some money, and I can pay you," remarks the girl. "Ah, money ; that is good. From where ?" "From America. And for that reason, ask Geor gina to come here. She can identify me," replies Miss Hammond. To her Georgina dashes up the stairs, muttering, tearfully: "Why doesn't Jack come to save me from insult?" "Why, what's the matter?" "Matter! Be because I asked that Rosenbaum who was the other victim that Ambigue said was flying from him, he growled at me: 'Keep a dumb tongue, child, or I'll tell Madame Perrique on you. Reckon she don't think you over the spanking age.' Oh, Gerty, he said that to me. Goodness, why doesn't Jack come and get me into long dresses. I haven't the money to send a telegram to him." "I will have in a few minutes, if you will go with me to the American Consul's," half laughs Miss Ham- mond. Though she has no idea how much awaits her, she knows there is some, and a little money seems a big thing to one who has been penniless so long. Whereupon, the two girls hastily throw on their 192 A PRISCE JLV THE GARRET wraps, and, Penique being busy with the legal docu- ment, they glide out into the street under Alph escort They trip hastily to the Eue de la Fayette, step into a voiturc, and are driven off to the office of the American Consul in Paris, an official to whom Miss Hammond should have applied when first mis- fortune ascended upon her in the French capital, for no American girl in a strange land has a better and more powerful friend than her own Government, if she but knew it. Upon reaching the headquarters of the commercial agent of the United States in France and mention- ing her name, Miss Hammond is almost immediately shown with some impressment into the private office of the American Consul-General, to receive at first sorrow and then to find the world at her feet. She is greeted most affably by the representative of beneficent Uncle Sam, who says : "I had expected you. my dear Miss Hammond, weeks ago. I should have asked the assistance of the Bureau de Sur find your residence, but the matter was left in the hands of a Xew Orleans lawyer, who stated that he represented your interests, and had means of finding your address and communicating with you in Paris. He has some letters in his possession that indicate he knew your father in Mississippi, and also that he had 193 some correspondence from your late uncle in Cali- fornia." "My late uncle !" ejaculates the girl. "Yes. I I presumed you knew of his death, which occurred several months ago." Overcome, Gertrude sobs: "He was the only one left to me. I have never seen him in my life. He was my father's brother, Joseph Prevost Hammond." "Yes; that's the name," remarks the Consul, as- sisting the weeping girl to a chair. "I fear the news has been a shock to you. I hope you have not suffered any inconvenience." Then, noting the simplicity, almost to poverty, of the lady's costume, Miss Gertie being satisfactorily identified to him, both by certain information that she gives him that would probably be known only to a member of her family, and also by Alphonse and the juvenile Mrs. Horton, who states that they have been schoolgirls together, the commercial representative of Uncle Sam, taking her upon one side, addresses her immediately on business subjects. His information is so astounding, Miss Hammond gazes upon him, dazed, unbelieving, trembling. Finally, as if to test his words, she asks, eagerly: "Can I have some of this money at once ?*' "Certainly; the banks will not close until three. 194 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET (Would you like it by check, or shall I send and get you the bills?" "The bills; please." "How much?" "Ten thousand francs !" she falters, as if affrighted by the immensity of her demand. "You shall have them in five minutes !" "Oh, is it real ?" The girl presses her hands to her brow as if astonishment had made her dizzy. Then, suddenly, she whispers: "Oh, God, I thank thee!" and her sweet face becomes illuminated with such a divine light, the Consul, who has seen many a lovely woman in his day, thinks the young lady before him is the most beautiful of them all ; for into her mind has sprung : "By this, I can do a great thing for Am- bigue!" CHAPTEB VUL THE TRIUMPH OF THE THEATRE CLUHT. Then, after another hurried, but pertinent and astounding conversation, the Consul giving her some forcible, yet astute, advice in regard to her relation- ship to Madame Perriqu, and stating that he will do himself the honor to call upon her on the morrow, Miss Gertrude Hammond, of Mississippi, is escorted from the office of Uncle Sam's representative, and placed deferentially in her rickety cab beside the wondering Georgina, by a Xew York attache of ex- quisite raiment and Fifth Avenue air. Grazing at the pretty Americaine, this dandy re- flects : "Put her in a decent gown, and. by Jove, she'd do for Washington Square or University Placed Though there are tears in her eyes, the divine radi- ance has not left the girl's face. Gazing after the cab from his office, the Consul- General remarks, sotto coct: Tve met to-day about the sweetest girl I've ever seen, and have been intro- duced by her to as wily and crafty a scoundrel as ever 195 196 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET disgraced the American bar, and I've encountered a few hummers." In the voiture, Miss Hammond astounds Alphonse, who is about to order the driver to go back to Ma- dame Perrique's, by producing a roll of 'billets de banque of such denominations and numbers they near- ly make the waiter faint. To him she whispers: "Drive at once to the Boulevard Saint Germain, on the opposite side to number seventy-one." "Number seventy-one! Why, that's the Theatre Cluny." "Yes; I must get there as quickly as possible." Arriving at her destination, she obtains from a nearby stationery shop a piece of paper, and hastily writes two lines upon it. This she hands with more than half of her banknotes to Alphonse, and directs : "Get Eousette's receipt for the money and the con- tract as I explained it to you." "I I understand, Mademoiselle. Six thousand francs! Mon Dieu, you are an angel!" gasps the astounded waiter. "I was once of the clacque at the Gymnase. I know about theatrical matters." "Take the receipt in Ambigue's name; that's the surest." "I will, Mademoiselle." "You think Eousette will do it ?" she queries, anx- iously. 'A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET 197 "Do it ! What manager could resist a certain guar- antee? Do it! I will bet already Rousette is re- penting throwing away the chances of a drama he thinks will be a grand success. Perhaps even now Armande de Millefleurs is imploring him, and swear- ing she will not act in anything except Calypso on this night. You know she " "Yes, I know she ," shudders the girl, and cowers down brokenly, in the carriage, as Alphonse goes on his mission. But Georgina pats her on the shoulder, and says : "Keep up ! With all those bank bills in your hand oh, Gertie, you haven't got any bonbons yet, and I'm starving for them." "No ; but we will buy some now/' whispers Gertie, sadly. "Some people shall be happy." "Then you will lend me money to telegraph Jack to coma on quick to take me away. I couldn't stay there if you left your new mother," observes Geor- gina, as, with a banknote in her hand, she dashes from the cab to indulge in bonbons and send her Jack an imploring dispatch. Alone in the cab, Miss Gertie shudders: "My new mother! That's my complication now my legal mother, and that villain Rosenbaum!" A few minutes later young Mrs. Horton returns to the hack, and says, as well as she can with a mouth 198 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET full of sweets: "Gertrude, how your eyes are flash- ing!" "Are they?" answers Miss Hammond. "I was thinking of a scoundrel." Georgina knows she doesn't refer to the dramatist, for when Alphonse, some ten minutes later, comes across the street from the Theatre Cluny to their carriage, and hands Gertrude a document, her face grows sadly tender. After reading it very carefully, and inspecting the signature, she queries, anxiously : "What did Eousette say to the money?" "Didble! at first he thought the money was coun- terfeit," grins the waiter, "and tested the bills with a magnifying glass. He couldn't understand how Ambigue had raised any such sum. Then the man- ager scratched his head, and laughed : 'I suppose the fellow must have obtained it from Armande. She may have put her jewelry in hock for this affair. She's crazy to play the part.' * To this Miss Hammond cries out, mentally: "Thank God, I, not she, have given him his oppor- tunity!" Then, almost tearfully, she directs: "Al- phonse, you must find Ambigue, and tell him tell him the good news." "I'll find him," asserts the waiter. "Thanks, Mademoiselle," for she has pressed a hundred-franc bill into his hands. "You are too generous." A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 199 "No ; it is nothing." ''"Nothing? Diable, one would think you were an heiress. Oh, Madame Perrique will be happy when she knows you have so much money. Best not throw it all away," he adds, grimly, "you'll need some of it to make your peace with her." These remarks about her legal mother make Miss Hammond cautious. The two girls deposit Alphonse where he declares he can quickly put his eyes upon the bohemian, and, though Georgina purchases some more bonbons, they return almost immediately to the house of their guardian. Here they are met at the door by the ex-school- mistress, who says anxiously : "Where have you been " she was going to say "hussies," but she changes it to "darlings." "In the Bois de Boulogne for a drive." "What, with no money! How do you suppose I can afford to pay that man ?" "Oh, with the funds you will get from the Ameri- can Consul for me," answers Miss Hammond, pinch- ing Georgina, to prevent her giving a mocking snicker. "Yes; the document is ready for your signature, my child," observes Madame Perrique, and urbanely pays the hackman, while Gertrude, cramming her 200 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET hand into her pocket to be sure the moiety of her roll of bills is still there, and scarce believing her senses, which have been, not only very much astounded, but also shocked, goes upstairs, and in her chamber be- gins to sob : "My uncle in California ! Though I had never seen him, dying, he thought of me he thought of me. He has given me a chance in life, a chance to be happy." Then she starts up, and fal- ters : "Oh, if Alphonse doesn't find him !" next mut- ters, hoarsely: "But Alphonse must find Ambigue! He is despairing and in want, and I I have the world at my feet/' These reflections lead her to Armande de Millefleurs. She wrings her hands, and sighs: "She is so beautiful, she is to talented, she is so great this actress, who will play in his grand drama to-night." This conflict of the emotions doesn't produce much appetite. As time runs on Gertrude becomes anxious for the return of Alphonse with news of the bohe- mian. The last hours of daylight seem interminable. Three times she takes the banknotes from her pocket and bites her pretty fingers, to be certain she is awake. Madame Perrique, sure her ward is beneath her roof, gives her little attention, being occupied with Mr. Eosenbaum in "squaring," as he expresses it, the last of her boarders. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 201 Soon, fortunately, Gertrude is distracted from her own affairs by Georgina's prattle. Young Mrs. Hor- ton comes in to her, and, gazing at her, says, peni- tently : "I'm sorry, Gertie. I wouldn't have told you about Ambigue and the actress, had I known you were so crumpled on him. But what I told you was the truth," she adds, stoutly. "He did say Armande had a magnificent backbone." "Pish, child, what do you know about such mat- ters!" cries Gaspard's sweetheart, haughtily. "Child!" answers Georgina, savagely and impul- sively. "I am tired of being called child. Despite these infamous short skirts, I have been a married woman for three weeks." "Good heavens, tell me!" ejaculates Miss Ham- mond, scarce believing her ears. But receiving com- plete confession, the tale of honeymoon woes from the adolescent Mrs. Horton is, fortunately, sufficient- astounding to divert Gertrude's mind for a little time from her own social problem. But Alphonse doesn't come, and evening does. Her new mother bustles in to her adopted daughter's room and says: "Did you see anything of that wretched gargon before you left, Gertie? He hasn't returned. There will be no one to wait upon my few remaining guests. I have discharged nay other dining-room ser- vants." 202 T A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Alphonse not yet come ?" falters Miss Hammond, and goes about the house, looking for him with such diligence that Madame Perrique remarks to Eosen- haum: "She is very docile. She does everything I tell her. We will have no trouble with her whatso- ever. She feels for my poverty so greatly, I do not think she will even eat very much. She has said she did not care to come down to dinner. I'll have a few trifles sent up to her when Alphonse comes." A moment after Alphonse does come it, his eye per- turbed, his manner absent-minded. He waits upon the table in a slipshod way, and then sympathetically carries up their little dinner to Miss Hammond and Georgina. The moment he is in the room, Miss Hammond is questioning him: "What did Moliere say? Did he express gratitude ? Did he express " "He expressed nothing. I have not seen Ambigue. Nobody knows what has become of him," answers the waiter, trying to keep concern out of his voice. "Then he must have heard! He must be at the theatre! Eousette has probably notified him!" These are excited ejaculations from Gertrude. To them she adds, suddenly: "Alphonse, you you don't think anything has happened to him?" "No; I don't think!" 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 203 "But you fear?" The girl's face is very pale. "No; I don't fear!" says Alphonse, seeing that Miss Hammond's spirits must be sustained. "He is probably at the theatre." "Then we must go. You must get a box !" "Get a box! Take me!" cries Georgina, who has been listening eagerly. "I'll chaperone you," giggles the youthful matron into Gertie's ear. "It's all per- fectly proper; I'm a married woman," she adds, at- tempting a playful dignity. "Then you'll have to sneak out or Perrique won't allow you to go," observes the waiter. "I am in- clined to think, from what I heard her say to Mon- sieur Rosenbaum at the dining-table, she values you very highly, Mademoiselle Hammond!" He departs to see if the coast is clear, and the two girls make a hasty toilette ; Gertie has only the cheap muslin gown and the chaperone is pouting: "With this atrociously short frock, thank God, I've got silk stockings !" Alphonse is awaiting them in the hallway, when misfortune descends upon them in the form of Ma- dame Perrique. She puts her head into the bed- room, and says : "Did you have a good dinner, girls ? Gertrude, I picked out for you the mutton chops you like so much." 204 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Yes, Madame Perrique." "I shall be engaged with Mr. Rosenbaum some little further time. Best remain in your room, my pets. I know, my daughter, you do not wish to see any of the wretches who formerly persecuted you and there are a few of them left." "Yes, Madame," replies Miss Hammond, demure- ly, though Georgina can scarcely restrain a laugh. "When I come back, I shall expect to find that document signed." "Yes, Madame." "It is a mere form. You have very little money t the Consul's." "Yes, Madame." "Mr. Bosenbaum will collect it for me." "Yes, Madame." Fighting with herself to keep her tongue at this formula, Miss Hammond's eyes eparkle menacingly. Fortunately, Madame Per- rique soon leaves the room, or there would be a de- nouement then. Three minutes after, the girls have glided down the stairs to Alphonse, who whispers : "Not the front door. The noise would catch Perrique's ear. This way " and leads them to the servants' exit, from which they issue, cloaked and hooded, into the winter street. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 205 But Miss Hammond had a pocketful of bills. They catch a voiture almost immediately on the Rue de la Fayette, and are driven across the Pont au Change and Pont St. Michel, to the opposite side of the river, where they soon reach the Boulevard Saint Germain, and pause in the wide thoroughfare among a little cluster of carriages in front of the Theatre Cluny. The theatre's doors are admitting quite a number of people. Georgina utters an exclamation of de- light. "It's all right!" she whispers. "Calypso is on the billboards at the entrance." "And, oh, Ambigue's name is attached to the drama!" exclaims Gertrude. "It is no more anony- mous. He must be here in the theatre." Miss Ham- mond's eyes are bright with hope and love. . A moment later, the adroit waiter, who for the occasion has donned his dress-auit and succeeded in giving himself the appearance of an alert counter- jumper, asks: "Shall I use the author's tickets? Ambigue left his pocketbook behind him, and I have it in my coat." "No, no; the best box in the house!" whispers Gertrude. "I want the receipts to be big." She slips a hundred-franc bill into the waiter's hand. "Diable, you spend money as if you were a real American heiress," he grins, and, stepping up to the 206 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET box-office, around which there is already quite a con- course, secures a first tier stage box. "Do you know the loge set aside for the author?" whispers Gertrude, as he obtains some programmes for them 1 and they step up the stairs. "Yes, Mademoiselle; I will point it out to you. Everything is going very well. The title has attract- ed the students of the Quartier. It indicates some- thing naughty," grins the gargon, as he discreetly takes a seat at the rear of the box, and during most of the performance leaves the ladies to themselves. Watching the audience gradually accumulate, Geor- gina comments upon them vivaciously : "There's an Englishman who looks something like my Jack in the orchestra, right behind the bald-headed man. Mercy, ain't they flocking in ! A regular hodge-podge of a crowd. Don't sit so far in front of the box, Gertie. There's a handsome-looking fellow in the first bal- cony I know he's an artist trying to catch your eye. And there's the Count de Pichoir and Hadji Pacha, and some more of your old admirers," she giggles, "using poor Ambigue's tickets they had re- ceived as cards of defiance. For first-class economy, give me Parisians !" Miss Hammond does not reply to these effusions, except by modestly withdrawing further from the A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 207 general gaze. But all the time she is growing more and more elated at the number of people pouring into the theatre. She now feels as much interested in the success of the drama as if she were Amhigue himself. She thinks : "I did this for him. This is my pro- duction, not Rousette's," and is delighted that the little theatre is now nearly full; though its audi- ence is not the concourse usual to the grand the- atres of the main part of Paris, being quaint, bo- hemian and artistic, in accordance with its surround- ings. For this little playhouse is across the river, and attracts its own clientele of bloused workingmen and petite bourgeoisie to its upper galleries. Wine mer- chants from the convenient Halls aux Vines, the shop- keepers of the neighborhood, and sometimes cadets of the old noblesse, who still inhabit their ancient hotels in the Faubourg Saint Germain, pass their evenings in its lower balconies, orchestra and boxes ; but, in addition, are always a lot of students from the neighboring Quartier Latin, and a smattering of artists from the nearby Luxembourg. These give considerable weight to its first night verdicts, which they express with an elan and vigor peculiar to bo- hemian Paris. This evening, also, there IE an unusual sprinkling 208 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET of men about town, who have journeyed from the fashionable cafes of the main boulevards ; also a few officers in the uniforms of the Paris garrison. These are inveterate first nighters, who have come to see the new play, as this is the only production announced for this evening. For the same reason, a number of leading feuilletonistes and some of the most distin- guished critics of the Parisian press have conde- scended to drop into the Theatre Cluny. "Mon Dieu!" whispers Alphonse, who, having been a member of the clacque at the Gymnase, knows most of the notables in theatrical circles, "if this audience says it's a hit, Ambigue can put up his cap heside Scribe and Dumas. This crowd knows its business. Diable! there's Sarcey, of the Oaulois; that's Grimm, of le Petit Journal, and voila, young Claretie^what he says will be important!" So, after a little time, the overture begins. It is that of "La Grande Duchesse" of Jacques Offenbach, whose buoyant and sparkling rhythms are at this time the whistling tunes of Paris. The amorous strains of the "Dites Lui" makes Gertrude's heart beat tumultuously. To herself she whispers : "Yes ; tell him I love him tell him I love him!" and turns swimming eyes upon the author's box, that is still vacant. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 209 Then the curtain goes up. She is not impressed with the opening scene. This seems too quiet in its almost classical repose. "It is but an introduction, Mademoiselle," whispers Alphonse, deprecatingly. "Great authors don't hit the public while they are still coming into the the- atre. Something better will come later." "I hope it will!" growls Georgina. "The first scene was rather stupid. There was not a single kiss in it." "Stupid?" dissents Gertrude, viciously. "Stupid not at all ! The dialogue was extremely brilliant. Didn't you see that oldish man in the front row laugh ? He did laugh heartily." "Mon Dieu, that's Arsene Houssaye!" gasps Al- phonse, impressed. This puts Miss Hammond into quite an elated ex- citement, which now becomes more intense, for by the end of the first act the audience has grown in- terested. Even the critics seem impressed. When the curtain descends, Alphonse darts out into the lobby. He soon returns, rubbing his hands to- gether, and says to the girls : "It made a very good effect. I heard Sarcey say to Emile Augier: 'It is a novel idea; a woman jealous of herself.' Women are often jealous of other women, but they are not 210 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET often green-eyed of themselves, you know," continues the waiter, grinningly. "Armande was very nn3. She looks very beautiful as the Athenian wife, doesn't, she ? That chic Greek costume permits her to show her exquisite white arms." "Oh, very beautiful!" sighs Miss Hammond, who, though she wants the heroine of Ambigue's play to make a hit with the audience, fears her rival's charms may also make a hit with the author. "But I heard Eousette say to one of the critics," jabbers the excited garQon, "'Just wait till the last act that will take you off your feet !' * To this Gertrude doesn't answer. She is gazing uneasily at the author's vacant box. "Perhaps he is shunning the critics," whispers Alphonse, "and keeps behind the scenes, to be away from them. You know, authors go behind the cur- tain ; they have that privilege." Then the second act begins. Gazing upon the opening tableau, Alphonse exclaims : "Eousette must have thought pretty well of this drama ; he's had new scenery painted for it. I'd expected the old wood canvas, that's done duty since the beginning of the Empire. But this Greek exterior, with Athens in the distance, is so new, diable, I can smell the paint." "And very classic, too," remarks Miss Hammond. 'A PRINC3 IN TEE GARRET 211 Here Georgina breaks in rapturously: "Oh, look at the dancing nymphs !" "Pretty girls Rousette has picked out; new cos- tumes, also/' asserts Alphonse. "Tonnerre, he's spent money on the piece." Now applause commences to ripple through the audience, for they begin to understand the great proposition of the play, and it appeals to them. The locale of the drama is ancient Greece, but its plot is so fast and Frenchy that at times both Ger- trude and Georgina hide their blushing faces in the curtains of the box. Its novelty is extraordinary. It permits a tremendous display of varying passions from the heroine, who is possessed of a dual exist- ence; in her hypnotic state, as the harlot Calypso, hating the sweet Athenian wife she really is. For both wife and harlot love the same man, the hus- band of the first, a young Athenian officer, serving with Pericles. But Miss Gertie doesn't analyze a play that not only charms, but frightens her from its intense passions and fervid characterizations, for the leading role is impersonated by an artiste, who knows she has a great part, and has the power to make the audience feel it. All the time, in spite of increasing applause that 212 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET now becomes an ovation, Miss Hammond's eyes are turned upon the author's box and gradually growing haggard; she scarce notes the performance. She doesn't know how great the play really is. The main impression on her agitated mind is that Ambigue is not here to receive the triumph that awaits him. She whispers to Alphonse: "Go to the stage entrance. In some way, find if Ambigue is behind the scenes. Tell him I am anxious." From this errand the waiter returns with a scared face, and mutters: "He isn't there." Now the fourth and last act begins, and soon bo- comes a triumph, not only with the audience, but with the critics. Calypso, the harlot, inflamed with jeal- ous rage, places a cup of poison so that Calypso, the Athenian wife, her other self, will drink it. In the second tableau, Calypso, the pure Athenian bride, awakened from her hypnotic state, drinks this hem- lock potion she has unwittingly prepared for herself. Then comes the great death scene, when, under the subtle influence of the drug, the dying woman's men- tality grows clear, and, in the arms of her husband, she knows that she, hypnotically, has been one of the Hetaira, and sighs: "Thanks to the gods, I have slain my viler self !" Beautiful as a nymph, her exquisite form draped 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 213 in white gauzee, from which her alabaster arms emerge as grandly moulded as if chiseled by a Phydi- as, Armande dies with such graceful pathos and di- vine passion that she would strike Miss Hammond's heart with despair for Ambigue's fealty, were there not a greater anxiety within it. The girl has scarce grasped the play's full effect upon an infatuated audience; her gaze has never left the author's box. They are calling him. His name, announced from the stage, has been greeted with a tumult of bravos and applause. Even the great critics join in this. But there is no Ambigue, and a fearful terror racks his sweetheart's heart. Though he is called again and again, there is no response. Eousette, coming before the curtain, has a perturbed look in his own eyes, though he contrives to say: "It is the modesty of genius that keeps this great author from us. To-morrow night I will have him here for you." "See that you do!" cries a student from the gal- lery. "We want to tell our new genius what we think of him." "Grand Dieu } Sarcey is applauding that Quartier Latin demand," whispers Alphonse. "What an arti- cle he will publish to-morrow about our author." Miss Hammond makes no reply to this. Even 214 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET Georgina is impressed with her companion's mien. It is tragic as that of Armande de Millefleurs when she had died upon the stage. "My God, if anything has happened to him !" shudders the girl, mentally, and demands: "Alphonse, where can he be?" The waiter looks perturbed. "How can I find him ?" demands Gertrude, almost frantically. "He must be told of his triumph before despair destroys him," and she racks her brain how to discover at this time of night in the great city of Paris the man she loves. Her agitated meditation is disturbed by Alphonse saying abruptly : "Diable, I think a thousand francs would do it !" "A thousand francs! How?" "But then, of course, that's more than Mademoi- selle could afford." "Pish, what's a thousand francs to me!" says the girl, excitedly. At this arrogance of wealth from one who had been starving, the gar$on nearly faints, and Georgina queries, excitedly : "Oh, my, what did the American Consul tell you ? Are you an heiress ?" For Miss Hammond is pressing ten one-hundred- franc bills into Alphonse's hand and commanding: "Do it; whatever it is, do it!" A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET 215 'Then I haven't time for explanation," whispers the waiter, for a few of the audience are already moving towards the exits. "I'll catch young Peron, of La Petite Presse, before he leaves his seat," and darts from them. The two girls watch the crowd who, as usual after a phenomenal dramatic triumph, seem loath to dis- perse. Many of the audience still continue to applaud, and in response to their bravos and demonstrations Armande de Millefleurs makes again her appear- ance and bows before the curtain. The beauty of the heroine of the drama adds to the poignancy of Miss Hammond's excited reflections. Those beauti- ful white arms may have been around the man she loves. But Armande withdrawing, Alphonse shortly re- turns and says : "I couldn't stop to explain it then, but now it is done. I found young Peron of La Petite Presse. It is a little paper which sometimes publishes extra editions. For a thousand francs I knew they would be willing to put out immediately a sheet stating the great triumph of this play. I have made the arrangements. In a little over an hour their office isn't very far from here the newsboys and gamins will be shouting through the boulevards 216 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET and even in bohemian nooks, where poor Ambiguc may be lurking, the announcement of the great tri- umph of his drama. Nothing will bring him quicker than that. A thousand francs guarantees the little paper against loss. Peron says it will be a great newspaper beat, this review of the play ahead of the grand journals in the morning. He is delighted with the idea. It will be done instantly. Oh, but you must be rich to pay for such great things, Mademoi- selle. Though, Mon Dieu, how your new mother will reprove your extravagance." This suggestion makes Georgina falteringly ejacu- late : "Oh, mercy, won't we catch it !" "Yes, we must be returning to Madame Per- rique's," sighs Miss Hammond. During the per- formance she has been so excited she has scarcely thought of her adopted mother. "Besides," remarks Alphonse, "there is a chance we may find Ambigue in his lair. I forgot to look in his garret, which he inhabits along with the rats and the rubbish." "Ambigue's garret! Take me there as quick as horses can fly !" whispers the girl, determinedly. The party hurry down the stairs and through the crowded foyer, for the audience are now passing out. Prom their excited remarks, Miss Hammond knows the man she loves is regarded as a genius. A PRINCJS IN THE GARRET 217 Reaching their voiture, they drive through tht midnight streets of Paris, whose immensity tortures Miss Hammond. Has the man she loves become in- sane through despair? Is he lost among the great crowds of this cruel city? Their hack rolls over a bridge across the Seine. Suddenly an awful shudder palsies her delicate frame. Looking upon the river's dark flowing tide, into her mind has flashed: "My God, has Ambigue sought to change despair into oblivion in those silent waters ? Have the audience at the Cluny placed a laurel crown upon a drifting corpse?" CHAPTEE IX. LOVE AMONG THE RATS. As the carriage rolls on past the Seine, young Mrs. Horton fortunately interrupts Gertrude's anxieties as to Ambigue with her vivacious chatter about his play. "Wasn't it grand, and wasn't it wicked !" she bab- bles. "I was red as Armande's scarlet hetaira cos- tume half a dozen times." "It was a very chaste play," dissents Alphonse, adding with French philosophy : "Calypso was pure when she died. As a wife, her only crime was to drive her devoted husband to despair with her jeal- ous tantrums. Some of that was very funny, wasn't it ? Even the critics laughed when the chaste Athen- ian lady, aroused from her hypnotic state, discovered the red harlot's cap in her own bed and demanded in beautiful poetic language : 'Who's been here since I've been gone?' del, Eugene Labiche chuckled at that as if it was in one of his own Palais Royal farces/' 218 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 219 This discussion brings them near to Madame Per- rique's, for Alphonse is too wary to drive up to the front of the house in a coach. He says : "She'd hear the wheels and nail you when you came in." Consequently, the three leave the hack in the Kue de la Fayette and walk to the Eue de Provence. As they hurry along, the waiter suggests: "If Per- rique's discovered your absence, she's waiting for you at her front door. I'll take you up to Ambigue's garret by the servants' entrance and the back stairs.'* He offers to remove his shoes, and to go up and seek for Ambigue himself, but Miss Hammond says, eagerly : "No, no ; if he is there I want to tell him of his triumph!" "And I want to clap him on the back and say Tmlly boy!' You won't be jealous of that, Gertie, will you?" laughs Georgina. Her companion doesn't answer this. Alphonse is already opening the servants' door with his pass key and the two girls are cautiously entering the house. Guided by the waiter, they reach the first floor by the back stairs. Here Alphonse whispers, so faintly Miss Hammond can scarcely distinguish his words: "Perrique has discovered you are out. She is in the reception-room watching the front entrance. I hear her talking with Rosenbaum." 320 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET The gargon's quick ears are correct. Madame Per- rique has discovered the absence of her charges and is grimly waiting to pounce upon them on their re- turn. To Bosenbaum she has muttered: "Is Ger- trude running after Ambigue ? When I get hold of the minx she shall discover that I am her mother in fact as well as theory!" For Madame Perrique 1 is in a very nasty humor ; Eosenbaum having asked sus- piciously: "Holy Poker, you haven't told her any- thing about the money at the American Consul's yetr "Of course not! Do you think I'm a fool?" has tartly answered the landlady, afraid from the law- yer's perturbed manner to tell him the truth. "Then I reckon it's all right/' Eosenbaum had ob- served. "But you'd better go light on her, even if she has been trying to see the fellow. Wait till the love excitement is out of her and she has become down- hearted, despairing and pliable; then we'll get her to sign the document and I'll collect the money for you!" "Shucks, I know girls better than you do," was the ex-schoolmistress's reply. "If Gertie has gone out once, she will go again to meet this out-at-elbows pauper. When she's signed the document, I shall keep my daughter upstairs in her bedroom if neces- sary, under lock and key." 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 221 With this in her mind, the grim woman's attention is directed to the front of her house, not to its rear. She doesn't catch the light steps of the two girls or the heavier footfalls of Alphonse's stockinged feet as they glide up the back stairs of the house and reach the floor immediately below Ambigue's garret, which is approached by a narrow rickety ladder-like flight of steps. Alphonse has not ventured to strike a match. Now, with him in the lead, Georgina hanging on to his coat-tail and Gertrude holding her hand, the three cautiously ascend the dusty, unswept steps. The waiter opens the door. A ray of moonlight is coming through the little latticed dormer windows into the low room, tingeing its bare, cobwebbed oaken rafters that support the slanting roof. As the girls enter, Alphonse closes the door behind them, and just in time, for there is a hurried scurry- ing and Georgina tries to run back, exclaiming: "Jingo, something rushed between my legs !" as Ger- trude falters : "Oh, mercy, what's that ?" "Eats!" mutters Alphonse. "Lots of them up here!" "Mercy!" screams the young matron, while Miss Hammond, gathering up her muslin skirts, gasps: "Oh, goodness, one ran across my foot now !" and is 222 'A PRINCE IN THE GAEEET about to spring onto a packing case that looms up be- fore her in the moonlight. But Alphonse exclaims: "Don't dare to trust yourself to the furniture!" and apparently knowing the locale very well, strikes a match and lights a candle, which he places on a rickety deal table. In the increased illumination, the girls see rats everywhere, darting from old trunks left by former boarders in liquidation of unpaid accounts, and from packing cases whose placards indicate they once con- tained provisions; most of the little animals taking refuge in several large closets in the corners of the big room. Alphonse, as he lights a second candle, explains cheerily : "Ambigue sometimes has great battles with the little fellows. Sapristi, I have seen him shy half a dozen heavy tragedies at them in a night. You see, since the Emperor has torn down so many old buildings to make new streets, the poor animals, driven from their ancient homes, are very numerous in Perrique's garret." "And he lives up here alone?" sighs Miss Ham- mond, looking about the curiously melancholy apart- ment, which is impressive in its bare loneliness, its terrific poverty and its peculiar combination of store- room and dwelling place. A PRINCE IN THE GA&RET 223 A little cot bed with worn bedding, but scrupu- lously clean, is in an obscure corner of the low un- plastered room, quite retired from the rays of the two candles, one of which is burning in a battered tin candlestick and the other stuck in an old ab- sinthe bottle. From a clothes line in another corner dangle a couple of dilapidated white linen shirts, three or four collars of assorted sizes and some under- wear, apparently drying. A bucket beneath them apparently serves as washtub, while a laundry iron indicates that Ambigue does up his own linen. In a box near this are a couple of plates, a cup and saucer and one or two knives and spoons whose decorations and appearance denote they have been confiscated from Perrique's dining-table. In each corner of the long, low, slanting-roofed room are large rough deal closets, apparently used for storage purposes, for upon the door of one is chalked "Trunks" and on another "Linen," the one nearest to the girls being marked "Groceries and Provisions." These have deal doors, the grocery one being secured by a strong padlock, Perrique appar- ently fearing raids from the hungry bohemian. But near the windows, on the other side, the dusty low-ceiled, unplastered apartment has more of a lite- rary appearance. Three or four packing cases are 224 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET half-open, showing some school-room desks, old text- books, and the hastily packed appurtenances of Mad- ame Perrique's former school when she removed to this house to become a hotesse. A school chair, a deal box marked "Sawyer's Soups," three broken cases, placarded severally "Ships' Biscuits," "Worces- tershire Sauce," and "Cross & Blackwell's Pickles/' make the seats and lounges of the room; while an- other box, branded "Westphalia Hams," is appar- ently used for an arm-chair, it having a dilapidated school cushion upon it. After one quick, nervous glance about the cold and dreary place, Miss Hammond, shuddering at the cruel poverty of the man she loves, sighs : "He is not here." "Of course, he isn't. There's his hired dress-suit for to-night at the Cluny hanging up on that clothes- line," assents Alphonse. "Jingo, what a curious hole," remarks Georgina, and, in the freedom of her short skirts, goes wander- ing about the big, low, rambling room inspecting its cobwebbed nooks and corners, though once she utters a little affrighted cry as a rat bolder than the rest looks wonderingly out upon her from round the edge of the Cross & Blackwell pickle box. "Yes, and very bohemian," remarks the waiter A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 225 rather proudly. "Ambigue does his light washing in that corner." He directs Miss Hammond's attention to the clothes line. "Moliere used to prepare his twelve o'clock suppers over that gas jet until Mad- ame Perrique' turned it off," he grins. "Now he indulges in cold midnight collations." "But where is he?" breaks in the girl anxiously; a moment after exclaiming: "How foolish we have been. I know Perrique has barred the front door on the poor fellow. She will not let him in." "Oh, that doesn't matter much to Ambigue," laughs the waiter. "She's barred him out before a dozen times and he crawls over that roof and in that window." Alphonse indicates a little dormer win- dow that looks out upon an abutting roof. "He knows the servants in the next house and they let him in. If a locked front door had kept him out, Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue would have more than once been compelled to walk the streets of Paris all night." "Walk the streets of Paris! That's what he's doing now, perhaps," shudders Miss Hammond. The young lady knows what it is to be without a roof in Paris. To this she adds frantically : "And to think he was not at the theatre to see the triumph of his glorious play. Ah, fate has been cruel to 226 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET him!" Gertrude sighs and sinks upon the box marked "Westphalia Hams/' which gives a warn- ing creak even under her light impact. "Cruel! It was damnable!" assents the waiter. "How Moliere will kick himself for not having been at the Cluny." He picks up from the table a scrap of paper and exclaims: "Aha, here is part of his impromptu speech !" Whereupon with much vivacious gesticulation Al- phonse reads : " 'This wholly unexpected ovation agitates me so much that my tongue in surprise cleaves to the roof of my mouth. This totally un- locked for triumph from the generous public, this unhoped extraordinary favor shown by your liberal hands, so overcome me that the few words that flow spontaneously from the poor lips of Moliere Shake- speare Ambigue are those of a heart bursting with gratitude, not those of a head filled with vainglory or made unduly arrogant with adoration/ K "Diable" grins the waiter, "he has rewritten that modest impromptu five times." "Oh, don't don't laugh !" cried Gertrude, angrily. "His personal triumph was stolen from him by un- happy chance." A moment after she modestly falters: "I would not have come to his room, but I felt he must know. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 227 I I must leave a note here to tell Mm. Can't you find pens and paper, a pencil, anything with which I can scribble a few lines, so that if he comes in he may know that he is no longer poor and unknown, but successful and triumphant." As she speaks, Gerty is looking hastily about the portion of the room devoted to literature. In her search for stationery, she picks up a worn parchment bound book, and glancing at it, murmurs : "Madame Perkins's old role and punishment book." About this time Georgina exclaims : "Why, if there isn't one of Perkins's ancient school bookcases," and commences to pull out the drawers and inspect its books, laughing: "Exercise books, impositions, and oh, mercy Tickler!" Young Mrs. Horton gives a shudder as she exhibits a lithe rattan, and her face expresses unpleasant recollections of her early child- hood, when "Tickler" and she had been too well acquainted. "An old friend of yours, Georgina," half-smiles Gertrude. "Gracious, I believe Perrique would like to give it to me now !" giggles the vivacious Georgina ; then pauses, listens and whispers: "Goodness, Alphonse, what's that noise on the stairs!" and she and the waiter glide cautiously to the door and look down. 228 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET But Miss Hammond has become too absorbed in the recollections arising in her mind from the rec- ords of her old school for the moment to pay atten- tion to anything else. She is reading in Perrique's angular script: "Gertrude Eloise Hammond, bread and water for watching an unknown man in the street; Gertrude Hammond, locked up for flirting with a man; Gertrude Hammond expelled, a love letter being found in her possession signed Gaspard.' Yes, Gaspard loved me when I was a school-girl, and I I I didn't always laugh at his devotion," she sighs. Then her face lights up with tender triumph ; she murmurs : "This shows where he found my name. This proves he did not intentionally make me the bait of these fortune hunters. Innocent of one, he may be innocent of everything. It was art, not love, that made Ambigue so careful of this actress. This book this book/' she fondles it with her hands, and tears dim her lovely eyes "takes *me back to when he was Gaspard and I was Mignonette." From this she is aroused by an awful shock. Geor- gina, whose emotions are always at the end of her tongue, exclaims abruptly: "Oh, murder, if Ambigue has committed suicide I" Though it has been in Miss Hammond's mind several times to-night, this horrible suggestion com- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 229 ing from another has such a terrific effect upon her that she nearly swoons. But Alphonse, supporting her slight form, whis- pers: "Look out for the furniture about here or I don't know what will happen to you. Calm your- self, Mademoiselle. Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue has had too many tough battles with the world to give up because Fate has put on a number ten heavy philosophe and kicked him a little harder. Ah, it was a glorious night," he says encouragingly, "Sacre lieu, how the gallery screamed. All I am afraid of," adds the waiter, "is that when he hears, Moliere will go crazy from double distilled emotional joy." While Alphonse and Georgina discuss points in the performance, Miss Hammond, having found a somewhat torn and not entirely immaculate piece of paper, has been writing in pencil a few words, unad- dressed and unsigned, stating the production and the tremendous success of Ambigue's play this evening. Upon this note she places a beer bottle holding the candle, for there are many drafts of night air from the numerous nooks and corners of this im- mense untenanted room. Some of the small panes in the little dormer windows have been broken and only repaired by sheets of paper pasted over them. "I cannot wait for him any longer. Stay here, 230 A PEINCE IN THE GARRET Alphonse. Call, Moliere's attention to this. You yon can tell him I wrote it, though I have not signed it," murmurs the blushing girl. But the waiter's eyes are now fixed suspiciously upon the door opening from the stairway. He glides to it, and returning, whispers: "Liable, Perrique is on the stairs !" "In Ambigue's garret at midnight. What will she think of me?" stammers Miss Hammond. "Jingo, if Perrique tells Jack I was in a man's bedroom at this time of night, what a row he'll raise!" whimpers Georgina alarmed. "You can't pass her on the stairs; she's got a lighted candle !" mutters the waiter. To this the young American lady whispers as the blushes fly over her face: "She will accuse me of being worse than bold. Suzanne must not find me here. Alphonse, what shall I do ?" "Slip into one of the closets !" suggests the g argon, At his words, Georgina tries to open a door, but mutters : "It is locked !" "Of course, it is," replies the waiter. "Iff the provision closet. Besides, it generally has the most rats in it." "This one looks safe," Gertrude glides to the door marked "Trunks." Finding it unlocked, she opens it. A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 231 "If you feel 'em moving about you, get on a. trunk," advises Alphonse, assisting her. "Feel rats moving about me in the dark oh!" This is a sighing shudder, which is shut off by the closing of the door upon Miss Hammond. "But me! Perrique will tell Jack I was in a fel- low's bedroom after midnight !" shudders young Mrs. Horton, dancing nervously about on tip-toes. "In with the linen, then !" says the waiter, opening the door of the other closet. "Are there any rats in there?" "Lots!" "Oh, murder! I see 'em!" shivers Georgina, as Alphonse shoves her in and closes the door upon her, he not having much time to lose. The landlady's step is already on the landing. Had her limbs not been rheumatic, she would have reached the place long before her charges had flitted out of sight. She has a lighted candle in her hand, but seeing that the room is illuminated, she begins savagely : "Ambigue, did I not give you notice to get out?" "You may have given Ambigue notice but not me!" remarks Alphonse debonairly, though a nerv- ous grin contorts his suave smooth-shaven counten- ance. 232 A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET "What are you doing here?" interjects the land- lad} r , cutting him short suspiciously. "You have been away for four hours from your duties. I give you notice to quit, also." "Thank you, Madame," murmurs the bowing waiter. "On my discharge, of course you will pay me the three months' back wages I have earned." "Don't be impertinent," exclaims Suzanne, irately. "I will settle your wages when to-morrow I receive certain moneys for Miss Hammond's board and lodging." Here a new idea disturbs Perrique's mind. "You left the house about the time my daughter did, I think," she observes anxiously. "Do you know where she is, Alphonse ? Do you know The landlady pauses in her speech to give a vicious kick as a big rat runs around the box marked "Hol- land Butter." "Thank Heaven, I've killed that one," she exclaims triumphantly; then queries, sus- piciously: "What's that?" for a faint sound is heard from the closet in which Georgina is ensconced. "Merely a rat squealing," giggles the waiter. "It is common about here." But Madame Perrique is too busy to heed his re- mark. She says: "I feared Ambigue had sneaked in and was trying to carry off his worthless wardrobe and his miserable plays. Come with me downstairs, Alphonse, and lock up the house." 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 233 "But perhaps you would like me to gather up Monsieur Ambigue's effects" suggests the gar^on, loitering behind her. To this she answers : "To-morrow morning ! Pre- cede me down the stairs. You can carry the candle." "Yes, Madame," assents Alphonse, who can think of no immediate evasion of her order and reflects: "On my first chance, I will come up and assist Miss Hammond out." At this moment, Madame Perrique economically blows out the two candles burning in the room, and he is compelled to descend the litttle stairway before her, cogitating ruefully : "Alone in the dark with the rats, those poor girls will be frightened to death." But the stern voice of his mistress is urging his lingering descent. "Are you a cripple, dolt? Step quick!" On arriving at the lower floor, however, she sud- denly countermands her order to lock up, faltering: "Mon Dieu, neither that wretch Georgina nor Gertie has returned," and her face indicates both concern and rage. She is joined by Mr. Daniel Webster Eosenbaum, whose suave countenance denotes he is equally con- cerned. Alphonse hears her whisper to him : "Just wait till I get my hand on the baggage!'' 234 'A PRINCE IN THE GAERET "You must restrain yourself, Madame Perrique,* commands the lawyer. "Of course, after we've got things fixed, it may be well to display your power as Gertrude's mother, but not before!" A moment after he comments uneasily: "There's something curious going on. A messenger came from the Cluny Theatre while you were upstairs. He left this laurel wreath for the absquatulated Ambigue." "Rousette's mockery of the out-at-elbows wretch/' growls Perrique. "If my Gertrude's gallivanting after that bohemian, I'll put her on bread and water, old as she is." But Gertrude is already being punished! Tip in the attic, she has slightly opened the door from the closet; finding herself alone in the darkness, with many pattering feet about her, she is whispering: "Alphonse, I am frightened frightened of these rats. Where are you ?" A muffled scream from Georgina: "They are up my skirts now; I can feel 'em!" makes both girls run into the room. A moment later young Mrs. Horton, tremblingly gasps : "A burglar ! A burglar !" and darts back into her hiding place. At the little dormer window that opens upon the roof of the abutting house, Miss Hammond sees Am- A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 235 bigue, the bohemian. Though a spasm of joy flies through her, she retreats from him more nervously than she would from a burglar. "What will he imagine if he finds me here alone in his apartment at this time of night waiting for him?" She tries to reach the door opening on the stairs, but stumbles in the darkness over the litter and packing boxes on the floor. He is opening the window ; he will discover her. Thinking Georgina has fled, the modesty of maid- enhood causes the young American lady to glide into her closet again, as the gaunt Ambigue slips an agile leg over the window casing, and climbs into his own apartment. Peering from her closet, Gertrude sees him strike a match and light a candle. Then she hears him cry, suspiciously: "Diable, somebody has burned a portion of my dip in my absence ; somebody has been here. Malheur, have they stolen one of my plays ?" This is followed by such a hideous, despair- ing guffaw that the listening girl shudders. "Parbleu!" jeers the unfortunate bohemian, chat- ting half dementedly to himself; "who'd steal one of them now? What's literature to me who to-night walked along the river quays and debated whether the water was too cold." His next words are so astounding, his sweetheart thinks him crazy; he ex- 236 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET claims : "But I come back here to battle with demons ! For that I must be strong I" then sighs : "I am almost faint from hunger. To live I must eat. Ah, how these cases of canned beef mock me. Empty!" he gives one a vicious kick "empty as my stomach, vacuous as my heart !" Then Miss Hammond hears a chuckle. "I had forgotten Madame Perrique's provision storeroom. She doesn't know I have a key." A moment later the big padlock clicks and Gaspard places on the table a string of bologna sausages, a piece of cheese, a case of biscuits, a can of sardines and a pot of butter. Gertrude's spirits are better, she knows Ambigue is alive, and were it not for the rats that make her shudder, she would smile as he places his white teeth in a big bologna sausage and exclaims : "Diable, some champagne in there ! I'll drink as well as eat." He is springing up for this purpose, when Mad- ame Perrique, followed by Mr. Rosenbaum, comes angrily in. The landlady says : "I heard a noise up here. I've caught you! You've sneaked over the roof again. That's burglary!" "Welcome to my humble domicile," observes the bohemian debonairly: "And you, Monsieur Rosen- baum, accept a light supper I am preparing." This light supper doesn't improve Suzanne's 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 237 humor. She sinks onto an empty box and snivels: "And every night I thought it was the rats/' "Sapristi, an agreeable disappointment," remarks the dramatist, airily. "You now know your provi- sions were not thrown away." Here Rosenbaum interjects, a professional tone in his voice : "As the counsel of the lady who now legal- ly occupies the position of mother to Miss Gertrude Hammond, I must demand where you have abducted her daughter, sir." Daniel Webster has been racking his brain as to the whereabouts of his prey, and has concluded the scribbler must know something about it. "Yes, you reprobate," exclaims Madame Perrique, "tell me where you have my abducted daughter in hiding." "I abduct her?" stammers Ambigue; then rap- turously breaks out : "It would be the joy of my life to abduct Mignonette," adding these astounding words : "But I have even a nobler duty to perform that is, to save her." "To save her !" screams Suzanne. "Yes ; save her from you, monster ! and from you, diablesse!" He indicates the astonished Eosenbaum and the irate Perrique. "It was my Gertrude's peril that kept me from suicide to-night. In disappointed 238 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET agony, I paced the streets of Paris and looked from a distance upon the Cluny Theatre. It was lighted up. They were playing the old piece. A man pass- lag by said 'dramatic triumph.' To myself I cried: 'That should have been mine ! Those plaudits that applause should be for me, Ambigue, the outcast!' Distractedly I flew to the river, and the flickering waters of the Seine seemed to sigh to me: 'Here is the only happiness of life oblivion !' Then sudden- ly the marvelous interest of both of you in Mignon- ette flashed through my mind. I said : 'These demons want her for what? Coward Ambigue, to desert a poor girl who is in the clutch of Harpies. I'll go back to save her from those who would poison her young heart and devour her innocent soul. Not be- cause I have hope, for that has gone from me, but be- cause she once said she loved me because she is help- less!'" The pathos of his miserable story would probably bring tears to Gertrude's eyes, but she only hears it in a confused, distracted manner, for she is now battling with the rats. Familiar with her presence, in the darkness the little animals have grown bolder. The poor girl is shudderingly brushing them away, and though faint with disgust, is clenching her teeth to prevent an outcry that would expose her to the A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 239 shame of being found alone at midnight in hiding in Ambigue's apartment. Moliere's oration has been listened to with mingled astonishment and rage by the New Orleans lawyer and the French liotesse, though rage predominates in Perrique as the bohemian continues philosophi- cally: "But to protect my love, I must be strong, therefore a little more supper I" With this he makes his two rows of strong white teeth meet in another sausage with such vigor that it disappears almost as he speaks the words. "You double dyed villain, abusing me and stealing my provisions!" cries Suzanne savagely. "But you shall tell me where you have my daughter in hiding ?" "Oh, yes, of course, she is here ! Look for an angel of virtue in the closets of a bachelor's bedroom. That's right take my suggestion! Perhaps your adopted daughter is in the trunk receptacle, or the old clothes department," the bohemian scoffs at Madame Per- rique, who, catching a faint sighing sound, now fol- lows his advice. "A little afraid of the rats, Mr. Rosenbaum ?" laughs Moliere, for the lawyer has re- treated from three or four rodents that run about his feet. But Ambigue stops his jeering monologue as the landlady screams in puritanical anger : "I have found 240 r A PRINCE IN THE GARRET her, the shameless minx; in his very room at mid- night !" and bears the fainting form of the beautiful girl out of the trunk closet. The rats had overcome Miss Hammond's nerves. She had fought with herself and bitten her lips and clenched her teeth to keep from crying out and de- livering herself to the shame of discovery. But as the little animals, grown bold by darkness and familiar- ity with her, had glided about her pretty feet and romped over her delicate ankles, and one had clam- bered up her petticoat, she had given shiver after shiver, and, still, refusing to scream, had fainted upon the trunk on which she had taken refuge. But now she is in the hands of the Philistines ; the woman who has a mother's rights over her is about to bear her to her room below, muttering: "Shameless jade," and "Bread and water" ; the lawyer who would make her beauty and her fortune his prey, though he scowls in malignant jealousy at the bohemian, smiles triumphantly as he shrewdly cogitates that this epi- sode will justify Madame Perrique in locking Miss Hammond up and never permitting Ambigue to see her again. Rosenbaum's possessive suavity makes Ambigue a demon. With a shriek of rage he drags the swooning girl from PerriquS's arms, crying: "A vaunt, didb- A PRINCE IN THE QAEEET 241 lessc!" Getting her in his embrace, he sighs over his lovely hurden and fondles her, muttering wildly : "Did they treat you so badly, Mignonette, you had to fly up here to escape from these demons ? Was Am- bigue's poor garret your only place of refuge in all the world? Poor as I am, you shall not leave it. Darling, we will starve together!'' With this he caresses the sweet lips at his mercy till the lawyer gnashes his teeth in rage and the ex-schoolmarm blushes frantically. "Wretch, let me have my daughter!" cries Su- zanne sternly, trying to drag the inanimate G-ertrude from him. "Never, monster! See those unshed tears upon her eyelids. Never! She has fled to the man she loves ; she stays here. It is Mignonette and Gaspard now !" "Give her up, you illegal scoundrel!" commands Daniel Webster, advancing on him. "Dare but to lay a hand upon her, such is my des- pair, I seize you in my arms and spring with you out of that window!" cries the author. Then, as the lawyer shudders from him, Ambigue jeers demonaic- ally: "Diable, what a joke that will be upon the police. They will not know whether I murdered you or you assassinated me!" 242 This philosophical suggestion makes both Perri- que" and Rosenbaum fly in panic to the door of the room. "There is nothing left for us to do but have this man arrested," the landlady whispers with pallid lips. "Rosenbaum, come with me. We will get gen- darmes." "Parbleu, how I frightened the Harpies !" chuckles the bohemian as he bears his still swooning sweet- heart to a long provision case at the side of the apart- ment, upon which she can recline, and places her lovely head carefully and tenderly upon the one cushion in the room. Perrique, standing tremblingly at the door, emits a shriek of rage, for Moliere has flown into her store- room, brought out a bottle of her best champagne, knocked its head off, and by the aid of a dilapidated tumbler is pouring the liquor down his beloved's throat as he despairingly implores: "Wake up! It is thy Gaspard, Mignonette. Wake up to meet with me the fate of the starving love of a starving wretch !" Her purloined champagne makes the landlady vindictively bold. She ventures a step or two into the apartment and throws the laurel wreath, that had rested forgotten in her hand, at the feet of Am- bigue, crying jeeringly: "A present from Rousette A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 243 in mockery of the fate of your miserable play, you dramatic fraud!'* Then she timidly darts away after the retreating Rosenbaum, for the bohemian's bearing has become terrific. The half-revived Gertrude, in a dazed, somnambulistic way, sees him stalk the room like a tragedy ghost and hears him moan: "Oh, miserable plays upon which I have lavished my life, there you lie in manuscript; hopes dead and buried, pictures that will be forever turned towards the wall, laughs that never will be heard, tragedies that never will make the audience weep. I will burn them, I will de- stroy them! I have wasted my manhood on them and they do not give me even bread for the woman I love!" He has his dramas in his hand. In a moment they will be a bonfire over the flame of the flickering candle, when from the street, rising clear in the win- ter air as if in mockery, is heard a newsboy's voice, coaiing from the nearby Rue de la Fayette : "Extra ! Petite Presse extra. Great success! Theatre Cluny! Romantic, extraordinary episode; the author miss- ing!" Ambigue drops the manuscripts. "What is that the boy says?" he jeers. "The author missing f Egad, no author will be missed." 244 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET But now, through the window he had entered by and only partially closed, arises the voice of another street gamin holloing: "Great success of Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue's play at the Theatre Cluny! 'The Passions of Calypso' !" The perspiration of excitement bursts out upon the author's brow; he mutters in a dazed way: "Theatre Cluny! 'The Passions of Calypso'!" then screams: "My theatre! My piece! Man Dieu, these newsboys have been sent here to mock me ! Or am I going crazy ?" Suddenly he claps his hands to his eyes and shrieks: "The blow has fallen! I am mad! Calypso, my love, has come out of my brain to live on earth!"' Entering the little doorway of his garret, and throwing off a long cloak, is Armande de Millefleurs, costumed as the heroine of his play. Wishing to make quick announcement to the author, she had thrown a wrap over her stage dress and driven to the Rue de Provence. Admitted by Alphonse, who has just received knowledge of Ambigue's presence in the house, she has insisted upon going up with her good news to the successful dramatist. With her white arms issuing from the gauzes of her Grecian costume that drapes her stately yet graceful figure, she stands before him and exclaims: 'A PRINCE IN THE OARRET 245 "Ambigue ! Genius !" embracing him with the ferror of an actress for an author who has given her a great and triumphant role. "I have" come straight from the theatre to tell you. Why were you not there ?" "Where?" stammers Moliere, pale and trembling. "At the Cluny Theatre to receive the ovation on the success of your play." "Bah," screams the bohemian, "it is postponed for a year." "No; it was played to-night to the greatest ap- plause. They called for you again and again. The manager looked for you to embrace you/' answers Armande enthusiastically. "A manager embrace me! Now I am insane!" utters the dazed author. "And you in the costume of my Calypso! Oh, it is part of my illusion. I am crazy!" His limbs scarce support him, but he ab- ruptly ejaculates: "The touch of these white arms is real!" and gives the beautiful members little unbe- lieving pinches that make the actress squeal. "Crazy! You will be crazy with delight," half- shrieks Armande, trying to protect her arms. "Here's an extra La Petite Presse just struck off." She extends to him a paper. "Read the lines there. Read them and believe !" "Read and believe?" The bohemian seizes tht 246 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET journal in his trembling hand. Holding it up te the flickering candle, he mutters: "Yes, in black ink. 'Great Triumph !' In big letters. "The advent of a new genius!' Mon Dieu, has the child I love been born, and will it live ? My play, my play !" Tears dim the eyes of the poor author who has suffered so much this night. "Calm yourself, great dramatist," whispers Ar- mande, and her white arms again close about him, hohemian. fashion. "Grand genius that I made by my superb acting." She gives him an enthusiastic artistic kiss. But now Ambigue starts from the actress. A pale faced girl has staggered up and is gliding with tremb- ling limbs silently from the room. In the dim light she looks like the spirit of his Mignonette, whose pure brown eyes gaze reproachfully upon him. He cries rapturously: "Thank God, my Gertrude, you have recovered your senses to hear of my superb triumph. I am no more poor, I am rich enough to give you " Her uplifted hand and disdainful face stay his voice. "I I came here to tell you of the success of your play and wish you joy and happiness upon it/' stammers Miss Hammond. "But you have learned by dearer lips." She turns away. r A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 247 "Dearer lips no, no ! There are no dearer lips on earth than yours/' To this the young American lady only replies with an unbelieving shudder. But great actresses can be jealous also. Armande remarks sneeringly : "I shall retire in favor of made- moiselle. No wonder with such beauty in your gar- ret, even your first play had not charm enough to take you this evening to the Theatre Cluny." Gertrude bows her head in shame. To Miss Hammond's jealousy of the fascinating actress is now added a poignant abasement and hu- miliating reproach. She has endured the ignominy of being discovered in hiding at midnight in Am- bigue's apartment and for what? To see a woman who had racked her heart before, rack it again; {6 behold this actress caress the author with the en- thusiasm of an artiste who has just played his great role ; to hear Armande de Millefleurs tell the tale of success to the ears of the man whose triumph her generosity had made possible. By a mighty effort she says icily : "I beg you to ex- cuse me, sir. No wonder this woman acted superbly to make the triumph of the man she loves." "Oh, I always act superbly !" asserts Armande with the modesty of the true artist. 248 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET But Gertrude pays no more attention to her. She staggers towards the door, saying brokenly : "Permit me to retire, Monsieur. Madame Perrique was right." This is answered hy a snort of joy. Miss Ham- mond's new mother and Rosenbaum have come cautiously in backed by two sturdy gendarmes. These stand at the door, barring exit. "Ah, at last you believe in the faithlessness of this wretch. My poor child!" In maternal solicitude Suzanne opens her arms. These look to Ambigue like the claws of a bird of prey. He cries out : "No, no ! I forbid you to leave the room with your victim !" "Your victim !" answers Rosenbaum. "Step aside, sir, or the police will act." To this he adds sus- piciously : "Some one has run away from the room !" In this he is right, for Armande, after gazing twice in astounded unbelieving affright upon the law- yer's face, has gasped to herself: "In pursuit of my salary!" and glided into the closet in which Miss Hammond had once battled with the rats. Despite her misery, Moliere notices this and grins even as his sweetheart says proudly: "No, no; I'll not have a divided love. iMonsieur, let me go from here." A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 249 Then, were not the bohemian in many respects a great man, in the moment of his success he would lose his love. But he understands the varying passions of woman and knows that if Miss Hammond turns her back on him now she turns her back on him for- ever. He cries sternly : "By my love, I command you to remain! On the night of my happiness and triumph you shall not misunderstand my heart." 'Tour heart I understand too well !" The young lady sighs, but moves haughtily towards the door. "But do you understand his?" Ambigue's finger is directed to the triumphant Rosenbaum. "Do you understand hers?" The bohemian's gaunt digit is shaken at the elated Perrique. "Think how Gaspard loved you, Mignonette, and be romantic!" he im- plores. Just for an instant at the mention of his old time name an answering flash dispels the frigidity of Miss Hammond's exquisite face. Noting this, Daniel Webster says sternly to the gendarmes, who have seated themselves upon con- venient packing cases and gazed inquiringly upon the strange scene: "Officers, arrest this man!" "For what?" asks Moliere. "For the forgery of those letters by which you lured men into Madame Perrique's house. As her 250 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET mother, my client will prosecute you for using her adopted daughter's name/' "Sacre bleu, the name of my love is sacred. Don't dare to mix it up with police details. If you do, be- ware!" Ambigue's manner is imposing. "And if you, Madame Perrique, in your assumed motherhood of this girl for purposes of your own, try to make her marry this scoundrel lawyer, you I will annihi- late ! w "Oh, heavens, he's making threats!" snivels Su- zanne. "Threats I will keep. Eosenbaum, be careful of yourself. I have in the third act of my comedy, en- titled 'The Shadow of a Crow/ the means of oblit- erating you." Gazing at his sweetheart, who stands icy as a statue before him, Moliere knows she is dead to his passion until he startles her from her lethargy of wounded pride. He prepares to act. "Nonsense!" jeers the lawyer. "As you are a Frenchman, it is useless to call you a lunatic." This speech isn't a wise one; it makes the two gendarmes his enemies at once. "As you are an American shyster," retorts Am- bigue airily, "it is useless to call you anything else. Instead of arresting me, I shall have these remark- ably fine gendarmes arrest you" 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 251 The two guardians of the law spring up alertly. "Arrest me? Monstrous, absurd!" guffaws the New Orleans practitioner. "Arrest me for what?" "For being husband of one woman and attempting to marry another!" "Your proofs ?" cries Daniel Webster mockingly. "Behold them in that closet!" A piercing shriek interrupts him. "Hear the proofs squeal among the rats!" grins Ambigue. With a quick stride he is in the cabinet and draw- ing the screaming Armande out, a couple of rodents hanging to her Greek costume, he says: "Permit me to introduce your wife Euphrosne, of the New Orleans Theatre, now famous as Armande de Mille- fleurs." "Armande de Millefleurs!" shudders Gertrude, a tinge of disgust in her sweet voice. "The actress!" screams Madame Perrique 1 , and all utter exclamations of astonishment. Armande may be timid about rats, but she is not frightened of her lost husband. She says : "You vil- lain! Have you dared to follow me to France to steal my salary?" "Holy Moses!" gasps Daniel Webster, staggering back, his eyes rolling in his head, as Ambigue ob- 252 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET serves dramatically : "Quick curtain ! Heroine faint- ing in the arms of the man she loves," and is about to seize upon the exquisite Gertrude. But the young American lady draws herself up proudly and smites his heart with this logical propo- sition: "Proving that man to be a villain doesn't prove you to be innocent \" CHAPTER X. THE PRINCE IN THE ATTIC. Here Ambigue is compelled for the moment to de- vote himself to another affair. The great actress, drawn up like the Grecian Juno, is looking upon Ros- enbaum and demanding: "You, my husband, dared to approach with words of love another! Miserable wretch when you were wedded to me in New Or- leans, where you stole my weekly salary." "Monster," cries Ambigue, anxious to stand well with the great actress, "about to crown your infamy by committing bigamy." "Your proofs?" remarks Daniel nonchalantly, in lawyer's habit. "Proofs?"' echoes Gertrude indignantly, "when I have three letters from you tendering marriage to me." "My dear young lady," returns the lawyer suave- ly, "don't misunderstand me. My suit to you is and has been perfectly honorable and perfectly legal From this claimant I have been divorced." 253 254 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET "Immoral American divorces don't count in moral France!" jeers Ambigue. At this truthful legal exposition, the lawyer turns upon him angrily. But Armande, who has that peculiar emotional ar- tistic nature which requires the undying adoration of all men who have been her lovers, suddenly bursts into a torrent of tears and sobs: "Divorced? Oh, Dan; my sweet Daniel, when the very handkerchief you have in your pocket" she pulls one from his coat-tail "was embroidered by me !" adding angrily : "You will not deny this lingerie at the Tribunate of Police Correctionale." "Very well," answers Rosenbaum savagely, "if to- morrow in the police court I am declared your hus- band, I seize your salary. I know enough of French law for that, Madame!" "Fiend!" shudders the great artiste, "and I have just had a raise." But Ambigue is between them, imploring: "N<^ no; that would involve the ruin of my play if you took her salary; she wouldn't act, dear Eosenbaum. Would you distract your great wife from her im- mortal role? My God, be reconciled. She gets a thousand francs a week touch Rousette for two hundred and fifty more. Be reunited, and this night A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 255 in each other's arms bless Ambigue for making you love again." "Oh, Dan/* falters the great actress. "You used to love me in New Orleans." Dan is not a great beauty, but he has once been hers and no other wo- man shall have him. "Twelve hundred and fifty francs I might love again/' whispers the lawyer ardently. He knows that he has lost Miss Hammond, and if he cannot catch the big fish will subsist upon the smaller one. So Rosenbaum, Armande and Madame Perrique get into a three-cornered discussion, the landlady again demanding her unpaid board bill from the actress. Miss Hammond is moving towards the door of the room. With a bound Ambigue is after her. His gaunt fingers clutch her rounded wrist. He whispers frantically : "How could I, knowing that woman had a husband, make love to her?" "With my own eyes I saw her kiss you !" Oh, the reproach of those lovely orbs. "Merely the salute of a great actress to an author. Kisses are common in bohemian Paris as flakes of snow upon a winter's night. Oh, my sweet innocent, your young life has been that of a schoolroom, not that of the artistic world. The kisses of genius are no more than shaking hands in primer circles. Every 256 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET prima donna who makes a furor at Des Italiens ex- pects to be saluted by the great maestros, Eossini and Auber. 'Tis proof of her success. Armande," he calls out, "will you explain to this young lady how little your kisses mean." "Hang it, sir," answers Eosenbaum jealously, "did you dare let my wife kiss you?'' "Oh, he's villain enough to do anything," asserts Madame Perrique' ferociously. "To a woman of your advanced age, all men are villains they cannot love you!" retorts Ambigue. To the pale beauty confronting him he whispers: "Still, whether I lose or win you, I'll protect you from this miserable woman, who has some selfish in- terest of her own in your sweet life. If you had listened in that closet, you would have learned 'twas thought of your peril that kept me from suicide while I wandered despairing by the Seine to-night." "Yes, I I heard that," utters Gertrude faintly. "Then you must know that I adore you. Inspect the records of the buried past and become romantic !" cries the erratic Ambigue. With this, to the as- tonishment of them all, he flies to the books and docu- ments of PerriquS's old school. Tossing them to the girl, whose mask of icy hauteur is being torn from her, lie cries : "Eead these and see that Gaspard loved A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 257 you. Every punishment placed upon you as a school- girl was because you were my idol. I worshipped at the altar, you were the sacrifice, Perrique the stern high priestess. When you wrote five hundred times, *I must not look from the window upon Gaspard,' it meant my adoration. When you had bread and water and solitary confinement, it was because I threw violets into your window. Aha, here is one little withered offering, the record of our sweet affinity.'' From the old bookcase he picks a bunch of faded violets, kisses them, sinks on one knee and presses the scentless blossoms into her faltering hand, sigh- ing: "You remember them from Gaspard to Mig- nonette? Is our true love withered like the flowers which told our passion ?" "Oh, if I could believe them," sighs his sweetheart. "Yes, yes, your writing/' she looks upon the yellow card attached. "You were true to me then." "As I am true to you now," whispers the bohemian in frantic tone. "As I have always been true to you. Do you suppose, with you in my heart of hearts, that I would be villain enough to love ought but Mig- nonette?" Ambigue's face, inspired by love and hope, has lost its worn appearance. He begins to look to Miss Hammond like the light hearted Gaspard of her school days. Her eyes begin to beam into his. 258 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET But their glances are interrupted by a noise in the closet marked "Linen." During the last few minutes, Georgina, who has been stoutly and silently battling with the rats, not daring to come out for fear Perrique will discover her hiding in a gentleman's chamber, suddenly succumbs to a monster who has crawled up her crinoline, and yells: "The rats are biting me ! Let me out ! Save my life ! The rats ! The rats!" Her shrieks produce general consternation and confusion; the actress, with great display of Grecian sandals and classic tights, springs upon a packing case, and the gendarmes, drawing their swords, take refuge from the rodents in the same exalted manner, while Gertrude, gathering her skirts about her pretty, ankles, shudderingly turns to fly. But Perrique, being of stronger nerves, now scoffs : "It's that wretched Georgina. I wondered what had become of her!" Gliding to her adopted daughter, she whispers: "Perhaps now, with that impish For- tescue girl as another sweetheart in his room, you still believe in your scribbling Don Juan, my child." Fortunately, Ambigue doesn't hear this. He has flown into the closet and is bearing young Mrs. Hor- ton out in his arms. He seats himself paternally upon a provision box with ;the short-skirted matron r A PRINCE IN_THE GARRET 259 upon his lap, and observes sympathetically: "The child has fainted. Ah, Madame Perrique", she was hiding from your severity. Quick, something to stimulate her!" Alphonse, who has just come breathlessly into the garret, rushes to the provision closet and returns with a flask of brandy. "This will revive you, petite" observes the drama- tist, as all but the landlady draw round him, for Georgina is spluttering as he pours the liquor down her throat. Probably Madame Perrique" would join the circle, but a young gentleman in traveling tweeds dashes into the door, looks astonished, and mutters: "That fool of a waiter, to bring me up here to the attic!" Seeing the landlady, he leads her apart and hastily whispers: "Don't you remember me Georgina's brother. I have come to get her. Just arrived from Cannes, Madame Perrique detained there by the measles, as you know totally recovered. Midnight train I couldn't wait Where is my sweet Geor- gina?" "Oh, yes, of course, you are Jack. I remember you !" answers Madame Perrique. "As you wished, I have kept your sister, Mr. Fortescue, very straight in childish innocence." 260 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET Here a piercing shriek is emitted by Georgina, for Ambigue has murmured: "Courage, pauvre petite!" and kissed her paternally. At his bride's voice, the young Englishman flying from the rear of the garret, exclaims in horror : "My God, that villain is kissing my wife!" and would clutch the dramatist by the throat. But the two gendarmes and Alphonse hold him back. "Your wife?'' exclaims everybody, as Ambigue stands the short skirted Georgina on the floor. Holding out her hands, young Mrs. Horton loving- ly cries : "Jack, my Jack !" "How dare you kiss her, sir!" yells Horton, shak- ing his fist as he struggles with the gendarmes. "Merely the salute of a father to a child," observes the dramatist urbanely. At this the young husband would probably be more belligerent were he not so astounded at his bride's long pigtail and juvenile costume. He gasps savage- ly, glaring about morosely at everyone: "Who has dared to put my wife in short skirts?" "I did," replies Madame Perrique, " to keep men from making love to her. You requested me to stop Georgina flirting. As a school-girl she was immune from masculine attentions." A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET 2G1 "Immune from masculine attentions !" shrieks the indignant bridegroom. "That ragged wretch had her on his knee kissing her." "Pish, mine was but a baby kiss," laughs the bo- hemian. "Dash it! Faithless one, why did you let him think you a baby ?'' breaks out Jack, upon his flutter- ing spouse. But his bride is round his neck now, sobbing: "Don't be angry, Jack. It's all your fault, staying away because you had the measles. I'd have loved you if it had been the small pox." This pleasant mention of malignant diseases makes nearly every one in the garret give the young couple a rather wide berth. But Madame Perrique, who fears nothing, dashes upon them. "And you said you were her brother," she asserts severely to Jack. "Don't dare to try to browbeat me. You said your name was Fortescue. Good heavens, you've eloped with Georgina; that's the reason you dared not tell me! No wonder you didn't wish your wife to flirt. There's also another week's board due." And in a retired nook, cut off by two big packing cases, the three go into an animated domestic discussion. The lawyer and Armando are still squabbling over matrimonial compromise; the gendarmes are en- 262 'A PRINCE IN THE GAEEET gaged in a campaign against the rats, as Alphonse) hearing the front door bell ring, leaves the garret. "Observe, Miss Hammond," remarks Ambigue morosely, "had you not seen with your own eyes, you might have again misconstrued my innocent atten- tions to that child bride. Beware of appearances, Mademoiselle. "Pis easier to wound the heart than to heal it." "Oh, you are cruel to me now," murmurs the re- proached one sadly, with trembling lips. She re- members that this man, when to-night a starving out- cast, thought of her peril, not of his despair. At this moment Rosenbaum, who, having lost his chance of winning Gertrude, wishes to destroy the bohemian's also, suddenly observes maliciously : "Oh, he won't be cruel to you long, my dear Miss Ham- mond, when he knows how rich you are." Then he calls : "I wonder, Madame Perrique, you let this out-* at-elbows fellow make love to your daughter, who is now an heiress." "Heiress!" ejaculates the landlady, coming to the front astounded. "You said Gertie had only a thous- and dollars or so at the American Consul's." "Aha, that's all you know!" laughs Rosenbaum. "Take good care of your adopted daughter. At the American Consul's you will learn that Miss Ham- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 2G3 mond, by the death of her California uncle, who owned a gold mine among other things, has had left to her solely and individually an estate considerably exceeding a million dollars." Though the young lady had already heard this from the American Consul, until this man's own words she had scarce been able to believe Kosenbaum's dastard perfidy possible. She merely looks at him, 2ontempt in her sweet face, and murmurs: "You knew I was wealthy, and yet let me suffer even hun- ger in Paris!" "I I didn't wish to make you think me a fortune hunter by telling you of my desire for you, when you knew that you were rich." This ingenious yet sophistical assertion is received by the gentle but spirited girl with an unbelieving scoff, though she reproaches the fellow no more, re- membering that the American Consul had said he would have Mr. Daniel Webster Rosenbaum disbarred as lawyer for his atrocious action in the matter. But this revelation has a crushing effect upon the bohemian; he mutters brokenly: "Over a million dollars over five million francs ! My God, were you to love me they would say I am as great a villain as that scoundrel." "So you are, wretch!" asserts Madame Perrique 2G4 A PRINCE IN THE GARRET promptly; then she commands sternly and proudly: "Take your hands off my daughter, the American heiress !" "Heiress !" shrieks Ambigue. "Bah, it's all impos- sible. It is a dream. You, Gertrude, were starving and are Dives and I, who was an outcast, am the idol of Paris. Somebody kiss Madame Perrique, and then I'll know that I am crazy." To dispel Moliere's illusion the manager of the Theatre Cluny enters hastily. Shown in by Al- phonse, he mutters: "Mon Dieu, what a beastly hole!" then observes cheerily: "But tallow candles, attics and hunger produce genius, Ambigue, my dear boy!" and embraces him effusively. "I pro- duced your play to-night. It made the greatest suc- cess of my career." "Eousette," scowls the dramatist, shaking the manager off, "why didn't you notify me so that I might have enjoyed the first flash of triumph in my life?" "A thousand apologies, my dear fellow; I thought you knew." "Knew!" growls Ambigue, surlily, "I knew I had your cursed letter saying you postponed 'Calypso' !" Here the manager again astounds the author; he replies: "But the money that guaranteed the ex- penses of your play's production came from you !" A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 265 "The money from me!" The bohemian half- reels, taps his head and stammers with pale lips: "Diable, I must be madder than I thought!" Gazing on him, timid and ashamed, Gertrude trembles, fearing he will guess her bounty. "I am too much of a business man, my dear fel- low, to let little differences between manager and author stand in the way/' observes Rousette, rapidly. "I could not refuse to produce your play with your money in my hand." "My money in your hand?" gasps the dramatist. "Egad, I wish it were in my hand. Then I might believe." "This six thousand francs to guarantee me against loss for one week's production I will return to you to-morrow," continues the manager. "In fact, I may as well return it to you now. Your drama is not only superb, magnificent but it has created a furor. The advance sales already indicate a prodigious run ! I want all of your plays." "Take them!*' answers the bohemian carelessly, kicking a big case full of manuscripts. "I have only fifty. But you have six thousand francs for me. That's the greatest illusion of my life. Now I must be more than crazy." "Oh, no, you are not. See, I return them to you. .Will this make you know you are sane ?" 266 A PRINCE IN THE OAEEET Rousette draws out his pocketbook and places upon the table a packet of bills that causes the dramatist's eyes to grow glassy in his head with amazement. "They came to me with these two lines: 'Moliere Shakespeare Ambigue's guarantee for a week's per- formance of 'Calypso.' " "My name, but not my handwriting!" ejaculates the author, seizing the paper. Miss Hammond's face is now red as a summer rose ; she falters to an obscure nook of the garret. But Ambigue is examining the writing, crying ex- citedly: "del, I have seen this chirography before a girl's hand where? Ah, Madame Perrique's im- position book." Glancing over the pages, he ex- claims: "Alice Ballard? No! Georgina Fortescue? a hand like a butcher boy's ;'' then gasps : "An im- position, one hundred lines, 'I must not bite my nails in school, Gertrude Hammond.' The same dear handwriting." Darting upon the abashed young lady, he draws her to the centre of the room; here, kneeling at her feet, he kisses her hand and remarks : "Perrique is right These sweet little finger nails must not be bitten. It is a bad habit for an angel." "You you know !" His sweetheart hides her face in her hands and tries to struggle from him. "That you are an angel who used the first install- 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 2G7 ment of your grand fortune to give the art of poor despairing Ambigue one chance God bless you! And yet, I want not your money/' he asserts proudly and points to the packet of bills. "Success has given me money of my own," then calls out cheerfully: "Rousette, I'll trouble you for a little advance royalty." "I have not much in my pocket," says the manager, good-humoredly, "but if a hundred-franc bill " he passes Ambigue a note. "'Twill do till the morrow!" observes the bo- hemian, arrogantly. The American lawyer now comes eagerly towards them. "Rousette, as manager of the Theatre Cluny, I serve you with legal notice to pay my wife's salary to me," he says commandingly. "Oh, Dan, do let me have a little of it," implores the great artiste. "Not a cent unless you love me like blazes," cries the lawyer, impressively. "I adore you," murmurs Armande, and falls into his arms. "Ah, reconciled," grins Ambigue, then whispers to Rousette, with a wink: "For a week." His manner is now that of the old regime; he struts the floor like a marquis or a duke. "Alphonse, 268 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET I never gave you a tip before. Take this!" HQ hands the waiter the hundred-franc bill just received from the manager. "My first royalties. There's a case of champagne in that storeroom" his finger indicates the grocery closet. "I'm onto it/' answers the waiter, and darts away for glasses. "Not my champagne!" shouts Madame Perrique, savagely. "And you hope to wed my daughter with- out my consent. Till she is twenty-five years of age, according to French law, I am her guardian." "But but the American Consul told me my whole fortune was in America, and I could wed in Eng- land," answers Miss Hammond, with spirit. Then her sweet voice pleads in softer tone: "Oh, Madame Perrique, permit me to be generous to you because you gave me bread when I was starving; don't force me to become your enemy by not letting me marry whom I please." The landlady knows on which side her bread is buttered. She ejaculates: "My darling; of course, you shall do as you please, but this is absurd to think of wedding a poor bohemian you with a for- tune worthy of a prince." "Then she shall wed a prince!" asserts Ambigue, arrogantly. "Nothing is too good for Mignonette. I am a prince!" A PRINCE IN TEE GARRET 2C9 At this extraordinary declaration exclamations of surprise arise in chorus, and Rosenbaum jeers: "By poker chips, a potentate !" "Why this astonishment!" observes Moliere, suave- ly. "Is it unusual for American heiresses to wed French titles? I can give you, dear heart " he kisses Gertrude's hand "a name that, before the Revolution swept away the old noblesse, was very near the king's, and better right to it than many a parvenu aristocrat. It is not well for a prince to have his toes protruding from his boots, so I* starved under a nom de plume. It would have been hideous to have the world scoff : 'Monsieur le Prince de Rohan has not enough food to put into his aristocratic mouth/" At the mention of this august name all stare at Ambigue as if they think him really mad. "The Prince de Rohan!" ejaculates the manager, unbelievingly. "The last member of that illustrious house, a cardinal, I think, died thirty years ago." "There was a brother who passed away in the massacres of the French Revolution, who left a little boy concealed in Brittany. To save his life another name was given him. I, his son, can prove it by these papers. The estates confiscated, all grandeur's dead but the title, which lives in me!" answers Moliere 270 'A PRINCE IN THE GARRET fishing out of a dilapidated portmanteau beneath his cot a little metallic case of documents. ''These scrolls prove it! In fact, the only things real about me are my genius, my title and my love for you." He has seized his sweetheart's hand and is whispering excitedly to her ear fervent prayers of adoration. "Oh, jingo, a future princess !" screams Georgina, and kisses Gertrude wildly. "Oh, you dear potentate !" cries Madame Perrique, and has Moliere round the neck. "Grand Dieu, with the 'Prince de Rohan' on the bills,!," exclaims the manager, excitedly, "your play will hold the boards a thousand nights." "Pish, let it run upon its merits !" scoffs Ambigue. "But I I don't want your title," falters Gertrude. "And I have no use for your fortune," laughs her lover. "But husband and wife must bear each other's burdens. Under these circumstances, permit me to invite everybody here to a bohemian supper in honor of the coming Princesse de Rohan." "Agreed!" cries Armande; while the two gen- darmes seize sausages at once. "Everybody help themselves, and Alphonse, the champagne, quick!" commands Ambigue, passing a bologna to his blushing yet laughing fiancee, while the rest in short order fall upon the provisions. Even A PRINCE IN THE GARRET 271 young Horton seems to have an appetite from hia railroad journey. "It is our last feast in the land of famine!" re- marks the triumphant author. "To-morrow night I have waited too long already why not a wedding supper, Mignonette? Aha, those carmine cheeks, petite bride's blushes, bride's blushes !" For Gertrude has hid her lovely head upon his shoulder and murmured: "Gaspard." "You are too modest, Monsieur le Prince," grins Alphonse. "I am !" answers the bohemian. "With such happi- ness before me " his hollow eyes sparkle as stars as they gaze upon the beauty of his coming bride "an ordinary man would go crazy; and I am sane enough to eat this sausage." Moliere's white teeth close philosophically in the big bologna; he passes crackers with aristocratic grace about among the company. Then he suddenly exclaims: "Liable, I .wondered what made me diffident. Rousette, your cigar case, please. I haven't smoked this evening." As the bridegroom contentedly smokes the mana- ger's best Havana, and the others seated on provi- sion cases in the careless attitudes of festive Bohemia eat what they can lay their hands upon and drink all within their reach, Rousette arises, and seizing 272 r A PRINCE IN THE GARRET from Alphonse, who acts ae Ganymede, a glass of champagne, cries: "I crave the honor of proposing the health of 'The Prince in the Garret !' " "Pish, drink to me," said Ambigue modestly, "as the lover of Mignonette !" Finis. A PRINCESS OF PARIS BY ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER "This story is one of Mr. Gunter's best, and those who hav? read * Mr. Barnes of New York* and 'Mr. Potter of Texas' know the full meaning of this statement." Loyal Amcr if an, Minneapolis. '"The Princess of Paris ' is decidedly the best thing that Mr Gunter has done in way of giving him a distinctive place among authors of to-day. It intr.duces a good deal of history connected with the reign of Louis Phillipe, the great Louisiana bubble, and the beginnings of modern banking methods, one of the most interesting epochs in the history of France. This adds to the charm and value of the book. Altogether, ' The Princess of Paris' reminds one strongly of the writings of the great master of romance Dumas, the elder and in point of interest it is exceeded by nothing which the renowned French- man ever wrote." Rochester Courier. Cloth, #1.50 Paper, 50 Cents THE KING'S STOCKBROKER THE SEQUEL TO A PRINCESS OF PARIS " Full of exciting incident and dramatic situations." Neu Orleans Picayune. " The work is clean, wonderfully well written and an ex- Jeedingly dramatic bit of literature." Forte Wayne News. Cloth, $1.50 . . Paper, 50 Cents For sale by alt booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price, by NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS A Novel of Startling Interest in the complications which have lately arisen in the Far East between RUSSIA AND JAPAN " "Tang'led Flag's" By ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER ' The hero of the story is a Japanese officer educated at West Point and purchasing artillery for his govern- ment from an American Connecticut arms manufactory. His views on Russian aggression are typical of the ideas of his country. No novel in recent years has had a larger sale "A rattling romance.*' New York Herald. "Mr. Gunter will retain his public as long as he turns out such hocftra M Tangled Flags.' " New York Ma", and Ex f rest. " 'Tangled Rags' is a book well worthy to begin the literature of the new century. Osuri Katsuma stands forth as strongly as any of Dumas s heroes.'* The Literary Newt. "While the flags of the nations are becoming entangled in Peking, it is mall wonder that these people, so diverse in character and training and purpose, should entangle their fortunes and affairs. But few living novelists have the genius and the personal acquaintance with the scenes and events that will help- to weave them into such a satisfactory romance as 'Tangled Flags.' " Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer. Cloth, 1.5O Taper, SO Cunt* At all Booksellers or sent prepaid on rtceipt of price by Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. Have You Read Fighting Troubadour By ARCHIBALD CLAVERINQ QUNTER AUTHOR OF "Mr. Barnes of New York," "A Princess of Paris," "M. S, Bradford, Special," etc., etc. XII IS TSO VI.I. 18 DIVIDED INTO FOUR TREMENDOUS EPISODES: Book I. THE GIFT OF THE BATTLE-FIELD Book H. THE PRINCESS MARIA Book HI. THE SINGING GIRL OF CREMONA Book IV. A WILD NIGHT IN MIRANDOLA It ends with probably the most extraordinary and powerful climax ever put in the pages of a book or on the stage of a theatre. The time of the story is the same as Mr. Gunter treated in " The Princess of Paris " and "The King's Stockbroker," two books which have probably been as successful as any historical novels ever written, the first sales of them being over 1 70, ooo copies in America and Canada, exclusive of the English editions. Cloth, $ 1.50 Paper, 50 cents. SENT PREPAID ON RECEIPT OP PRICE BY Lately 'Published PHIL CONWAT -By Archibald Clavering Gunter THIS extraordinary story of how a trip to Central America nearly ruined the happiness of one of New York's great speculators and financiers equals in interest the famous novel "MR. BARNES OF NEW YORK," by the same author, and consequently will have the same unprecedented number of readers. The following partial list of chapters will convey in part, th scope and interest of this most dramatic novel : JM A BACHELOR'S APARTMENT HOUSE THE REVELATION OF THE PARROT'S CAGE THE BROKEN SCISSORS THE LADY AT THE HOTEL WINDOW /H* WIFE OF THE REFUGEE THB TELEGRAM SENT FROM COBAN THE DAUGHTER OF THE FUGITIVE ON THE DECK OF THE NEW ORLEANS BOAT Tna LITTLE FLAT IN FIFTY-EIGHTH STREET A TETE-A-TETE MULEBACK RIDE His MAGNIFICENT ENEMY THE OPEN TELEPHONI A I.DY VISITS THE BACHELOR'S FLAT THB FAIRY BRIDAL GIFT "BEFORE THE ALTAR I BuRY MY FATHER'S WRONGS*' "HER LIFE FIRST, HER LOVE AFTERWARDS" THE SURPRISES OF A NIGHT Ctcth. 1.5O Taper, 5O cents Far tale by all booksellers or sent prepaid on receipt of price by Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. M. S. Bradford Special A MARVELOUS STORY OF THE DAY ... BY ... ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER Author of " Mr. Barnes of New York," " Bob Covington," "Billy Hamilton," "Jack Curzon," Etc. The Book is divided into three most unique yet audacious episodes, entitled: 1. THE INVESTIGATION DOWN TOWN II. THE ROMANCE UP TOWN III. ADAM AND EVE IN WALL STREET oth, $1.50 Paper, 50 Cents For sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price by Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. A Lost American AN EXCITING TALE OF CUBA BY ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER AUTHOR OF " Mr. Barnes of New York, " " The King's Stock- broker," etc., etc. " The plot of Mr. Gunter's latest novel is laid in Cuba, during the ten years' war. The scenes and incidents of the story gives ad- ditional interest in view of the late conflict, and much capital is made out of our instinctive horror of Spanish methods of warfare. The hero of the story is an American, imprisoned without trial, in a Cuban dungeon and sentenced to be shot. . . . Once started we find no breathing space until Howard has happily married his lady love." The Amherst Literary Monthly. Cloth, $1.50 Paper, 50 Cents per sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid, on receipt of price, by Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. Eightieth Thousand. Her Senator BY ARCHIBALD CLAVFRING GUNTER, AUTHOR OF " Mr. Barnes of New York," etc., etc. 1 One of Mr. Gunter*s best works i written in his breezy style, ai.d interesting throughout." Argus, Albany, N. Y. t April /?, 1896. " Will certainly meet with instant favor." Cambridge Prest. April 16, 1896. " As a portraiture of political Intrigue and social dissipation and mercenary plottings, as dramatized in Newport, Narragansett, Denver, New York and Washington City, by players in high life and low life, the author takes the palm." Christian Leader, Afrit 'Will help pass many summer moments." Herald, Grand Rapids* April ia, fS$6. Cloth, $1.50 Paper, 50 Cents Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. The SPY COMPANY A Tale of The Mexican War By ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER "A stirring tale of love and fighting, quite in Mr. Gunter's old-time manner." Neiu York American, January 31, 1903. "A worthy successor to ' Mr. Barnes of New York,' and ' Mr. Potttr of Texas." The North Am:rhan t Phila., Pa., February 15, 1903. "A tale of stirring incidents and ingenious plot .... A novel in which there is no* one dull moment." The Literary New," New York, March, 1903. " No chapter in the history of these United States is more picturesque and romantic than that which relates to the acquisition of Texas. In the 'forties,* when Texas was in a transition state, held by Mexico, claiming to be an inde- pendent nation and drifting into the possession of the United States, all at the same time, the local situation was as complicated as the most imaginative novel- ist could desire, and this involved state of affairs was cleared up by the Mexican War, just in the right way to afford a strong climax. Full advantage of these attractive elements has been taken by Archibald Clavering Gunter, author of 'Mr. Barnes of New York," in his latest work, ' The Spy Company.** Evening TelegrafA, Philadelphia, January 31, 1903. Very handsomely illustrated. Frontispiece in colors Cloth, $1.50 Paper, 50 Cents At all booksellers or sent prepaid on receipt of price by Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. Baron Montez of Panama and Paris, A NOVEL. BY ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER, AUTHOR OF "Mr. Barnes of New York," "Mr. Potter of Teaou," etc. " Here, certainly, is a rattling story.** N. Y. Times, June 5th, 1893. "Mr. Gunter has written nothing better than the volume before us, and that is high praise indeed, for his writings in recent years have had a world -wide reputation." Ohio State Journal, Columbus, May 29, 1893. 44 With the merit of continuous and thrilling interest." Chicago Times, May 27, 1893. " The latest of Mr. Gunter's popular romances will be read with interest by the many who have already followed the fortunes of ' Mr. Barnes of New York,' and ' Mr. Potter of Texas.' " The Times, Philadelphia, Pa., May 20, 1893. 44 This is a story of thrilling interest." Christian Leader, Cincinnati, June 6, 1893, t some of America * ablest Critics say of JACK CURZON By ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER u We find a story of great vivacity In A. C. Canter's *Jack Curzon.' " K. Y. Sun. "Is fall of dash and abounds with dramatic incident." New Han in Miming Km. "The book bat lots of humor in it, is intensely interesting, and will certainly meet with universal favor." Dailj Journal, Pbillipsburg, Pa. "Gunter is certainly the novelist of the day, who comes nearest to Alexander Dumas, and to our taste he surpasses the Frenchman. If you doubt this, throw aside your encyclopedia and history, and study the Filipino question, with Jack Curzon as your guide and entertainer." Tht Presi-Knichrkocktr, Albany, N. Y. "Jack Curzon will be received with pleasure in all parts of the country. . . . Mr. Gunter has all the faculties of a successful novelist. He is a graceful, forceful, pun- gent viler as occasion requires. He is a shrewd analyzer of character, and an excellent weaver of plots in which there is a warp and woof of amusing and thrilling Incident." Oakland Tribune. "Romance lurks in every corner of the story, Ha^a guided with the special skill for which Mr. Gunter has already acquired a reputation. The tropical nature of the surroundings of Manila are painted with spirited color, and the author's knowledge of prevailing Spanish conditions is strongly handled. The story is throughout one e>f ver- satile incident, so glowingly touched with reality that the clinching argument of the scenes so nearly simultaneously with the American victory at Manila bring "Jack Cur- zon" forward as one of the most absorbing novels of the season . . . Mr. Gunter could not well have written a novel that would win more unanimous Interest. It is equipped with every possible factor to hold human attention, and is moreovei pene- Wed by peculiar mental virility and color." Baton Ideal. Cloth, $1.50 Paper, 50 Cents For sale by all booksellers^ or sent prepaid on rscetpt of pries NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS FIFTH EDITION SUSAN TURNBULL FOURTH EDITION BALLYHO BEY (THE SEQUEL TO SUSAN TURNBULL) BY Archibald Clavering Gunter AUTHOR OF " Mr. Barnes of New York," etc. In presenting these two novels, we feel assured that no stories of greater interest have ever been offered to those who read, not only fora strong story of the passions told with vigor, virility, and tenderness, but also for the charming episodes of manners and men of a most curious age. The canvas on which Mr. Gunter paints his vivid pen pictures is too large to permit of any synopsis that would do justice to these books. They contain, however, besides a remarkable love story, many thjilling episodes dealing with the first uprising in Greece, against the Turks, in 1770 ; a most charming picture of Havana when Spain received it irom England ; a view of Colonial life in Florida and the West Indies in their glory. All these are interspersed by realistic descriptions of London modes, fashions, and frivolities, at the time when the lovely Miss Gunnings were the talk of that great city, when Walpole Selwyn and Sheridan were the wits and the elder Pitt and Robert, Lord Clive, the great stars in its political firmament. Price per volume CLOTH, GILT TOP, $1.50 PAPER, 50 CENTS For sale by all booksellers or sent prepaid on receipt of price by Hurst and Company. PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. Chester OR The First of the English A NOVEL Showing how, years ago, England handled the question of Spanish barbarity in a neighboring province, similar to the Cuban one that the United States has solved to-day. BY Archibald Clavering Gunter AUTHOR OF MR. BARNES OF NEW YORK, ETC. ETC. "One of his cleverest stories." Brooklyn Eagle \March 3,1895. " A vivid and dashing sort of historical romance." San Francisco Chronicle, March 77, 1895. " Always true to his historical atmosphere." Syracuse Post, if arch u, 1895. " As interesting as hig former works." The Argus, Albany, &. Y. " The story shows evidence of careful research and historic Accuracy." Newark Daily Advertiser. Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. ANOTHER GREAT SUCCESS Miss Nobody of Nowhere BY ARCHIBALD C. GUNTER "Full of incident and excitement." New Tort Herald. "The popularity of Mr. Gunter will now be greatei than ever." Tacoma Globe. <'A story that will keep a man away from his meals." Omaha Bee. "There is not a dull page in this volume.*' Daily Chronicle^ London, Jan. 14, 1891. "Gunter scores another success." Morning Advertiser^ London, Dec. 16,1890. "Well worth reading." Galignani, Paris, Nov. 24, 1890. *Nothing could exceed its thrilling interest." Glasgow Herald^ Dec. 25, 1890, "Gunter's latest remarkable story will not disappoint his numerous admirers." Newc0s*b Chronicle^ Dec. 4, 1 890. The Love Adventures of Al-Mansur Translated from the original Persian BY OMAR-EL-AZIZ EDITED BY Archibald Clavering Gunter " An oriental story. Weird and fascinating. It is a well-written novel and will please those who love to read of deep mystery and excitement." The Southern Star^ Atlanta, Ga. "Al-Mansur certainly had a very exciting and thrill- ing time to win the wife he wanted Not the least interesting part of the story is that which relates to the origin of Haroun Al Rachid, which is a very entertain- ing little tale." The Milwaukee Journal. " Full of the sparkle and action which are a feature of all Gunter's writings. " Daily Report, San Francisco, Cal. Cloth, $1.25 Paper, 50 Cents Sent postpaid on receipt of price NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS ' " Small Boys in Big Boots. A Story for Children of AH Ages. BY ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER AUTHOR OF "Mr. Barnes of New York," "Mr. Potter of Texas," ''That Frenchman I" etc. PRESS NOTICES. " It is novel, vigorous and never dull. It is written especially for children, but plenty of grown-up people will find themselves capable of being entertained by it." New York Sun, Oct. nth, 1890. "His boys and girls are real flesh and blood crea- tions. Mr. Gunter's book cannot fail to be popular with the children, and it bids fair to be equally liked by the fathers and mothers of the children." San Francisco Chronicle , Sept. 7th, 1890. "It overflows with humor, and is the best juvenile story book of the season. Every boy and girl in Amer- ica will want to read this clever work by Mr. Gunter. " Davenport Democrat, Sept. 3oth, 1890. Magnificently bound and beautifully illustrated by celebrated artists, it will be found one of the most entertaining as well as elegant GIFT BOOKS OF THE SEASON. For Sale by all Booksellers. Ninety Thousand Already Sold of The Surprises of an Empty Hotel BY ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER THIS most unique story contains the interest of an almost unsolvable situation, is brilliantly adorned with wit and humor and in addition has, like all of Mr. Gunter's books, a peculiar and absorbing personal interest in both its characters and events. It is divided into five episodes: THE EMPTY HOSTELRY A STRANGE LADY A FRENCH LAWYER THE SURRENDER OF A WOMAN AN ELOPEMENT IN A LOCOMOBILE And is elaborately illustrated by a number of double page pictures by Archie Gunn and W. B. Davidson. Cloth, 1.50 Paper, .50 Cents At all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by Hurst and Company, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. 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