The American Marquis by Nick Carter — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 — . ach ewe gee RAE Be ae Bak eke fy 4 be Be hires: Fen Pa ei) Yon inte [eRe or Tea Be me pa So LN 63 - ae ® ee 7 * & 34 p, ite =) “ee: Ty Lie : e Es ‘ Va Ps ti : : ) <— ~~” » s ° af / neo ¥ ’ 2 ‘ « iM 4 4 y a -/ = 3 p NG vee ee) rd * = a? - % Bes “ wy a By ces “Wid Y f- : i? ' ' - ~ i} : *\ + ’ ‘ ar Hy, THE AMERICAN MARQUIS. “ By insisting that you shall share the bottle with me. Now order.” TAL, monsieur,” exclaimed the delighted landlord, grin- ning to hisears. ‘‘I shall not order now; I shall fetch it myself.” Seated over the wine, the worthy host was led, with great skill, to discuss the affairs of the town. . And it was not long before he had told Monsieur Roche that the Mayor of Iberri was a most worthy gentleman who had creditably filled his present post for nearly four years. After that Monsieur Roche lost interest in his breakfast, and shortly arose to stroll about the town. He found his way to the city hall, inquired if the mayor ‘was in, and being answered in the affirmative, sent in his card. The mayor was at his desk, hard at work, and did not look up when his visitor entered. The mayor, be it under- stood, was too important a personage to stop work for any- es FONE. body. The visitor studied the mayor. He saw a man of forty or fifty, small, active, important, avaricious, overbearing. The mayor continued to write, wondering why his visitor did not speak. The visitor waited calmly for the mayor to stop writing, not neglecting in the meanwhile to carefully note the contents of the room. . ** Well, well,” began the mayor, at last, in a supercilious But the moment he looked up and saw the calm dignity of the gentleman before him, his manner changed in an in- stant. ““Ah, ten thousand par dons, | monsieur; have a seat. Really, T thought it was only ««'Tut—tut, Monsieur the Seaeil do I ai know the re- sponsibility that lies on your shoulders?) I would not willingly stop one stroke of your pen. Pray finish, wnd then only will I think of taking up your time with my friv- olous errand.” ‘*Oh, monsieur, it is amish Ahan is, it can wait. How can I serve you?” ‘Well, if you really will not proceed, I will state my errand. Iam deputed by the society for the encouragement of marriage, of which, as you know, his majesty the emperor is the president, to obtain statistics on the proportion of AS Eomic 900 ‘S.com