The Argosy, April 1912 — page 162: what you’re looking at

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

Jn Quest by Garret~ (A NOVELETTE.) CHAPTER I. A LIGHTNING CHANGE. OF AVERY stretched his patrician limbs. Instinctively he reached for the silver push-button at the head of his bed, then he sat upright in bewilderment. Instead of touching silver, the daintily manicured thumb was rasped by an un- manicured pine plank. “Gad!” yawned Mr. Avery, remember- ing where he was. A rose tint over the hemlock-clad moun- tain across the lake sent a faint glow through the faded calico curtaining of the tiny window. It displayed a narrow, old- fashioned bed, an ancient bureau and wash- stand, a rough floor, bare save for a bit of rag carpeting, wall and ceiling of un- plastered, unplaned boards. Not a normal bedchamber for a million- aire’s son! The young man was obliged to reach for his cigarettes himself, and strike his own light. Wretched form! Then, as he drew his customary, eye-opening puffs, he medi- tatively rubbed the stubble on his chin. Ordinarily, James shaved him twice a day. Arriving late last evening with no James, the mowing process had gone over for the first time in years. Creighton was not an immaculate - looking person this morning. 148 _“TLovely joint, this!” he sighed. ‘Have to shave myself, I suppose. As for a bath, it’s a plunge in the lake, if I get one. And to all these luxuries is added the soul-sooth- ing thought that if I am found here by any one who knows me, I stand a good chance of losing fifty millions.” And all for the Gipsy Queen. He hummed a snatch of music and sentiment from a comic opera that had delighted Broadway that season. That was the key to the situation. The coming of “ The Gipsy Queen” had turned the screw on the courage of the giddy but erstwhile extremely cautious Creighton, till it reached a notch where he was almost willing to risk the extreme displeasure of his tyrannical father, who had put an abso- lute veto on the “chorus girl rabies.” The piquant, dark beauty of little Hortense Duré had stricken many easy- going hearts. One of the chorus the year before, this year the leading woman in a popular hit—that was all of her history any one knew. Creighton Avery was bent on knowing more. In the charmingly aloof young woman he had fancied he saw signs of superior refinement. If he knew something of the girl’s family, he might be able to show his father that she was not after all unworthy to marry into the Avery line. Accordingly, when he learned that she was about to spend her vacation with her MICLOO (©) S CO