Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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S32 : -—_ lawyers if not on his son, and neither the mother nor daughter will quietly submit to the scape- grace being left in jail.” ‘* Oh, they have a better opinion of him than the old man, eh?’ questioned Van Tromp. ‘* Yes: he is his mother’s idol; his faults she thinks are only venial ones, common to all young men, and that with time he will outgrow them,” Andrews replied. ‘*‘ And even Sidonia, who is a girl without the least bit of nonsense «about her, looks with a lenient eye upon his fol- lis, and really.believes there 1s a deal of latent fool] im the unlicked cub.” ‘* Miss Sidonia, then, is the jewel of the fam- ily,” Van Tromp remarked. ‘You are right there; she is a jewel beyond price. Nature does some odd things sometimes, and how it happened that such a sweet-tempered, honest, thoroughly good girl should come of such a breed is a mystery.” ‘* Hallo! hallo!” exclaimed Clinton; ‘‘ by Jove! deah boy, you speak as if you felt a personal interest in the lady, don’t you know?” ‘* You have hit the mark exactly,” Andrews replied. ‘Miss Sidonia has no more devoted irer than your humble servant.” At this point dinner was announced, CHAPTER XIX. ALCIBIADES PROPOSES A LITTLE GAME. DINNER at Blithewood was an extremely elaborate affair; when rallied by his friends upon his rather sind be bill of fare, An- drews was wont to remark, quietly, that it was all the fault of his cook, and that if a man was idiot enough to engage a French ‘‘ chef,” he must expect to be ruined by the efforts of the “ artist ” to maintain his reputation. But for all that, Andrews was proud of the name he had gained for giving as good a dinner as could be had within a hundred miles of New York, and that is saying a god deal, when it is considered that the modern abylon has of late years become the chosen héme of the great mil- lionaires of America, and that almost every one of these money-kings pride themselves upon the style in which they live, no matter how poor or lowly their origin. + The enemies of the young man, for Andrews had plenty, as every man must expect who _ climbs high above the shoulders of his competi- tors in the great battle of life—sneeringly re- marked that there was a great deal of policy in the manner in which the daring speculator car- ried sail. A good dinner has sometimes a wonderful in- fluence upon a man, and Andrews’s detractors asserted that some of the best speculations in which he had been engaged had their origin in an after-dinner siesta, when his pigeons—An- drews was compared to a hawk sometimes— properly mellowed by the influence of a good dinner, washed down by generous wine, which at the young man’s takle flowed as freely as so much water, were ready to take a roseate view of almost anything. Andrews exerted himself to the utmost to make the affair a success, for as his guest had not had time to become familiar, there was the natural awkward feeling common to new ac- quaintanceship. By the time the banquet was ended, for the meal was furnished in such style that it really deserved to beso designated, all of the guests had got on excellent terms with each other. The two dudes were thorough ai ergs in er- -gnite of their idiotic ways, and no fools ot wise, and before the dinner was over they dis- covered that the account Andrews had given of the Grimgriskin family was correct in every particular. The old man wasa miserly old hunks, who thought himself to be one of the wisest and smartest men in Christendom, and was by no - means bashful in letting people know his opin- ion of himself. The madam, ignorant and pompous, made herself ridiculous by the airs she displayed. Alcibiades was a lout of the first water, a mean-looking rascal, although dressed like a lord, who ate like a hog, and drank twice as for him; in fact, if it had not been for a warning administered openly ‘by the pompous mother, without apparently any thought of how ill-bred such a thing was, _ the young man would have become so drunk as to be incapable of rising from the table. But the daughter—an! she was a jewel of a girl. alady in every respect, who seemed to be mortaly ashamed of the coarse behavior of her relatives. Andrews, in his description, had only done her simple justice, so both of the young men ecided, Really, neither of the two thought that due weight been given to her many charms. She was a blonde, about the medium hight, with true golden hair, the loveliest dark-blue eyes that were ever seen in a mortal’s head, features as pegaes as though formed by a sculp- tor’s cunning hand, and a complexion so perfect that it needed not the aids to beauty in the of cosmetics, red and white, so common to shape _ the toilet-table of the beauty of to-day. y Her voice, too, was perfect music, wonderful _ contrast to the squeaky tones of the old man, the harsh voice of the mamma, who invariably spoke in a high key as though she was yellin at the hired man down at the barn a hundr yards away, or the base, clownish utterances of the dull-witted Alcibiades. Grapes grow not from thistles, yet from the mean, sordid Grimgriskin race this perfect girl had sprung. It seemed like a miracle, yet nature, as if in sheer sport, is continually doing such work. After dinner the party adjourned to the par- lor, where a couple of hours were spent in con- versation, then as old Grimgriskin, who had been asleep in an easy-chair for the better part of the time, announced that he felt tired and should retire to bed, the ladies decided to follow his example. Alcibiades declared, however—despite his mother’s somewhat urgent suggestion that as he didn’t look well he had better go to bed— that he never slept any all night if he went to bed early. So the father, mother and daughter departed, leaving the son behind. After they were gone Andrews suggested, as there was a brilliant moon, and the night was an extremely balmy one, it would be a good idea to go down to the boat-house and enjoy a cigar on the balcony. oth of the dudes and Master Alcibiades thought the idea a capital one, and so the four proceeded to the boat-house. It was the first time that either of the guests had visited Blithewood, therefore they all ex- amined the boat-house with a great deal of curiosity. ‘*Upon me word, deah boy, you have the most perfect place of the kind that I have ever seen,” Van Tromp remarked, after the party had finished the inspection, lit their cigars and seated themselves upon the balcony; the glori- ous view of the moonlit bay with its vast ex- panse of water, and Staten Island with its myriad of lights, right before their eyes, the broad Atlantic ocean to the left and New York’s eat Metropolis on the right, flanked by Brook- yn and Jersey City. ‘It is really a superb place, don’t you know?” chimed in the other dude. ‘‘ It beats all the show places that I have ever seen, and you’ve always kept sodeuced quiet about it, too—in- vited us down to your ‘little box,’ just as if you had some little six-by-nine shanty, not big enough inside to swing a good-sized cat.” ‘It’s a very tidy little ranch,” observed Al- cibiades, in his rude, rough way, affecting the free and breezy manner popularly supposed to be common to the large-limbed, big-hearted sons of the boundless West, ‘ but you just ought to see the old man’s shebang at Tarport, that’s just outside of Bradford, you know. Well, I don’t want to boast, but if that don’t knock the socks off of anything that you can show round these diggings I don’t want a red cent, The dudes elevated their eyebrows slightly as they listened to this boast, but they were too eyo to express the doubt they felt in regard the matter, for they were certain the speaker was a colossal liar. . ‘*'You never saw the old man’s place at Tar- port, I reckon, Andrews,” the young man con- tinued, addressing the host in the most familiar manner, ‘*No, I don’t think Iever had the pleasure,” Andrews replied, ‘‘ but from the well-known taste of your father V’ve no doubt his mansion and grounds are something out of the com- mon.’ ‘ New Yorkers looked significantly at each other. Although there wasn’t anything in the speak- er’s voice or manner to betray it, yet they un- derstood he was “‘ chaffing” the boaster, But Alcibiades was not keen-witted enough " precise this, but took the speech in good aith. ‘Oh, the old man knows a thing or two!” the young man exclaimed. ‘‘If he didn’t, 1 reckon e would be scratching a poor man’s head about this time, instead of being worth twenty-five or thirty millions of dollars.” ‘*Not much danger of his ever going to the r-house, eh?” Van Tromp remarked. ‘* Not much! you can bet your bottom dollar on that. And besides dad’s pile, the old woman is well-fixed, too. I reckon she could scare up a million or two if she were put to her trumps. ‘“You see, her dad left her a farm which turned out to be right in the heart of the oil region, and she was smart enough to hold on to it. ‘* And my sister, too, is worth a couple of mil- lion. She wasa great pet of my father’s only brother. His name was Sidney, and is sis had been a boy she would have been named after pi ? as it was, marm came as near to if as she could. ‘¢ Well, when uncle kicked the bucket he left sis all he had. It wasn’t counted to be any great shakes at the time, about fifty acres of mighty mean land, but it is right in the heart of Brad- a ee — = willing to allow me is a miserable four thousand dollars a year, and what is that to a cove with my expensive habits; but the old bloke will peg out one of these days and then I'll have my whack without any one to say me nay,” de- clared the young reprobate, in the coarsest man- ner. ‘ve no doubt you'll make the money fly,” Andrews remarked. a ©) 1 you can just bet I will! I'll show the boys a thing or two in the way of putting on style. But I say, Andrews, you’ve got a nice quiet place here for a little game,” and the speaker glanced into the cosey room within. ‘* What do you say to flipping the pasteboards for an hour or two just to pass away time?” ** Well, I seldom play: cards are not much in my way,” the host replied. ‘**Oho! youw’re afraid that I will skin you, I reckon!” Alcibiades exclaimed, with a loud and bantering laugh. ‘* And you're jolly well right about that, too, for ’ma when it comes to poker. I'll bet you fifty you don’t dare to play!” CHAPTER XX, HIGH PLAY. THE two dudes surveyed the host with con- siderable attention. They were curious to see how he would act under the circumstances. The coarse manner in which the banter had been given was enough to excite the angry assion of even a man gifted with saint-like pa- ience. Both of the New Yorkers were counted to be expert players. rn with silver spoons in their mouths, they had become members of prominent clubs just as soon as they were old enough to be eligible and as it is thought to be the “ proper caper,” in the fast clubs of the metropolis, for the younger members to indulge in a little quiet gambling, as a natural consequence, both of rong had got into the habit of playing more or ess, They did not gamble for the sake of the money, but because they were convinced it was the proper thing for young men of their posi- tion to do, and then it helped to pass away time, which otherwise might hang heavy on their hands. Then, too, both of the young men really bad more money than they knew what to do with and the loss of a few hundred dollars now and then did not annoy them in the least, Although a “social game, just for amuse- ment,” and for a trifle of money, “merely to make it interesting,” is permitted in quite a number of the prominent clubs of Gotham, yet in few of them is there any high play al- alowed, . If the players are anxious to win or lose thousands, they must select some other place to enjoy their game than in the club building. And so it happened that both Van Tromp and Clinton were very good card-players, for since they had arrived at the dignity of being clubites they had handled the pasteboards every week, more or less, and then, too, both of them had a natural talent in that direction. But they were not gamblers, and would never have dreamed of encountering professional play- ers in professional rooms. In regard to Andrews’s abilities in this line they knew absolutely nothing. The speculator was a member of a couple of the most pore clubs, but they had never seen him handle a card, and were inclined to believe that he neither knew nor cared much for anything in that line. Andrews took the cigar from his mouth and flipped the ashes from the end with his thumb pe second finger, with an air of great deliber- ation. Then he looked in a dreamy sort of way, half closing his eyes, out upon the moonlit waters, and said: ‘* You are willing to bet me fifty that I don’t dare to play you a game of poker?” ‘“*That was my horn that you heard r-blow- ing, and here is the solid stuff to back up what I said!” Alcibiades exclaimed, drawing forth from an inside pocket as he spoke a thick roll of bills, and flourishing them defiantly in the air. ‘* Well, I don’t see as I can make fifty dol- lars in any easier way than by covering your bet.” Andrews remarked, languidly, and as if he didn’t take the least interest in the proceed- g. ‘“‘But are you in earnest in this matter, or are you only executing that clever strategic movement, native to the soil of the New World, and which is popularly called ‘ bluffing ’?” _‘* Money talks and here’s my fifty,” and Al- cibiades put two twenties and a ten in Van Tromp’s hand. ‘Now then, put up your sugar and ae up to the scratch if you mean busi- ness ‘I really will have to take that fifty since you press me so hard,” and in the same cool, careless way that had characterized his actions ford now, and Siddie rakes in a big income | since the young man began to banter him, An- from it, ‘**1’m the only one of the gang that isn’t well- heeled. Just think, gents, all the old man is a ‘4 drews drew out his pocket-book and se] from the bills it conta‘ned—and the book held | ly number—a fifty-dollar note, placed it. Goilm ehooks:com ~