Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

——s SS ae. Kate » at play, and the master of Blithewood held his I, b. U's for an amount that he could never hope to pay. Pee e was deep ge 4 in his cups to be honest though for once in his life, and he bluntly re- vealed to the astonished and disgusted girl that he had entrapped his host into playing, intend- inz to ‘skin him”—such was the terse expres- sion he used—of every dollar he could be in- duced to venture. ‘‘ But he will not press you for payment of the debt?’ she exclaimed, hardly knowing what to say. A No, I suppose not,” he snarled, ‘‘ but it will have to be paid some time, and then it is a debt of honor, you know, and a feller is expected to pay that sort of thing, even if it takes the last shirt from his back. ** Besides, suppose dad or marm should hear of it?” he continued. ‘‘ These cursed baings do ee oss once in awhile, wouldn’t my cake be all ough? ‘‘Hang me if I believe the old man would ever consent to look me in the face again.” A bright idea occurred to the girl as she med- itated over the situation, and the idea was of such a nature that the bare thought brought a burning blush to her face. : She cast a quick glance at Alcibiades to see if he noticed her agitation, for she was certain she must be blushing furiously her face being as hot as fire. But Alcibiades had reached that point of maudlin intoxication when all acuteness has vanished. tii ‘‘ Suppose,” she said, hesitatingly, ‘‘ suppose I see about the matter?” ‘‘ Great Scott!” he cried, startled by the idea, ** you don’t mean to say that you would be will- ing to take up the I. O. U.’s?: Why, Sid, it will cost you a small fortune!” ‘* Well, I have money enough,” she replied, the color still in her cheeks, for her agitation was too intense to permit it to subside. ‘* Since I came into my property I have never been able to spend even one-half of my interest, to say nothing of the principal.” ‘*But it’s a col sum—a fortune!” he re- eT did not say I would pa boy!” she replied, lightly. ‘‘I merely said I would see Mr. Andrews about it.” ‘* Yes, but of course I know what you intend to do,” he observed. ‘* You'll have to pay it, ot course. Andrews is no fool for all his smooth ways and devilish oliteness. I picked him out for a pigeon, but ang me, if he didn’t turn out to be the wo kind of a hawk. ‘* He’s no fool,” he repeated. ‘‘ He won’t give up securities calling for thousands and thou- sands of dollars without getting his money.” ‘Tt will not do any harm for me to see him so make yourself comfortable on the lounge and I will have a talk with him immediately,” she remarked, rising and taking a look at herself in the glass in order to see that she was in propan trim to visit the man whom she knew to er devoted admirer. Alcibiades extended himself upon the lounge. ‘‘T know, of course, that you’re going to pony up the rhino, for that is the only way you can got those infernal bits of papers, and I must say, id, you are just ‘the dearest old gal that ever walked in shoe-leather.” ‘Wait till I get the I. O, U.’s before you praise me,” she remarked. ‘** But keep it dark, Sid, for heaven’s sake!” he exclaimed abruptly, sitting bolt upright on the lounge in his excitement. ‘‘ Don’t breathe a word of it to a soul, or it will be my ruin! ‘**If you have any love for your r, unfor- tunate wretch of a brother, keep it coal 4 ‘*“Don’t fear! I will be as silent as the a Sid, if d , Sid, if you do get those cursed papers, don’t examine them —that is, only enough to be sure that they are all right.” ‘* Certainly not!” ‘My signature is at the bottom of all of them with the exception of one, father’s check for read quarterly allowance, and it’s on the back of that. His face was white as he uttered the lie, but his tongue never faltered. ‘‘That’s the important one,” he continued, ‘‘ Be sure you get that, for dad would be read to kill me if he knew | had gambled his chec away.” ‘* | will be careful.” ; ‘** And the moment you get the cursed things into your hands be sure and burn them up. ‘Don’t let a soul see them, if you don’t want to drive me into a lunatic asylum. There are thirteen of them altogether.” ‘** Do not be alarmed—I will be careful.” And then the girl departed on her mission. She went with hightened color and a rapidly beating heart, Why? Decause this was to be the touchstone to test the love of Bernard Andrews. By his behavior in this important matter she believed she could tell whether it was wise to in- trust all her future life into his keeping. it, you foolish her that he had lost a terrible amount of money If he proved to be current gold, then herself and fortune she would gladly give to him. If he was but dross, why, it would be a narrow escape for her. CHAPTER XXXTITI. ALCIBIADES TAKES A STAND. Anxious as was Alcibiades to learn the result of his sister’s quest, yet he had drank so much liquor that he could not keep away, and in ten minutes after Sidonia quitted the apartment he was fast asleep. Just a short half-hour was the girl absent, and when she returned there was a look of tri- nmph upon her face, which was flushed with excitement. ‘* Poor boy!’ she observed, gazing compassion- ately upon the sleeper, who looked anything but interesting, sprawled out upon the lounge with his mouth open. **T suppose he must have worried terribl over this matter,” she continued; ‘* but, than Heaven! itis all over now.” At this moment Alcibiades opened his eyes and stared around him with a vacant look. Young Grimgriskin was one of those men so constituted that it only required a small quan- tity of liquor to upset him, and, as a general e, he recovered as speedily as he was over- come, ** Hallo! aye you got back, sis?” he said, ris- ing to a sitt position, and looking question- ingly at the girl. ‘** Yes,” and she sunk into an easy-chair, while a smile of satisfaction played over her features, ‘* Well, by your grinning, I reckon you have fixed the thing up all right,” the young hopeful remarked. Strange anomaly that such loutish brutes as this worthless wretch should be able to com- mand the love and services of sympathizing and sacrificing women. Sometimes it seems as if the more worthless the object, the greater the love and devotion in- spired in the breast of womankind. ‘*'Yes, I have succeeded.” ‘*Bully for you!” cried Alcibiades, rubbing his hands together gleefully. ** Oh, yes, there wasn’t the least trouble about the matter,” and a peculiar expression appeared upon her face as she spoke. ‘* Sis, you are the boss girl, and no mistake!” the young man exclaimed, exultingly. ‘*Ah! you don’t know what a weight you have taken off my mind. **T s’pose you'll hardly believe it, sis, but I’ve not been able to either eat or sleep during the past week.” **T have noticed that you seemed to be wor- ried about something,” Sidonia replied. _She could not with truth say that she had no- ticed that there was aught amiss in regard to his eating and sleeping, although she had fancied he had been indulging more freely than usual in strong drink, and both herself and mother had repeatedly cautioned him to be careful, admoni- tions which had not produced the slightest ef- fect upon him. ‘*T have been worrying over the infernal thing ever since it S cetied ! he declared. ‘*] feel as if I had grown ten years older in these few days.” ‘* Make your mind easy now for everything is all right,” she remarked. ‘‘ And the cursed things are destroyed?’ he asked, anxiously. ‘* Yes, every one!” ** Thirteen of them?” ‘* Yes, thirteen. Mr. Andrews counted them into my hand, and i held them while he lit the match and only let go when the flames began to scorch my fingers.” ‘*Sid, you are just the ing!” Alcibiades cried. ‘‘ And you can just bet I sha’n’t forget this little affair. Dll make it all right with you one of these days. ‘You’re sure you saw the paper with my name on the back? It was a note of the old man’s payable to my order and indorsed by me, ‘* Yes, I noticed it.” ‘‘Did you observe the amount?” Alcibiades asked, carelessly, and yet with a certain amount of trepidation which he could not entirely con- ceal, despite his efforts so to do, ra No, was only too anxious to destroy the horrid things to examine them particularly.” ‘* It doesn’t matter,” the young man replied, a great weight taken from his mind. _.. But I say, Sid, don’t ever let on to anybody, either marm or dad, and dad particular, that you know anything about that check, ’cos it might make a heap of trouble for me. As long as it is destroyed it is all right.” If the girl had been a better business woman than she was and had taken time to reflect upon the matter she would have been caniaueel to gue why the young man was so anxious for the armless check to be destroyed. ‘This has cost you a pile of money, Sid, but I spose he didn’t exact the full amount, did he?” Alcibiades continued. Again the blush crept up in the face of the girl, and a faint smile illuminated her features as she said: ayest girl that’s go- cott, the Decoy Detective. 23 — “It did not cost me a penny, Alcibiades, When I told Mr. Andrews of the nature of my errand, he promptly said the papers were at my command, and when I hinted at payment, he replied that he would scorn to accept money. You had the gambling fever strong upon you wera: thought a severe lesson might do you good.’ ‘*Curse his impudence!” muttered the now independent Alcibiades between his teeth. ‘* And the best thing I could do was to apply a match to the compromising documents as soon as ible.” . Which you immediately did?” es ce ‘*Well, Andrews is a bigger fool than I thought!” the young man exclaimed, coarsely. *““Catch me throwing away a fortune in that style. The man is an idiot!’ ‘*'You mustn’t speak in that way, Alcibiades, of the gentleman who is to be my husband,” re- plied the girl, with a smile and a blush. ‘* What?’ and the other started to his feet. ‘“‘T yresume Mr. Andrews perceived by my face that I was deeply impressed by his noble conduct, and he thought the opportunity a fit- ee - to declare his sentiments,” the girl ex- plained. ‘* And you accepted him?” ‘Yes; and I feel sure I have made a wise choice,” Sidonia observed, slowly, for she per- ceived by the expression upon her brother’s face that he did not specoye of the match. ** Wise fiddlesticks!” Alcibiades cried, in a pas- sion, for with his usual inconsistency he chose to feel aggrieved because he had not been consulted in regard to the matter, and had immediately come to the conclusion to do all he could to break up the arrangement. ‘‘See here, Sidonia, this fellow has pulled the wool over your eyes in the finest kind of style. Blessed if I don’t think he roped me into that game of poker just to be able to skin me so as to get a chance at you. ; ‘*T guess I'll have to see him and give him a bit of my mind in regard to this riffle. “ He can’t fool me; I’m no soft-headed gal!” And Alcibiades marched toward the door. Sidonia was naturally mild, still she had a temper when roused. ‘You had better mind your own business!” she exclaimed, indignantly. ‘‘I am not half so soft-headed as you are!” ; ** Don’t get huffy, sis, you can’t help it, you know, for t he were born that wars and with this decidedly cool remark, cibiades de- ‘It serves me right for a es ing to do anything for him!” the girl exclaimed, in disgust. fe But he will not make much by going to Mr. Andrews, for, unless I am greatly mistaken, he is fully able to attend to his own affairs, and Alcibiades will be sent away with a flea in his ear.” Leaving Sidonia to her reflections, we will fol- low the male heir of the Grimgriskin line, and see how he fared in his attempt to bring his host to a reckoning for his endeavor to win the affec-. tions of Miss Sidonia. Alcibiades, like ali men of his stamp, had a | great idea of his own importance, and now that the papers were destroyed, he felt fully equal to the task of expressing to Andrews his disap- proval of his suit. | se cy. fol I needed a lesson, did he? confound his impudence!” the young man muttered, as he proceeded in search of Andrews, . ‘**T believe upon my soul that he was jest a- | trying to rope me into a game so as to be able to skin me. “Tl bet a hat that it was all a game on his part to get me intoa fix jest so he could play the grand gentleman for Sid’s benefit. ‘* I don’t s’pose that my speaking will do much good, but if I’m ugly, I can make trouble, arid as Androws seems to be so well fixed as not to care two pins for money—catch me burning up I. O. U.’s calling for thousands of dollars—may- be he’ll be inclined to come down and let me — have six or eight thousand ‘ chucks.’ ‘He can spare the money well enough, for he~ rF must have won pretty close to forty thousand dollars that night.” hs From these utterances, it will be seen that Alcibiades was proceeding on a well-defined plan, and in his overweening vanity he fancied he was smart enough to cope with such a man as Ber- nard Andrews. | ; . After his interview with Sidonia, the host had retreated to his enueeery on the first floor of the mansion, and thither Alcibiades sought him. ‘Hallo, Alcibiades, old fellow, come in!” An- drews exclaimed heartily when, in answer to the young man’s knock, he opened the door and the applicant for admission stood revealed. From the sulky expression upon the face of young Grimgriskin, for Alcibiades had tried to look as ugly and insolent as possible, Andrews immediately guessed that his visitor had not come in a friendly mood and so was warned to prepare for war, “a! Alcibiades marched into the room, helped himself to the most comfortable chair in the apartment, sat down and proceeded at once to business. _ “See here, Andrews, what have you been say- ing to my sister?” he exclaimed. ,OO gs) GOMmIec (E (0) * “* Tot ke hy aa} * ! at x a ES — 2 7ise8 ~v 4 25 - 3 4 ~ ran ‘> “et,