BITTEN AT MONTE CARLO.

Evening Star, Issue 11682, 14 February 1902, Page 8

BITTEN AT MONTE CARLO.

[All Lights Reserved.]

By the Rev. E. J. Hardt, Author of 'How to be Happy Though Married,' 'Mr Thomas Atkins,' etc.

CHAPTER I.

Margaret Bingbam nourished her soul with solitary musings when taking daily oonsti--1.-1)1 ionals on the Devonshire moor where ber father's rectory was situated. She had no brothers, and her two sisters being several years older than herself were not very eompr.uioiiable. They were worthy girls and full of good deeds which they did when any of ,1m .-scattered parishioners were dl. They visited the schools, worked for basaars, ■Tulfed. bicvcled, and were so busy generally vi at thoy "took little notice of their young sister. So it was that Margaret developed an individuality that made her seem strange even to the members of her family.

Disliking clerical " shop,"'she talked little; she renounced the parish and all its works; - ilf was so difficult that she wisbod it were impossible, and she nearer could learn even u> call the "sticks" by their right names. hhe itdmitt-ed that a bicycle was a useful means 10 an end, if it were worth going to that- end. but she preferred walking exorcise, for she could think out better upon her fret th* problems that canie into her n-ind.

One of those was the worfc women should d:> nnil l-he place- they should occupy in the w.,rM. For herself she determined that marn;.:e .slvmld never be the sole object of her r\i.stoiH:r. She would have work, a career, M-.iivthing for which to live quite apart from n-iiii'i'iiouy.

Thrt-e views did not suit those of Dick \i'viiilha.m. the youngest son of a neighbor-

■::•.' sipiiiv, for he had fallen in love with the n;•.r*in'* third daughter, who was two years h-s senior. His was calf's love and love at first sight, which is the strongest land. How veil he remembered the day, and how it sei/ird him! lie bad returned from an esi::!i!ishmerit where tw? had been cramming for a commission in the army, and was at the time a month or two less than twenty years <m (Tje. The meeting of Margaret and Dick Kok place in this way. The latter had been vnt- by his father with a. message to the rrcTory. Mrs Uingbam and her two elder d--i lighters wore busy, so Margaret "went into i|;.' drawing room to receive him. As she eniereil, so tastefully because so simply dn-ssf'd, with a smile of sympathetic gieet--111-,', lie received a delightful shock. He did not. know what had come over him, and ha v, ,!.s afraid to analyse the feeling lest it should vanish. It was the meeting of his oihrr self. o( that which was wanting to cf-mplete his tratnre. He had seen girls with features more mathematically correct, but never one whose face lit- up with such real sympathy as hers did, never one whoso manners were so unconscious and so graceful. He was as a rule painfully shy, but she put. him at ease at once. Phe appeared to un-H'-rsni-nd hun a.s he bad never been under-:--„.t»I before. He felt, that everything good iu him was increased ton fold by the interest r-he look in him. "Oh, that, T could do .'.■,; ii.-thing wonhy of her!" he thought. CHAPTER 11. I'nfortMniuely marriage was for Dick Wviidhani a remote possibility. He had .-.;.ru; ltis school time almost exclusively at r;-.ii."js. and was not likely to get a commissi.ui in the army by competitive examinali'T*. Nor could he expect, that his father, iviiii other eluldreo to provide tor. could :ive him much of an allowance. Still, he e■ mill not help meeting Margaret as often :i- possible, and each time he fell more deeply in love. She, of course, noticed Ins *;i mi ration, but did not take him as serinislv as he took himself. She was not going i'.i think of marriage for two or three years --if lhen. '"l'm afraid of men." she used to *av, " for often a woman walks gaily through .lie until she trips upon an orange peel of a husband."* Wyndham had gone to London, .is every young man does who is waiting for .-■omei-lung to turn up. Ono day as he was pacing Si. George's Barracks a recruiting s-r-rgcant said to him: "Young man. did vric ever direct, your attention to the army?" There was ho doubt, that he had, but, he v.i'.nud to be an officer, and not a private. ;-.ech!L'. however, that he did not keorn the representatives of different Ir-aiiches of the servica advanced their '.l,litre;. " Throw in your lot with us," said a- Hussar "and you wili N have a horse for voursclf—perhaps two or three" (to clean, iie ineajit). " You will \m able to frive points 10 those beetAe-crushing infantry swine, who have to walk on their own legs."

'• If you want a jacket that will fetch the girls qome along with us," said a Horse Artillery man. "It's all very fine," put in .'i a infantry sergeant, when yon have got the jacktrt and horses and barkers denned, bat it, mkos a lot of elbow grease; for an easy gi.ntifiuan's life there's nothing like that of ■.)■ walking Tommy." When he got to his l"(l:; : m's our young friend thought deeply upoLi i lie question—to enlist or not to enlik? If he did enlist he might one day win a commission. Bat, on the other hand, what would Margaret think of him as a private soldier: and was not a barrack room, with its customs, language, and glare of publicity a rather beastly place? He slept over the project of enlisting, or rather he lay awake thinking of it, and in the morning he resolved to take the important step. He went down to St. George's Barracks, and gave himself away, as some people would have thought, by enlisting. The first thing was to ihe medical officer. Wyndham had imagined that the first step to military glory was the goose step, but he found that there was one before that—the hop, skip, and pimp which he had to take round the medio*l inspection room after he had obeyed the sergeant's order to "strip to the skin, and take that off too, if you can." To get dismissed from recruit's drill was now the ambition of our friend, the private, and he L'ive his best attention to the sergeants who instructed him. These he found not nearly as sarcastic and insulting as he supposed they would have been. Dick had wisely enlisted into a regiment where the moral and intellectual attainments of the men were rrit of a high order, and where as a consequence it was not difficult to obtain pro-

motion. Almost imroediatrfy on becoming a duty soldier he was made lance-corporal, and he found the position a trying on©. He 6eemed 10 be at the beck and eatl of everyone, but lie had patience, and found that in the army, as everywhere else, it is the first step that costs. Two years passed, and then Wyndliarn's battalion was orderd to India, and, as generally happens ou such occasions, there were vacancies amongst the sergeants. Into one of these Wyndham succeeded, and he found the change" from barrack room to sergeant's mess an agreeable one. Then came the Tirah campaign, and Wyndham's first battle, which was that of Dargai. The man who says that he has no fear in his first engagement is a liar, and I ;!:•!'. expressed what most men on that ocr:nion really feel when he Raid that at the t:me he wished himself safely out of the engagement, and that while it lasted he hardly knew whether he were on his head or on his feet. All he remembered was seeing and hearing man near him wheeling round or falling with a groan or a gurgle, or the remark: "Pve. got it!" He won much credit, however, for his coolness, and for the great assistance he rendprod in controlling i,he tire of bin men. More trying was the sniping a± night, which prevented sleep, and Wyndham was more than once wounded. Because of this, and for his good service in peace and in war, the sergeant was recommended by his commanding officer for a commission, and as the recommendation was backed by powerful mfruenoe he got it after the usual amount of official delay. The pleasure of writing the good news to h'.. hidv-iove, and of asking her |.o become engaged more than compensated Wyndham f'»r the work, the war, the waiting, a.nd for r.-.cvv inconvenience he had endured. The

. r >ly he received was very sympathetic. Vargaret said that Bhe had heard from his ■rrii'.nds of his enlisting, and of the way he had gone through the campaign; that she admiral the pluck he had shown, and would lroL forward to becoming one day his wife. On receiving this encouragement Wyndhara rli-.U-rmincd to put by for his marriage not only ihp gratuity be had received for the r;impaign, but every penny he could save besides, and when, as soon happened, he bi-came aide-de-camp to his uncle, a general oHiccr in India, saving became possible. CHAPTER m. An opportunity of returning to England did not come for nearly two years, or until th« command of his uncle had terminated, and then Wyndham got long leave of ab-K-nce, and the promise that when it was ended he would be sent to hi 3 regimental depot. Here was a chance for an alliance between Hymen and Mais. One morning an officer who waß Wyndliiira's great friend informed him that he had got a furloagh, and was going to leave the I', and 0. steamer at Brindisi, and go to the Riviera, where his people were stopping; would he accompany him? \Vyndliiiin agreed to do so, and the young men started off in high spirits. We next find our friend at the large fashionable Hotel Britannique at Mentone. Many of the guests are walking about after their breakfast amidst orange and other semi-tropical trees in the grounds in front of the hotel. They are smoking, talking, and listening to strolling singers. After each song coins are thrown down from bedroom windows to reward the

performers. But not from one window, for in this a youns lady is very ill, and her attendants are not -icely to pay for music which grates trpon her nerves and prevents her from steeping after a restless, feverish night. On tie following day, when Wyndbara was walking down a passage to his room, this siok girl was carried past him, for tie doctor* had ordered her to be moved into a larger anartment. Could he believe his eyes? Wits it his own Margaret? How came she to be here, and so iHi" Dick Wyndbam had not written to nor heard from Margaret Bingham for a considerable time. Ho had not told her that he was returning to England, because he was afraid that at the last moment he might not get leave, and because she wished to come as a surprise. As for Margaret, she had been travelling about with a much-loved aunt, who had become very delicate, and was too busy and too low-spirited to write. On coming to Mentone she got a chill from the Mistral wind, which settled on her lungs. After the girl had been carried past him, and Wyndham had recovered from the feeling of bewilderment which he had experienced on recognising her, be went to the office of the hotel, and asked tho name of the sick lady who occupied No. 118. Finding that it was indeed Miss Bingham, Dick sent his card to her aunt, and asked to be allowed to see her niece. The request was granted at Margaret's desire. Seeing her lover acted like a tonic on the sick girl. The agreeable surprise, and the fact that he was on his way to England to make her his own caused Margaret so much happiness that ber health immediately improved. Wyndham was a great believer in the curative power of sunshine. He used to quote the proverb "When the sun eomes in the doctor goes out," and he did not cease until ho had persuaded Margaret's aunt tn allow her to be carried into one of tho balconies, so well situated that, it was a veritable sun bath. Here tho young people spent most of the day 'together, but Margaret, Uiough enjoying Dick's love, felt that, it was not as enthusiastic and selfforgetful as it, had been when in its calf stage. To sit by her side was delightful at first, btrt lire pleasure bad not enough " go J and action to continue to suit Wyndham's energetic and somewhat selfish nature. " Why don't you get strong faster, and walk and drive like the others?" he once asked, half in jest,. And as she could not do this, ho sometimes- left her and joined picnic and riding parties. Margaret nolicod that it was ai. the suggestion of two American girls, who thought, much of an English officer, thai, Dick" did this, and then the uneasiness of jealousy was added to the burden of bodily sickness. Indeed, the tables were now turned. Once Margaret had been so coo! to Dick that she advised him to buy a box of soldiers and think of them rather than of her; now she was much more in love with Ihe successful officer who had acquired polish and savoir faire than he was with her. Absence had increased the love of Margaret,, but it had decreased that of Dick. CHAPTER TV. •' When arc you going to hare your first gamble at Monte Carlo. Wyndham ?" asked his travelling companion and a-uother young man who hfwl joined them. " I'm not going to make any attempt to break uie bank,'' ho replied. " I have very little money, and very much to do with it. and in my opinion the min vrho does not bet is bettor than a bet-toi?' " But surely you won't be so near without trying your .hick just once? Think out a ''system,'" and have the courage to back it up, if it's oniy with a five-franc piece. We are going over after hmch in the • gamblers' train,' and you had better come with us."

"No, thank you," replied Dick. "A man who is going home to be married, as 1 am, cannot afford to throw away money. I may walk the five or seven miles -which is it?— to Monte Carlo, tor the sake of the views along the road, and because 1 am curious to see the beautiful hell: but it's precious little change they'll get out of ma'' One of Wyndham's hotel acquaintances, hearing tho last remark, aaid that he would also UK.e the walk, and as he knew Monte Carlo well, he would bo happy to show it, to him if he desired his companionship. They set off, and nover hud Wyndham such a beautiful walk. The colors of the sea and of the rocks, the majestic hills upon the land side, the dark green of orange trees, the light green and silver grey of eucalyptus and ouve—these, all bathed in the j-st-warm-enough sunshine of a spring day made a scene not easily forgotten.

When they came near the town Wyndham's companion said to him: '' We had better knock the dust off our boots, put on glows if we have them, and do what we can to make ourselves look rpspcetabte. Monte Carlo is as genteel as it is wicked, and the soldiers belonging to tlie Prince's toy army of thirty-five men have orders to prevent people entering the town who are not dressed like ladies and gentlemen.' A stroll round the town and through the beautiful gardens of the Casino, listening to the band on the terrace, afternoon lea, looking not without disgust at the cruel pigeon shootintr —these ocenpied the time until the hour came for the train by which Wyndham and his friend resolved to return to Mentone. It brought them in time for table d'hote dinner, al which all the talk was about the wonderful luck of one and the splendid " system" for brealdng the bank of another. Wyndham's curiosity was so much aroused that he accepted the invitation of his friend to go with him another day to the Casino and " see the thing out." This decision was greatly opposed to the wishes of Margaret. .Facts which she had heard since coming into the neighborhood of Monte Carlo made her dread the place. She told Dick of two Scotch ladies who came to the Hotel Brrtanniqrjc, and went over one afternoon only to see Monte Carlo. They lost everything in the Casino, and their tickets back to Scotland had to be paid by the proprietors. They were old, and as canny apparently as any Scotch folk, and yet they were bitten by the gambling craze. She also related how just before Dick arrived a diamond merchant stopping at their hotel had committed suicide. One night, on returning from Monte Carlo, he said to a gentleman in the smoking room: "Have a game of billiards with me, and don't let us bet on me just for a change," " The gentleman himself told my aunt," said Margaret, "and thought that 'just for a change' was very pathetic. The diamond merchant had been gambling so mueh about everytbiig that it was a pleasant change for him to play a game without betting. Unfortunately he returned next day to the tables, all, vent to Paris to try to raise money, did not succeed, and shot himself. Beware, then, my dearest, and don't give yourself away. Yob know that you are mine, and not your own." But Dick was not the simple boy ho had been. when ho went to India, and Margaret had not as much influence over him. This she felt, and also his thoughtless selfishness in joining pleasure parties and leaving her alone. The worry brought on a relapse, and pneumonia set in. Of this Dick was unaware when he started with his friend for a second visit to Monte Carlo. They set out in the morning before the doctor had paid his visit, and pronounced Margaret, to be dangerously ill. Wyndham admired the rooms of the Casino, and was surprised that there was so little excitement amongst the players. They sat at, lon gtables as quietly as if they were doing business in a bank. One thing, however, he did see which was different from banking business. An English girl had won, and had extended her hand for the money. Fast as lightning a dark looking, Jewishraced Russian put out his hand, and swept in the coin. The lady turned all colors, and looked appealingly to the croupier for justice, but the Casino is a palace of gambling, and not of justice, and for fear of a row the croupier nodded to the man to keep the money. At Monte Carlo appearances are everything, and morality is nothing. Wyndham was so disgusted at the sight of the young lady almost fainting, and having to be helped out of Ihe room, that he left it himself.

On another day Wyndlifi.m, without telling Margaret, returned to Monte Carlo. He was not. going to bo tied by the apron strings of any woman, even though she were sick, and the love of his youth, and as for danger, he was not, the sort of man, be fancied, who would be bitten by the gambling craze. After Wyndham had been some time in the Casino he thought that he would venture one five-fianc piece just to have the experience of the thing. He did so, and was urrforfcnrmte enough to win, which made him try his hick again. He won, as he also did when for a third time he put money on. Would he now go away? He was ashamed to do so, for people had oomo around to see the great luck of the new-comer. He might surely risk the money he had won. He did risk it, 3,tml lost,. So badly bitten was he by the gambling mania that he drew from his bank nearly all his savings, and brought them to the Casino. At first he won, then he lost, and then he lost all. When, too late, he thought of Margaret, the enthusiastic love he had fo.lt when he first saw her came back. Tf he had taken her advice, he reflected, he would have been delivered from evil.

Hurrying wildiy from the accursed Casino and town, he returned to Mentone resolved, after writing a farewell letter to Margaret and arranging some other matters, to use against himself the revolver he had often fired at Afghans. At the Mentone railway station he was met by a messenger who had been sent to find him, and to say that Miss Bingham was dying, and wished to see him. Wyndham was so shocked by the message thai he thought no more of destroying himself. That resolution was the product of bad temper

and of the feverish selfishness which is in the air of Monto Carlo. It was harder to live, but duty demanded the harder alternative. He decided to confess everything to Margaret—his squandered savings, his intended suicide, bis sorrow for not having taken her advice. He would tell her, too, that he never meant to be unkind, but that he had been carried away by the excitement of a gambling atmosphere. He would assure her that the strong first love of boyhood had returned, and that no one else could take her place in his heart. Atewt there was no time. Richard Wyndham had only entered Margaret Bingham's noorn and spoken a few words when her soul passed beyond the changes and'chances (Monte Carlo chances) of this mortal life. Then and there Wyndham knelt down, vowed that he would renounce gambling and everything else that she could not approve, and implored her spirit to forgive him for not being more worthy of her. And now he is looking forward to that perfect marriage day When earth's lost love shall live onee more, When lack and loss shall pass away, And all find all not found before.