THE SHOW GIRL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13927, 8 December 1908, Page 3

THE SHOW GIRL.

PUBLISHED BX : SPEOUL ; ARRANGEMENT.

"AY MAX PEMBERTON.- • Author far «Th Iron Pirate." ■«' Red Morn'." A Puritan's Wife," "The Hundred Days,"' Etc.

SYNOPSIS OP PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. ' H«T» °Sa«toLr1 mrt , COn , sißtß «*" •-'letter from at KrisTw. '• Ql , t i ( J l ' iso ' l d " b0 » Taboo ilaleuS?* CoSitv r w" (, Lr add - v o, O>nnen, of GlenbvMW i. «Lv £' how he had «en attracted ton Sh-i,f° d , lc V' otherwise Mimi the Simple, fcim with « rJ ! ? d sce " Performing on a plat- '& raised VJSSn'J i" nd a clown - The «»««« no ,Kn ! C i n i al, *? which Owt«»«rd paid he .LI he paU J *. 9 lUtle attention 10 had tcln , » <r° f SOn ? e of his flie "rts that Mimi Mt friend P^,?i wnoB S. cI «f«»«e-«8«. lie knew and hi?«Ji. d 7 Wol !', d not «l«»"«on his motives, how Mimi £3 coo ? lde , vable ' Cnfrth to tell Paddy from « hi,?^'^ 11 the «» l «"o«>d cteawhte-box » vulear Jot in h ° W *2» J*. o *"* Of it led to Mimi Ami «nt V n R , c <? - '"which Oartonard. Hal Lti~. J ««?' , «*Mont, the thief, were the f-TO(J> „ , S " l f 8 ; , Gnstonard «d a fortune ot Re S' ,a , ther ' «** hls hlLrWotKh 1* ,h > a s«oliiMy ""less at the labour 7nd ». a -\"? ,n «f £»» « ?" ear by hi, own replies n„* ,Jn , the second chapter Paddy replies to Gastonard's letter ■briefly, to the effect Chanter m"', is makm £ ° fo °l °* himaelf. in to.the »5: ; S * me TO l> * ddy OTonnell write, atter /,S?','i rthUr Warrington, assuring the in »L ( .'" T itt , " ccd to o«»tonard , fortune, in the event of Gastonard failintr to fulfil the condition of hi, father's will)"PVe%r"at dffi ne"wH« d SW" - capabilities of Sard. n»V#SS.S. t0 infor ' n the reverend gentleman of GftMonard's escapee »a Taris. In Chapter IV Gastonard writes again to O'Conuell regarding

CHAPTER IV.—(Continued.) I did nob pursue the subject further, but paid the bill and -went out with her to the Hois. A shabby cab mad© the usual grand tour with us and helped us to pass a pleasant 'how. Perhaps it astonished mo to discover that the Bois impressed her but little— then she. had been accustomed to tho spangles ail her life and could make little of a passable equipage with a fat baroness in it, or a costly motor driven by a man who looked like an Oneida Indian. Her exclamations were few but her observation unfailing. She detected me at once when I nodded to Lea d'Alencon, "who drove a pair of creamcoloured ponies near the Cascade. # " Why did that lady look so angrv, Monsieur Henry? Are you in love with her?" ''Why. should I be, Mimi? She is the wife of Captain . d'Alencon, of the Engineers." ° .

But eha is in Hove with you—l am surfi , ™ An -? ehe is TCr 5 r an «Y with' you." Then, I cannot help it. Let us get out and walk, Mimi, and ask ourselves where we are going to stay to-night. That will be more interesting than Madame d'Alencon."

" You wish to <see her pass againis not that the reason, Monsieur Henrv ?" Well, of course, it was, and she had guessed wisely enough; hut what, was I to say to her ? Lea is one of my virtues, as I have told you before, Paddv. When I wish to balance* the books of all the moraines, cash, day, and ledger, Lea dAlereon stands for the most valuable of my asset*. She is too clever to bo anything else, and yet you. might call her the most amorous woman and on© of the most dangerous in Paris. Just a hundred times, perhaps, ha 6 she advised me to get out of this delectable country and go back to England. I might, have done so but for her promise to visit me there upon an early occasion. Be sure, Paddy, that I have no desire, whatever to cut the captain's throat merely to prove myself a good Parisian. Lea is charming as a friend. She would be all the malignities impersonined otherwise-. \

1 should tell \-ou that I had recognised her when she.' passed me, and that this astonished liar considerablv. It is considered less than nothing "at all in Paris to drive in the Bois with a cocotte— to recogniiv& your lady friends when' thus employed must be named little less than an infamy. So here was a pretty problem for this majestic Astarte with the raven locks and the liquid black eyes and all the languor of the trained voluptuary. Either T wished to insult her or it were possibb-i that my companion might be introduced. This she must have told herself, -for the chariot reappeared presently and was drawn, up at the pavement not fifty yards from the place where we stood. " Bon jour, Madame d'Alencon." "Bon jour. Monsieur Gastonard.*' "I have a story for you; when will a good comrade hear it?" ; "Why not at five o'clock; my husband is at Valerien. ■ Ie it a story of the theatre, Monsieur Gastonard V "It is a story of virtue, madame." We laughed together. This poor old Pantaloon Virtue still provokes a smile—if his name be ever mentioned—in such saloon;? as Lea d'Alencon and her kind have made famous. Some spirit of sheer devilry most k have prompted me to this confidence, Paddy; but behind it lay a firm belief in the sagacity of this shrewd woman of the world and in her honesty. She would place Mimi the Simpleton in some possible situation—l had not a moment's, doubt of it. rl.-. ~ 1 ~r- - ? How we laughed together over the whole story when I went to her rooms an hoar later. Mimi, meanwhile, had been despatched to the Hotel St. Paul, and there entrusted to the safe /'custody of la pattronne. I myself sat in \ a wonderful cradle chair and watched Lea pour out really excellent tea from a Chinese pot that should have been behind glass. She had changed her gown for a ; delicate robe of lace and chiffon, and thrust the prettiest pair of feet in all Paris from a petticoat over which a costumier must "have shed tears of joy. " s . ;•' "Who is this girl?" she asked me. I told her that I did not know. "Why has she become virtuous?" 'A natural condition, Lea; why is not marble chalk?"

Observe, Paddy, that Lea and I have been some months at tho point when Monsieur" or " Madame" provokes ridicule, and no formality clouds our brutal frankness. Had it been otherwise I could not have spoken to her of Mimi La. Godiche at all." "Let me tell you the girl's "story," I said, "or what I know of it. Six months ago she was performing outside the walls of Paris with a monster of a man named Cassudore, whose riches are three lions and whose wardrobe a pair of spangled tights l . I was in the tent when this child was taken into the cages with this man, and I did not fail to remark two facts; one, that she was absolutely lacking in a sense of fear, and, secondly, that she might become eventually one of the most beautiful women in Paris. Five francs judiciously expended obtained an introduction to her—a hundred francs bought her of the lion-tamer. Rejoice, my dear Lea, that in our society Women are not sold for a hundred francs, or who can tell what I might, not bid for you at an auction. In Mimi's case the bargain was soon made. After all, the tamer, had a dozen girls of her station ready to be driven -into the cages at his nod what was this girl to him? I bought her and tooke her to the Butte. Fcbry, of the Calotte, gave her a chance to get" hissed upon his stage, and she did not disappoint him. I triad her again, paying a thou sand francs for the privilege at the Quat-Z-Arts and the Coq d'Or. Again, my dear lady, sho was a hopeless failure. No femme de chambre acting in the kitchen could have failed so dismally. And vet I continue to believe in her; my faith 3s unshaken. lam ready to declare that «ihe will become a great actress, astonish Paris, and end in an apartment not a third of a mile removed from the Arc de Triomphe of the Avenue Marigny. It is this faith which brings me now to the house of the charming Lea d'Alencon. I come, foi d'honneur, simply to seek" a salve to my sanity. How shall I get this child taught? You, of all my friends, can best advise me upon that point. Do so, and you shall not find a more grateful man in Paris to-day." Well, I could see tlmt I had impressed her, as the next question proved. "Why do you say that the child is virtuous?" she asked me.

" Because I know her to be so," was my retort. "Put your hand upon the marbles at the Madeleine and will they burn you? It is true that a fire might be conceived of such a nature as to melt your marble and cause it to run as liquid steel—but, my dear Lea, we are not talking oil the forges, but of the facts. This child is virtuous because she is utterly devoid of any desire to be anything else.

The wisest, up on the Butte recognise the truth and are proud of it." " And now these very people drive her out. Did yott not tell me that she cannot • return to Montmatre, Henry?" "Certainly not—at least, to , the only quarter of Montmatre where' it would be possible for her to live. * The thieves have marked her down— would not be alive a week if she remained up there." "And you propose—?" "My dear Lea, nothing of the kind. I have no 'matrimonial intentions, believe me. It is you who will propose." She laughed a little wickedly. The talk had drifted apart from my "iilea, and I could not but bo amused by her sudden voite face.

"Louis does not return from Valerien until to-morrow," she said quickly. "I ant supposed to dine with my sister Lucille. Where are you going to take me, Henry "Alone, Lea?" She looked me straight in the face. "Let, us ask the cure of the Madeleine." "By all means. And while we dine we will make plans for Mimi." " Let us dine on the island," she cried, ignoring it; "there is the safest place in Paris."

"I will be at tho Cascade at a quarter to seven. Of course, it may be a tragedy." The tragedies, my dear Henry, are always for to-morrow." And so, Paddy, amiable fool that I was, I consented. It will be no surprise to you to hear that the cure of the Madeleine had another appointment, and could not turn up. .But of this dinner and of all the absurdities which followed upon it, I will write to-morrow. Meanwhile, find me, my dear fellow, your friend, ' Harry.

CHAPTER V. - [Henry Gastonard writes to Paddy' O'Connell, telling him the story of "a dinner and a challenge.] Hotel St. Paul, Paris, May 30, 1905. Dear Paddy,—This is to tell you that I go out with Bernard d'Alencon somewhere about daybreak to-morrow, and that when I write again Paris will be in possession of a pretty scandal. lam not joking, my dear Paddy. A more serious human being than Henry Gastonard does not exist in all this city tonight. I am to tight Bernard d'Alencon, and I am to light him somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Bois at five o'clock to-morrow morning. The affair is as irrevocable as the sunset I have just witnessed from the Chalets du Cycle, where Mademoiselle Mimi has given me tea and recited, to the "great astonishment of waiters and cyclists alike, the first lesson she received this morning from Pelletier, of the . Conservatoire.

So, if you please, hae this great question of the 'hour been settled. A woman's shrewd opinion haß backed up a mere man's idea that something may be made of Mimi the Simpleton, something at "'ventured in her interests. The suspicion that this chit of the fetes forainee may yet startle Paris is to much an obsession where I am concerned that I have willingly agreed to place her with Pelletier for twelve months and to see what comes of it. He is too clever a man to try to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. He will train her for the Vaudeville or the Palais Royal, and if he cannot make a success of her, then is she loet indeed. She lodges meanwhile in a little English pension near the Louvre, and God help its inmates if she have- the mind to misbehave herself !

Be sure that for me this is a closed book, and that I am very unlikely, when once this other folly is over, to seo or hear of Mistress Mimi again. The whim of a moment has given Tier a chance in Paris; the whim of another will banish her from my recollection when, as must be, if I am not killed to-morrow morning, I set out to save my I'liatune from my cousin and to make thoso five hundred pounds per annum which will enabio me to hold it.

You will remember, Paddy, that when List I wrote to you, I was about to dine in blessed seclusion with that amiable but charming woman Lea d'Alencon. Providence and a far from belle Amerioaine saved me from such imprudence. The American lady, I understand, appeared just when Lea was wrestling with a refractory hat and an equally obstinate pyramid of her famous black* hair. She carried a letter from Elise d'Alencon, the captain's eister, who is now in New York, and could ■ not, in decency, be denied. What Lea said, or, better still, what she thought, I leave you to guess; but she covered her retreat by asking her cousin Emilie, who is madly in love with young Derogy of the Chasseurs, and by sending post-haste for the cavalryman to join us. So we were five at the table instead of two, and we dined at Armenonville and not at the Cascade.

I was glad of thie— frankly glad. Lea is too good a friend of mine that I should ever wish her to become anything eke. And remember, Paddy, that virtue is as much a matter of opportunity and of accident as of the commandments, both written and unwritten. To you alone would I confess my belief that it had been her intention to bring matters to a crisis this night. Bernard was conveniently at Fort Valerien; her mother had gone to Tours to let their chateau to a Yankee from Vermont I had come to her in a romantic mood and appealed to her upon the score of my interest in another woman—a sure passport to,intimacy. And then upon the top of it all tho lady from New York, Jenny Middleton she called herself, with an accent to butter your-bread and the eye of the eagle as it soars. Oh, we were a merry party, bo sure ; and even cousin Emilie (who is married to a man of 60 as sour as vinegar and as yellow) made little of her cavalryman in* such a presence., ." '

You know the dinner at the Armenonyille, as good as it is dear, as ohie as it is distant. We discussed London restaurants with our soup; the Verney scandal with our fish; the character of the American man with the entree and Mimi the Simpleton with the ices. Mrs. Middleton, I observed, was much interested in the character of my protegee and firm in her belief that I had made a fool of mvself. . :' , 7r . J

" She will go back to the lion-tamer in a- month,' she said "and leave you with the bill for a keepsake."

(To be continued daily.)