A STRANGE BET

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8187, 19 July 1906, Page 7

A STRANGE BET

'Specially written for tbe Age by Bath Reich.) PAKT I.—Continued. 1. It appears from medical evidence, that B ' may buy a piece of A's skin, being made the lawful owner of It on having paid a covenanted price for jit; the question of removal or n on-rem oval being a matter of expediency, without entering into the legal aspect of profession. 2. It appears from the writings of a famous insular author, a Mr W. Shakespeare, whose legal and logical aoumen is vouched for by all such of Mr Shakespeare's friends and countrymen, aa are here present, that the laws of Venice whilom granted to one Sbylock a pound of a certain merchant's flesh, for winch the claimant held a legal coven ant. 3. It npDears from tbe evidence of artists that they are in the habit of purchasing the whole or parts of the persons of their models for purposes of art or otherwise and for duly covenented for points or periods of time, during whicn the purohnser must be deemed to be the exclusive possessor of los-dits persons or parts of persons. Point 1 may be dismissed from the consideration of this court, in as muon as it usually infers the removal of the vendor's article from his person, a oouise of process from which thjs purchaser is emphatically debarred by a distinct clause of oaveat. Tbe aspeot of possession, however, is uot impaired for that reason. Point 2 requires comment. The contention by the learned counsel for his lordship's that the laws of Venioe restrained the purchaser of les-<3it pound of flesh from removing it from the vendor's person does, in the opinion of this oourt, not effect the legality of his purchase; the court of Venioe distinctly confirmed Shylock's claim of possession. Had the latter conceded to tbe m3roha';t the usufruot of the vended pound of flesh, his title of ownership wouH still have held. In the present case the usufruot of the proboscis in question remains with the vendor, who on his part concedes to the furchaser the occasional right to inspect his property. Point 3 is entirely in favour of the purchaser.The vendor of his probosciß appears, in the opinion of the oourt, to stand n the same relation to the purchaser as a model to an artist. The question of motive does neither validate nor vitiate the faot of possession. Baron von Nix must be held to be the bona fide proprietor of Herr Bennies nose, and the stakes must go to him. Annoying ancl disastrous as the award was to many, they bore their chagrin with a deoent exhibition of composure while Nix's partisans abstained with decorum from an exhibition of their pleasure. Pastfoot's easy attitude, the cordial courtesy with which he accepted the decision of the judges, but above all the knowledge that the loss of bis wager was a heavy drain on hia financial resources, contributed, no doubt, to the end. The meeting of the principals in the great wager was not without an element of embarrassment; but the English noble's oourteous affability, ao heroio under such circumstances, made matters easy; without the utterance of a wnrd, he hooked his arm in that of Nix and *led him smilingly to the stakeholder who held out the crisp pieoes of bank paper that were to transfer a fortune from the one wagerite to the other. Nix was vi ibly affoeted by his old friend's oourageous conduct, and. to the astonishment of every lady refused point blank to accept this great and lucky accession to'his bank-acoount. Nor could Lord Fastfoot induce him to change his resolv®. For all answer he embraced his English friend with truly Teutonic fervour, invited all present to a festive winding up of the day's exciting scenes and called for three oheers for this brave friend of his, three more for himself followed, and genial atmosphere of cordiality thawed speedily the ice of restraint that :bad previously possessed the crowd. How our nobles finally fettled their amiable dispute about the stakes, my obronicle cannot tell, we feel sure that it was in a manner worthy of great nobles; we know that henceforth they' lived in great harmony aad cainaraderie. At their earnest insistance all bets made were declared to be off, and the famous wager which might have become a source of much trouble was thus relegated to the rank of a huge joke. A happy gathering of students passed a few merry hours of noisy conviviality, characteristic of Fathurland and its student life. Bennie who had promised himsvlf a really good time was tbe only discontented guest of the evening. Forgetting for a time his wholesome apprehensions of the lord's possible resentment against him, he had the bad taste of toasting him in a maliciously sarcastic manner, when that gentleman seized him by the collar of his coat, rushed him to the door and landed him with a vigorous kiok in the street. Thiß, to all appearnce, ended the episode of "A Strange Bet," yet uot so! Its end lies far off in the unknown future. PART 11. Father Time had whirled tho globe through ten cyoles: Smooth cheeks had become wrinkled in that time, curly pates were now bald pates, foolish ones had grown wisp, kings were kings no longer and shopkeepers had become Heads of States. Our friends had all changed also ita the relentless whirl of time. To begin with Benny. Mighty was he among the lords of Mammon! Where were the days of his poverty, when his daily and hourly prayer had been for just a lettle, lettle capital? When hJs rooted belief had been : "Ex uihilb nihil fit." Satanas, Belzebub, Mephistos, or . whatever infernal diety Bennie had prayed to; knew better. (To toe continued).