A STRANGE BET

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8189, 24 July 1906, Page 7

A STRANGE BET

' Specially written for the Age by Rubt'Eelob.) PAKT ll.—Continued. •'Ought to call hiii out, 1 suppose. Hm-hardly Droper for a man of my age and—hm—corporation. The jew would not tight, anyhow. Never did. Only let others flght for him, eh, my lord? Never had the pluekto flght a cat." The baroness let him finish. "You men have no sense," she said contemptuously. "Call him out, indeed; flght a oad like him! Oh, you needn't look surprised. You yourself called him so. Well—let—me —see." Then, putting down her knitting, she crossed "over to her husband, slipped a hand into his waistcoat pocket and pulled out a k«y in quite a matter of laot manner to the amusement of her visitor. "1 want to look through your desk," she said in answer to a questioning look of Mix's, who, by toe waj seemed quite used to such familiar proceedings. Presently the baroness returned and put a faded paper before her spouse. Opening it, he ran h!s eye? over tbt> writing it contained. - it was the memorable note of sftle he had received from Benny so many years ago. He chuckled, as he remembered how often this paper had helped him to throw a whole room full of people into fi<s of laughter. On his marriage Nix bad intended to burn it along with inoiiminating billet-doux and so on, on the sly, but the baroness had detected him in his nefarioua design, made a packet of all the papers she could find, and had bidden him ta itow them carefully in his secretaire. "Time finds a use for all things, even old love letters," said the praotioal bride. "What use, now that I'm sold and bought?" "At least to remind you sometimes of your youth and its follieB." Of course Nix had often since then regaled his wife with tbe tale of the . only "smart" trick he had ever performed. And now the faded document of his proweßS in trickery was placed before him—evidently witfl a purpose. He blinked at it, > then at madam. "Well?" she queried. "Well?" he rejoined, rubbing his ear in perplexity. "Can't you see, you silly man?" "y-e-e. No. That is, I see that •paper, bat no sense in its being here. What am i to do with this antiquated relic of a baxl joke?" "Make use of it! Punish the creature's insolence! Tweek his Jewish nose with it," she said, with a vioious flash of her eyes. "I can't make out what you mean, flow can I tweek his nose with that old yellow scrap of paper?" "How dull you are my dear. I don't exaotly mean that you should pull the nose in his face and I did wrong to use the wretch's religion in spiteful words—l have heard that there are excellent jews in Germany. But there are ways of pulling noses withuut touching them —pulling them out of joint, fig—fig __ " "Figuratively, you mean, baroness?" suggested Faatfoot, who knew that his hostess took sometimes higher flights of rhetoric in English that she oould manage. "Thank you, my lord. Now I come to think of it, a really good pull of the Councillor's real nose would do him no harm. I only wished 1 were a man I" Behold the consistency of woman! Fastfoot ventured to say that the baroness had two' men to do her servioe at any time and inquired in what direction. The baroness had the floor and stooped his speech. "Hear me," she cried. "That yellow scrap of paper makes you tbe absolute owner of a certain nose. You told me," turning to Nix, "that you could do anything with it, short of cutting it off, or injuring it. JBarou, 1 shall lose all respect for you, if you don't teach that tinsel 'Von' what it is to insult a real nobleman 1" Ah, these mild, placid German wives! Just let their tempers get up, and seel A volcano is nothing 'compared to them! Nix, siill completely in a fog as j / to his lady's drift of meaning, took refuge behind a cloud of smoke and said nothing; while the baroness oast every now and then an impatient louk at him. "Baron," at last she burstout, "yoa have no spleen, that's plain, Lord Fastfoot is EDglisb. He has a spleen. I shall ask him to let it out. 1 know he'll let it out." This puzzling speech meant that Nix had no resentment, while Fastfoot was complimented on behie well endowed in that particular seuti ment to which, he was exhorted, to give full rein. Faßtfooi's notions of the baroness' ultimate meaning were as hazy as Nix's, but he knew 1 that she had a plan. He suggested that she might intend to publish the famous note of sale in the newspapers so as to cover the councillor with ridicule. "Nay," she rejoined quickly, "that would be revenge truly; but it would also be social ruin to that rran. I don't go so far. 1 want you to frighten him. thoroughly, till he opens his pursestrings for you, my lord. The lesson so taught him will be our revenge." Then, turning to her husband, she said sharply: "Order the carriage, baron, ' want to see our lawyer. We shall all go to town." With that she picked up the old parchment: and retired to prepare for the drive. The visit to the lawyer of the baroness had been—from her point of view—most successful. It had established the faot that, legally and commercially speaking, the faded parchment of a students p freak was perfectly "sound." In other words—it could be dealt with like any other seourity, vested or not. (To ba Continued.)