Show J i amm 0 0 a I 1 I 1 tw h 1 N bwy da TI ir i f t the fe e recluse R eci se of 4 MA I 1 fifth f avenue A t V enu is in am th val united atef 1 WIT fahrm STORY F THE START from the comfortable financial situation to which he be had been born peter milman american gentleman rent leman an of the tha old school and last lait ot of h ills in tarn family fly Is practically reduced to penury through the misfortune of a friend rase haxe i brawer whom wham he had bad unwisely trusted learning of brewers suicide which means meano the destruction of his ciket hope ullman human engages a french butler achille lutry who speaks no english and Is to replace sneed snead servant of 0 long standing py by lutry milman mends ends jette letters tji to 6 prot prof fleming bradney ployd floyd malet malat and neeland barnes men whom the world has bas classed as failures once of high position CHAPTER II 11 continued beside yourself were there will be I 1 trust neeland barnes formerly on an international ter polo player and owner of race horses aid aad floyd malet who when he seemed about to take his place in the world as a great sculptor suffered buffered an unfortunate eclipse bradney went to the library anil and opened the new york directory sure enough peter milman was recorded as living on tower lower fifth avenue the th thing then was not a foolish practical joke oke puffing at a big pipe fleming bradney braddey sat on his little balcony and gazed at manhattan lights this strange letter had awakened old hopes and ambitious ambitions that he had thought forever for ever dead of course coarse there could be no practical joke which expended expend eda a hundred bundred dollars on its fulfillment bradney read the letter again the phrase perhaps at this dinner you may be offered the opportunity took his fancy strangely opportunity I 1 did any exist for a man who had been ills graced and was now forgotten until this letter came bradney had believed his career finished ile he went into his bedroom and disinterred a suit rolt of full evening dress from its mothball moth ball tomb he had not worn it for a dozen years peter Mil milhans mans letter reached nee nce land barnes at a moment when that eminent sportsman was engaged in staving off his most persistent creditor the landlord Lipp lipcsky sky 1 barnes bames was a tall finely made man who had run through several fortunes fortu nei by his love for horses and his inability to judge of their chances in races after his wife had bad died his relatives had shrugged their shoulders and abandoned mai hm the many schemes for his rehabilitation had failed lie ile disappeared from fashionable resorts ills his only daughter was being brought up in england by rich relations ho had drifted about the world until at the end of all resources he had taken a little house bouse on the outskirts of Peek peekskill skill here bete he was engaged in what he explained as on an attempt to stage a comeback he was trying to become physically fit and he was succeeding but mountain hikes and sc alt un the noble stream brought no grist to the mill mr barnes you are a loafer lipcsky cried when the sportsman had announced his inability to pay rent long overdue this seemed cruelly unjust to a man who had just returned from a twenty mile walk some day it if you keep on annoying me said neeland barnes 1 I shall kill you you dont have to kill me lipcsky cried shrilly you just pay my rent bell your swell clothes and get overalls ile he waved peter letter get some of your swell friends to lend you money neeland barnes looked qt at the letter puzzled ile he did not recognize the writing but the station stationery eay was reassuring when what boik ou term my swell friends know I 1 am living in a hovel like this they will itil advance vance me the money I 1 shall not i ask sk them until I 1 have finished my training I 1 am about to begin if I 1 its your lookout ut 11 barnes began his shadowboxing shadow boxing exercises dimly lipcsky perceived that his debtor was getting nearer and nearer lie he went out muttering loafer it was a word which did much to appease him barnes boxed no wore more when hla his landlord adlord is had disappeared lie he read the astonishing letter a dozen times and secreted the money order at once alone of the three who had received somewhat tome what similar communications he knew of billman and his family very distantly they were connected by marriage barnes had no idea that the brower failure had brought peter milman to penury one sentence he found strangely intriguing af it as I 1 bel believe leTe you feel yourself unfairly treated by the world that was wail yours I 1 may be at atle ame le to offer you theo the ap pp 1 oin unity to take your place adalu in id society V neeland gusmes longed above ill all things for toe tas comfortable JIM fife that ord bad once keen big he h had d lev never e i per witted himself feim self to become shabby never biti he bo sunk to such a elate thit that former friends would hesi bullat tats to recognize barl him ire he din clung to the idea that when once he ceased to shave and wear clean linen the descent to hell would have begun he rolled a cigarette and indulged in pleasing reveries good dinners were noti given idly nor were hundred dollar bills expended fo for r nothing peter allman wanted him to do something well neeland barnes barneo was his man perhaps after all these years the man who had run away with mrs milman was back ui to america perhaps peter milman desired him to be chastised publicly lie ile would find neeland barnes devoid devold of fear and in better physical trim than he had been for or a dozen years barnes always saw himself in a heroic light he hoped the thing would be staged so that his old bid arontes might see it they would never believe that he could keep so fit after the scandalous rumors that had been spread ap re ad about him naturally thera would be expense money it would be a delightful experience peri per lenco ence to pay his deferred rent in nickels and cents and watch him scrambling feverishly for the coins among poison ivy and he would be able to send his daughter a decent present at last poor nita whom he had not seen for years brought up bv jealous relatives far from his care the adventure might lead to amazing things presently these brilliant prospects faded he was conscious that his only home was in grotesquely furnished house adventures with glorious endings offered themselves only to youth he sighed a little then he be smiled after all he had the hundred dollars and the prospect of a good dinner dinder 0 0 0 0 floyd malet under the name of it M floyd was earning a poor living by teaching drawing in philadelphia private schools the man who had hoped to see his name associated with rodin and meunier was forgotten by all save the few who had seen in him the signs alg ns of genius mulct malet was a man of middle size thin and haggard once or twice fastidious pupils had bad complained that he paid too little attention to his personal appearance Mil milhans mans letter came by late mall mail at first the sculptor was inclined to think it an advertising scheme of some sort the lower etower fifth avenue address was thick with loft and office buildings like bradney he went to a library and looked up milman the genealogical department gave him ample data the strangers letter held out the promise of temporary relief from an intolerable life there was money for the trip and enough over to live for many weeks as he had lately learned to live ile he packed his grip thankful he be had saved a suit of evening clothes there Is something vivifying vilifying vivify ing about the al a of manhattan it had its effect on the three men bound for peter milhans Mil mans house bradney held up u p his head again and malet lost his droop of depression neeland bames B a r n es walking briskly down the evenue ave n u e passed clubs which had dropped him on account of nonpayment pf af dues and felt himself within measurable distance of 01 reelection election re ills his military T mustache and fine carriage made him a marked figure and he liked the limelight As he neared the milman house he wondered w what his fellow guestt guests would be like in other years no physicists had been numbered among his acquaintances he was not quite certain what a physicist was As to sculptors he had met one in romp rome but he was a marquis sculptors were probably all right ile he was reassured reassure d by remembering that the wife of a former polo pal had her own studio but he be would probably have to dominate the conversation with peter all man and talk of old new york society lie he roust must be careful not to mention the daynes the runaway wife had been a 8 dayne davne wedged in beewen tall buildings the miligan house looked squat und ami unimpressive yet barnes gazed at it with respect to be able to retain it spelled wealth lesser lessee men would have sold bold at a profit and moved uptown what this millionaire might want with neeland barnes was a de light fal mystery he yapped rapped loudly with the brass knocker A few minutes earlier mid malel male had stood appalled at the smug lugii ness of the building g he be did not think with any sympathy of represented by the bi builder tilder which had distrusted elegance and loved what was soli solid dand and lasting to the tor it seemed the allman home was in modeled on the old astor house houie but he like liked d the door and the brass knocker which was a copy of that decorating an oxford college the last to come was waa fleming bradney whom the subway had bad delayed he rather r liked alp tha house it had strength and the air of af studied isolation none could look through its windows to disturb the the inmates it lay fifteen feet back from the sidewalk bradney had that imagination without which mathematicians can never be great whom and what was he be to see behind the tall door CHAPTER III neeland barnes disapproved of achille Achl lle who admitted him with lavish gestures this was not the sort of antler a milman should employ he followed him to a library where he found his host speaking to floyd malet malel it was as barnes thought sculptors were not quite up to his bis social standard this stranger was physically inconspicuous and his clothes should have been more recently pressed neeland barnes held out his hand to peter milman as one could to a man of his distinguished ancestry with a smile which said plainly 1 I at least belong here it Is very kind of you to come 1 said peter milman he turned to floyd malet mr air malet th this I 1 a I 1 la a mr neeland barnes barnes nodded a little coldly curl ous oua he thought that peter milman should have introduced malet to him then fleming bradney came in although his clothes were of another era there was an air of power about him ills his was a carelessness due less lesa to ignorance than to lack of concern with other peoples modes of life anil and thought in an age when beards were unpopular he wore one and little children hissed beaver to him auevery at every street corner comer peter milman so barnes bames thought treated him with extreme respect it was not until achille brought in the cocktails that barnes frown left him it was easy to see that of the three peter illman considered him the least important why he wondered did milman esteem it an honor boner to have a physicist to dinner the word recurred many times this must be some new way of describing a physician that was it physicians were not so 80 bad one had married a van deril derillo lt in america and another a daukei of Nor folks daughter in england the second cocktail found neeland barnea more ana amiable lable he ha looked keenly at his host but discovered no trace of nervousness about him no wildness of eye which might confirm the worlds opinion that he was mentally unfit perfectly dressed as usual but no better turned out ont than neeland barnes the dining room was beautifully furnished ila ha ha ba said dames barnes good old Chippen chippendale dalel I 1 sheraton the sculptor corrected gently just as you like barnes said gen tally there were certain bottles in plain view which banished any ill humor he might have felt not for years yeara hail had he sat down to a really well chosen and well cooked dinner everything nebout him spoke of lavish expenditures tures to ployd floyd malet everything spoke of exquisite taste tho the relief after years ears of furnished dissonance was grateful he felt cheerful after a decade of gloom the bearded bradney noticed only that lie was sitting at 9 bountiful table and invited to sip excellent vintage wines what was the reason T he was impatient to know what opportunity port unity was he to be offered to regain the rank to in science that disgrace had bereft becroft him TO BE BB CONTINUED |