| OCR Text |
Show I Ljl WkmkMmm Car to I J,?lUJ'Ul - W''r 8Ut'n8 opposite LOL' QB cach olher at one of - - tno lunch tables m 1 m tho Paris hotel at I jf tt Mnte Carl An I VSLi II mDly bom tood B Vr M between us. Car- a rQ brry pas8d me his fx? JCU cigar-cap abstraet- and finding it. too, it b.vk to hwn n :rpty haadci ' Waiter!- called Carberry. "Brine jr. A thHIlng or tim one wav cr the a) other is of no consequence " ' None whatever," I admitted h J ? vM we UPrf" PennlleM we had, Indeed, lost every lou's we nos- l"2 "ere 'onfronTed ita a dilemma that is not, I believe ?Z to experience of u HftifS Punters at Monte Carlo: How to discharge an hotel bill? How cost of our S3 j 7h,rc; lB n denying that we had indulged in-dulged In certain extravagances One cannot live at the Par, hot! for' HnS' WlUl a PO-bOOk WO hint rfit?hbank ,,MlM Pple do not think of these trifles and a few davs ' age ( arberry and I hid been the SEE SSff6 of Beveral hundred d'lllf" had since gone to tration "6 "hequer of tb" mlnis-Bo mlnis-Bo wo sat opposite each other dis- f consolately at lunch and reviewed the j eituat on Mj last iuggentlon suf-Bciently suf-Bciently betrayed tho wetkness of our position and ej I felt quite inadequate to the effort of furnishing .mother i shifted the responslbll'tv of the initiative in-itiative to my frknd. whose power of : resource had on more than one oc- ! casion elicited my admiration We lit our cigars and smoked for a! few moments silentlv. Then Carber- ! ry took bta cigar from his lipa f ' Look here." he said, "don't you 1 know anyone in Monte Carlo who would lend you .some money?'1 It w;ifl my turn to shake my head "Not a soul! " I replied. "ftadlcy left in his yacht yeaterday. i could have got a hundred out of him, l daresaj Bui he's nunc " "Well, what's to be done"" he inquired. in-quired. "Appeal to the administration as; you suggested Just nov. ," I replied Carberrv made a wry face. "Do you know what that means?" i he asked. "Well, it means one's fare home, at any rate," I tald. "O, yes. But it means something pise besides It means being first lugged before all the greasy croupiers in the place for future identification 1 my boy! That'6 cheerful for a gentle-man. gentle-man. Isn't it? Thanks, no; I'd rather not apply to the administration if I can help It " "What then0' I asked. "The duce knows. We must try and hit upon something This hotel I bill Is pretty stiff eh?" "For paupers yes." arberry sighed I think I'll etroll over to the rooms,' he remarked "I may come: across some acquaintance there some new arrival one can never tell," and shaking his head rather gloomily, he rose and left tho table. eV 1 mvself did not spend an altogeth- I er cheerful afternoon I walked aimlessly aim-lessly about the gardens, pondering I.1 upon our unpleasant predicament and I I f I cxpeaalve clgara-whlch, t osopby to dlget while they failed I ut- ter Ij to provide any satisfactory elucidation eluci-dation of the difficulty !!deFp!'y Iniade my w o the cafe Jo Paris ar,d sat down to a cup ol t a .1 had scarcely .eafed myself at the .table when I deserted t'arberrv walk- : . rapidl-and ith an unraietak-, unraietak-, able firmness of atop toward me HU ' manner wan no longer gloomv. his faro was Wreathed In "smiles, bis ?hole attitude denoted a very cheerful cheer-ful and content. , frame of rnlnd ) i welcomed these signs of light-ineartodnees light-ineartodnees with unaffected pleasure, for they pointed emphatically to th conclusion that Carberrv had met with some kind of good fortune dur- ing his absence y I ,.Tve h,t upo" a Plan." be remarked sitting down beside me. "which I ' tb'nk wiM P"11 us through, my boy. J What an ass I was not to think of it i before, to be sure!" "O." I said, in some disappointment only a plan? You have not. then succeeded in finding any monej ! "1 shall succeed In finding" some ' tonight." he replied mysteriously j "Well. 1 hope so. I'm sure." said I. j "How do you propose to do it?" : Carberry loaned over the tabic ' confidentially "I'm going to commit suicide!" h : said. i For the moment I thought Carberry ; was drunk or demenled ; "Yes." he repeated In a sepulchral tone, "I shall shoot myself!" "Confound It," 1 cried, "how will ; that help you? how. at Wst, will It help me, man? Moreover. I enn't countenance the proposition for an I instant Some heavy insurance, 1 suppose?" Carberry looked at me pityingly. "Surely," he observed, "you don't think I'm such a fool and such a disinterested fool as to kill myself merely to oblige vou, inv dear fellow?' fel-low?' "I don't see how It can oblige yourself," your-self," I replied. "No; nor do 1. Therefore you may be bure 1 don't intend to do it " "Then why did you 6ay ju6t now j that you did intend to?" 1 retorted. "The statement was perhaps a lit- I tie misleading,' he agreed "Let mi explain. You are possibly not aware that the authorities here have a great objection to people committing suicide in their grounds." Well, they have. It reflects a klud of discredit on the j place, you sec. and givea rise to . awkward inferences such Inferences. ! for Instance, ns that the gambler has lost all his money to the bank, and I that the bank, therefore, is directly resoonslble for the unfortunate man's demise. It is the first aim of the authorities to contradict an Inference so damaging to their moral prestige. "Accordingly, when It unhappily chances that a man shoots himself at Monte Carlo, the authorities at once set about demonstrating (hat the man's act could not, at anv r.it have been due to any pecuniary pressure attributable to losses at the tables." "They are, indeed, most careful to advertise this fact at the inquiry, m order to exonerate themselves from any possible Implication In the unfortunate un-fortunate gentleman's motives for self-destruction. This reflection has led me to the decision 1 hae already referred to," concluded Carberry. "Walter, a llquer ' "My dear chap, what are you driving driv-ing at?" I demanded a little testily. "1 m driving at the means to pay j my hotel bill." said Carberrv "Fortunately "For-tunately I have an excellent revolver ! In my traveling bag. I always carry it about with me v hen I go abroad." BO, I said sarcastically, "it appears ap-pears you do Intend, after all. to shoot yourself presumably for the sole satisfaction of causing annovance to the authorities here? H it i ,'j ,it how the hotel proprietor Is going to . profit by the transaction." ! ' Why. my dear chap, what possible i kind of fool do you take me for?" inquired in-quired rarbewv, draining his liqueur glass. "Shoot myself Not !f I know . it! Put 1 shall Are off my pistol." "O," I said a llpht suddenly beginning begin-ning to dawn upon "Ah!" slid Carberry, nodding his head "You percehre my drift at last i b "Not very clearly," I answered. "Where's the money to come from9" "I shall not have the least compunction com-punction in taking it from the por It ita of the administration," he replied calmly "They have taken a Verj considerable con-siderable deal more of mine and yours, too!" "Exactly. But how will you take it? ' "l won't take it. They'll give it to me." "Again I say how?" "How? Thus: A ruined, hopeless gnmbler (that's me) wanders wearily into the gardens at midnight (or say , a little earlier), determined to put an end to his blighted, impecunious ex- lstence by means of n pistol shot. His dejected figure is observed by the argus-eyed officials that are surrep-1 titiously (you may have noticed them?) scattered about the grounds and buildings of the Casino His disconsolate dis-consolate bearing invites their sympathy, sym-pathy, and they perhaps follow him at at a respectful and unobtrusive distance. "Presumably from the umbrageous gloom of the tropical foliage a sudden pistol-shot rings out; the argus-eyed I ones rush forward and, behold! I slreXched across a flower bod, they 1 a.-e horrified to perceive In tho moon- light tho dark figure of a man, laying huddled up and motionless on the ground befogf them! "The bosoms of the hardened officials offi-cials are no doubt Instantly moved to compassion at the sight, but first thcy I aro chiefly concerned with the more I practical aspects of the case, and j mindful rather of the Interests of ! their employers than the Ill-fortune j of th suicide. "They feel in his pockets they are ' ! empty. Must It be said that tliir? man i slew himself In the frenzied despair of absolute want1 that destitution (in the mdlst of plenty) was the cause of his untimely end? Never! Ono can be generous to the dead! Some other reason than penury would 1 be more fitly assigned for the do. "HE HAS SHOT HIMSELF IN THE HEAP." SAID ONE OF THE MEN AS 1 HE LIFTED CARBERRY FROM THE GROUNf) perate act. "So these good fellows. Impelled, indeed, by the most Christian in-Btincta, in-Btincta, proceed without delay to do a j most generous thing. They fill these empty pocets with bank notes. Whatever What-ever he was when he was alive, this unhapp) man should at least escape the reproach of being called a pauper ! when he was dead. "It should never be cast up against ! them that a gentleman shot himself for want of money at .Monte Carlo. From love, perhaps, or ennui, or toothache; but from so sordid and contemptible a cause as want of money no, no! "And so. having reestablished the ftranger's claims to the world's respect re-spect and filled his pock?ts with money, the argus-eyed ones proceed mournfully to fetch a stretcher upon which to convey the dispatched gambler to the commissary's office. "When, an hour later, the body Is officially examined, it Is found, oddly enough, that in the coat pocket there Is a bundle of notes to the value, perhaps, of several thousand francs and the astute commissary troubles himself not to inquire too deeply how these notes should have chanced to come there. They afford, at any rate, convincing testimony that the man's 6ulclde was not due to any bad luck at the tablet.; and moro than this II would not be necessary for the dignity of the principality to notify. "Of course," said Carberry reflectively, reflect-ively, "it would be just possible just possible that, when the afglis-syed ones returned with the stretcher, they mleht. ahem' have some difficulty difficul-ty in finding the exact epot where" He paused and looked at me comically "Unon my word." I exclaimed, "it's the wildest and most preposterous scheme I ever heard of!" "It's the only chance we'vo got, my boy, of paying that hotel bill," he re- plied firmly. 1 was very much taken with the audacity of Carberry's plan, and after the'flrst shock of surprise which the communication of It caused me. entered ent-ered Into the spirit of the undertaking with as much enthusiasm as Carberrv Carber-rv himself. 1 appreciated the piquancy of the proposition the more that It was to be carried out by somebody rise; and as for Carberry. not the least attractive part to him, 1 think, of such an enterprise enter-prise lay chiefly in the delightful uncertainty un-certainty of Its Issue. Wo drank a good deal of champagne cham-pagne at dinner that night, I remember; remem-ber; and on a subsequent rapid calculation cal-culation of our joint resources, discovered dis-covered that we could between us 1 muster exactly 35 francs. Everything, therefore, depended upon up-on the success of Carberry's suicide; and I impressed this upon him very earnestly over our coffee and liqueurs. He seemed very sensible of the gravity gravi-ty of the occasion, and was for making mak-ing his will Indeed, was so affected by the memory of our old and tried frinedshlp that he vowed he would leave me everything he possessed In it As he possessed nothing to leave, I was more touched by the generosity of the Impulse than by a 6ense of any solid advantage that might accrue from it The second cup of coffee, however, restored him to a recollection of the merely fictitious character of the dreadful act he was contemplating, and to which there is no doubt that the champagne had lent a transient coloring of reality. He leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily "We Will score heavily off the administration!" ad-ministration!" he exclaimed, and. indeed, in-deed, the idea of scoring heavily off the administration seemed to cause him a keener gratification almost than Die prospect of being able to discharge dis-charge his hctel bill tho following morning. As tfa evening approached, I must confess that I began to entertain serious se-rious apprehensions as to the upshot Of Carberry s venture; but ho himself seemed troubled with no nervous scruples on the head of Its success. We vent to the rooms as usual after dinner, and idled away a couple of hours, watching the tables and listening to the concert In the tbe-.it tbe-.it r, rery pleasantly. At about half-past half-past 10 Carborrj announced bis Intention In-tention of starting out to commit suicide sui-cide There was a bright moon shining as we pasf erl out througli the spring doors of the Casino, and down the marble stops ieto the gardens. A I crowd of people thronged tne en-1 trance. We threaded our way through them, and presently paused on the op- ! poslte side of the walk near the cafe do Paris. "Now," said Carberry, "you just 1 hang about here, and don't mako yourself your-self unnecessarily conspicuous. When you hear my pistol shot you can, if , you like, address some casual inquiries in-quiries to any of the officials you may happen to be near But bo discreet!" So saying, and with a cheerful nod of farewell, Carberry turned on his heel and walked off In the direction of the pavilion. I 6at down on a chair and watched his retreating . figure I saw him cross the gravel walk and pass along the side of the building, past a knot of officials who were lounging about at the entrance of the guardroom Here he slackened his pace, and it was with some amusement that I observed ob-served he began suddenly to assume a most dejected and absent-minded 'deportment. He pulled his hat don over his eyes and hung his head. His attitude was one of extreme forlorn-neRs. forlorn-neRs. The officials could not have failed to notice this as he passed them with an unsteady step, and I have no doubt the circumstance, If It did not excite j their suspicion, at least awakened I their vigilance. A few steps further on Carberry paused again, and ca3t a quick, furtive fur-tive glance to right and left of him, then plunged down a 6ide path into the overhanging gloom of the gardens beyond and was lo6t to view. I passed the next five minutes in i considerable uneasiness; apart from the humor of the trick, It appeared by the light of calmer reflection to bo a most foolhardy experiment, and one likely to be attended with awkward consequences should It miscarry However, it was now too late to Indulge in fears or regrets, and I could only trust to Carberry's undoubted un-doubted ingenuity and resource to bring the matter to a successful issue. is-sue. Fortunately, 1 was not kept very long In suspense. clear and shirp through the night air there rang out suddenly the report of a pistol. I was on the alert for the sound, "and may have exaggerated Its penetrativo intensity, for though I started Involuntarily from my seat, the noise of the shot did not appear to have attracted any particular attention at-tention among the groups of gayly dressed people beyond Mindful of our plan, I did not hurry hur-ry myself, but walked slowly across to the building, and after waiting a minute or two, lit a cigar and sauntered saunt-ered carelessly along toward the further wing of It. Hero I encountered a little knot of men in uniform, who were engaged In discussing some point with evident interest in-terest I took my cigar from my mouth and addressed the foremost of them. "Has anything happened?" I asked "I thought 1 heard a pistol fired just now " "Ah nothing, monsieur, nothing!" I replied the official with characteristic reticence. "Nothing? That Is well!" and I passed on as though to enter the gardens. gar-dens. The official stopped me politely. "A thousand pardons, monsieur!", he said. "Why, what's the matter?" I dn-m dn-m ended in affected surprise. "Are the i la aWBtSBflBHsl gardens prohibited tonlgbtr- fMjji Tho officer shrugged bis shouWe $$1 "If yon must know, monsieur vt t'xm think that a gentleman has shot him- self Just now in tho gardens." ho re- (2 plied camly. , jU "Dear, dear!" I oxclatmod. "What a I&3 calamity! Shot himself! You don't mean It! Poor fellow!" Lj&if ni!n9i1ur obH by "Tint nothing about It." returned the officer 4 qulet'Pr t0 ke'P tbeM thlnKa H terAof" "y7l It la bet-' H ter. of course muc:. -ftr. Qooq -j S evening." WXI . ':;: They took off their bat-i and l lounged away Wondering what to do ' W" next and experiencing a ferment of I excitement as to the fate of Carberry I I I made my way back again to my j original seat. I had scarcoly sat down when a I i ngure emerged from a side path, and ( I making briskly toward me. I discovered discov-ered it to be Carberry himself. He '- s.apped me on the shoulder, fell Into a chair by my side and burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. I "They're gone for a stretcher!" ho : exclaimed as soon as bis mirth had sufficiently subsided to permit of speech. The mugs have gono for a I stretcher! Lord, what a joke, ha, ba! and the poor dead gambler has j " waued away meantime In ibe most ! unacci jntablo manner! Imagine their L chagrin when they return and find him non est! My dear fellow, it's the best coup that was over pulled off at Monte Carlo!" , "Hang It." I said, "we'd better clear I out! There'll be the deuce of a row if they catch you. But how about the money part of the business?" 'Just as 1 expected,' 'ho laughed "I fired off the pistol In the air after first smearing the sldo of my face I with a little red grease paint and fell down in the most approved stage sl)l" across the flower border, the smoking revolver still clutched flrmly J In my rigid right hand. "A moment later and up come two argus-eyed ones a stago entrance could not have been better calculated, ! 'pon my word. It couldn't. Down they V I drop on their knees beside me, and 1 I first they must feel mv pockets (which ' I need hardly tell you were quite I guiltless of money), H "They tako ono quick glance at my gory face, and one says to the other, j 'He has shot himself through tho head' (which was quite untruo). Tho ! other gentleman thereupon lugs out of I I his v,..9t some notes of the admlnlstra- H ' tlon. and thrust a bundle of them hur- rledly Into my brea6t pocket "Here they are!" cried Carberry, pulling out a packet of bank notes: "half a dozen at least, and 500-franc ones, my boy' Then up get my find fellows and rush off hot-foot for a I stretcher, leaving me lying there, stark and pale. In the moonlight! "No sooner, however, do tboy disappear dis-appear round one corner, than I jump up and dlsapear round the other, and. With all the expedition I can muster, j make rny way back to you here. In or der to relieve your very' natural ap prehensions as to my pafety. "They will be back again by this I time scouring the grounds, so. If you don't mind, I think I'll be toddling off to the hotel, and tomorrow we can pay J our bill and take a first-class ticket to P Paris in time for the exhibition. Vive la bagatelle!" And that was how Carberry paid hla hotel bill at Monte Carlo. 1 |
