Arms and the Woman

to the office in two da

d, as I carried a c

ung man cough

ssible for him to com

see," with an explanatory wave of the hand, "he's very uncertain in his movements. For the last six months he has been playing all over the table, to use the parl

me all about him. He was my roommate at c

t under on an average of three times a week. I asked him bluntly what he meant by it, and he frankly replied that if he wanted to drink himself to death, that was his business. When he isn't half-seas over he is gloomy and morose. From the first I knew that something had gone wrong on the mainland

I coldly; "

as so enervated by drink that he had no strength to fight the fever which came on top of the bullet-hole. Something happened over there; and

pect the young

ieve it to

on for wealth, and ambition for love. In Hillars's case, since the wind does not blow from the first three, it must necessarily blow from the fourth

ning young man," said

get my

at I said. Well, I must be going. I am getting out a symposium of editorials from the morning papers on the possibility of a Franco-Russian alliance. It must

e Continent that the real difference in the human races is discerned. Strange as this may seem, it is not distinguishable in a cosmopolitan city. My eyes were greeted with the same huge wearisome signs of the merchants; the same sad-eyed "sandwich men;" the same newsboys yelling and scampering back and forth; the same rumble of the omnibuses, the roar of the drays, and the rattle of the cabs. I was not much interested in all I saw. Suddenly my roving eyes rested upon a familiar face. It was Hillars, and he was pushing ra

d. "Hi, Dick! We

had discove

said I, crossin

elded together, and we were

ried; "not to have met m

ions you want to ask, but not now. There's a Bohemian joint a block above that'll do your heart good to see. We'll have chops and ale, just like we did in the old days, the green and salad days, I would they were back again"-soberly. "Oh, I've a long story to tell you, my son; time enough w

t you were rolling downhill so fast that if some one did not put a fulcrum under you, you'd be at t

of the side rooms. "Woods," he said to the waiter, "chops for two, chipped potatoes, and fill up those steins of mine

een affected this way. During the year I had studied at Heidelberg I had gathered together some fifty odd pipes and

ner. It was one of those times when exalted personages divest themselves of the dignity and pomp of court and become free and informal. There were twenty of these steins made especially for the occasion. By a circumstance, over which I had no control, I was th

agerly, "it is

y I am going to tell you when we get to my rooms. I am always thinking of it, night and day, day and night. Talk to me, or I'll be drinking aga

fellows but you and I had money. Most of them are carrying on the bu

you had a rich u

no more," and I told hi

for his sake that it had happened. Already I was begin

printed," he said. "But his son

growled. "I can earn a living for a

ors whom you used to rave abou

lled the waiter and ordered him to replenish my stein, Dan watchi

ered what she look

your vacation?" I

be to-morrow. It's accordi

did not talk about our present affairs we had a pleasant time recounting the days when we were young in the sense that we had no real trouble. Those were the times when we were earning fifteen and

nui those days,"

ayed in bed because it was cheaper to

l by giving the Sheriff my new spring overcoat to

aid I. And then there was more ale; and

to the office and get

s your

e Vict

ght the Frenchman who represents the Paris Temps how to play poker, and he threatens to become my Frankenstein, who will eventually devour me." Hillars laughed, and it sounded like the laughter of other days. "Jack, I think you will do me good. Stay with me and keep me away from the bottle if you can. No man drinks for pure love of liquor. My father never loved it, and God knows what he was trying to forget. For that's the substance of i

re were two of us, so it seemed, only I was stronger,

were covered with photographs, original drawings, beer steins, pipes, a sli

ghtly worn at the crown and temples, and there were dark circles under his eyes. Yet, for all these signs of dissipation, he was still a remarkably handsome man. Tho

ou why I'm going to the dogs. I've got to tell it to some o

reflection, "who causes a man t

t

t which gleamed golden through the transparent gum, "who causes a man to pull

ing at me with a new interest. "If the woman h

ould not,

case, you

th your story; there's no

e pipes was heard. Now and then I would poke away at

her?" I asked, reaching

afraid to

w phase in the matt

incipality; she is the ward of a King. What has she to do with such as I? Three months in the year she dwells in her petty palace; the other months find her here and there; Paris, St. Petersburg, or Rome, as fancy wills. And I, I love her! Is it not rich? What am I? A grub burrowing at the root of the tree in which she, like a bird of paradise, displays her royal plumage. 'Masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.' The father of this Princess once rendered the present King's father a great service, and in return the King turned over to his care a principality whose lineal descendants had died out. It was with the understanding that so long as he retained the King's goodwill, just so long he might possess the principality, and that when he died the sovereignty would pass to his children. The old King

up and roamed about the room, stopped at the window a