Evening Star Newspaper, September 29, 1929, Page 111

e i i SR e you, of course. What's it matter so long as you win? I never mind backing a horse at odds on, so long as it's a certainty.” “There is such a thing as fair gambling,” Tresholm pointed out. “I'l toss you for your five thousand pounds, if you like. That's a level affair—no cagnotte, no zero. You can choose ‘The girl gave a little cry. gasped. “You're not serious?” he exclaimed. “Mr. Tresholm!” she remonstrated. “I'm perfectly serious,” he assured them both. “You seem to think that I know nothing about gambling. On the contrary, I am de- scribed in the police records of this princi- pality as a professional gambler. I must live up to my reputation. I will toss you for five thousand pounds. Shall I send for a coin?” “No!” the girl almost shrieked. Tresholm shrugged his shoulders. “Very well,” he acquiesced. “You would like to prolong the agony. Dine with me, both of you, tonight at the Hotel de Paris at half past eight. We will either toss or play any game you like where the odds are lewel whatever sum you like up to five thousand pounds.” The girl looked at him reproachfully through & mist of tears, Her brother was exuberant. “You're a sportsman,” he declared. “I wanted to dine at the Paris once more before we left. We'll be there at half past eight.” Gustave Sordel paid a special visit to the hotel just before dinner time that evening. He encountered Monsieur Robert in the hall. “But what has arrived!” he exclaimed. “All the afternoon my chefs have been on the qui vive. I have reinforced every table to the ex- tent of a hundred thousand francs. I arranged for a high table at chemin de fer, and, if Mon- sieur Tresholm had wished to take a bank at baccaret tonight, it could have been managed. Yet behold the strange thing which has arrived He has not as yet taken out his ticket.” “In the Sporting Club, perhaps?” Monsieur Robert suggested. “Three times 1 have sent there. No one of his name has applied for a card.” “This affair gives one to think,” Monsieur Robert admitted. “At present he dines with a young Englishman and his sister—a couple bien distingue, but poor. They left here last week for a cheaper hotel. Of what interest can they be to him?” Her brother SORDEL shrugged his shoulders. “After all,” he pointed out, “even a professional gambler must have his moments. He waits for the night, without a doubt.” Meanwhile, in the restaurant, Tresholm, to all appearance, was very much enjoying his dinner. Bartlett was excited and - talkative. Norah, on the other hand, was very silent. She ate and drank little, and her manner, especially toward her host, was reserved, not to say.cold. “Your sister, Bartlett,” the latter confided, “is displeased with me. - I' wonder. whether I might ask why.” ! .+ “Because you have taken his side against me,” she said, looking' at him with a smouldering anger in her eyes. ‘You are encouraging him to gamble with that last five thousand pounds. I hoped so much that you would 'have 'been on-my side, that you would have told him' to keep that money, for both our sakes, and not to enter the Casino again.” “And if I had told him that” Tresholm asked calmly; “would it have made any differ- ence?” i ‘She reflected for a moment. “Perhaps it would not,” she admitted. “Hé is very self- willed. He would probably have had his own way, and yet, somehow or other, I am sorry that it should have been you who encouraged " “I don't think that you are quite just to blame me,” he complained. “You must realize that nothing I could have sald would have made the slightest difference. You know that you yourself have used all your persuasions. Your brother would have lost every penny in the Casino if T had not offered him a saner cpglrlee of gambling with me.” “I can't explain,” she hed. “I S S . sigl am just They left the table, crossed the lounge and entered the elevator. In the corridor Bartlett stopped to speak to an acquaintance. The girl suddenly turned to her companien. “Mr. Tresholm,” she begged, “don't do this. Let him lose. his money in the Casino if he must. I don't like the idea of you, two sitting down to play against one another. . I don't like it. There’s something horrible about it.” “Don’t you think,” he asked, “that, if. your brother must throw his money away, I might as well have 1t as anybody else?” “Do you mean—do you really mean that you are what you said?” . “I am afraid there is a certain amount of truth in what I told you,” he acknowledged. “_llm:owthecheldemhherein Monaco he will show. Yyou my papers.” . “Then I think it is all very terrible,” she pronounced sadly. “I am very sorry that we ever came to Monte Carlo.” “Now for the terms,” Tresholm said, as he and Bartlett seated themselves at a small table. “Pirst of all, here are two tickets for the Blue Train tomorrow. It is understood that, whether mwlnmymoneyor!wlnmrs,ywmkeme - of them.” “Right-o!" the young man agreed, ketin, the yellow slips. o ’ “I require more than a casual acceptance of that pmppul." Tresholm persisted. “I require your word of honor.” “That's all right,” the other acquiesced. “I promise upon my honor.” “And I am your witness,” Norah intervened gravely. “FPurthermore, whether you win or lose,” . Tresholm continued, “you must promise not to return within 12 months.” “Agreed. Come along. Let's start.” “The game I leave entirely to you,” Tresholm announced. “There are, as you See, four new packs of cards. I will cut you highest or lowest to' win, whichever you like, or I wilt play you two-handed poker, or piquet, or any other game you prefer.” Aty There was a sudden gleam in the young I A NVEE JAn Zlakle 1P Vi) 1029, THE SUNDAY:- .STAR, WASHI_NGTON, D. C., Sl-ilf:l‘li.\l}‘»liR -29, “Your_sistor, Bartlewt, is displeesed 1with me. I wonder wiether I might ask why?” man’s eyes. “Piquet?” he repeated. “You play piquet?” “Rather well,” Tresholm warned him. “I should advise you to choose something else.” Bartlett laughed confidently. “Piquct’s good enough for me,” he declared. “I used to play it with my old governor every night. Let's get on with it,” he added, moistening his dry lips. “A hundred pounds a time, eh?” “Whatever you like,” was the reply. It was midnight before the matter was con- cluded. Bartlett, white and distraught, with a dangerous, almost lunatic, gleam in his eyes, was pacing the room excitedly, Norah, unex- pectedly calm, was still seated in th= chair from which she had. watched the gambling with changeless expression. Tresholm. re- mained at the table. Before him lay a check for five thousand pounds which the young man had just signed, : “Ready, Jack?” she asked at last. “I suppose so,” he growled. “Come alcng.” Tresholm rose. “You've had a fair deal with level odds for your money, haven’t you?” he asked his late opponent. “I'm not complaining,” was the broken reply. “I suppose it's no use asking you to lend me a hundred just tc have one shot at the Sporting Club?” “Not the least use in the world,” Tresholm refused. “The hundred pounds would go just where the rest of your money has gone. There are some of us who are made to win at games of chance; others to lose. You are one of the predestined losers. If you take my advice, you @ will never again, so long as you live,.induige in any game of chance for money.” Hé opened the door. The girl passed ‘out, slim and digni- fled, ‘'without a glance in his direction. “Good might, Miss Bartlett,” he ventured. Y ergf. York to Be Guest . !Continued from Eighth Page that is disconcerting Her hands were folded in her lap, wrinkled hands, with large joints, tell-tale evidence of toil. Hard work in the kitchen and field, the rearing of 11 children in the mountains ‘of Tennessee. There is a seren- ity about this mother of a great son. There is evident in her attitude a strong self-respect, a pride in the sterling spiritual qualities and the hardihood of her race so admirably exemplified in her famous son. She would not be bewil- dered or even impressed in any company, no matter how exalted, or in surroundings of the most palatial magnificence. 'HE major gazed from mother to son and thought that the steadfastness of the ser- geant, under the driving, murderous hail of machine gun bullets, had been inspired by his mother’s steadfastness to Jove and duty through the years of toil on a mountainside. . Mrs. Alvin C. York, despite the fact that she is the mother of four children, is almost girlish in Jooks and movement. Though she has had contacts with the. big outside world since her marriage to the sergeant, she is shy. But her diffidence seems as becoming as the shyness of The sergeant led his guests into the Hving room of the house, the family following, and the officers were seated while the sergeant left them to remove the black grease from his hands, ; Lieut. Merrick spoke to a sturdy, bright-faced boy, the older of the York children, Samuel Houston York. The little fellow's glance dropped, and he stepped out on the veranda. A word or two to the others elicited only perfunctory replies. For a moment the Heu- was ill at ease, and his eye roved about the room; it was severe in its furnishings; the only ornamental object was a small organ with nnkoflen hymn book spread upon the m-isic Sergt. York returned from his ablutions and joined - the circle. . Maj. Lawrence gazed at the face of his host, noted the blue-gray eyes and the pin-pointed pupils fastened upon him, Back of those eyes was an iron will. York had practically refused to accept the general’s invitation; patently he had small desire to be- come the focal point of the curious-eyed crowds at the Nation’s Capital. To persuade this man to do. something against his will was an im- possibility—the Germans found that out. - Only by making the sergeant want to come could the decision be reversed. But how to do that? The major, as & former newspaper man, had interviewed many great ‘men. 'He had matched wits with statesmen, prominent indus- trial leaders and others who had preferred not to be interviewed. He had once been a sales- man and knew he must now do the best selling of his caréer, He had to find the sergeant’s soft ‘spot, if- he had one, so he spoke of the farm and of crops and thanked his stars that his youth, spent in a New York State rural PUORAL VIR L VUL O L0 VAR i 0) community, had given him so "sufficient an understanding of farm problems that he could ask intelligent questions. The sergeant became mildly interested as he made reply. Then the major led the conversation around to hunting, as the sergeant’s two brothers entered. They are tall, rangy, silent men, who took chairs and remained speechless, with their steadfast eyes never roaming from'the guests, - ; HUN'I‘!NG as a subject of conversation proved more interesting to the sergeant. In & short time he was talking interestingly of the game still to be found in the mountains. The major was now on sure ground—he, too, was a lover of hunting. Soon they were like two old friends with a mutual interest, laughing over tales of the chase as two such men will whien they discover such a bond of undérstand- “Now, I am getting somewhere,” thought the majer, as the conversation on arms atid shoot- ing became quite animated, and he adroitly drew out these men whose familiarity with guns dated from childhood. He learned that Sergt. York possessed his father's old muzzle-loader and preferred it to modern rifies for shooting distances up to a hundred yards. “An’ I got my granddaddy's gun,” said the older brother. Lawrence now felt more at ease. The ser- mess; possibly they were beginning to like him. The major felt the crucial moment had ar- rived. The sergeant was leaning forward with pin-pointed ' pupils of those gray-blue eyes bering into the major’s very .soul. Lawrence knew how deeply religious was this hero of the greatest war of history, also what a strong, abiding love for humanity actuated this man who on from the Bible would only come to his Hps. Why hadn’t he studied the' Word of 1 deeply as this hardy mountaineer? His words came slowly, pregnant with a world of mean- ing. “I passed the York Institute on the way up here. I saw your school; I know the Regular Army what you are doing for your own -people. We, too, need' help—need “your help. ‘Come over into Macedonia and help uss” 5 s It had come, that fllusive quotation from the Book of Books. It was an inspiration. The major’s lips were dry as he ‘watched the mask- like expression on the sergéant’s face. "Con- sclous all the time of the riveting gaze holding his own eyes transfixed. The sergeant’s 'Mps parted. He said two words, “I'l eume."l A ety ol “Good night, Mr. Treshiolm,” she replied. *I congratulate you upon your profitable evening.” “IITH that they both disappeared. Tresholm returned to his place at the table, playing idly with the cards. The Blue Train, disturbingly early upon its return journey, just as it is usually outrageous late upon its arrival, camg groaning round the bend from Mentone, snorting and puffing into the Monte Carlo station. Norah settled down sadly in her compartment while her brother made his way to the restaurant car to secure seats for dinner. Then, glancing.idly out of the: window, sh suddenly gave a little gasp. Very deliberately along the platform came Treshdlm,-calm and undisturbed. Behind him was a small .boy carrying an enormous bouquet of roses. :.. ‘She shrank back in her place. Anything rather than see him! Before she could decide uponi any means of escape, however, the roses were on the seat by her side, and Tresholm was standing bare-headed before her. “A little: farewell offering for you, #Miss Bart- you shake hands?” 8 Pl monsieur had good fortune.” ; Tresholm nodaed slightly, but without his usual smile. “Yes, T am gez 2rally lucky,” he confessed. De9n gvadl & b,’fl.‘fl‘hiw% ¥ Anw o,