The evening world. Newspaper, October 2, 1911, Page 17

\ , The A Great Mystery Story That Has Stirred All Paris for Months-- Printed Now for the First Time im English. sright, £011, by The Prose Publisiing Co, he New York World), CHAPTER I. The Body of Monsieur Grenet. T was after the groat week of Rhe! and the wlumph of F tw the magnificent exploit of Bleriot, was thrilling with Impatience fn the Presence of the first manifestations of a still uncertain sctence, and I Was quivering, in unison with the whole world, with a magnificent secret hope! T had not come to Betheny merely as a curious spectator to witness the first OMelal trial of a science which had passionately Interested me for five years. T Bad left my native country with the resolute determination to make myself famous in a science which had absorbed me for a long time. Thad profited by the experience of my already celebrated riv: man had been to my inquisitive mind like @ is, and had just the Last Word in Silly Plays. ‘VEN the bearded Jady of Barnum’s day was no grouter freak than the lady E barber who unpacked her kit at Daly's Theatre on Saturday afternoon in Rida Johnson Young's tonsorial absurdity "Next!" This play about an old maid might have se ) Mot euggested in every line and ey /> dilly old maid. Mrs, Young was ter that she could see nothing ex easily retort that that's exactly been wrong to do otherwise. @newors that argument. It {ts the last mixed farce with comedy and Jumbie so weird as to make ry situation that it had ently #0 carried awa pt from the #pin e wanted er point of view, w to do, that it word in silly plays, melodrama all qi ite impossible, Only sense of humor—tn thi sort of stuff, Next makes queint character ou, freaks, Mazey was the natural Patch, man’s bride." ight to cause unholy mirth; perhaps to make you just a bit youreelf. This poor lone woman with her parrot might be so guy if both Mrs. Young and Miss Lowell were not #0 determ unnecessarily “eccentric.” The feminin , in which the victory of Curtiss fold revelation. The world, still fermenting with enthusiasm for! med a little less allly tf tt had] written by by her chief charac. She may s would have But her play a8 @ whole 1s so ridiculous that it The author has with burlesque, and the result is a people as simple- minded as the charac- ters themselves could I had hired an unpretentious but be expected to find any! peasant little furnished apartment in sense—least of all @/ the Rue Marbeuf and registered myself that ace tress, Mins Helen Low- simply ridiculous. It fe a freak play about But Miss Low- ell is aomething more] than a freak when she) wants to be. Her Mis’ flower of "The Cabbage her Lizzie the| my distrust of others to the degree of real prise of “The Lot-| distrusting myself. So, on le: She is a ashamed of sing more than a ed to make her spirit 1s strong {n her, and even if she \ \ Boing to accomplish, at one stroke, an tr engrossing the entire world, I had spoken of it to Wilbur Wright himeelf, who had encouraged me, while remain- ing sceptical to the efficacy of my discovery. But what have I been writing? In truth, after all the experience ac- quired since that time, I remain the in- corrigible inventor of an invention of which I am no longer t since she who crossed my fal jestruc- tive meteor has vanished in space, risen into the ether, leaving me as my only consolation upon this earth my pitiable reason! Ah! this {s certainly the moment for me to make a sultable apology! And in beginning the extraordinary tale of my extraordinary adventure it 1s very un- skiiful on my part to give utterance to my puerile pride as an engineer whom glory would have too dear: My sole ambition for the present—shall I ever have courage for any other?—Is to write the narrative of the agonizing mystery that wilt henceforth weixi: upon my entire life—the horrible nightmare I have lived during several months like #0 many eternities—the frightful tale which is my own story. It would be fooll#h to prepare excuses. ‘The simplest way 1a to enter boldly upon the subject—as brutally as the fatality entered my lite, The most logical way is to be sincere with the reader I have always been aincere with myself during the endless days of my frightful adventure! The best !s to call solely upon my pitiable reason to write this terrible story And here it veracious and sincere: \there under the name of Stephenson. ‘here was no secret intention in this useless precaution of hiding my real name, unless it was the frritating anxiety of belleving in my ow: import- ance as an inventor and constantly con- cealing, a little absurdly, I admit, what |we regard as a secret—my secret which heli me to my soul, ae the @oul holds us in the body. This {sa morbid, unhealthful state of mind, which al men who hav been | possessed by @ fixed, exclusive idea will 1| readily comprehend. I had reached the point of carrying ing Lon- the ex- ery Man.” As Sophte|don to go to Rheims to witn: Brush she fe as obvious | Periments of my famous rivals, I had n exaggerated the futile precaution of as) the name under! wrion T have just spoken, so far as to which she travels to 4) tel! my dear wife Annie, who had ac- ng camp, and she! becomes merely | laughing stock, She| presents a spectacle that is ludicrous with- out being really funn You laugh at her ine stead of with her, espe-| Copyright, 1011, by The Press Publishing Co, claily when she gets (The New York World), ready for bed in “‘U i te bate” Peondergasea| BY Sophie Irene Loeb. shack. In her red flan-| fF YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME IT IS} rela she looks like a I BECAUSE YOU BRING THE caricature of “the fire-|# GOOL TIME WITH YOU. What 1s a good time? Most peo- | ple make a good | time a problem, | when ft should be | a PLUASURE, oes develop into a busybody, you admire her energy in putting the camp on The good time the water wagon and in st ing a demand for rum. But when she every day, every tmitates @ cash register w! gi" every time a customer gets out of the hour, Is belng IN- | barber chair and «i . and again when ste leads the band by TE TED, playing on a comb, you're apt to think her a litte foolish Yesterday I wai a 1 y while th | in a shop talking ‘All this falls far below Miss Lowell's artistic level, while the melodramatic | i 4 incidents in which she figures only go to show that she has been provided with| } y pin one oe Be very crude material. ‘The situation in which vhe holds up the inevitable bad) gopree IRENE Wena cata fetal man with a gun {s saved, however, when she drops the gun and it goes off| LOEB wen? cine with @ bang as {t strikes the floor. The gambler who hides in the cellar and| ner the customary “Did you have a comes up to make love to a trusting @trl under Sophie's indulgent eye is as! goog time?” “Yes,” he answered, | eut-and-dried @ type as Suge Brush Kate, who smokes and has herl Nua twee glad to pet beck.” Bie res wicked heart set upon having the o to the devil, re isn't a ree. oharacter in the whole play. > 6 Herry Conor is amusing as Prendergast, though rather soft-voiced for a mining camp. Harry D, Crosby swings a long leg as Mister Barnes, but you'd never take him for anything but the stage variety of Westerner—and so ! goes through the whole cast Advantage because she has never been seen in so poor a play. | " Miss Lowell has never been seen to such poor Tere Was A LITTLE ciel \NHAT _ FELT SORRY FOR A WMeLEBEE——— 1) echoed the sentiments of many others who ARE interested and have a good | time right “on the Job.” She went on to say that coming back from the so-called joy period, tt was REAL joy to see familiar faces again, d t "even if it were people just coming in! bilt—who knows but that her day 1s! he's gone, Ho was always looking for-| THESE ARB THE HAP: Fables of Ophelia; or, i Hon on, VL \KE Recnusé HARD. To set gained the certainty of my approaching triumph, a triumph that would @oon surpass Bleriot's and the resounding victories of ‘The unknown aviator who had come to France as a penetrating observer, was —_— ( JusT Know Youbs } wi RED OLT— Pickine~, 5 V0 BE SHIRHING |SET DOWN AND Rest } \'S PEG , ‘arman and Curtiss! mmense step in the problem which was companied me to the Charing Cross sta- ‘tio “I shall not write to you, my darting Annie, I shall communicate with you only when I consider {t expedient for the success of my great design. mean to be known by my Piva’ desire the French Aviators to remain ig- | norant of the formidable competitor Tam." Annie had answered tn en fey tone, her face rather hard and as usual quite Indifferent to the labore which were the object of my life. “Just as you choose, Willfam.” Now that the meeting at Rheims was over and I had been able to collect the ample harvest of observations and re- marks that only strengthened the as- surance of my approaching success, It was proper that I should at last sand | news of myself to my wife, who was awaiting my return in our cottage in the midst of a delightful, verdant coun- try regi w miles from Londo} For poss I sat 4 t morning, with a disagreeable taste in my mouth after awaking, at @ rosewood desk which was the least ordinary article in this “furnished apartment, and iny firet annoyance was to discover that I did not have a single acrap of| writing paper in my valise, | I could not tell with proper preciston for what Vague reasons my awakening was sulky. Jt was perhaps due to the| evening before, which I ent with my neighbors, listening to excellent mustc, perhaps to other unsuspected causes. I took no special interest in my neighbors, yet I must confess that at that moment it was impossible to avoid thinking of them. What I have to tell from this time {s somewhat diffcult. I am neither| very foppish nor very vain, but in the} perplexity I felt concerning my nelgh- bors there was a alight tinge of both qualitle: he point in question was no love affair, let that be clearly under. stood, but a difficulty a thousand timer worse, Here lies the trouble of relating an annoying situation without exposing | myself to ridicule, I had made thelr ac- | quaintance at Rheims under perfectly | ordinary conditions. It was through aj commonplace meeting at table that I knew M. and Mme. Grenet. ‘The same difficulty presents itself tn speaking of Mme. Grenet's husband, I feel exactly the sane embarrassment. It 1s perfectiy obvious that the opinion I may have to-day concerning my unfor- tunate neighbors {s not at all the opin- fon I formed at that perlod before tte horrible misfortune which was to over- take us all. It 1 evident that T oan no longer regard Mme. Grenet from the special angle at which I saw her this morning push open the door of my) apartment, gently, cautiously— ‘And yet I see her precisely as she was | at that instant, erect @ statue, envel- oped in the folds of her cloak, her hat with {ts large wings shading her palo | face, the features looking set under the| thickly dotted vetl. I atill hear in my buzzing ears her quiet voice, an emo- voice, aaying without the least | like to speak to you—-entirely alone—t think it is something very serious, 1) am going to take @ walk in the Champs | Elysee!" | I again clearly seo her figure vanish | without giving me time to ask an @ planation, I seo again the slight b! made by her Suede glove upon the cop- | per handle of my door. I ee again, as at the tragic instant, the living statue of Madame Grenet vanish behind my | door and disappear down the stairway. T hear again the dull sound of her pol- | ished shoes on the soft carpet of the) stairs she descended immediately, but without hurrying. At that instant I had Just written the first line of my letter to my beloved) ife companion. I had discovered tn the drawer of the rosewood desk a box of paper, probably forgotten, I afterward learned, by a previous occupant named Zimmermann. On the sheet, marked with his initial! T had written the single line: i “My Dear Annie Laying my stylographic pen on the; 1d, I rose from my chair in spite of the | annoyance caused by this request, to| pass into the adjoining apartment occu- | pled by my nelghbors. In truth T urged by no feeling of curlosity. I knew or thought I knew); that M., Grenet could have nothing of serious importance to tell me! So I was automatically obeying an instin tive {mpulse of compliance with Mure, Grenet's desire. On the whole after the first sense of irritation caused by her sudden ap; rance in my room, her dis- creet and rapid fashion of withdrawing had quickly relieved me from an embar- rassmment which still will be understood later, when I explain the constant per- plexity which this woman cat me. I went out upon the landing and turned toward my neighbor's apart. ment. Doubtless through # sort of |nounce myself. |clrarette case. |and my mechanical gesture was to offer Octo ———————E b Weird P lamp, now gone, M. Grenet, horritte with hia swollen face, tung tnert and lifeless, a rope around hie neck, bis eyes glassy . . Let my weakness be conaidered un- worthy of a man, I eee no harm in that! I have certainly no excuse to Give concerning the eort of mental and physical prostration which completely me before thie frightful spec- tacle, All the explanations I could of- fer after the affair would not mean much. Between Mme, Grenet's calm tnvita~ tion now, and the mournful eight of Grenet’s corpse succeeding It within an interval of two minutes there was @ huge biack pit, an absolute chasm, @ darkness imporstble to dispel; and into thie pit, into thts chasm, and into this darkness I sank, body and woul! Phystcatly, without betng an athiete, 1 am @ vigorous man; morally, T la: claim to having considerable self con trol, even under the most trying ei custances. I make my boast at times, of not being an Anglo-Saxon for noth- f thoughtful precaution, Mme. Grenet had left her door half open—so that I had no occasion either to ring or to an- I had entered the ante-room and mechanically took from my pocket my An inveterate smoker as well as I, M. Grenet worshipped Turkish tobacco, him my cage in a friendly way as daily occurred between us. I expected to find him tn the drawing- room, The door stood open, but it was empty. On the plano lay the score of “Tannhauser,” at the page where, the evening devore, Mme. Grenet had stopped playing—a finished, express! playing that had thrilled all three of us in unison, In @ jar on a bracket wes the now fading bouquet I had presented to the young wifo the evening before. Silence continued—and this ellence grated on my nerves. were familar to me, too I went toward the din- , and like a neighbor, @ friend, {ng-roo! called: ‘Monsieur Grenet!"* No one answered, I pushed the door open, and the un- expected sight which suddenly rose be- fore my eyes nailed me to the spot, petrified me with horror. From the ring that helt the swinging ing. t, and my mind, dazed, Incapable of a single idea, no longer commanded my nerves! I exactl; Uke an auto whose chauffeur has | strength to re- the store that she knew. In her rela-| tions with them she had grown to! look for their coming and be PLE D in the making of transactions for them, It was a part of her good time period. | Here 1s the secret of being that needs | Kno ‘ittle or no argument to give tt back-| going ustray bone. The average Joy secker goes on the Itheory that most men want but Mttle| here below and want that little feverish and furlous, And everyb hax a diferent viewpoint on the good time proposition, There are those of us who want a! “hot time in the old town to-night with the everlasting ‘morning after nd then make iife miserable to those around during the work-a-day hours with the grouch that won't come oft, when a little good cheer In the every- day me of things might not only | BOOST but be @ real boon to all con- cer he wee woman who hums a tune as she scrubs the office floors has brought a good time with her, and every day sordid side of things st fn the tune of the “Ragtime Band And {f during thi ess she can) forget that she {s not a Mrs. Vander- | nst Upon a Time # {What Is the Real Meaning of ‘a Good Time?’ JUST AS PLEASANT to woman of millions? her as the en there is the {ndividual who thinks a good time means planning & party and You and I and all of us about the plans of mice and men sometimes. Besides, there ts the everlasting truth that the un-| planned ple are the most pleas- ant, | y the take-things-as-they- ople seem to be the good time species, Interest, pleasure radiates to | th because its ALWAYS “‘fair) weath when good fellows get to gether’—whether It be a business trans- action or a PERSONAL affatr. They do not ACCEPT @ny bad times! and therefore are ready to copa with them should they chance their way, | Then there are some of us, I am sorry | to say, who are so bent on the’ go: (thne TO COME that we forget to m the good time tn the LIVING PRESENT, little realizing !n the words of old Omar, “The bird of Tine ha but a ttle to flutter—and th Bird is on the Wing." A rich man died the other day and his best friend said of him, “Poor Zoe Copyright, 1911, by The Prew Publishiag Co. (The New York World). EY ALL DAN LonG—} He HAD TO WORK So So ste INVITED Him DOWN AHO REST. Mere! ant iT} Nice To DO NOTHING FQ Awhile, 2 pe RR Weir, we sniv, ” I've BUMBLING AROUND A TopA, So | PART of it. YES, BUT mY CONSCIENCE \® PRICHING- ! \l BEEN Good DEAL } Guess | Willy go the wheel and which stupidly goes to wreck against an obstacle easily avoided. Yes. The sole thought I had was neither to bring help speedily to the man hung, who perhaps might yet be saved, nor even to summon all my ke ward to the great, LONG VACATION | strength to call, for illusive ald, the he would take and now IT has taken other tenants and the proprietor, but dim." solely, after having dropped into @ chair near the remains of the food, to selze a carafe of water within reach of my hand, and pour {nto one of the thre glasses on the tray @ few mouthful which I swallowed at one gulp, like « necessary cordial. This action clearly showed that it was impossible for moe to recover my presence of mind, for tt demonstrated only one thing, that st was no longer the brain that commanded the body, but that the latter was left without And, of course, we all know how many are ‘one to walt for pleasure to be BROUGHT to thelr doors, when the! funny part about pleasure ts that we! must meet it HALF WAY and be @ Otherwise we are but on- lookers. Yet, above all, he or she who casts a gloom of DISCONT T or disapproval where pleasure pervades never DOES | have a good time and ts the proverbial) control. It seemed as if the cool water death's head at the feast. “Lighting but|was flery lava in my parched throat. an hour or two {# For he t#/1 started at the sharp, burning sensa- tion I felt, and from the apart- ment, as if I were actually running after young Mme. Grenet, after my misfortune, after my fate. And I found myself on the tanding not wanted more. ‘The “good time attribute” resolves It- | self when an individual is @ part and! parcel in the scheme of making EVERY HOUR A PLEASANT one. face to face with the lady trom whom Certainly, we all effervesce at times I rented my rooms, smiling, cordial, and have a SPECIAL good time when) with a Found 10% jal Taos, woe waa pant. pribegrpsiy ing for brevih from chronto asthma as merriment 4s the dominant chord at that] 1M" Calne "up the stairs with a package lar period, But there ts that] oe tetters in her hand. ZVER-PRESENT good time which| Evidently, if I had been @ different causes the so-called humdrum thing to| sort of a man, a man to whom Mme. take on NIOW aspects and makes real|Grenet had not said just now: “Mon- toll not only tolerant but pleasin, (flops, Mtepnenso » my bvabaad would st Phe: a 6 hap! v9," 6 to spea o youe-entirely alone,” Pelee Ka [Se 4ay9," | 1 should have ahrieked the truth, should have selzed her to Moni her by the arm and led ur Grenet's corpse! ¥ DAyYs! THATS We. Wat ITH WWese sociausts | C | Dy 3 Vs BUT He SET Down Too HARD, | Guess. My iimbs give way under me as if I had been @ weak woman without y Clare Victor Dwiggins er 2, 1911 ‘ The Strange Adven- turesofan American in France and the roblem saw my landlady as if I did not her, and without returning her 2 ant gree I abruptly en! ay room and blunderingly double looked myself int F Good heavens! I may well ay, Geringly, for the worthy woman, instantly. rapped at my door. And it was from that minute that I recovered consciousness of {ty, I had an indescribable sense. Fiddincss, I had the sensation the black gulf, the chasm, the stretched between visit and the vision husband's corpse were invincibly = ing me toward them. And, oti) mepe awiftly, I had the feeling that all efforta I was about to make te plunging in would be futile, Without further reasoning, efter tng double locked my door in my lady's face, I opened it to her, “You are completely ‘upset,’ M. frighten mi 1 tmmedia: fensive against the attack startling question and enswered “Nothing.” The defense was as awkward es @e unconscious attack of this through whose lips was firet fm a concise and terrible fashion, problem which no ons wag able aolvel Bhe excused herself. mail. have two letters here for M. Grenet M. Grenet! Mme. Grenet! The landlady, bow, had left my threshold. entered my neighbor's close my door. against the watl, h waited for I did not know what. I did not know whom. My were fixed upon the copper in a divinatory hallucination clearly saw the faint blur made ten minutes of charming Mme. Grenet. that Mme. Grenet's hand had there, as if to shut me within the square feet of this room, from wi could never again go out, con! the sheet of letter paper marked the Z, and my stylographic pea, forth powerless to write an: cept that line to my beloved wifes dear Annie.” Ey, of agontzing expectation. ‘The frantic shrieks of my almost instantly roused me I her terrified screams down the ‘Murder! Murder!" and the “Shut the doors of the and send for @ policeman!” ‘Then, after the banging of | every etory, came, in the twinkling eye, the mad rush of all the They came down from the ran up from the lower floors, 2 ore by the suede glove “I beg your pardon, M. Stephenson I never have anything for you in th I saw Mme. Grenet go out.5 after a last forme) She hac whioh I had left the evening before thrilled by the exquisite and feeling execution of “Tannhauser.” i This time I did not have courage to ing like a shadaw i I did not remain long in this staf) Sate wildered looks, anxious | distracted faces, men, women and |dren reached the landing outside off threshold, To Be Continued) | itt re Fy eee