It Pays to Smile

cter to do any dentist credit, were the least important factor, beautiful as they were. It was the way his face lighted up which caught one. In any situation that smile would pr

instinctively, though it w

nt English and a delightfully modulated voice, yet with a

aches, her eyes holding

trifle bla

on. "But I think it's awfully jolly. I sup

aches. "Gee-whiz! Who

nadvertent guest. "Aren't

eye!" remarked Pea

call to me?" exclaimed the

leaned forward and shouted

n, Peaches?" he said.

fe American bourgeois in trade and every bally thing-name of Alicia Pegg; and this is my father, Pinto Pegg

n Monteventi. A duke! As I glimpsed the card, which with proper breeding he handed first to me, I nearly fainted. We must have made a mistake somehow. Yet he was undoubte

e. We thought-well, we thought you were a friend of ours-but I don't quit

is, you are going my way, so if you don

have a duke along. That's what we came to Europe for, you know

e rented a chateau at Deux Arbres and when you called, Miss Pegg, I thought they had come to meet me. We shall p

by Scarpia are!" I exclaimed. "They were pain

ed at me in s

Do you know the Gor

y Burke's History of the Sixte

mehow drew us into a delicious intimacy. His smile seemed at once to compliment my erudition and a

u bound for,

River or even Dogtown, and I used to get a lot of comfort out of them two places when I was herding hop pickers round the head of

as as unintelligible to the duke as

aid. "In point of fact my home is not far from it-l

g. "Well, you do talk E

duke. "My mother was an American, th

!" said Peaches, and then blus

lian, you know, really, and I love

moments of curious silence that fell upon us unwi

the inn, and that trap looks as if it would take one to t

mmand, and the duke, despite our p

ght to the ranch house-castl

rouble, young man

ostelry and we resumed our journey. When we had done so Alicia's father subjected her to a cross examination which I, rather than she, deserved,

llect that young swell?" said her par

ke from the B-2 outfit, and I was so surprised I yelled be

ectable!" he boomed. "This isn't the coast, you know, and people round he

ideways at Richa

der!" she said delibera

to our heart's content. And in the end we tacitly cleared him of connection with the incident of the London theater, Alicia insisting that I must have been mistaken in my identification of him, and I

You know what I mean-he's a duke, of course, but I shoul

y enough I u

erest in Parisian art galleries. We would plan our trip for the day within earshot of her parent, and in truth we did occasionally visit them as we had announced. But more f

t for nothing had I taken a prize at Miss Hichbourne's Seminary and Finishing School for Young Gentlewomen with an essay entitled Un Matin de Mai, for it developed that I was the only person in our party possessed of even the rudiments of any foreign

ce than I had hitherto possessed, and to dispatch home by boat mail an embroidered shawl for my sister and some fine cambric han

han that she had found him sitting in the Jardin de Tuileries and he had professed to be homesick, she did nothing remarkable. It is a fact that upon one occasion she was barely prevented from using physical violence upon the driver of a fiacre, who she maintained was a dog-faced son of a muleteer and was ripe for admission to the nether world, his inevitable landi

o in a dashing hand announced that she would be "charmed to see you, dear old thin

ider the mere fact of her reply an encouraging sign, and with his customary abruptness of decision gave orders that we pack up at once and proceed to Italy by tr

Talbot, and hit the trail for the Italian citrus country. I am anxious to start looking the lemon situa

ented. "Though it is a pity

w the folks living in them," the Citrus King commented. "And perhaps o

til the attainment of his object. Already I was learning not to dispute his decisions. Besides, it was conceivable that Cousin Abby did know some French nobility, or the lessees of some, and that if she accepted us at all we might possibly make their acquaintance in due course. Indeed the circumstan

near the elevator, where she was engaged in explaining some game of cards-a form of solitaire-to the youth who operated the elevator. They were seated upon

ing; "the ten on the jack; move 'em

d. "Stop it at once!

ent, being small and easily contained in that part of her vanity case usually occupied by rouge and lip stick, for which, thank heaven, Alicia had neither need

way!" I said. "Come back to the apartment and pack

f semihypnosis. "Thanks for the paper, captain," she said. "Keep that dollar you owe me for a tip!" And then she slid her arm around my neck and strolled down the corridor with me,

ondon ones that have only news which could never have been fresh to me. I wanted to see a good comic sheet. Gee! How we used to rush for 'em out on the ranch. When Bill Hovey's

spair at her simplicity than as th

e. But we didn't have any volumes of Webster or any such li

ferred Byron to Webster, and not feeling in the least convinced that Peaches knew of the existe

id. He comes from Texas. He showed me a peach of a trick, and I was showing him a new Canfie

f the paper as she talked, and now she

nquired. "Not Sebastian Ma

h. He's bought another picture, that's all. And paid th

! Sebastian Markheim is one of the greatest collectors of antique paintings

nch near our home outfit, and came over to get some pointe

ian Markheim, the great millionaire

fifty or so," she said carele

r learn to be more reticent about th

mildly. "In fact he's awfully rough. He h

ther used to say, most unpleasant subjects thrive on repr

chase that is worthy of

aphael, last name not mentioned," replied the young heathe

en the newspa

, by one of the greatest artists that ever lived. The extraordinary part of such a sale is that any private individual should own it. Its proper place is a mus

glad to get such a price for a thing as old as that, woul

f even greater importance, which had evidently escaped her attention. It was small and incon

Panels

Ellis Gordon for the past two years. The uttermost mystery surrounds the disappearance of the four panels, which have been one of the show features of the place. How the panels could disappear in the brief interval between the announcement of dinner and the return of the guests

ent. Or almost so, for, of course, our native feminine curiosity was enormously piqued.

place we left him at; the Gordon outfit! It seems like

eaded for the Riviera, while I don't suppose he wil

d Alicia with quite unnecessary violence. "He-he

ested. "If he were not a duke, Alicia, I should be incline

that's all. You mustn't let your girlish imagination run away with yo

tention of having Miss Stimpson, our local seamstress, make them up for me the very minute we returned to Boston. I had also a new coat which Alicia had insisted upon presenting to me, and some garments of a more private nature which I had secretly purc

ked a few substantial petticoats with handmade crochet edging and my second-best dolman into a paper parcel, which I ad