The Key to Yesterday

rtorial novelties from the Rue de la Paix for the adornment of his person ma

lawless elements had marked him for violence, he went stubbornly in the conspicuousness of ultra-tailoring. Though he loved to address the proletariat

a notable, yet he was a new type, and, even before the ladies had emerged from their cloak-room and while the men wer

f travel, the attaché had the art of small talk and the charm of story-telling. To these recommen

e and Saxon, who had telephoned to beg that the dinner go on,

ered the sidewalk. At the open windows, the May air that stirred the curtains was warm enough to suggest summer, and new enough

and, as he bowed over the hand of each woman, it

almost tigerish movements that suggested the satanic. But, if the impression she received was not flattering to the guest, the impression she made was evidently profound. Ribero glanced at

space at her left. The name on the place card was hidden. She rather hoped it would be Saxon. She meant to ask him why he did not break away from the Marston influence that handicapped his career, and she believed he would entertain her. Of course, George Steele was an old

ational ball rolling along the well-worn groove of gossip. "And, if she needs a witness, she may call on m

arity behind her, she felt aggrieved to hear mentioned n

manded. "I don't think I have

htened. "There were 'no funeral baked meats to furnish forth the marriage

ss Preston glanced up inquiringly. "He used to be

ere. You see, the papers were so busy with Jack's affairs that they crowded Ja

bad sort," testified Mr. Cleaver, solemnly

"he was seen in some town in South

a covert study of the face and figure beside him. Just now, the girl was looking away at the indolently stirring curtains with an expressi

ion, and resolved that the topic must

might reasonably expect them to lose interest as types, yet each of them seems

teele and Saxon. Ribero, the only person prese

draw back. The lips that had parted in a casual smile hardened rigidly, and the eyes that rested on the face of Steele's celebrity were so intently focused that they almost stared. The byplay occupied only a moment, and, as Ribero had half-turned from the table to greet

leased,

e betrayal of such undiplomatic surprise, and

is position. For the instant, the other man's conduct became a matter of negligible importan

ut to tell us an interesting story when you two de

he realized that he must say something, and at the moment, with a flash of inspiration, he determined to relate a bit of history that would be of interest at least to the narrator. It was not at all the story he might have told had he been uninterrupted, b

est escape from death that I have seen-

tory-teller was only ostensibly addressing the table; that the man was talking at him, as a prosecutor talks at the defendant though he may direct himself to the jury. Th

for a moment, and smiled at Saxon, as though expecting a sign of confusion upon

sonality, and, on brief acquaintance, I, for one, liked him. His skill and luck held good so long that it was only when the insurgents were at the gates of the capital that a summary court-martial gave him the verdict of death. I have no doubt that by the laws of war it was a just a

ention, and that the story-teller was narrowly watching his fingers as they

proceeded Se?or Ribero evenly, "that one could not withhold admiration. The picture remains with me. The sun on the yellow cathedr

well-remembered. Beyond the girl's absorbed gaze, he saw that of the painter, a

very moment he could hear the staccato popping of the guns he had smuggled past the vigilance of the customs. Th

Buford, leaning forward across

attaché irrelevantly; "in his eyes dwelt something

rne glass to his lips, and s

e shook his head almost savagely. 'No, damn you!' he snapped out, as though he wer

r halted in

ed Duska, in a low v

eigner

possibly, they sympathized with the revolution; possibly, each of the six secretly calculated that the other five would be sufficient. Quien sabe? At all events, he fell only slightly w

for Miss Filson had dropped her napkin on Saxon's side, and, when the paint

ed the diplomat with a shrug, "a new presidente was

th the sympathy of Mr. Bellton's dinner-party, as was attested by a distinctly audi

hero that his high fortunes intoxicated him, and success rotted his moral fiber. Eventually, he embezzled a fortune from the government which he had assisted to establish. There was als

ever be thrown together again, he would know me ... and I have often wished

s, and had a question in his glance that seemed to call fo

engrossi

itically, "the first part was so good tha

d enigmatically in

ad difference between fiction an

, "he was a brave man. That is enough to remem

lance Saxon flashed on her was

name?" she sud

"but gentlemen in the unrecognized pursuits quite frequently have

apart, near the window. It was open on the balcony, and the man felt a sudden wish for the quiet freshness of the outer air

intervening branches and leaves of the sidewalk sycamores s

darkly shadowed balcony was vaguely defined, but Saxon at once re

he hastily apologized. "I

that have frighten

ron rail, and the man to

ined, "and their machine hasn't come y

e thinking of Babylon?" h

my mind. It was so personal, and-I guess I'm a moo

e members sat smoking, and the softened clicking of ivory from the open windows of the billiard-room. The painter's fi

ment, he leaned forwar

such a man-can you imagine any circumstances

added impulsively: "Do you know, I'm afraid I'm a terrible heathen? I can excuse so much wh

oist forehead, but, before he could frame his answer, the girl hea

luded Ribero. As the attaché shook hands, he held Saxon's somewhat longe

-teller, Mr. Ribero,"

, se?or, where one has so good a listener. By the wa

er shook

r life-some life as dead

y, still smiling-"some of the phara