Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1911)

110 THE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE woman I ever met/' remarked Dexmore, as he finished reading the letter and flung it on the table. "Have a cigar, Colonel?'7 "Thanks, my good fellow/' said the Colonel, helping himself to a perfecto; "and now, what are you going to do about it ?" "Do ?" echoed Ralph, "why, I'm going to wait until that blooming Frenchman gets here, and then I'll make his life so miserable for him that he'll wish he'd never set foot in America. I'll wager any amount he's an imposter and a mere heiress seeker." For a moment both men smoked their cigars in silence. Then the Colonel suddenly sprang to his feet. "I've got it — I've got it !" he exclaimed so suddenly that Dexmore ran toward him fearing an attack of illness. But the Colonel was never more vigorous. He slapped Dexmore soundly on the shoulder as he continued his exclamations. "I've got a scheme that will sidetrack that foreigner before he ever gets started," he chuckled, as he hurried from the room. When he returned he had a photograph with him. There was a brief, low-toned conversation ; and the inquisitive maid, listening at the keyhole, heard something about "disguise" and "costume," but could make nothing of it. Then the two men went out into the hall, put on their coats and hats and hurried from from the house. "A little more to one side, please. There, that will do. Just a moment, gentlemen, until I touch up that left eye-brow. Now, will the gentleman kindly smile while I make the comparison ?" The gentleman with the beetle brows and curling mustache smiled obediently. "It is perfect !" exclaimed the first speaker, with a sigh of satisfaction, as he held a photograph at arm's length and critically compared it with the subject before him. "If the gentleman is satisfied, I trust he will be so kind as to recommend me " "Eecommend ? " interrupted the voice of the third person in the small room. "If the scheme goes thro we'll recommend you as capable of transforming Old Nick himself. Here, is that enough ?" And the Colonel handed a generous bill to the urbane costumer. Then, turning toward the counterpart of the picture, "Now, Count What's-your-name, get yourself together and we'll hunt up a hotel." The two disappeared down the steps, and the costumer returned to his work. The morning papers next day announced the arrival of the Count de Barbes, of Paris, and that afternoon the titled foreigner presented himself at the Blakeman residence. He carried a bunch of gardenias. He presented them to the fair Clara on his bended knees. He arose, he struck an attitude, he posed, and he stroked his Van Dyke beard at frequent intervals. His eyes, like those of the poet's lay, were "in a fine frenzy rolling." His fine speeches found ready ears, but the pretty little heiress wondered why the Count did not look her directly in the face; but she remembered that all geniuses must have their eccentricities. At the earliest moment, a few days later, when she was free from engagements, and the lively courtship had progressed amazingly, she wrote to Marguerite : "My dearest girl: He's come. He's here. He's perfectly splendid — as a Count, you know. Of course, he's not so good looking as Ealph, but his gallantry is that of an angel. Such candor — such ardor — such devotion ! He hadn't been in the drawing-room half an hour before he told me that I was the fulfillment of the dream of his life; and he said that when he saw that picture of me he knew the face, instantly, as the one of his dreams. He says he will die if I don't marry him at once, and, will you believe it ? — father has given his consent ! I had hoped to have a church wedding and a long list of foreign guests, but we'll have to give it up. It is all so sudden I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I wish he was better looking. I'm glad he isn't a little man, tho, as I thought he was, from your letter. He's fully