The Triflers   By: Frederick Orin Bartlett (1876-1945)

THE TRIFLERS

BY

FREDERICK ORIN BARTLETT

With Illustrations by

George Ellis Wolfe

TORONTO

THOMAS ALLEN

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

1917

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY EVERY WEEK CORPORATION

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY FREDERICK ORIN BARTLETT

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published March 1917

TO

ANN AND KENT

CONTENTS

I. THE TROUBLE WITH MONTE II. THE TROUBLE WITH MARJORY III. A SUMMONS IV. A PROPOSAL V. PISTOLS VI. GENDARMES AND ETHER VII. THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING SHOT VIII. DRAWBACKS OF RECOVERY IX. BLUE AND GOLD X. THE AFFAIR AT MAXIM'S XI. A CANCELED RESERVATION XII. A WEDDING JOURNEY XIII. A WEDDING JOURNEY ( continued ) XIV. THE BRIDE RUNS AWAY XV. IN THE DARK XVI. A WALK ON THE QUAY XVII. JUST MONTE XVIII. PETER XIX. AN EXPLANATION XX. PAYING LIKE A MAN XXI. BACK TO SCHEDULE XXII. A CONFESSION XXIII. LETTERS XXIV. THE BLIND SEE XXV. SO LONG XXVI. FREEDOM XXVII. WAR XXVIII. THE CORNICE ROAD XXIX. BENEATH THE STARS

ILLUSTRATIONS

LOI A NEW TENDERNESS SWEPT OVER HER . . . Frontispiece

"WE'RE TO BE MARRIED TO MORROW?"

MONSIEUR'S EYES WARMED AS HE SLIPPED THE WRAP OVER MADAME'S SHOULDERS

"BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU," BREATHED BEATRICE

"DID N'T BEATRICE TELL ME YOU REGISTERED HERE WITH YOUR WIFE?"

"PETER!" SHE CRIED, FALLING BACK A STEP

"BUT, O GOD, IF HE WOULD COME!"

From drawings by George E. Wolfe

THE TRIFLERS

CHAPTER I

THE TROUBLE WITH MONTE

For a man to keep himself consistently amused for ten years after his graduation from college, even with an inheritance to furnish ample financial assistance, suggests a certain quality of genius. This much Monte Covington had accomplished accomplished, furthermore, without placing himself under obligations of any sort to the opposite sex. He left no trail of broken hearts in his wake. If some of the younger sisters of the big sisters took the liberty of falling in love with him secretly and in the privacy of their chambers, that was no fault of his, and did neither them nor him the slightest harm.

Such minor complications could not very well be avoided, because, discreet as Monte tried to be, it was not possible for him to deny certain patent facts, to wit: that he was a Covington of Philadelphia; that he was six feet tall and light haired; that he had wonderfully decent blue eyes; that he had a straight nose; that he had the firm mouth and jaws of an Arctic explorer; that he had more money than he knew what to do with; and that he was just old enough to be known as a bachelor without in the slightest looking like one.

At the point where the older sisters gave him up as hopeless, he came as a sort of challenge to the younger.

This might have proved dangerous for him had it not been for his schedule, which did not leave him very long in any one place and which kept him always pretty well occupied. By spending his winters at his New York club until after the holidays; then journeying to Switzerland for the winter sports; then to Nice for tennis; then to Paris for a month of gay spring and the Grand Prix; and so over to England for a few days in London and a month of golf along the coast he was able to come back refreshed to his camp in the Adirondacks, there to fish until it was time to return to Cambridge for the football season, where he found himself still useful as a coach in the art of drop kicking.

The fact that he could get into his old football togs without letting out any strings or pulling any in, and could even come through an occasional scrimmage without losing his breath, was proof that he kept himself in good condition.