ed with bourgeoise and animated with the commerce of
market and shop.

An Englishman once was so fired with a desire to see the gay life of the
Latin Quarter that he rented a suite of rooms on this same Boulevard St.
Germain at about the middle of this long, quiet stretch. Here he stayed
a fortnight, expecting daily to see from his "chambers" the gaiety of a
Bohemia of which he had so often heard. At the end of his disappointing
sojourn, he returned to London, firmly convinced that the gay life of
the Latin Quarter was a myth. It was to him.

[Illustration: (crowded street market)]

But the man from Denver, the "Steel King," and the two thinner
gentlemen with the louis-lined waistcoats who accompanied him and whom
Fortune had awakened in the far West one morning and had led them to
"The Great Red Star copper mine"--a find which had ever since been a
source of endless amusement to them--discovered the Quarter before they
had been in Paris a day, and found it, too, "the best ever," as they
expressed it.

They did not remain long in Paris, this rare crowd of seasoned genials,
for it was their first trip abroad and they had to see Switzerland and
Vienna, and the Rhine; but while they stayed they had a good time Every
Minute.

The man from Denver and the Steel King sat at one of the small tables,
leaning over the railing at the "Bal Bullier," gazing at the sea of
dancers.

"Billy," said the man from Denver to the Steel King, "if they had this
in Chicago they'd tear out the posts inside of fifteen minutes"--he
wiped the perspiration from his broad forehead and pushed his
twenty-dollar Panama on the back of his head.

"Ain't it a sight!" he mused, clinching the butt of his perfecto between
his teeth. "Say!--say! it beats all I ever see," and he chuckled to
himself, his round, genial face, with its double chin, wreathed in
smiles.

"Say, George!" he called to one of the 'copper twins,' "did you get on
to that little one in black that just went by--well! well!! well!!! In a
minute!!"

Already the pile of saucers on their table reached a foot high--a record
of refreshments for every Yvonne and Marcelle that had stopped in
passing. Two girls approach.

"Certainly, sit right down," cried the Steel King. "Here, Jack,"--this
to the aged garcon, "smoke up! and ask the ladies what they'll
have"--all of which was unintelligible to the two little Parisiennes and
the garcon, but quite clear in meaning to all three.

"Dis d