MORE TALES OF THE PAWNBROKER

Hokitika Guardian, 23 March 1928, Page 1

MORE TALES OF THE PAWNBROKER

I -MONTE CARLO, Jan. 31. Nowhere in the world are the ups and downs of life so accentuated as in Monte Carlo. A man will be rich one day, bankrupt the next, and again affluent perhaps on the third day. The blind lust for gambling seizes people who never before .were conscious of their ilightening weakmindedness. Of them my friend the pawnbroker of the Rue do a Costa can toll .strange .-.lories. “A young German count came to me last summer,’’ he said. “Day after day ho pledged one thing and then another. Finally in tears he came and asked to pledge his coat. Now T have travelled. I am educated. I have gambled. I was sorry for that young count. 1 gave him 109 francs and his fare (third class) for Marselless, where is the German Counsul. For you know, he laid told me that his papa, and mamma had sent money to him three times and lie had gambled it away, and now they would send no more. So I was sorry for him. “Bui next day my secretary came to mo. She said. 'That young count is still here' “I sent for him. Tie came. IL* was ashamed. He had spent that money, too, at the tables. I said to him: 'Van are a foolish boy. Here is 60 francs and promise on your honour to go to the German Consul at Marseilles, lie said be would. He said, too: ‘1 am a good swimmer. This afternoon I way going to swim as far our as possible into to Mediterranean. Then f v. as going to drown and leave another scandal for Monte Carlo’ “It was true you could see it in bis eyes. This time be kept bis honour. He went. Six weeks later be sent me back all the money. At tVs now Year six months after, be sent me a card greeting. A good boy. “But not always are they so grateful. An Englishwoman camo to me. She brought some old fir - , and her husband's coat. What good wete they to_ me?. She desired 590 francs. I could not do that. I said 200 then she cried. How she cried!. I said 'Hn.-n Here is five bundl'd francs.’’ She wont crying still but happier. Two days later she came hack. She had made money. Quick! Give ire my furs and my coat, she said. What ! Nine per cent interests ; And she was very haughtv and very rude and very i inpatient. “It is affairs like that which make me hard if I were not—how you sav?—by nature tolerant,” continued the polished. middle-aged pawnbroker of the Rue de In Costa. “In contrast with a Hungarian count. He told me he had lost his a 11—78.000 francs—at the tables. He showed me a watch with a , crest. T offered him 200 francs. He took it quietly and went away. He ( was a gentleman—very calm, hiding his dispair. “Very proud are some of my clients. They come at a few minutes before nine at night. They blush to enter. They blush to be seen with a pawnbroker. “What would happen.” they say. ‘if my friends who saw me gambling with thousands yeterday should now view me pawning my rings or my watch ?' “That I can understand. It would be unpleasant certainly. But T—T keep quiet. I tell no one the names of my clients. They are professional secrets. Here I learn intimate things about all countries—about the modes and expenses, about the private lives of people of the first quality. “Often there are happy endings to niv clients.” concluded tlic singular pawnbroker of the Rue de la Costa. “Yesterday a pretty girl entered and pawned her furs for 3,000 francs. An hour later she had returned. She had made 15,000 francs. “-Staying in Monte Carlo now is an English gentleman. Tie has an umbrella mounted with gold. For this T gave him 125 francs, sometimes three times a day. He told me he was frightened to go to the Casino with more than

that money. So each day he leaves his hotel with the umbrella and conjes to me. If he wins 125 francs he comes hack and redeems the umbrella. “lly now with the interest alone he could have bought 20 new umbrellas—but his arrangement with me prevents him from losing more than 125 francs each time he goes to the tables. That is a wise man. Not all are so wise. “Yes it is a queer life—most interessting, most human, pathetic often, funny sometimes, but always a battlo of the brains from morning to night.”-