A JOURNALISTIC BET.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 536, 25 January 1913, Page 2

A JOURNALISTIC BET.

HOW A REPORTER ENJOYED 3 CHEAP AFTERNOON. An amusing/article in one of the Paris papers the other day was .the result OP a bet between two journalists. The bet was that the author ol the article would hot succeed in getting two free meals a~d afternoon tea, and spend the evening at the theatre without spending a half-penny. H« won his bet, and this is how he won it. At twelve o'clock e:-:a:tly, when the lunch-bell rang,, he walked Upstairs in a big department sto"c and joined the shopmen who were going to lh:ii luncheon. Nobody took the slightest notice, of him. Everybody was je too much hurry to notice that there was a stranger present, and he made an cxcellant lunch of calf's head, spinach, and dessert. At half-past two he went into a church where a couple were being married. He left the church with the guests, went to the bride's home, and had another, meal.

Then he went to the Grand Hotel and spent an hour or two there," watching the crowti in the great hall. At five o'clock he called with a large and fashionable crowd on the Countess de 8., who was receiving her friends on the occasion of her daughter's engagement. There he drank a glass of champagne or two and smoked an excellent cigar as he left the house.

At seven he walked into a large restaurant, where a banquet was being given at eight. He told the waiters there that he had come to arrange for the placing of the guests. He had brought numbered tickets with him, and after working for half an hour or so - at the tables, said that he would have no time to dine himself and asked for something to eat before the guests arrived. They gave him bisque, an excellent piece of fish, a partridge, and peach, and a bottle of capital wine. He disappeared just before eight, went to the stage door of the Chatelet Theatre, and. talking English to the door-keeper, passed in and saw the performance of "The Quaker Girl" from the back of the stagef Now that he has published the story of his winning the bet,, however, it will be a little dangerous for anybody else to attempt the same game.—J. N. Raphael, in the "Express." ,