A carelessly-spoken phrase becomes the password to adventure
TANDING on the Pont Alexandre III, with the electric globes of the Paris exposition all about him and the Eiffel Tower scintillating in the night sky above, Jim Lewis uttered the historic words:
“I've broken my watch crystal. Where can I find a jeweler?”
To put it mildly, Jim Lewis was confused. He spoke excellent French but had been in France only two days, though three war-years had been spent here. How he came to be on this bridge toward midnight, Jim was not certain. A young lady’s engagement had been celebrated by a party at one of the pavilions, and Jim, drawing the consolation prize of an invitation, made the most of it. He was not particularly sorrowful, but thought he was, so he drowned sorrow very successfully. And now—here he stood, addressing an agent of the police, while a throng of men were listening and laughing.
“J'ai cassé le verre de ma montre—”
The agent grinned. One of the men in the group uttered a laugh. Two other men strolling along past the shops of the bridge, halted and then made their way closer to the American.
It was indubitably true that Jim Lewis had broken the crystal of his wrist-watch. How it had been broken, he could not say. But he was unaware that he had uttered a classic slang phrase, not at all used in good society. When a Paris gamin slips on a wet street and sits down hard, his companions burst into gleeful song—“Look at Jean! Look at Jean! He's broken the glass of his watch—“
The two men who had strolled up together, exchanged a low word. Then approached the agent and Jim Lewis. They were not smiling. and even seemed a trifle annoyed. One spoke to the agent, low-voiced.
”Our friend forgets himself—one has sampled
the good wine of France too generously, perhaps! Well, we'll take care of him.”
The agent nodded, well-pleased. It was part of his job to assist convivial diners on their way home, and he was not sorry to shift it to other shoulders. The second man took Jim Lewis by the arm.
“So here you are! We've been looking for you. Come along and we'll find the jeweler.”
“Fine,” said Jim with gratitude. “Nothing like having friends, is there? Friends always turn up, even in Paris. Lead the way, friend, and I'm with you—”
One man took his arm on either side, and the three started for the right bank.
“This is terrible!” said the man on the right, with something like a groan.
“Yes, sir, it is,” agreed Jim earnestly. “Here I only got to Paris yesterday, or the day before, and find my girl engaged. That's terrible enough.”
“No wonder he never showed up,” said the man on the left. “He's been drunk all the time.” He shook Jim's arm. “You're a fool!”
“I know it,” admitted Jim cheerfully. “Nobody knows it better, partner.”
“You were half an hour late for the appointment, and at the wrong place on the bridge.”
“Thas'sall right,” and Jim's assent was vague but hearty. “Lucky to be there at all, if you ask me! Anybody who’s broken the crystal of his watch is out of luck. I broke it. You can see for yourself.”
“It's lucky you turned up,” said the other. “We've booked passage for you on the noon plane to London. Fits in very well that there's no examination of air passengers' luggage. eh?”
“I don't wanna go to London,” said Jim, catching the salient point of all this. “I got a month to see Europe in, and I don't like fogs.”
“That's all right,” said his companion soothingly. “You get to bed and clear out your head. You'll have to be up early—we'll get you out to Le Bourget by eleven-thirty. No use talking to you now, though. Come along and forget your troubles. It passes understanding why they should have sent an irresponsible man like you, but that's not our affair.”
“They sent me because I was a good man to send,” stated Jim positively.
“Very likely. But you should not have been drunk all this time.”
“I was not drunk, and I'm not drunk now.” declared Jim. “I'm just a little bit mixed up after ail those toasts. And I'm supposed to meet a man in Paris, too—that's why—they sent me over. Got to see him the next day or two—'portant affair. You see, it concerns a new principle in bridge-building—”
He was silenced by a sudden glare of light. They had left an exit, and in the street before them stood an automobile, its lights flashing on and off. The second good Samaritan came to them, took Jim by the other arm, and he was bundled into the car, stumblingly. The others followed, and the car rolled away almost in silence.