Perhaps it was no news to him, but he can hardly have felt flattered by the manner in which M. Desclaux mingled the most bourgeois economies with his amours. The lady in question, whose name is printed in full in the French papers, lives in luxury, and she certainly could afford to pay for the provisions so thoughtfully sent to her by M. Desclaux in military motor-cars, Her own version of the affair has been withheld from an expectant public by a very inopfortune attack of appendicitis; at least, that is the reason alleged by baffled interviewers, As for M. Desclaux, he maintains that, as he was entitled by rank to three times the ordinary rations, he was entitled to dispose of the surplus as he thought fit He is now wishing he had been less practical and more patriotic.
His career deserves study. He has never had any education except what the primary school can afford, and he was in a very humble position as a clerk in the Algiers cue-tom-house when he attracted the attention of M. Caillaux, at that time inspector of public finances. Apparently he succeeded in making himself indispensable to that clever and ambitious politician. A few years later he was appointed by M. Caillaux, who had in the meantime become a minister, to be tax colleofor at Gisors, and he was soon promoted to one of the best collector ships in Paris, with pay amounting to nearly £1,400 a year—a large stipend for a French public servant. At the same time he acted as principal confidential secretary, or "chef de cabinet" to M. Caillanx and was one of the so-called witnesses for the defence at the trial last July of Mme Caillaux for shooting M.. Gaston Calmette, editor of the " Figaro."
The Friend not at Court.
He owes his present military rank to M. Caillaux, who is now on mission to South America, and he would have done well to remember that his patron was not on hand to protect him and that the military authorities are a good deal more independent than the civilian administration with which he was s0 well acquainted. He is detained in custody on charges of misapproprinting army stores.
Although no charge of revealing military secrets is officially alleged against him, it is pointed out that all the partners in the dressmaking firm in which M. Desclaux took such a deep personal interest are of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.