Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-08-13
MY QUIET FELLOW-TRAyELER.

One bitterly-cold evening last winter
] was sitting with my old school-fellow,
Charlie Foster, in my study-the most
comfortable room in the house, arranged
throughout with a proper regard to
warmth and convenience.
"How Jolly this isl'' exclaimed Charlie
glancing round. i would rather be in
than out such night as this just listen
to the wind, how it howls and busters,
and yet not breath gets in here. l
must say this is not bad corner to oc-
cupy in this weather, and / envy you not
little. Things always seem to go
straight with you, Harry. do believe
YOU never had slice of ill-luck or a
disagreeable adventure in your life. ;"
"You are wrong there, my boy" re-
piled l, "for once upon a time-it is a
long while ago now, thought had a
very disagreeable adventure, which
mi ht have ended in my being hanged
by mistake for some one else. You re
member, no doubt, that sixteen years
ago instead of being one of the partners
in the firm of Ross, Haviland d Lau-
renee, was only clerk in their office. !"
ayes, yes, know" nodded Foster.
"Well, one day Mr.. Haviland, not
being well enough to go himself, sent me
to C on some rather important bust
ness; some valuable documents had fall
en- into the hands of an obstinate, stupid
old fellow who had been guardian to a
client of ours. The client was now of
age and wished to act for himself and
manage his own affairs, but old Brown,
not considering him fit to do SO, persist
ed in retaining the papers, and my mis-
sion was to persuade him to give them
up quietly, and, in the event OF his re-
fusing, to threaten him with legal pro-
ceedings. | had great difficulty in in
ducing him to listen to reason, but when
at last | succeeded, | telegraphed the
news of my success to London, and a
little later started homeward. / strolled
down to the station, took first-class
ticket, and, after waiting for about ten
minutes, the express came up and took
my seat As got into the carriage a
tall, good-looking young fellow, fashion
ably dressed, got out, and, with that feel
ing of idle curiosity that sometimes
comes over one when one has nothing to
do, Iput my head out of the window and
looked after him, and, to my surprise, he
got into another carriage little farther
on. began to wonder why on earth
that fellow got out as got in, and felt
ever, when i perceived that the only
other occupant of the carriage was an
old gentleman, apparently fast asleep,
concluded that the young man wanted to
smoke, and that the old gentleman, be-
fore addressing himself to slumbers, had
objected
" This satisfied me, and began to go
over in my mind the events OF the pre-
vious day. WELL thought ], certainly
have managed the business very well.
expect shall receive the compliments
OF the firm for it, wonder if they will
give me anything more substantial than
compliments. If they do make me a
present it will be very acceptable just
now said ] to myself; for you see,
Charlie, about eight weeks before, my
dear Lizzie had presented me with a
plump, red, pugnacious little sprite.
Well, all the aunts and cousins--to say
nothing of my wife-pronounced 1t the
prettiest baby In the world, and dare
tsay bought they were not far wrong;
out one cannot sacrifice to household
idol of this kind without little extra
outlay, and for this reason and few
others not worth while mentioning
Lizzie and the baby were uppermost IN
my thoughts. / amused myself like a
child with spending the money hoped
to receive in dozen different ways for
their benefit.
At times glanced at my fellow-trav-
eler, who was all this time sound asleep
IN the corner directly opposite to me
his head was thrown back, a bright
yellow bandana handkerchief covered
ms face, and thick railway rug was