The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-11-09

thing dreadful had really happened
The duet Of screams would continue
until the others came running in and
matters could be explained. In too ex'
asperated moments it occurred to Ma
tilda and myself that the burglars so
ciety would have been preferable te
LOUIS.
Though a whole week had passed by,
and We had neither seen nor heard from
Jack Walcott, none of us doubted for
moment but that he would find the
original of my description. A promise
with him, though given halfin jest, wa:
still a promise. was standing on the
porch one afternoon, just tefore tea
when he came tramping up the street
l run down to meet him, but he refused
to come farther than the gate, or whert
the gate should have been.
"What is that pretty German story
you are so fond OFF, he began, directly
-"about the boy who longed for the
beautiful rare flower, and set out in
search of it, wandering over the world
in all its highways and by-ways, its trod
den places and forgotten corners, till, 6
WORKOUT old man, he returned home tt
find the flower blooming unnoticed be
side his own door-stone.' Well, l have
looked everywhere for your hearts
treasure. to find at last l have beer
staring him in the face for the last two
years. He sits at the desk opposite me
hates the city, wants to live in the coun
try, even if he has the trouble of train:
so he told me this morning, where
upon it flashed across me he was the
man had been looking for. A nice
quiet young fellow of seven or eigh
and twenty" Why was it Jack spoke
of men of that age in such a paterna
wayp He himself was but little over
thirty. ''He wants to come, and
agreed to bring him out tomorrow night
You'll be ready for him? His name.
Oh yes: Walter Forbes"
/ told the news at the tea-table. "Not
that we shall like him." l wound up,
decisively, and the family echoed with
equal force, "We shall not like him. >
1t was ungrateful both to Jack and oul
protector, but we were too conservative
TO take kindly to any one who should
break in in the slightest on our man.
ners and customs. He was but the les:
of two evils. The frying-pan that was
only not the fire.
We were in a small fiutter of excite.
ment all the next day, for our life was
so quiet that even the meeting stran.
ger was an event. True to his promise,
Jack appeared in the evening with our
defender. He was all that | had re.
quested-nay, l think, demanded
decided at a glance. That he was easy
and pleasant to talk with, that first
evening proved. Jack was unusually
quiet, even for him, so Mr.. Forbes had
the field to himself. After all, thought
to myself, as l prepared for bed-the
first time for many weeks could go to
sleep unheeding my match-box-per-
haps, after all, we should not exactly
hate him.
In two days 1 could say it with more
firmness, for, beyond the blessed secu-
rity in which we now lived, Mr.. Forbes
proved a decided acquisition to our FAM
lily circle. He was always so pleasant,
so obliging, so ready to lend hand on
every occasion, that the first strange
ness soon wore off, and we could look
upon him as the mythical elder brother
for whom we had always longed. He
won Aunt Barlow's heart by appreci-
ating her inimitable beef stews; that
was enough to have obtained her regard
for a less attractive man. He trained
the vines on the porch with Matilda,
played and sang with Lou, read Ger
man with me. And so far from our
finding the presence of stranger irk-
some, it was of him as of that famous
"He was never in the way,
and never out of the way"
And then the relief of knowing We
could seek our couches in safety!
1t was toward the end of that first
month that we were one evening recall
ing our foolish fears and more foolish
methods of preserving our property.
Mr.. Forbes had not come. He might be
later than usual that evening by reason
of making out the monthly accounts, he
had told us. And we, who had fallen
into the way of looking to his home
coming as pleasant event, as some
thing to be looked forward to in our
quiet life, could not break ourselves this
evening of what had unconsciously be-
come habit with us all. So it was
eleven o'clock before we spoke of bed,
and then only to resolve we would not
retire till Mr.. Forbes had returned.
we went on with our enter
tanning chatter about our ridiculous
fears. Then it branched off into bur-
glaries that had actually taken place
within the circle of our knowledge,
those we had heard of and read about,
highway robberies, cunning thefts and
daring house-breakings, battle, murder
and sudden death, each of us striving to
add some especially telling anecdote
that might lurk within our brains, to
come forth as cheering subject for mid.
night conversation. Lou, whose mem.
DRY for uncanny deeds was phenomenal,
outdid us all.
We had drawn our chairs nearer to
each other as she related a particularly
dreadful ghost story-we had reached
ghosts as the final touch of horror
when there was clatter in the dining.
room. If it had been daytime it would
have been perfectly clear to us that
Beauty had upset the spoon-holder. A,
it was, we felt sure it was the cat-or SC
we told each other-but untold sums
would not have tempted any of us alone
into that dining-room.
at is just as I have told you al
along" said Aunt Barlow. 1T is not
safe for four women to live alone. viii
you come with me, or will you not?''
So, in band. Lou well behind, We en-.
tered the dining-room to find that
Beauty had indeed been promenading
the table. But by that time our fear:
had reached such a pitch that nothing
would do but to count all the spoons,
then the forks, and finally to gather up
all the silver and return with it in q
hurry to the sitting-room. Somehow
the dininU-rOOm ALWAYS seemed the