The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-03
THE TALE OF AN UMBRELLA.
G. D. Cardinal.
"Can that be Annie Shepherdr

Miss Shepherd.
''She has less common sense than any woman
| ever knew" he said, with impatence
The day quite unfit for action, though
eminently favorable for reverie and reflection.
So all people of regulated habits would agree;
but Miss Shepherd had seen fit to transpose the
very evident intention of the weather managers,
and had chosen to act rather than dawdle and
dream. And Mr. Manchester, who was more
orthodox, and who had done nothing all day but
build air castles, had denounced her accord
ingly.
Such rain as it was! Nowhere can more
triumphant deuge come out of high skies than
in the Traverse region. The bucketsful that
were poured into great smashing sheets came
from such an altitude that ones breath was
fairly dashed out of ones body if caught in a
sudden gust round the corner.
Summering! Peasuringl And here at Har-
bor Springs it was cold as Siberia A north
wind that had come over all the ice of the poles
had met tremendous thundergust from the
equator, and the two together were havlnglt out.
And, of course as part of an idle mans luck,
this contest must occur on the very day he had
set to take Miss Shepherd with him to a roman
tic dell he had discovered somewhere in the
neighborhOod.
us it possiblel" he exclaimed again. as he
worried about in his chair evidently too much
netted with disgust TO be able to keep still
Now Mr. Manchester had been hard hit He,
IA typical Chicagoan-blonde, of course, rotund,
mediumly bold, not very young-had been so
well greaVed, armed cap Il pie, as it were,
that the hit had literally stunned him, and
everybody else, with surprise
A well delivered blow it must have been, sent
by cool hand and practced eye. Whether it
was heel or heart that was struck time alone
could show; if the former, probably, like
Achilles, he would die of it; if the latter, the
danger not appreciabe.
Seated in the comfortable hotel Office he had
done nothing all this day but watch through the
streaming windows the pelted and drenched
street. The bulk of the tourist guests had gone
on steamer excursion to Mackinaw the night
before
He had been invited to join this party to the
island, but after the adroit discovery that Annie
Shepherd had declined going he also had de-
cllned. His reasons for so doing were patent to
every one but himself.
Then had followed that little episode of his in
vitation to her to join him in a walk next day
This had been hastily whispered in the hall on
parting at night, and accepted with a nod and a
smile. 1t was to be wood near by, where a
free, clear spring gushed and roared down a
black earthed declivity. 1t was one Of the
dampest, mossest spots in the wole region He
had once found bears fresh track on the moss
and had christened it therefore Board of Trade
Glen"
But the rain had put provoking stop to this
plan. And Miss Shepherd had capped the peak
of his disgust by pleading headache" as a rea-
son for keeping out of sight all day, he having
called very early in the forenoon.
Yet there she went or his eyes had lost their
cunning.
1t is true there was q lul in the rain. but none
in the wind. And with a headache, what could
tempt her out! Too i'll to see him, and yet well
enough to brave this tempest.
She went down the steps, clad in gossamer
and with her umbrella up-an umbrella big
enough Tor two She must have had the limbs
of an ATLANTA to move with such equable grace
I II -. : Il
puff ont that ugly, ulster-shaped thing. and to
make her fine, slender outline look fat. He
caught glimpse of a good, stout boot, seeming
all the dainter for its stoutness. And watching
and mentally taking in all the fine points, he
kept up scattering fire of ejaculation: "Shell
get her death cold" Was there ever such an
unreasonable, unprognOsticable creature as
shel"
She disappeared, fluttering like a loose-sailed
pirate craft around the corner
He knew just about her course when he saw
her turn to the right and bend herself to meet
the blast, which was directly in her face.
He rallied his senses as he lost sight of her
Bang into his chair went the book he had not
even pretended to read Up the stairs-two
steps at time-he sprang and presently re-
turned arrayed in Edinburg great-coat and
leisurely putting newly lighted cigar
A good observer would have noted, an hour
before, that the weather was likely to clear
There a pale yellow streak in the north,
and tendency to lift and take fight on the
part of the clouds. These signs were at the bot
tom of Miss Shepherds venture, but Mr.. Man
chesters perceptions had been too long dulled by
his native smokes for him to have detected the
imminent change.
Consequently he was greatly astonished when,
upon stepping along the veranda and spreading
his umbrella, he found the rain had entirely
ceased. AS his friends well knew, foremost
among the things he hated-there was long
list of foremosts-was an umbrella. So, finding
that he did not need one, he recklessly set his
in he RI i'm he M in
differently out.
He did not directly follow Miss Shepherds
route but struck off into street that was sure
to intercept her. After much readiusting of hat
and coat he finally settled down to genuine hard
work in meeting and resisting the wind.
1t was gusty gale. 1t smelled of the white
caps that were tearing along the shore. and of
the Norway pines black with wet, but unrum-
pied that clothed the land.
He gave up his cigar at once as impracticable,
and flung it away. He was in sight of his will
'othe-wisp, for she, not offering great bulk
of resistance as himself, had not got on famously
against the opposing force.
She had shut up her umbrella, but as she
could not keep her gossamer within any decor
Gus limits she looked very much like a pedes-
trian balloon, and Manchester laughed to him
self at the way the elements dared to trihe
with her grace. A little refrain burst out in his
head:
II should call her-I should name her,
Hamadryad of the-Caoutchoucn
1t was lnglorlous as to rhyme or measure, but
utilitaran as to quality, as befted commercial
man.
Now he puts forth his muscle He left off
walking-he strobe. She was tapping along the
beach in advance with streaming blue veil out
for pennon. But she did keep her feet ad
mirably. Diana couldn't have done better if
she had been forced into petticoats.
Still he gained upon her sensibly. Ozone?
Lung expansion Or was it the tantalizing
never twice-alike woman who eluded while she
led-the woman with less common sense than
he had ever known.
Test there was, at any rate. that brought a
ruddy color to his face and cleared away the dis
content of the morning from his spirits.
He had quite overtaken her before she knew
of the pursuit
'Let me carry that umbrella" he said, with
out preface.
IF you please-it holds several pounds of wa
ter, and / am tired of it."
~ did not start till the rain WAS oYern-an