Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-09-17
VANITY. HARDWARE.
BY ALAN MUIR


adesi I'll tell you,n cried he, growing more
and more good-humored; '.it's living with
the old man To think that never should
have thought Of that beforel Ho, no, ho!" .
he laughed boisterously. 'what an old,
grumbling, growing, wheezing, hobbling
fellow 1t isir You love your old father, don't
youi Never mind; the old boy will soon
have served his turn. and we shall have done
with him. hope there Is no danger of his
overhearing our conversation. Oh, what a
joke it is-what jokei turning him inside
out!n
He laughed nproariously during this speech,
but his voice thickened at the latter words
with drunken indistinctness, and he thrust
out his hand aimlessly at the gin bottle. Just
then Vanity noticed that the shutter was ly-
ing open. She started to her feet e
"Who opened the Window she cried.
II dbl" he answered tipsily. II was
like you, listening to the rain.n
Meanwhile Vanity, who had half sprung
across the room to the window, caught sight
Of the retreating face Of Gracious Me.
"There Is man looking in,' 'she shrieked
out "a man watching usl Be quickl We
are lost" \
The shutters fell wide open as she raised
her hand, and Gracious, even in the terror of
his fight, saw the tall man start from his
chair and snatch up the gin bottle. Gracious,
making madly for the garden gate in the
thick darkness went head foremost into a
gooseberry bush, and had not recovered his
legs before be saw the gigantic figure Of the
drunken man wildly gesticulating around
him. What followed would have been excit-
ing to spectators, had any been there to see
Little Gracious leaped up and ran from one
bush to another in the extremity of fear, the
tall man flying after him, whirling the bottle
in his hand with a violence that foretold
dreadful events. The chase was short
Gracious, to his infinite relief, felt the hard
path under his feet, and bounded along to
the garden gate, faster than his pursuer could
follow. But the swinging gate had latched
itself, and the trembling fingers of the fugi-
tive vainly tried to unfastenit. The stranger
was upon him. Gracious faced desperately
round for another fight into the darkness Of
the garden, just as the bottle fell on his head
with crash, and he dropped on the ground
insensible. r97A0ld
When the spy recovered his senses he found
himself stretched on sofa in room which
he soon recognized as the parlor into which
he had peeped. A fire now burned in the
CRATE and helped the feeble beams of one
candle the better to light the room Beside
the fire sat Vanity, but the fatal stranger
was gone. }'F't
For a few minutes Gracious lay without
ee,e cor1sctad ,vbo,s nc wall as ha C co'I p' AZ
ho tb,,s RECALLED what bod ho ,,,,osd r. soo,,,s,d
nc m IL be were actnallv coipo % thronSh All
again 60 that when IN fancv be t,,gged wi,dIv
az the garden cate he saw an ina insrv hot.
tle yvb;yled at his beod mora niainiv than be
could have seem the reality and ba started
and oroaned ~, Tf'l''' - 7,,'' :,
: The o,roon brorobt Vanity n b;s s;da
CHOW are Won nowp she asked in a low
voice ,',-'-' ''s,,i III - : :,
URetter miss thank won be ren,iad as
snbmissivelv as If he had been in bosnital
'-aHow does your head feely, She asked
ooain hendino over him and adinstinr sor,,e-
t5ino IN his forehead with her 'fingers tTs
This HANDKERCHIEF bound too tiphtlyW
at is "a bankercher. then. i proaned little
Gracious. stI Thought IL was nv own head
and wondered why IL felt 50 queer like.
can SCARCELY tell which Is head and which is
handkerchief. Oh. If nv poor mother was to
see me nowl Oh. what a crack it wasp
Hare tbe softar fae,;n ,rs of b;s na t,,ra xvara
tmched, and he began 70 crv, Drink. main
and stupiditv all together threatened to make
the fit a severe one: and Gracious delivered
the opening note Of his woe nasally, and in
form that would not have disgraced from
hone. Vanity grew frightened and tried to
soothe him. elancinp round apprehensively
: at the same time. as If she feared that the
noise might be overheard. 7'TI0 NJ 1}I
= "Neyer mind your head" she said; sit will