The Osceola times., 1886-07-31
Now Jimmy had been brought up In

hau ooeu prouEnt up IN
a family with the strictest code of
morals. was quite ignorant of a billiard
table or its uses, and never having even
peepcd into the lower regions OF the
Denham Hotel, on Court street, had
not so much as seen a billiard cue.
SO this little tale is added to the ex-
citing mass evidence, and Mr.. Blacks
muendoes lose nothing by repetition.
something is amiss, saws Mrs. Long
10 herself, and determines quietly to try
and solve the mystery.
Mr.. Conrad also has reached similar
decision; but the matter to him has as
snmed more serious aspect. Before
coming to Bromley he had received an
ofier OF position in college in a
nelghboring town, in regard to which
he had requested time for consideration.
Later comes . mysterious letter in
guarded terms Withdrawing the offer,
and saying that accounts of him re-
celved from Bromley have made it seem
desirable TO make other arrangements.
The dismissal is courteously worded.
but none the less annoying to him, and
he sets himself at once to discover the
cause of the trouble.
For her purpose Mrs. Long. who hap.
pens to be in her garden one day when
Sallie Smith is passing, calls her in for
little chat. Ssllie obeys the summons,
but IS evidently very uneasy and uncom-
Portable while they converse on indifIer-
ent topics. At last Mrs. Long saws. with
apparent carelessnesS "How does it
happen that your mother and you have
not called on my nieceP"
Sallle colors and hangs her head, un-
provided with AN answer. ''Peopie say
she is japanese, and | suppose they
feel shy" is the awkward excuse she
manages to get out presently.
''She is no more japanese than you
are, says Mrs. Long, looking at the
blue eyes before her with laugh. "She
came from the South, and never was in
Japan in her life"
"Oh," says Sallie, overcome with
terror at the idea of the false tales she
has been spreading.
'1 our information throws some ligh,
on the matter, but there is more in it
than that, Mrs. Long says. How
ever, that is very well for a beginning
And now GO" giving her good
natured little push, "and next time be
sure your wonderful stories have some
foundation in fact.
Meanwhile some darker and more
disagreeable hints have reached Mr.
Conrad. and he determines to trace
them to their source. IL will have
settlement with Black tomorrow, he
says to himself, having reached that
point in his researches. But Mr.. Black.
having been apprised that Mr.. Conrad
wishes to see him, wisely takes an early
train the next morning, and when want
ed is not TO be found.
The unfortunate Brown is left to de-
fend himself as he may, and finally
makes a clean breast of it. IL did not
mean any thing but a bit of fun" he
says, penitently, seeing that Mr.. Conrad
is really reused t|.
Fun at the expense of lady and a
stranger is hardly in good taste, Mr..
Brown, and i shall be obliged to you il
you will take a. much pains to put the
matter straight before the public; it has
quite sufficiently disagreeable conse-
quences already for my wife to say
nothing of myself. To enable YOU to
do SO, | will give you brief account OF
my private history. ! accepted for two
years position as professor in col
lege in Japan. After the expiration of
my term | preferred to return to this
country, and during visit to New Or
leans met and married my wife, who
was a Miss Penelope La Fargo, and has
never seen Japan in her life. She has
a French ancestry, as her name shows"
Il beg a thousand pardons,' said
poor Mr. Brown, and retired much
crest-fallen.
Mr.. Conrad returned home, and with
much laughter told the joke to his wife.
'Do get into the corner, Pen, and let
me feed You with the chopstick play
fully pushing her with billiard cue
(the table now having arrived). "A
of this size is a great conven-
ience, for | can readily put one end into
the rice pot on the kitchen fire, and so
give you your dinner smoking hot"
After this Bromley devoted itself to
amends for its past coldness,
and Professor and Mrs. Conrad were
overwhelmed with invitations and at
tentions. Very pleasant, sociable peo-
pie, was the favorable verdict, and
Mrs. Long declared that such popular"
relations were quito nuisance. The
japanese joke was a good story, which
the Conrsds reserved for thor friends
at a distance, for the Bromley people
were a little shy of reference TO the
matter. They, however, took much in
terest in Mr.. Conrad's experiences in
that country. and by the time he left,
nearly every one, down to little Jimmy
Parker, was quite well informed on the
subject.
"Thev certainly have made us amende
honorable, and it is frst-rate little
place, after all, Pen, is it not?" said Mr..
Conrad, quite regretfully, as the train
moved off, and they waved farewell to
the party of friends who had come to
see them start on the day OF their de-
parture.
"Yes, - she said, smiling; "and | sup.
pose there is nothing more to tell them
about Japan. Leigh North in Harley's
Bazdr.