Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-06-26

hn"' 'hN "Hdt sHt IL. but 81 loI 1 Cdu I
place her. But I'll do it yet, I'm
bound to lind out who she is"
Upon this | remarked that it seemed
to me that if the lady desired to remain
unknown her wishes ought to be re-
spected, and that by undertaking the
affair she proposed to him, he had, in "A
manner, entered into IA contract with
was.
That's drawing it too fine said
MIR. Curper. entirely too fine. There
is no earthly reason why this lady
should object to my knowing who she
is, except that she doesn't want to be
under obligations to me, and, if that's
the case, | feel | am justified in finding
out who | am working for. And, be-
sides, She must be n c~onfoundedlv
pretty girl, and | have Il curiosity
about her"
..She said in her note" | remarked,
that she wished to remain unknown
ut present, and that clearly indicated
that at some future time she intended
to make herself known to YOU"
ht " l w., NdIh ANlI. Sll pei us
he lighted his cigar and seated himself
at his mornings work; .when | give
my services for nothing l, at least,
want to know who / am working for,
especially when | have reason to be-
lieve that person is a young and I'M
commonly pretty girl"
''Humph!' said /, and turned toward
my room.
by the way" cried Curper, II sup
pose the business part of this thing
might as well be finished up at once,
aid it will be impossible for me to do
anything more now if | am going out
of town this summer. Couldn't you
drop in on your clientp'
my ciient!" | exclaimed.
Yes. the old woman" said Curper.
"As it has turned out she is your
client, and the old man is mine. just
let her know that the sooner she does
the square thing the better it will be for
all parties. And if she doesn't agree
to that, Haskell will have to sue, that's
all there is about it,
That's the way you give your SER
vices. is it?" | said. ..You look after
the pretty girl in the business, and ask
other people to do the work"
Not at all" said Curper, in a tone
that indicated that his feelings had
been hurt. You know very well that
| would have attended to this whole
thing if | had had time; but if you
choose to drop it | may 90 and see the
old woman next week"
While he had been talking / had been
thinking.
NO said |, IL can see her this
afternoon And / walked into my
private o
For some reason, which | could not
well explain to myself, | felt that |
would like to protect the unknown
young lady from Mr.. Curper's obtru-
sive curiosity, and | knew very well
that if Mrs. Gromc talked to him about
her his zeal in pursuit of her identity
would be greatly increased. OF course,
my feelings in the matter were entirely
disinterested; but if this Janet Floyd
was the kind of generous girl there was
every reason to suppose her to be, and
| was. llloIC Il pNlNpu VI tlillllc anu
taste, as was indicated by her prefer
ence for the demon plaque when there
Were SO many pretty things among
Mrs. GrOme's treasures; and, if, too,
she had that frank and honest spirit
which was shown in her letter to Cur
per. and in her abandonment of all
pretense in coming to see Mrs. Gromc,
I fnlt tLot n,v nA,on ,C.In,,tn u,,. ,4.
the man who should be hunt
ing her up. There was moth
ing positively bad about Curper,
and l should be loath to say anything
that would injure his character; but he
was IA young man who paid rather too
much attention to his dress; who was
rather too much of Il club man, who
was rather too fond of being considered
II man about town. who was rather too
much given to expensive cigars and
other eXtravagances. and who, in fact,
had so good an opinion of himself that
he naturally aroused a spirit of oppo-
sition on the subject in those with
whom he associated, There was a
general air about him which indicated
that he was all right, and what he did
was all right, and if other people did
not agree with him it was n matter of
very little Importance to Mr.. Curper.
had no right to take any active steps
to prevent him from discovering the
unknown lady, but | certainly did not
intend to help him to do SO. and if any
indirect way | could assist Miss Janet
Floyd in preserving her incognito |
would do it. As | had been asked TO
engage in the affair, | considered that
this attention to her wishes was rs
much a duty as anything else. | had
nothing whatever to gain by this course
but | am a man of principle, and | must
also admit that Curper's manner was
such as to arouse in me-, to n moderate
degree, that spirit of opposition to
which ! have alluded. For these rea-
0 n | was very willing to visit Mrs.
Grome again: and, besides. / had no
objections to have another look at the
demon plaque, of which | determined
to obtain the refusal in case the young
lady did not buy it.
When / saw Mrs. Grome that after
noon and told her what / had heard of
the facts in her dispute with Mr.. Has