Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-05-21
"A STARTLING EPISODE.

men had the Okingroom OF the Blen-
heimclub to themselves. They satin q
circle round the blazing fire, chatting,
laughing, chatting one another and
bandying jests. At length, during q
momentary pause, one Of the party,
who was lounging in an easy chair
with his legs dangling over one of the
arms and his hat tilted over his eyes,
idly took up newspaper which was
at hand, and read out from the agony
column the following. advertisement:
JAcK.-Meet me at the marble arch
tomorrow, Tuesday, at O'Clock p.
m. 1t is the last favor shall ever
ask. Come if you love me-. MAGGIE.
There was sheer on the face of the
reader. and the announcement caused
laughter among his audience. One OF
the young men turned to another, and
said, jokingly: -:
"Jack, the base deceiver! It's your
little milliner friend. You've behaved
shockingly, and it's your duty to co."
"Bosh! returned Jack Canister, SIP
ping TRANQUILITY at his tumbler. "she
has consoled herself long ago. Besides,
Maggie isn't her NAME"
cts aplant, of course" remarked
some one, knowingly.
s'pve often wondered" added an
other, more seriously, whether an
nouncements of that kind are really
genuine or not. fancy they gener-
ally have a yelled significance. I've
been told that they often have refer
ence to contemplated burglaries or the
disposition of plumber"
There is special stall OF clerks at
Scotland yard who kept a closewatch
on mysterious advertisements and
are trained to translate ciphers," re-
marked Jack Canister.
"Deuced uninteresting and unprofit.
able occupat ion, 1 should think" re-
Joined the holder of the newspaper.
~ know q man," said young Has,
lett OF the guards, "who was made q
precious fool of by one Of those ap-
peals. It was Tom Craik. You know
Tom, Jack?
Gold diggings," remarked Jack, la
conically.
eyes. I am told heis doing no good
there. This was years ago, before I
joined" said Haslett, who had only
seen some five years service. "Tom
was always in difficulties, and an or
der was out against him for commit
tai or contempt; so he was in hiding
at the rooms of a friend of mine. He
was awful spoons at that time. I for
get who the object OF his affection was,
but che would have nothing to say to
him. Well, he was taken in by an ad-
vertisement which he thought came
from her. Without saying word to
anybody he attended the appoint
ment and was nabbed."
"And quite deserved it," said Jack
Canister, ''for being such an idiot.
That is very old dodge"
II never said it wasn't, did II" re-
torted the guardsman, rather nettled.
EVERY one knows that Tom was
fool, and that's why he came to grief"
Il should like to know whether this
advertisement is genuine or not"
said one OF the youngest of the party,
possessing himself OF the newspaper.
cit would be rather fun to inves-
tigate it. I'll go if any one else will"
"What's the good?" growled Jack
Canister, CONTEMPORARY.
Nevertheless, few young men, half
jestingly, half in earnest, agreed to &C.
company the proposer, and shortly
afterwards the circle broke up and
the friends separated.
NH
the expedition was a newly elected
member OF the club, who, even in his
novitiate, had contrived to establish
reputation for fastness Of which he
was immensely proud. He was
universally liked on account of his
amiable disposition and his boyish
frankness, and though he fondly I'M
agined that he had attained the digni-
ty OF a notorious man Of pleasure, he
was really regarded as an honest,
foolish young fellow, who would soon
sober down into respectable member
OF society.
When the next evening arrived young
Thurston, who was still determined to
carry out his investigation, found that
none of his friends were disposed to
fulfill their promise of accompanying
him. Their curiosity on the subject
of the advertisement had faded. and
they all laughingly made excuses.
Thurston himself, to tell the truth,
was strongly inclined to yield to their
example, but, with characteristic hon.
esty, he did not like to draw back
from his own proposal. Besides, it
was only g. matter of half an hour,
and he had nothing particular to do.
He therefore started off to the tryst-
ing place alone in handsom, and ar
rived there exactly at the appointed
hour.
1t had been a thoroughly wet day,
and the rain had ceased so recently
that the pavements were still shining,
therefore there were very few people
about. Thurston lit cigarette, men
tally deciding not to waste more than
five minutes, and then began to look
leisurely about him.
AS he did so he became conscious of
the figure of a woman standing close
against the ratings, watching him in
tently. She advanced straight up to
him as his glance met hers, and &C.
costed him.
care you Jack?" she inquired,
abruptly.
"Yes," replied Thurston, recklessly.
They were standing beneath street
lamp, the light from which fell full up
on his face, while hers was in shadow.
He could see, however, that she was
young woman, quietly and decently
dressed. She scrutinized him for
few minutes in silence. during which
Ihurston, unable to control his habit
OF blushing, turned Internationally red.
"Maggie?' he murmured interroga-
lively, instinctively guessing that he