The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-11-15
ROMANCE OF A GLOVE.

~ WOulu nave nhbteTeu uJUle IL Dill
could have kept his courtship to himselfi
he might have worshipped In secret all
his days. and no one have been any the
wiser
But the extravagant rush into polish
betrayed the poor clerk The dyed hair
and distracted air combined; his deep
bushes whenever the subject of love was
mentioned, however casually; the ro-
mantle air that sat so i'll upon him; his
visits to the theaters, In hopes OF q chance
glimpse of his idol; the hours he moaned
about listlessly-all helped to make him
target for the jokes Of his friends, and a
fund Of amusement for the "ofiice."
Meanwhile he was not at all unhappy.
All, the Joy Of standing by the area
ratings of an evening, when she had van
ished from his enraptured sight and he
knew her to be In the drawing room
could see, at rare intervals, her shadow
fit across the Blind
The irasoible landlady frightened Mr..
Harker out of his seven senses nearly by
sending a grim servant one evening to
ask him ito be kind enough to just step
in, II he would be SO kind, and just speak
TO the lady Of the house"
In no condition to face the fiery-looking
female he caught a glimpse Of standing
in the hall, the startled lover no sooner
heard the message than he bolted, as II he
had purloined the boarding house plate
1t would be, he argued, impossible to re-
turn after such an inglorlous escape, ex-
cept in disguise; and to call and boldly
ask to see lady whose name he could not
give was an achievement the timid clerk
could not venture on.
What a stupid fellow Fipkins, one of the
other clerks at Old BIS, wasl At least
Bill thought so, and how he disliked him
1.-THE enormous impotence of that fell
low" he would murmur to himself. 81
would give quarters salary, poor as
am, to be like him. There Ia nothing he
would stick at. 1t is disgusting. But what
blessing it must be to live on such COM
fortableterms with oneself
Fipkins was very slovenly; no one would
have tolerated clerk with such shock
head of hair except Old b.
But just as Bill Harker had begun to
persuade himself that his love suit was in
vain, and that his best plan was to try
and forget a passion that appeared so
hopeless, this brassy Fipkins was sud
denly seized with the fever he was recov-
ering from.
There was no mistaking the symptoms
Other motives might have induced Tip
kins to have had his hair cut; but
only love could have induced him to curl
it, Those paper cuffs, clean even ON
Saturday, were conclusive. If not that
reckless disregard of office hours in the
morning, that restless looking at the
clock in the evening. could not be mis-
taken.
Flowers, tool When did Fipkins care
fOr haff p. xxrlf Ia or
Arabs watched for his coming
Harker noted him narrowly. Would
this cad be successful in the thorny, may
paths Of lover
He half despised himself for ever low
ing, if SO vulgar creature as this Fipkins
could be smitten or could smite.
Then, when o clock struck, or rather
was striking, Fipkins caught up his
flowers from the bottle on his desk, set
his glossy hat jauntily on his detestable
head and babe his fellow clerk good-nigh
Bill Harker followed him almost the mo.
ment he went out, and, as he felt instinct
lively would be the case, Fipkins made
straight for Leicester Square and went
straight into the boarding house Harker
had so often watched But--and this
staggered him-Fipkins went down the
area steps just as the potman might have
done with beer, not at all like gentle
manly sutton for the hand of the nameless
one.
What could be the meaning of this9
Was it "a. clandestine meetingi Scarcely
so; for he had gone in with the assurance
of frequent or of an expected guest.
Poor Harker paced the street In agony
What could he dor
To think of having his loved one snap
xx.1 NfVt. II .k.. ia
him to the quick
Wandering distractedly about Bill Har-
ker unfortunately did not see his rival
leave the boarding house, OF he might
probably have relieved his feelings by
putting Fipkin's head In "Chancery." AS
it was, he waited and watched till he was
weary, as well as drenched to the skin by
the rain, which had been falling for some
time Then he raised the siege and wear
lily trailed off to Camden Town, reaching
the lodgings little before.daybreak.
as this yoursf" said old b. next day, as
he carelessly picked up lady's glove and
threwit on Bill Harker's desk.
Had he dropped bombshell over the
oldsfashioned ratings 1t would scarcely
have disconnected the clerk more than
this simple article did. He quietly an
swered his employer in the negative, but
the color mounted to his pale cheeks and
a wild light irradiated his glaring eyes
mr.. Fipkins, perhaps, has dropped it,
he said, with more bitterness and mean
ing than SO simple suggestion appeared
to call for.
Strange to say, Fipkins blushed too as
he repudiated all knowledge of It,
"Liar" thought and nearly said Bill
Harker as he. heard him speak.
Old b. toddled off to his specifications,
and the glove was left lyidg unheeded, APP
parently, on Harkers desk, while he
wrote on furiously.
Not till he was left alone in the office,
nearly two hours after, did he touch the
glove; but then he pressed 1t to his burn
ing lips, he noted its dainty size-unused
~ he had once been to remark such mat
ters-and observed that, though now re-
dolent of tobacco, 1t had been scented.
But, with a joy only to be appreciated by
a lover, there in this glove, flung as it
were in his path by secret rival, seemed
to be the very clew he had been vainly
seeking. The name was written in it, or
name. Whose should it be but hers
FoussiS That coupled with the half legi-
BILE + ON the blotting-pad he accepted as
conclusive, poor fellow, little dreaming in
hnxu tnanv othar o,lovaa ha oould ha va