Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-10-07
Harker groaned. So near his object,

Harker groaned. So near his ob)ec
yet so strangely baffled.
Oh, the agony of that week of su.
pense! A whole week gone-lost
And that horrid Fipkins so jubilan'
day by day growing so luxurious in hi
habits; living on the fat Of the land,
his luncheons were a fair sample; talk
ing so vulgar about letting out hi
waistcoat-triumphing in such coars
fashion over him perpetually! Bah
He would hear it no longer. He fel
it was maddening him. He would fl,
from the neighborhood before he wa
tempted to do something desperate.
Bill Harker took commission OF
the road. He visited the west of Eng
land. 1t was three months or more be
fore he ventured to set his foot in Lon
don again. The first time he did so he
encountered Fipkins by accident in
Grove road, Stockwell. The rivals
started. Their meeting was like the
traditional one of the strange cats in
the garnet. Fipkins' brass for once
stood him IN good stead. He was the
first to speak. He held out his hand
cordially.
How are you, old fcllow?" he said
frankly, as if nothing was the matter.
whoever would have thought of see-
ing you in this part of the world?"
Harker did not strike him, did not
repel his friendly advances. In truth
time had smoothed off the raw edges
of his wound. And then Fipkins
looked so happy, he didn't have the
heart TO distress him. They adj
| journed to the nearest bar, and, in the
| course of series of "refrcShels," Ftp
kins told of his intended marriage,
which was to take place the next
week at St Giles Church. Gambler
WELL
1t grated on Harker's feeling to no.
tice that Fipkins in some sort looked
upon the union as a sacrifice.
There are property consdera-
TONS he said several times in a half
maudlin sort of way-"property con-
siderations, my boy; and folks cam:
afford to lose sight of those in hard
times like these"
Mercenary wretch! How Harker
despised him. even while he fratern-
led with! What a strange power
the fellow always had over him! He
could neither understand nor escape
from it. He found it hard to realize,
after Fipkins had left him, that he had
actually promised to be his best
man. at the wedding. But it was so;
there was the entry in his own order
book-in an unsteady hand-that
Fipkins had insisted on his writing ut
the bar. He had not the courage to
decline it, and, as he had promised,
honor and curiosity both prompted
him to sec the drama to the end
As the two ex-clerks stood waiting
for the brides arrival on the auspic-
ious morning one might have heard
Harker's heart throb; it beat like n
drum with intense excitement. But
establishment overpowCrel every other
feeling when, us the bride entered the
church, perfect mountain of finery,
he recognized in her the dragoon-like,
iiery-faccd boarding house propric-
tress, and knew that it was she Fipkins
had chosen from 'propcrty considera-
tons"
Confused as he felt. Harker could
understand that in her Ease, weighty
as she was, something in the shape of
bonus would be acceptable. He had
little tina to think of all this, however,
for the u'-t bridesmaid. he found to his
great JOY, was the namclcss one! Her
white-glovcd little hand rested on his
trembling arm as they walked down
the aisle after the ceremony, in the
wake of Mr.. and Mrs. Fpkins; and
before they reached the hotel. where
breakfast was laid, he diecovered
among other things, that his fair COM
panlOn's name was not Foussi, but Cas-
Teton.
Harker still calls his model of wife
Foussi; but the glove he had treasured
did not fit her. Old B., who had pick
ed it up, might first have dropped it.
One thing is ccrtain--he astonished ev-
eryone by marrying, before the year
was out, mere child; and her hand.
as it rested in his on the wedding day,
looked small enough to have been his
daughter