The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-11-15
Harter sIaansd. s. Ae.r ii. 0blset

Harker kr0aned. So hear his object
yet so strangely baff1ed.
Oh, the agony Of that week Of stisperssi
A whole week gone-losti And that hor-
rid Fipkins so jubllant; day by day grow
ing 80 luxurious in his habits; living on
the fat Of the land; II his lunches were
fair sample; talking so vulgar about let
ting out his waistcoat--triumphing In
such coarse fashion over him perpetually
BAIL he would hear IL no longer He felt
1t was maddening him. He would fly
from the neighborhood before he was
tempted to do something desperate.
Bill Harker took commission on the
road. He visited the west OF England. II
was three months or more before he ven
tured to set his foot In London again.
The first time he did 80 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 garrett.
good stead. He was the first to speak
lie held out his hand cordially.
How are you, old fellow" he sale
frankly, as II nothing was the matter
"Whoever would have thought of seeing
you in this part of the worlds"
Harker did not strike him, did not repel
his friendly advances. In truth time had
smooth off the raw edges of his wound
And then Fipkins looked so happy he
didn't have the heart to distress him.
They adjourned to the nearest bar, and,
in the course of series of "refreshels,"
Fipkins told of his intended marriage,
which was to take place the next week at
st. Giles church, Camberwell
1t grated on Harker's feeling to notice
that Fipkins in some sort looked upon the
union as sacrifice.
There are property considerations he
said several times In a half maudlin sort
Of way-"property considerations, my
boy; and folks can't afford to lose sight of
those in hard times like these"
Mercenary wretchl How Harker de
spised him, even while he fraternized
with What a strange power the fellow
always had over himl-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 1t
was so there was the entry in his own
order book-in an unsteady hand-that
Fipkins had insisted ON his writing at
the bar He had not the courage to de-
Oiiue ~ anu, US Hc uhu pTOHllscu, uOuOr
and curiosity both prompted him TO see
the drama to the end.
As the two ex-clerks stood waiting for
the BRIDES arrival on the suspicious
morning one might have heard Harker's
heart throb; it beat like drum with in
tense excitement.
But establishment overpowered every
other feeling when, as the bride entered
the church, perfect mountain of finery,
he recognized in her the dragoon-like,
fiery-faced boarding house proprietress,
and knew that it was she Fipkins had
chosen from property considerations"
Confused as he felt, Harker could I'M
derstand that in her case, weighty rs she
was, something in the shape of bonus
would be acceptable.
He had little time to think of all this,
however, for the first bridesmaid, he
found to his great joy, was the nameless
onel
Her white-gloved little hand rested on
his trembling arm as they walked down
the aisle after the ceremony, in the wake
of Mr.. and Mrs. Fipkins; and before they
reached the hotel where breakfast was
laid, he discovered, among other things.
that his fair companions name was not
Foussi, but Castleton.
Harker still calls his model of a wife
Foussi; but the glove he had treasured
did not fit her. Old b., who had picked
it up, might first have dropped it. One
thing Is certain--he astonished everyone
by marrying, before the year was out, q
mere child; and erhand, as it rested in
his on the wedding day, looked small
enough to have been his daughters