The morning call., 1890-12-23

When was young the twilight seemed too long.
| A. MARY i. ROBINSON in the AtheEeum.
A CASE OF KISSING.
iHlARTHUR POYNTZ. a good-natured,
sAs thoughtleSs young man, lived with
| E$Ey his uncle in the little west-eountry
| town Of CheeSeborough. His relative was a
brcadcloth manufacturer on large scale,
and Puyntz was learning the business, with
| a view to succeeding the old gentleman
when he retired. The young follow was
very popular among his contemporaries in
the neighborhood, by whom be was gener-
ally voted "a good sort" But he had one
foolish weakness, which caused his friends
much amusement, namely, an ambition to
be considered lady-killer; and many were
the boastful tales he would relate to them of
his triumphs with the fair sex. Any
stranger hearing his stories, and being igno
| rant of his real character, might have sup
| posed that Poyntz WAS regular Don Juan.
But the truth WAS that he was the most
bashful of mortalS imaginable, and could
| scarcely be got to open his mouth IN the
presence of girls, This circumstance, of
Sc, made his braggadocio stories all the
|
friends would openly scott at them, others
would affect 10 credit them and draw him
on, lust for the fun of the thing. Prominent
among these latter was Percy Cutie, a
larky young solicitor, and junior partner in
the eminently respectable firm Of Cutie 81
Son. Consequently PoyntZ made him his
| chief confdant, and would often call in at
| his rooms TO talk over his affairs du cCeur
| with him.
! One evening Cutie, after hard day at
| the office, was Iazily smoking his meer-
schaum in his armchair when Poyntz paid
him one of these visits. The lawyer saw at
once, by his friends face. that lie had some
| thing to communicate; bnt, affecting not TO
notice it, he babe him take seat and quietly
| handed the tobacco-jar to him. Poyntz
filled and lighted his pipe. Then, after
heaving deep sigh and expelling a huge
| cloud Of smoke from his lips, he exclaimed:
a. say, Percy, old man, 1 met such
pretty girl just now-such devllsh pretty
"oh, indeed said Cutie gravely.
| "Whereabouts?
Down by Fiddleform," answered Poyntz.
:" | happened TO meet her just where the
light OF lamp fell upon her face, and, pom
my life, it was one OF the prettiest faces l
ever saw!'
"Thats saying a good deal for you,
| Poyntz," Cutie replied, with gravity that
was almost suspicious " for you're about as
| critical judge OF pretty face as moSt TEL
lows l know"
We'll really" said the other, accepting
the compliment in perfect god faith and
complacently slroking his incipient NOUS
| taches, II tiatter myself that have better
taste upon the subject than most chaps have.
| But this girl, Percy. | wish you could have
seen her. you would have lost your heart to
her on the spotP
"You don't know who the siren is ?" in
/ 4. ST. ~ A..
| appear to be OF? Not a LADY, of course?"
:" suppose she cannot have been-qui;e"
| PoyntZ answered, ''else she would lot have
been walking alone at that time IF night.
But she was an uEcommGny stylish young
woman, and had a decidedly hands or air
| about her,"
"WelI. what happened?" asked Cutie.
Did you follow he to see where she lived?"
YES, l did turn round and follow her."
Poyntz admitted. a. Aud then-but you'll
not breathe word of this to any one, will
you Cuttle?'
Rather not" his companion promised.
NUNS the word with me, my boy, Go
on; | am dying to know what happened"
/ followed her, as told you,' resumed
Poyntz, 'and kept just behind her for hun
dred yards or so. She heard my steps,
suppose, for she turned round aud looked at
me-. And, pom my soul, her face was SO
awfully captivating that damme II l could
resist catching her up and accosting her
And, in about brace of slIakes-I had some
liquor on board, you know-l stole kiss
from herr
Never calculated Cutie, taking his
pipe from his lips and elevating his eye
brows till they nearly touched his hair.
You don't say so? And how did the young
woman take it?"
For moment or two," Poyntz replied,
''she seemed too much surprised to do any
thing. Then she drew herself up very
haughtily and walked quickly off !"
81 don't wonder at that, after your con-
founded cheek!' remarked Cutie. You
didn't follow her any farther. presume?"
"Oh, yes, did!' returned PoyntZ. II de-
termined l would find out where size lived
| SO l walked CD behind her, at some little
distance, until l saw her turn into a house
in Sepulchre lane. mean 10 hang about in
that neighborbood again tomorrow even
ing, in the hope of renewing my acQuaint-
ance with her"
Il say Be careful what you're doing,
PoyntZ my boy" said Cutie seriously, else
you'll be getting yourself into nasty
Scrape."
''Oh. Pm not afraid, old fellow" Poyntz
answered lightly. Pm quite capable Of
taking care of myself"
We'll, to do you justice. think you are"
assented Cutie. Still. kissing strange
gerous practice; and, If were you, Poyntz,
l should be devlish CAREFUL
"All right" returned Poyntz, with an in
difference which showed that he thought
| lTNuu duFlce unnecessary. Never
fear for me; Pm not born fool, you
| know"
1t was on the tip of Cuttle's tongue to
retort that he was not at all sure of that.
But he. pulled himself up on the verge of
saying it, and led the conversation to other
topics, which they discussed for the rest of
the evening. After Poyntz was gone Cut
tie lay back in his armchair. curious
smile playing about his lips. An idea had
occurred TO him which the more he enter
| IA nfz'c cfu obn IL,
kissing affair was all romance. What fun
1t wonid be then to serve him with a sham
summons for assault, and frighten him into
confessing that he had been simply drawing
pictured to himself Poyntz's face on receiv-
ing tho summons. He was Of a timid dis
position. and would certainly be frightened
out OF his wits by it, more especially as his
u2cle, MIR. Goatboy (who. by the way, was
Chairman OF the local bench of magistrates),
was rigid Puritan, and man likely to es-
TEEN kissing most deadly offense against
morality.
The longer he dwelt upon the notion the
stronger grew Cuttle's desire to carry it out
He would have no difficulty in getting hold
OF a summons form, for his father was clerk
to the magi- trates, and all summonses were
issued from his Office. But the worst part
OF 1t was that he would have to forge the
sign manual Of j. p. to the document.
And this was SO obviously risky that it
nearly made the young lawyer abandon his
design altogether. Indeed, if the practical
joke had not taken such a strong hold upon
his fancy, he would probably have done SO.
But his love of fun got tile better of his iudg-
ment, and he decided to chance it. In fact
$50 he told himself. provided he stopped the
affair in time, as he could easily do, there
was no appreciable risk involved.
Next morning, on reaching the office,
Percy proceeded to carry out his design He
procured summons form, which ne filled
up in the regular terms, calling upon Arthur
Poyntz to appear and answer to the charge
THAT he did violently and unlawfully as
sault Amelia Scragg by kissing her, etc.,
etc. I'VE need hardly say that he drew