The Portland daily press., 1890-07-04
DIR. KEENE's STORY.
lGotham Monthly.l

mer in the Catskills, whittier / had be-
taken myself for weeks change and
fresh air. l put up at lonely farm
house, where Howard, stopping for
day to await the arrival of some friends,
was so unfortunate as to sprain his
ankle. 1t was nothing serious, but it
compelled him to remain quiet for few
days. His friends, arriving, proceeded
on their way, leaving him in my care.
Frank was CHEEKY, happy young fell
low of 20, and took his mishap with I'M
commonly good grace. l read to him
from my small store of books and pa
pers, and we had long and interesting
talks. Frank was full of the enthusi-
asm of youth, and i, eight or ten years
his senior, was, my steady going col
leagues would have said, a visionary,
romantic boy. Those few days made
us better acquainted than we would
have become in months of intercourse
in the CITY, When Frank was able to
rejoin his friends my time was up and
| returned to town, regretting the neces-
sity that compelled me to part with the
pleasant young fellow.
He did not forget his promise to look
me up when he returned to the city,
and from that time ON we were the best
Of friends. | had, am sure, more of
his confidence than did any one else,
and talked to him in way that my
medical brethren would have pronounced
wild and unprofessional, but he took it
in sober earnest, nomatter how wild, be-
ieving in my theories just because /
aired them.
My friend was a good looking young
fellow, tall, well made as to figure, easy
and graceful He had blue gray eyes,
well shaped brow and rounded chin, dark
hair which, however, was quite thin,
giving promise of early badness, a nose
perhaps trifie too long and an upper
trife too short. His front teeth,
enough white, were not well shaped
Greatly to his sorrow he could not raise
a mustache, try hard as he might, and
he had tried very hard, indeed, investing
many dollar in nostrums warranted to
produce the desired result.
Frank well knew what an improve
ment a mustache would be-he did not
banker after whiskers, mustache was
all he wanted-for he had worn false
ones upon several occasions when taking
part in private theatricals. He was quite
clever, and played very well for an anna
teur, but often accepted part, | verify
believe, more for the opportunity it gave
him to wear mustache than for any
other reason.
He was very well situated financially.
His parents were dead. His father had
left him a good business, which, how
ever, had so far demanded little of his
attention, as his father had also left him
a partner, a shrewd, steady bachelor,
without near kin, who was devoted to
the young man. Considerable property
outside of the business added good deal
to his income. Like myself he had few
elatives, but then he had hosts of
ENDS, and was great favorite in so"'
ETY.. ~There were plenty of nicS
who wott'd have become MRS. Howard
one at a time, of course-had he asked
them, mustache or no mustache. No
one thought of his lack of one as he did,
and none but I knew how he felt
about it.
We had been discussing various exper-
iments one evening when he had dropped
in, as he often did, ON his way to a re-
ception. After silence of some mo-
ments, evidently spent in deep thought,
for he had not seemed to hear one or
two of my remarks, Frank broke out:
"See here, doctor, can't you transplant
bit of some ones scalp to my lip and
make mustache that will grow? You
read or told me something one evening
about such an experiment or else l
dreamed it. | have been wanting to
speak to you about it. I'd gladly spare
some of my own scalp if the hair on it
wasn't SO awfully thin. I'll give you a
thousand dollars if you can manage it
and pay all expenses. Think it over and
see if there isn't some way to do it, and
now l must be off. Good night, old
boy"
laughed at the idea, but after he had
gone could not help thinking about it,
A thousand dollars was certainly tempt
ing. My practice did not increase SO
rapidly as l could have wished, and of
course, like many another foolish young
fellow, had married nice girl when
scarcely able to keep myself comforta-
bly,, and the tiny olive branches had a
dreadful way, sweet as they were, of ap-
pearing all too frequently for a poor
man. I'm not saying, mind you, that
I've ever regretted my marriage or been
willing to spare one of the boys and
girls now growing up so fast around me;
but money was very scarce in those
days, and thousand dollars seemed too
much to let go without some effort to
earn it.
l did a lot of hard thinking for few
days and spent all my spare time over
some old books in a musty, out of the
way library down town. | finally told
Frank that | would see what could be
done if he would give $500. the rest if |
succeeded in the undertaking. He agreed
at once, so l put carefully worded
WANT in The Herald, Offering 5000 for
bit of scalp from the head of healthy
person. young woman preferred, and
naming an hour for applicants to call at
my Office.
Well, had good many answers. in
person and by letter. The letters paid
no attention to, and those who called did
not suit, until began to think would
have a good deal of trouble to find the
right person, when my small boy Of all
work ushered in a young lady. knew
that she was young, though she was
heavily yelled, by her slight, girlish
figure and low, sweet, tremulous voice.
Her dress was neat and plain and fitted
exquisitely. Her gloves and boots were
not new, but they were the gloves and
boots of lady. Wavy dark brown
hair was worn in a heavy coil beneath a
little round hat, and thought "Here's
the very girl at last!"
Iquestioned her closely, and explained
to her more fully than to the others just
what wanted. She was nervous, as
was quite natural, but had evidently
made up her mind to win the 5000 if
possible. She was perfectly healthy, she
salo, and so far as she knew, came OF
nealthy parents Her father was dead.
aer mother was usually quite well,
1hough not very strong. She was just
now suffering from injuries received in
fall on the stairs.
The doctor says" the young lady
went on, THAT my mother will soon be
as well as ever, but we need money very
badly at present. On account of my
mothers illness l lost my position in
that is, am out of employment, and as
am the bread winner for our family |
am willing to do anything honorable
that will not injure my health TO earn
money. l must stipulate that my face
shall remain covered, and that no effort