Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-04-15

what That thing is. handkerchief, i IL
bet. Always is a handkerchief, or else
an odd glove pretty well worn out:
You internal idiot, why didn't you put
the mystery of the Mysterious Ker-
Chief" and he started toward the dark
corner into which Langlade had thrown
the tidy.
Shelton" said the latter, stepping
before him. 81 have my reasons for
not wishing you to see that rag, and
you shall not do it,
"Worse than 1 thought" groaned
Shelton, putting his own handkerchief
to bis eyes in affectation of grief. eff
it's only to be reached over your dead
body, I'll desist. A thfashing would do
you good in your present condition, and
I'm terribly in need of exercise, but no
matter. | pity you, poor fellow. L
leave you more in sorrow than anger.
Some day you'll gain possession of your
few and feeble senses. Good afternoon,
gentle Romeo"
Langlade heard the door close with
relief. He had owned that accursed
tidy half an hour and already it had
nearly got him into trouble with a
champion amateur heavy weight. He
felt that crisis was upon him, and that
he must carefully consider himself and
the future. He did not pick the tidy
up. He did not care to look at it again
till its fate was settled, SO, lighting a
meditative pipe, he paced up and down
the floor of the studio.
81 couldn't have let Shelton see that
thing" he thought. Neither he nor
any of the other boys must see it. [
should never hear the last of it.
could stand that, | suppose, but they
would find out who made it, and |
wouldn't want any joking of that kind
about Miss Morrison. If she heard of
it, it would drive her away from me-
She's-well, | suppose Shelton's dag
nosis is right, and [ don't care if it is.
She has heart and brain, if she does
make crewel deer, and don't want to
lose her just as I've got portrait to
paint that [ can make last all winter;
and yet, if she comes here and doesn't
see the thing, she'll be offended. I
wish l could be certain that the gift
meant any particular favor to me, but /
suppose in Shoal Rapids they make
slippers for the ministers and tides for
everybody else, Just to kill time"
He paused to kick an offending stool
savagely out of the way, and then re-
sumed his walk $50 far as / can see,
I'm in a fix whichever way turn.
Why wasn't / born magician? Now, if
| were a magician | would make that
tidy visible whenever Miss Morrison
comes to sit, and invisible at other times.
By Jove l have it."
He started as if struck by sudden
idea, and hurried to make an examina-
ton of the easy chair from which he
had snatched the luckless tidy. 1t was
ponderous affair, covered as to it's face
with russell leather, but upon its back
the economical upholsterer had simply
tackled cotton cloth of similar shade.
Langlade, who prided himself upon his
mechanical ingenuity, scanned this with
evident interest. Finally he cut a slit
cloth backing to the full width of the
chair. When this was done, he found he
had deep bag or pocket large enough
to hold the offending tidy, and that it
could lie there unobserved if any means
could be devised to draw it in
IIes After "I some further tsA'e thought %a
he went out and procured some
stout string of the exact color of the
leather. Returning with this, he
passed two lengths of it through the
bottom corners of the pocket, and
drawing them well up, tied them to the
corners of the tidy. After consider
able difficulty he succeeded, with the
aid of an awl, in putting the other ends
of the strings through the stuffed back
two strings, which were kept through
out as far apart as the width
of the tidy, were then brought
up taut and affixed to it's bottom cor
ners. Langlade found that he could
then, by grasping the strings one in
each hand and lifting them, whisk the
tidy over the back of the chair and into
its receptacle with almost magical
quickness, while by the reverse process
of pulling down upon the strings, he
could cause it to reappear with equal
celebrity and resume it's proper place.
Going forth yet once more, he brought
back two small mirrors which he SO
placed outside his window that he could
see reflected in them anyone approach
ing in either direction of the street.
When all this bad been done he took
the $3.50 P. NJ. train for home, tolerably
well satisfied with his work.
From that day Langlade dated the be-
mental and moral. The management
of the tidy did not seem difficult, for he
knew approximately when to expect
its fair constructor. But it's presence,
seen or unseen, and the knowledge Of
the part he was playing, poisoned his
life. He watched his mirrors at all
hours. They grew to have an unholy
fascination for him. His hand was
tremulous and unfit for work, his appe-
tite and flesh fell away, be became nerv-
Gus and started at the slightest sound.
His friends wondered what had hap
pened. They wondered still more when
he refused to unite with the artists of
the Rembrandt Building in their joint
Studio reception" and offended valued
friends and valuable patrons by his
locked door. He had been unable to
decide whether to offend Miss Morrison
by hiding the tidy on that occasion or
surprise others by exhibiting it. The
string device manfestly could not be
worked in crowd of gossiping visitors.
All things have an end, and the sea-
son 1890 was no exception. Spring
drew near, and Mrs. M. Morrison,
though she had in way enjoyed her
visit to New York, pinned for Shoal Rap
ids much more visibly than her daugh-
ter. Upon the portrait of that young