The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-31

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suspicious aroused. Who and what is thi:
MANI thought l. looked at him narrow.
! ly. At first the thought flashed across me
that he might be ''swell mobsman."
But no; his face was too good for that
besides, no man with that huge frame, that
personality so marked and SO easily recog
nizable, could be a swindler; he could not
escape detection a single hour. dismissed
the ungenerous thought. Perhaps he is
rich as he says. We do hear of munifcent
donations by benevolent millionaires now
and then. What if this Australian, at
tracted by the glories of the old cathedral,
should appear, as deus ex machina, to re-
endow the choir, or to found musical
professoriate in connection with the choir,
appointing me the first occupant of the
PROFESSIONAL chair.
These thoughts flashed across my mind
in the momentary pause of his fluent
tongue
"As for yourself, sir" he began again,
II have something TO propose which thrust
may not prove unwelcome. But the pub
lie street is hardly suitable place TO dis
cuss my proposal. May call upon you
this evening at your house in the Close? /
know which it is, for | happened to see you
go into it yesterday after the morning
service"
81 shall be very pleased to see you" re-
piled. "We are going out to dinner this
evening, but shall be at home and olsen
gagged till about T."
Thank you very much. Then / shall do
myself the pleasure of calling upon you
about o'clock Till then, farewellp' A
graceful wave of the hand and my un-
known friend had disappeared round the
corner of the street.
Now at last, thought, something is go
ing to happen in my uneventful life-some-
thing to break the monotony of existence.
Coming events cast their shadows before.
The shadow had been cast, and very
solid and substantial shadow, too-over
six feet high, and proportionately broad
and thick.
had succeeded, it was evident, in at
tracing the notice of some great Austria
liam millionaire. OF course he must have
inquired my name-he could get that from
any of the cathedral vergerS, and, as he
said, he had observed whereabouts in the
Close | lived. But was not to see him
again till O'clock and there were three
good hours to wait. | recalled all that
happened on the Sunday. 1t seemed as if
some special providence was acting in my
favor. 1t was due to the illness and alb
sence of my colleagues that / had had the
good fortune to officiate Surely this was
providential, and am ashamed to say that
l was in one way, realizing the truth of
the famous maxim of acknowledgements in
deriving a secret satisfaction from the mis-
fortunes of my friends. Still it was re-
markable that it should happen thus. And
it was undoubtedly true that on that par
ticular Sunday was in excellent voice;
and then the vanity, which is natural to all
men, asserted itself in me, and | found my
self only too ready to believe that my voice
was the finest and clearest" ever heard
Somebody's must be the finest, and why
not mine?
My mysterious friend, whatever else he
might be, was most certainly man Of
good taste and judgment That could not
be denied. And then, as he had said, he
was rich. PLENTY of money" he said he had.
WHAT'S he coming to see me for, Wondered.
| spent the rest of the afternoon in making
the widest surmises. | was castle build
ing in Spain at a furious rate. At one
time imagined that this faithful son of
the church-as he appeared to be-was 60
ing to build and endow a grand cathedral
in Australia, on condition that should be
appointed dean at a yearly stipend of-say
10000. At another time imagined him
asking me to become his private chaplain
at about the same remuneration.
Again | thought that he might offer to
educate my three boys at his own expense,
provided that special attention should be-
given to the development of their natural
musical genius. Or, perhaps, said to my
self, he will beg me TO accept a sum of
money! never thought of it as less than
a thousand poundS-as slight recognition
of, and tribute to, my remarkable vocal
ability. confess | always came back to
this last conjecture as the most probable;
the others seemed rather wild in their fan
cifulness. felt there were many practi-
cal objections in the way of realizing these,
but it seemed so easy and natural that he
should make me present from his bound
less wealth that my imagination dwelt
upon it with increasing satisfaction.
took long, lonely walk into the coun-
try to correct these ridiculous fancies and
TO steady my mind, and when 1 reached
home and had refreshed myself with a
quiet cup Of afternoon tea, | felt l was
morally and physically prepared for my in
terview with the opulent stranger.
Punctually as the cathedral clock struck
SIX there was ring at the visitors bell.
In moment or two my unknown friend
was shown into the drawing room, which
he entered with the easy air of a man of
the world. i noticed he was carrying
small black bag.
How do you do again, Mr.. Dale?" he
said as though we were old acquaintance.
You see have come sharp to my time"
Yes" / answered, land am pleased to
see you; do sit down" He sank into nv
best armchair, and placed his bag on the
floor beside him.
Since we met in the afternoon" he said,
81 have written a letter to your dean ex-
pressing the great pleasure felt in listen
ing 10 your choir; and at the same time
inclosed five-pound note, which / begged
him to divide among the choir bows and
men, from Alexander PoUlter, Esq, of
Poulter's Pills. You have of course heard
of the world renowned Poulter's Pills. I
am Poulter."
Poulter of Poulter's Pillsl My heart
sank within mel A fve-pound motel My
airy castles were totteringl
81 also sent him a couple of hundred of
any Hti1AplAlCNS, Which Sa4d L he
would be so kind DIS to distribute in the
Close"
Il was aghasti
and now, with regard to the special OBJ
lect of my call, Mr.. Dale. If you will al
low me 10 say so, You are not making the
most Of that grand voice of yours; you are
hidden under an ecclesiastical bushel here
lost to the world. You are wasting your
sert air, SO TO speak. Why-if may haz-
r-I I