The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-07-12

NOW &eorgc 1,22lSrSS vas 6 very. ccyY
mcthodical person for So SoUffiEE =. ff iSSan
When letter got into Peters hands it
went through certain routine and the
answer departed from him to the COPY
ing book and from the copying book to
the envelope and the envelope, letter
and all, with enclosures marked, went
into the letter box with regularity
that nothing but the Office clock could
emrdtc, and even that, the clerks said.
was not as regular as Peters, for they
claimed it was always fast in the morn
ing and mighty slow in pointing to six
o'clock.
It is little wonder, then, that Peters
c cs5A high in the confidence Of old man
Bcntham. Bentham was Bentham
Brothers s. CO. There were IA BROTH
ers and no s9@paSyE5asbaE, % We me-;
Perhaps there once were brothers and
perhaps there was once company,
but that is all ancient history, anyhow,
and has nothing to do with this strictly
modern story. And isdid not interfere
with the fact theso1d Bentham's name
was lovely thing to have at the bot
tom Of a large check.
The clerks never specialized on the
probable effect of hove on Peters, be-
Cause il never Occurred to them that
such q thing as Peters falling in love was
Within the bounds Of possibility. Love,
they argued, was not an article that
can be docketcd and ticlscted and re-
ferred back for further information,
and entered in the day book and posted
on the debit or credit side of ledger,
SO what on earth could Peters do with it
If he had it? Manifestly nothing. If
they had known as much about human
nature as you or I, they would have
surmised that when Peters did fall it
was time to stand from under.
And who should Peters fall in love
with but the very woman of all others
whom he ought never have given a
thought ton other words, pretty lit
tie Miss Sadie Bentham. if you please.
1t made Peters himself cold when he
thought of it. for he knew he had lust
as much chance of getting the moon or
the laureateship as the consent of old
man Bentham. Tho clerks always said
that it was Miss Sadie who fell in love
with Peters, principally, 1 suppose, be-
cause she should have known better,
and think my'selfthere is something to
be said for that view of the matter.
Anyhow, she came to her fathers place
of business very often and apparently
very unnecessarily, but the old man
was always pleased to sec her, no mat
ter how busy he happened to be. at
first she rarely looked at Peters, but
when she did fash one of those quick
glances of hers at him poor Peters
thought he had the fever and ague. He
understood the symptoms later on.
l don't know how things came to q
climax; neither do the clerks, for that
matter, although they pretend to. Be-
sides, they are divided in their opinions,
SO l think their collective surmises
amount to but very little. Johnson
claims that it was done over the tele
phone, while Farnam says she came
to the office one day when her father
was not there and proposed to Peters on
the spot One thing the clerks are
unanimous about, and that is that Pc
tiers, left to himself, would never have
had the courage. Still, too much at
tention must not be paid to what the
clerks say. What can they know about
it? They are in another room.
Peters knew that he had no right to
think about that girl during business
hours. lie was paid to think about the
old man and his affairs, which were not
nearly SO interesting. But Peters was
conscientious, and he tried to do his
duty. Nevertheless, the chances are
that uncoasciously little Miss Sadie oc-
cupied some small portion of his mind
that should have been given up to the
concerns of Bcntham Bros. & Co., and
her presence where she had not the
slightest business to be threw the rest
OF his mental machinery out OF gear.