Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-03-14
BOb'S PARTICULAR FRIEND.

4 IlNc me Your liSj HOW IL YOU Will
| to-" said Miss Gardner. stopping her
| writing suddenly and looking up i'm
patiently.
She was making out invitations 10 a
tea which she intended to give. and
looked hot and cross. Bob drew tiny
piece of paper from his pocket, APP
i preached his sister cautiously, handed
her the paper and retreated to his
armchair Once more seated he re-
sumed his cigar, and in a half amused,
half curious way watched his sister at
tentively. She scuflled her feet n great
deal and screwed her mouth into all
possible shapes as she read the names
to herself. thereby affording Bob the
greatest delight. for he liked to tease
bis sister because she got angry SO
quickly.
Miss Shepard" she exclaimed sud-
denly, turning and glaring at Bob.
"W by, Bob" she went on impatiently,
Il thoughsyOu hated Miss Shepard.
You are always as rude 10 her as you
can possible be. You would rather do
| anything than dance with her At a
party. You say horrid things about
her. and here you've put her down on
Your list. l had left her OF mine be-
cause l thought You hated her So"
Miss Gardner paused To give her
| brother 4 chance 10 get in 4 word, =
| thing she seldom did, it seemed 10
| him.
"Well.v he said helplessly.~I thought
| she ought to come. 1t strikes me that
it is rather hasty of YOU to leave her
out on my account. Isn't she a friend
| of yours?"
MAY Shepard is an awful nice girl,
| a thing which you may have heard me
| say about a thousand times before,"
| exclaimed Helen. throwing down her
| pen and getting ready for fight. Bob
| Gardner. YOU are the most utterly in
! consistent creature. There doesn't
! seem to be the slightest use in talking
to YOU" Bob tried at this point to
say No" but his sister had the floor.
What do you want her here now for?
just to be as disagreeable to her as
! as YOU can? ! don't believe she'd come,
| anyway. because she must want to
| keep out of the way of such rude,
| sublimelv conceited-"
Then don't invite her, dearest; but
! forbear Safeguarding me. because L
| don't want to 90 to the next assem- bly,
very badly as it is, and the least thing
| Il shall invite her, too; and if you
don't treat her decently you'll wish
| you had. Furthermore, I'm going to
! ask her to pour ont. as | should nave
| in the first place if it hadn't been for
| you?"
| Hadn't been for-who?"
| Helen sat down to write the ad-
dresses on her list Bob smoked his
cigar in silence, with a satisfied smile
on his face, as though he had attained
success in some cherished project. then
put on his hat and coat and started
out. Helen wanted 20 tell him that it
was time for lunch. but did not, un-
der the circumstances, think it best
to lower herself to do SO. 80 Bob
probably didn't get any.
A week later came the tea-Oee of
the ghastlest ordeals imaginable for
Bob. A word with everybody. Z SEN
tence with nobody; a bewildering sea
of black coats, on the shores of which
were several excited girls serving
sherbet, chocolate and tea, and all the
time smiling, laughing. frowning at
the solid wall of human beings around
them. BY great exertion Bob man
| aged to pierce his way to table more
crowded than the others. where a
slight, pretty girl, with blue eyes and
light brown hair, was serving choco-
late.
DO YOU need anything. Miss Shep-
| ard 2" he asked in a low tone, bending
down over her.
mo. thanks; one of the other wait
ers is getting things for me-" she said
loudly.
Bob wisely ignored the compliment,
nearly cracked his cheeks trying to
smile, and finding chair near the
wall drew it up and began talking to
| Miss Shepard, who seemed 10 pay very
little attention to him.
Aren't you tired of pouring out?'
he asked at length, after he had seen
several quarts disappear. Helen SAID
she would send some to relieve you
soon"
Yes, / wish she would; l need re-
lief" replied Miss Shepard.
This looked encouraging, but Bon
was more or less used to it. Besides,
as his sister limited. he was eonceited;
SO that Miss Shepard's last remark had
no perceptible effect on him. A min
ute later another girl was brought by
Miss Gardner to attend to the choco-
late, and Bob walked away with Miss
Shepard. They passed through the
dinipg-room slowly and into the con-
serva.ory, which was just now vacant
and lighted very dimly by the sunset,
but the hum from the other room filled
the air.
"Well?" said Miss Shepard, sitting
down hard in the chair he gave her.
Bob tried to say something and
couldn't.
"Nice weather we're having, Mr..
l IL \ y