The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-22
The MAN WHO WAS NOT.
Mrs. A. w. Rollins, in Romance.

e.l,. " ~ ~, a., >,
the seventh moor eS' 'iiis - MY moor
But why yours when the name IS
Dobbs2" l asked
,,yVbv Won see am the man who is
49,. MI rr,b,ro .,., t,,,c. of nc ~, eocb
-0' .1-..-..-
story Nheh ! came l was PoHuerluB
sadly on the necessity OF a doorplate IN
so large an apartment house, when it sud
dorI,, occurred to mo that as Dobbs had
- 81 -, 49,, - 81 nv, l,o,-ir,, ono
ome' O,ieLo do NO - u ~ o'-1.
Inc elevator Wouiu IedNe lily Ar4eHuS aU
the right story, and then, seeing that the
name on this door was Dobbs, they would
know of course that the only other
49, -. -, e,ir-,r1,,,c+ boinr, T,oE,hs
"Ooi vas MINI "p'' nv
saved me tht expense VI uooIp ldI0'
! Seet'
Van Austin had been the first friend I
had stumbled upon after landing from the
| Etruria He had asked me to come down
| home with him. not to dine for he made
no secret of the fact that he never dined;
but to have glass of beer in Van Aus
ten cut-glass beer-mug. we had wended
our way uptown TO SHABBY apartment
! house in SHABBY street, ana as we
entered the elevator Van Austen had sad
mysteriously TO the BOY up when l
found meant that we were TO pc taken 10
the roof. AS we stepped out van Austen
! explained:
Il have no view from my rooms, you see
| SO when l nave visitors lhaJ l. Wlsh 10
| impress l always bring them up here first
| Not that there IS much OF a view mere, so
far as scenery goes 1t IS all roof tops and
| chlmneys. But there IS so much OF IL
| that 1t has certain dignity OF It's own
| Queer, isn't II, that great deal OF any
thing Is picturesque IN us way nate
| SunuOWer coUIu not endure even an EN-
broldered one unless 1t were convention
allied out OF all resem blance TO It's proper
sell, put nave never IN all my NE seen
| anything IN the floral way SO magnificent
as the great acres at the west, with NIL
| mons upon mllllons or the blossoms, per
tectly gorgeous IN such mass. IL IS
| sometimes uke my NE, you know; tnefe
Is so much of nothing that the whole
eIect OF II IS not unoighlhGd, Shal we
! walk down! IL ism lar. ma IL true
| that there IS always room at the top for
| people VINO can ! anof6 the granaer
! apartments on Une lower HOotS' 90 am
| living on the seventh
| And talking busily as we walked down
| the stairs, we had both forgotten to
notice how many flights of stairs we had
| descended, till Van Austen glanced at the
| little doorplate on the story, where it
| suddenly occurred to us to take our bear
| ings, with the result mentioned.
We crossed the little hall to the oppo-
! site door, which Van Austen opened with
a latChkey. Familiar as I was with the
mans ways, l was not surprised at the
! sudden transformation of the scene. The
| street had been shabby, the apartment
! house was shabby, and the apartment
| evidently consisted Of dull, little, ugly
| rooms, in themselves extremely shabby;
| but they were crowded with the beautiful
| Van Austen things till they cleaned
! like vision of loneliness. A tiny dining
/ room opened almost at the door, and into
| this we naturally stepped, after leaving
our hats in the hall.
''Of course l don't dine here" said Van
! Austen, with the ready frankness that
was one of his peculiarties. Il can't af-
| ford to keep a menage. My dining room
is like Europe; you know Emerson says
| that a man finds in Europe only what he
| brings there, and I find in my dining
| room only what | bring to it. Tonight it
| is peachesD and he deposited a small
| brown paper bag on the beautiful
mahogany. table: ''peaches and beer.
! That is really a horrible combination
| Suppose we postpone the peaches till
after, and content ourselves with beer for
| the moment Beer in one of Grand
mother Van Austen's cut-glass mugs; it
| is something like nv life. Thorndfke.
| very small beer in very choice cut glass
| The cut glass has never been able to i'm
| prove the quality of the beer but then
| on the other hand, the beer has never
| baen able to spOil the quality of the cut
| glass. 1t is something. Thorndike. DON'T
| YOU think. to live the life have to with
! out being EN- FILTERED by it?',
| The very words would have been bittar
in the mouth of almost anv other man
! hut Van Austen smoke with the nerfect
| serenity the natfent calm accentance of
unavoidable fact. which was his dis
! tinguishino rrait
MY appointments are ouite perfect
Won soc > as he nofed nv evident adrnira2
| lion Of the soft rho the nolished fIIrni-
ture the rare t6rs nlatoues nictnras
norfiares cahinets and china tbat fIln3
every avaiIable sDot in the little room
,.Ana none of Them has cost me n cent
! All presents Rem is The one tbinc,
which nv friends do not dare to Offer mo
! and which think even MIGHT not ba
IyiIIine, to accent 7 drew the Inc al 1,o,,t
| allow no one To nrespnt me- with n s5o,,
| 000 bonsp and nv own friends will not
hermit me tn i've in n fiT1a,, straat tba,
| this Rut as +o evorvihinc aIsn LII
| need not exnlain Yon bo+-o
| known me long nnouob n 1lno,T
that NV bcsetting sin has aI,,,ayrs
been n Iacx Of nroner nride Fate doniS5
mo evervthin,r Of the kind vy,s hnr+
| with the taste to crave and In baoItb
nod il i7,,,,oseilla f,,. NM. 10 st,.,lr,i 80,