Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-03-21

allow the mistake to pass. It would
have been far better for me had | cor
:. rccted the mistake. instead of allow
ing Il to pass in my haste TO accept tht
invitation IL dinner.
At $50 on Thursday night I entered
Wanless' dining-rt om. The dinner
was not all that could be desired. bnt
then Bellamy was absent. and the foo(
VAS brought and served by q waiter
from the hotel. The wines. whicl
We're my hosts own, left nothing to b.
wanted; the peculiar sherry was there
r"d sone wonderful champagne Of
1871 vintage, to which we both did am.
pie justice. By the time we had com.
pletel u repast. WanIess' eyes were
shining and his manner had grown i
little bOistnrOus
Strong as / was, [ was powerless in
And now 10 more wine" he said.
as he dismissed the waiter. 81 shall
suffer terribly in the morning from
what have had already. and Bellamy
will bully me in his polite way for a
week. Let us go into the library and
smoke. We shall be quite alone. and
can have a coy chat. It is not often
that | have nerve to face my books,
much as [ love them. Time was when
things were very different, and
Wanless broke off abruptly and led
the way to the library. A lamp was
on the table; a little fire burned on the
CRATE; and yet, in that cheerful. book
lined apartment, I felt ~singularly de-
J pressed. | tried to shake off the feel
ing; | tried to ignore the CLEAN that
flashed in the dark, restless eyes of my
companion. With as much ease as |
could assume, l carelessly examined
the well-filled shelves. you appear
to have a good selection here" | re-
marked. "In. sc select a gathering |
am fiattered at seeing a volume of nv
own" Any writer will pardon the in
nOcent vanity of the remark. I heard
a short, sharp exclamation break from
my host. I saw his eyes blazing as
he looked toward the book on which
my hand lay lovingly.
"Oh. so YOU are that Osborne" he
said in a name most uncompliment-
tary. II had no idea that | was en-
tertainlng so great a a All! Ali"
The laugh was about the most unpleas-
ant that have ever heard.
"Sit down" my host commanded.
ION. | know your work very we'll. in
deed. In fact. ! know the work of the
whole gang of YOU. But I haven't
e a line of that volume of short
stories you have there. The stories
are quite recent. l suppose?'
| replied as quietly as I could in the
affirmative. at least as quietly as a
a can when his host. with eyes Gin
a fine frenzy rolling" locks the door
and puts the key carefully away in
his pocket.
LINEN of course you remember all
he denOuement-hateful word.'' Wan
less said as he opened my innocent
book and glanced at the first story.
"We will have a little mental amuse-
ment. ard you shall correct me if I am
wrong. / see the first story is a ghost
tale. called The White Mystery
And here, looking casually through. |
find are two characters. They are
bf'nthers-one a brave military man:
the other. a nervous imaginative youth.
who is scOffed at by the brother be-
caus" ne fears a ghost. Let me fore
cast the end Of the story. The young
Ster sees the spOOk. and dies of terror
on the spot: while the other fool can
never speak afterwards without tremb-
ling when he %recounts the story.
Doesn't he say that he 'cannot speak
of the namelesS horror of that awful
face?'"
But WanieSs did not appear to be at
all elated by his SUCCESS. He smiled
with bitter. weary Scorn. and fiuttered
over the leaves TO the next story. II
take no credit to myself for that dis
cOvery." he proceeded. "Hera is an
other little thing entitled My Uncle
Dick HcavenSi what awful memories
does that hOary kind of title c~onjure
M. Let me pronhesy again. Uncle
Dick is a mar of money: he is cruStv
and curt; the hero of the sLpry-writ-
ten in the autobiographical style
wants to marry a cousin and the cid
boy won't let him. Said old boy dies
of apopleXy after a fit of passion. and
leaves nothing to the narrator but an
old deed chest. in which are discovered
securities of priceless value. SO they
get married. and live happily ever
after. eh?"
"Your foresight is really wonderful"
I replied. ANY one would think that
you had been 4 writer of current ic-
ton yourself"
WanlesS glared as me so threaten
ingly that l involurtarily moved to-
ward the poker. His eyes were filled ,
with horror, hate and ~loathing.
Man. You don't know what l am.
You cannot understand what has
brought me to my present piUiable con-
ditiOn," he Kissed. LET us carry on
the ghaStly farce to the end. Here is
another of your screeds. 1t is called
The Black Bag l wonder how many
thousands of tales have been written
with the same title? Again let us pur-
II the psychological program. The !
hero is a young man who gets into
conversation with an engaging
stranger in Il railway carriage. The
fascinating n has a black bag. When
they change carriages SOME one ac-
costs the stranger. who informs his
companion he is detained by business.
Well, he delivers the bag at an adj
1y-NcC W 7 ~-A1- H. IL wv