Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-05-21

what In the world" l began, but
she interrupted me
"Oh don't. you didn't even see him,
then"
"See whom
"That dreadful old Chinaman."
"No, what about himT'
..Oh, / don't know-but he was go
ing to Go something awful TO you. i
am sure i saw the CLINT OF a knife
or a dagger i'm his hand
Well. I laughed her fears away. told
her she was foolish to be frightened.
accused her having nerves, and all
that. as we do when we want a wo-
man to feel our superior mental poise,
you know. All the time, however, l
mad a suspicion that she might be
right about IL, and remembered the
look on the face of the man l had
logged with my arm some two hours
before.
When we reached Mrs. Stafford's
home i declined TO give up the tea
pot. | told her | would have il mend
ed for her, and we had some pleas
ant sparring about the cup OF tea
which she would brew for me in the
life-preseryihg pot.
The next day | received a note from
Jim Lee asking me to be at my rooms
that evening at 8 o'clock as he wished
to see me. He confirmed the young
Iady's story. An eyewitness to the
affair had told him about it, and he
warned me to be on my guard against
old Chung who was, ii appeared, a
dark character, and subject to fits
Of violent rage when half drunk
with opium, though he had not yet
committed any act which would
cause his arrest or imprisonment.
"She YER brave young lady," jim went
on. You must he proud TO be her
friend. She save your life, cause she
think so quick"
After that / had to call, of course. I
hope | was a little more civil about the
affair" that evening. She, very sensi-
J bly,, had not mentioned ii TO Mrs. stat
ford, nor any one else. She looked so
pretty that night, in a soft. rose-pinlS
sort of a gown" Again Mr.. Austin
lapsed into silence. His pipe had gone
out unheeded, and his eyes looked ten
DERBY into the glowing Goals.
Harold Summers looked quizzically
at his "'stoic' friend, and a new light
broke through his unbelief. He opened
his lips 10 say something when the mar
ratOr resumed:
The teapot couldn't be mended, for
the pieces were lost. / took IT back to
her as il was, n afternoon. and asked
for my promised cup of tea. She was
alone at home, and we talked of every
thing under the sun. from bumble-bees
TO Browning. Finally. she made tea,
and just for the fun of it. brewed ii in
the shattered receptacle. She had
such dainty wyS and such pretty
hands-it was a treat, really, to see
her manage this clumsy thing. Then |
asked her 10 read. and she chose by
the Fireside.'" Don't know it, SUM-
mers interposed. 'Oh, it's the one be-
ginning:
When the long, dark autumn evenings
come
Browning, you know"
NO" said Harold; ''as l said before,
/ don't know"
well, ! knew it, but | never saw be-
fore such n wealth of tenderness in it
its wonderful!'
"Oh, is it:' inquired Summers, in "A
tone that implied scepticism, while
through his mind stole a remembrance
of a conversation he once had with
this same Henry Austin, when the lat
ter gentleman had declared that he
fully believed he had passed through
the poetic stage of development and
would care to read poetry again.
1t had it's value, undoubtedly, but ii
required for its appreciation a combin-
alton of feeling and sentiment which
belonged purely to youth. He had ex-
planned, as Summers remembered, that
some people never advanced beyond
this stage of development, some never
reached it, owing to serious deficiencies
in their composition but that this APP
probation OF or feeling for poetry
could be coexistent with the keen intel
iectual thought of maturity. he denied:
at least, he was sure of his theory, as
applied to himself.
With these thoughts running through
his brain, he scarcely heard, as Austin
talked on, more to himself thar to his
listener.
But who could have expected this,
when we two drew together first?
Just for the obvious human bliss, to
satisfy life's daily thirst,
With a thing men seldom MISS
She has such a well modulated voice,
and she reads SO i~ntelligently. I al.
ways enjoy that. We read a good deal
together before she went"
Then she is o in town at presently"
"No."
But you keep this shattered, de-
crepit. forlorn old teapot to remember
her by? That's what / call compli-
mentary. How pleased she would be
to know that this crumbling relic rep
resents herself"
"She does know it," returned Austin.
calmly. "She gave it to me to keep for
her. for she said her -four sisters would
be into her trunks as soon as she got
home, and she didn't want to hear it
ridiculed.'
II keep for her. repeated sum-
mers; ito 90 on forever with that thing
staring you in the face, TO have to lug
1t about with you wherever you 60, to
grow old with that hollow mockery of
vanished JOY id~iotically posing on your
mantel ~shelf-wel-"
Until she returns" Austin contin-
ued, unmindful Of the interruption.
"Oh. she will eventually return then