The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

enough to Wean a topper on,sbut lie
slipped it and made overtures fO the
child until she transferred her seat to
the visitors knee, and listened to the
Ginning of the wonderful watch that
struck whenever it was told to- Her
father was telling the female mem ers
of the family, over and over again the
story Of the fire, and trying to tix the
time when he first smelled smoke He
was full of the excitement of the af-
fair, too full of the onsciousness OF
his own achievement in climbing over
the back fence to realize the extent Of
the disaster
At last his wife broke down, crying
out: oh, daddy, where will we get
the money to build another Off e ~
Wetherbee spoke up very softly, lest
he might wake the child who was
sleeping with her head on his shoulder:
I'll be happy to advance the mon
ey," he said
Smith looked at him, almost sourly.
T amt got no security to give you.
This is building society house, and
there's mortgage on it for all it's
worth. could do no better
Wetherbee had been poor himself
once, and he quickly understood the
suspicion of Smith, your note will
do, Smith, he said. Il think you will
pay me back I shan't worry about
But it was some time before the
Smith family that a loan of $500 could
be maze SO easily. When the glorious
possibility did dawn upon them, moth
ing would do but Mr.. Wetherbee should
take another drink Of whisky. this
time not for his health but for pure
conviviality in fact, he was supposed
to revel vicariously for the whole fam
lily. He drank, mentally wondering
what he had at home to take the taste
out of his mouth Then he handed the
child to her mother and started to. go
home, when Smith suddenly turned in
to the astrologist, and insisted on cast
ing his new friends horoscope. Learn
ing the date of his birth and guessing
at the hour, Smith drew astronomical
figures on a slate in neat manner,
and at last began to read off the mean
ing Of his stellar stenography in a
hllshed, important voice He told
Wetherhee every thing that had hap
pened to him, only none Of it had hap
that We're to happen to him, and
cheered UP wonderfully when his visit
or sighed as he dilated on a blonde
woman who was troubling his heart
and who would be his some day
There was a blonde woman troubling
his heart, but there was small proba-
bility Of her being his some day Or any
day.
I, ~ 10 II, EoI,o
dark woman who was making trouble,
burt only temporarily, so to speak. "She
amt serious. She may make a bother,
but she amt serious concluded
Smith.
"GOOd night" said Mr.. Wetherbee
you don't believe in the science I
can see that; but it'll all come true,
mind my words Look out, don't trip
over the scraper."
The blonde woman in Mr. Wether-
bees case was certain Mrs. Cynthia
Hildebrand, the widow Of one of Mr..
Wetherbee's associates in business,
who had been disagreeable and high
ly immoral spendthrift. She settled
down in her widowhood serene in the
satisfaction that she had an elegant
home and plenty Of money.
disturbed by a certain Mr. Henry
NYetherbee falling in love with her,
and, what was worse, asking her to
marry him. That she said she could
not do. He was her nearest and dear
est friend. If she ever could marry a
man she would marry him. But she
never, never could; he must not ask
her. g y
OF course he did ask her, and asked
her more than once, and there matters
stood; and there they were likely to
stand.
But Henry Wetherbee was q man
who, when he wanted anything, want
ed it with his whole heart, and after
eighteen months Of waiting, he began
to find the situation intolerable. He
found that he was getting into a NOR
bid state bordering on mild mania.
"I'll wait an even two years, and
then if she won't have me I'll go away