Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-01-09

consul AS Ior James I1oyr. II was no
more than fair, and what ne had ex-.
+ pectel from him As to its being an
equivalent Of his loss, he could not tell
NJ til the facts were before him
Miss Ailsa, suggested the consul
venturously, will be pleased to hear
again from her old friend. and know
that he is succeeding.
4 M not so sure that ye could call il
'succeedin' " returned the old man,
carefully wiping the glasses Of pair Of
spectacles that he held critically TO the
light. when ye consider that, sayin
nothin Of the waste Of valuable time,
it only puts James Cow back where he
was when he went away.
But any man who has had the pleas
IRE Of knowing Mr.. and Miss Calender
would be glad to be on that footing,
said the consul, with polite significance.
I'm not agreein with you there, =
said Mr.. Calender quietly; land I'm
observin in ye of late tendency to
rombine business wi complement.
But it was kind of ye to call, and I'll
be sendin ye the authorization.
Which he did. But the consul, pass
ing through the locality few weeks
later, was somewhat concerned to find
the shop closed, with others ON the sf.ne
block, behind boarding that indica ed
rebuilding and improvement Further
inquiry elected the fact that the small
leases had been bought up by some cap
italist, and that Mr.. Calender, with the
others, had benefited thereby. But there
was no trace nor clew to his present To-
cality He and his daughter seemed to
have again vanished with this second
change in their fortunes.
It was a late March morning, when
the streets were dumb with snow and
the air was filed with flying granula-
tions that tinkled against the windows
of the consulate like fairy sleigh bells,
when there was the stamping of snow
clogged feet III the outer hall and the
door was opened to Mr. and Miss Cal
lender. For an instant the consul was
startled. The old man appeared rs usual
erect and as frigidly respectable as
one of the ieicles that fringed the win
dow, but Miss Ailsa was, to his aston
ishment, brilliant with new fcrnd
color, and sparkling with health and
only half repressed animation. The
snowfakes, scarcely melting on the
brown head Of this true daughter of the
north, still crowned her hood, and as
she threw back her brown cloak and
disclosed plump little scarlet jacket
and brown skirt, the consul could not
resist her suggested likeness to some
bright eyed robin redbreast, to whom
the Indictment weather had given
charming audacity And, shy and de-
mure as she still was, IL was evident
that some change had been wrought in
her other than that evoked by the slim
ulus of her native sky and air.
To his eager questioning the old man
replied briefly that he had bought the
old cottage at Loeb Dour, where they
were living, and where he had erected
small mandatory and laboratory for
the making Of his inventions, which had
become profitable The consul reiterated
his delight at meeting them again.
'.I'm not SO sure Of that, sir, when
you know the business on which
come, said Mr.. Calender, dropping
rigidly into chair ami olasping his
hands over the cruteh Of atrdlike
staff. Ye mind, perhaps, con
yeyed to me, osteensibly at the -.
Of James Cow, a certain sum Of money,
for which I gave We good aud suffi-
Gent guarantee. | thought at.the time
that It was a most fec6less and uubusi.
nesslike proceeding on the part of James,
as it was without confederation or ad-
vice by letter, but took the money"
Do you mean to say that lie made
no allusion to it in his other letters?''
interrupted the consul, gla2cing at Ali
sa.
There were no other letters at The
time, said Calender dryly. But
about month afterward we did receive
a letter from him inclosin a draft and
q full return Of the profits Of the inven-
ton, which he had sold iii Honduras.
Yen observe the Discrepancy. l then
wrote to the bank on which I had drawn
as y0u authorized me, and I found that
they knew nothing Of any damages /
awarded, but that the sum 1 had drawn
had been placed to my credit by Mr..
Robert Grey
In a fash the consul recalled the ora
or two questions that Grey had asked
him and saw it all For an instant rs
felt the whole bitterness Of Grey S mis-
placed generosity-its exposure and de-
feat. 6e glanced again hopelessly OF
Ailsa. In the eye Of that fresh, glowing,
YET demure young goddess, unhallowed
as the thought might be, theirs was
certainly distinctly tremulous wink
The consul took heart II believe /
need not say, Mr. Calender, " hs began,
with some stiffness, that this is as
great surprise to mo as to you | had
no reason 10 believe the transaction 9TH
er than bona fide, and acted according
II. Ii my friend, deeply sympathizin9
with your previous misfortune, has hit
upon delicate but. unbusinesslike way
OF assisting you temporarily say tenn
porarily, because it must have been as
patent 80 him as to You that YOU would