The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-07-09

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..coplouna d, poeksoy, low could yva
| hAsS dons H." DRIED LAsutsnAne ewalh,
painting vigrcusly and moppins bis fcss-
keed. ls isss8k
He laid his hat and cane ON chair,
drew from the depthsof his pocket his Pipe
and then glanced about the room for my
tobacco bowl. II was pot IN sisha . fact
that caused him 70 gas upon me IN mute
| wonder. VI,
"I've stopped" said, smiling.
".stoppedi'' he shouted humping his
pipe on the arm Of his chair. Moved into
this nat in the skies and stopped smoking!
Man, man, what have you not done while
I have been away You've given up -"
He ceased abruptly and looked toward the
door.
"Had known that you were coming
would have had little Of the weed on
hand, but ! Thought you were Tar away
from town"
"I suppose should be more welcome II
] were fay away. Things have changed In
the last III months In the old boarding
house days Swash was always welcome to
your easy chair and your tobacco bowl I
60 away; return, and tosee you Ihave to
| Journey to Harlem, pick my way through
'front.' stoop full Of fat dwellers, climb
five flights Of stairs and get out my pipe to
| find that you have given up tobacco. Ex-
plain it all, Dockboy, explain it"
When tho conservative house Of Jute
Bros. began to consider the necessity Of de-
| parting from an old rut and introducing
typewriting machine into it's office was
one Of the strongest opponents Of the pro-
| posed innoyation-so strong, In fact, that
| Cyrus Jute, himsclf business man Of the
old school, delayed for year the change
from our system Of autograph letters.
But 1t had to come For this reason I
had from the very beginning an antipathy
| young woman personally I had nothing,
but 1t was only natural that she should be
| the victim of some Of TINT aversion which
had conceived for the post that she occu-
pied.
When she entered In the morning,
bowed and after that she was nothing to
me. never even heard tho rattle Of keys
behind me, although her desk was but
few yards distant
Such being the condition Of affairs, 1t
I was impossible for me not to be surprised
startled, might better shy--when Cyrus
Jute, one morning when ! was in his pri-
ynto Nfflce, seized my hand and cried heart
lily, well, Dockboy, ! wish you Joy"
"Mr. Jute, please explain yourself" !
CRIED for / was greatly puzzled,
"My dear fellow, although you will de-
prive us Of charming typewriter
elisa terrible mistake" interrupted,
| with warmth. 1t was all plain to me now.
| In some manner my name had become
| linked with that Of Evelina Wiltkin. In
reply to my remonstrance MIR. Jute
whirlod around three times on his office
chair and laughed.
Come, come, Dockboy," he cried. II
know you are shy fellow, but why deny
this2 1t has been the talk Of the office for
week. Young Harry Buttcrnut declares
that 1t was case If mutual first sight,
but the assistant bookkceper is positive
that she aqlap tgpt 'em until you Began the
| violet scheme"
"Mr. cute, there is some terrible mis-
take, said solemnly. LAS for young
Harry Butternut, have suspected moro
than once that he had EN- himself, as you
put 1t, for I constantly hear him behind
| mo whispering to her, and am sure that
| Columnshcgiected to balance up his books
the other night when It rained that he
might take her to the L" station under
his umbrella. / know that Books, the ship
| ping clerk, sent her valentine, because
saw the envelope in the scrap basket, and
| 1t was in his handwriting disguised. AS
for me, assure you, sir, that have never
given the young woman thought have
been oblivious to her presence. Why, YOU
know how objected to her Introduction
! into tho office at ALL. :"
ut is useless for you to deny it, retort-
ed my employer. If have been II little
| premature, beg pardon. But you know
| the boys gave mo to believe that there
were grounds How about tho yioletsp"
"Violetsi What violets9" l was as
| founded.
NOW, see here Dockboy, this coyness
| is depressing. You know as we'll as do
| about those violets; how every morning
| for three weeks Miss Wiltkin has found "
| bunch of thrm on her desk. All the boys
| deny that they AFRO responsible, and so no
one else bat you could have done It, And
they shy her smile when she gets them is
worth--wcll, positively envy YOU"
| Apparently every mans hand was
| against lie. Confusion to them ALTO
| Cyrus Jute, the impudent young Butter
| nut Columns and his superior, High
| stule, Docks and the whole crew Of the
outer oficel :,
II deny it all, Mr. Jutc," cried. And
with that fled from his presence.
thought over tho violet problem long
| and carefully, in vain endeavor to decide
| whether it was possible for any one but :.ns
to have put them On ths desH.
Butteyput at sla 81. week could not af-
!, .oru them at winter prices, old Highstule
was married and the father of eight chill
dren, Columns was too VIGOROUSLY eco-
nomical to waste his salary in such diroc-
lions, Books supported his sister at awtnn-
ans college, Finnegan, the office boy, Ind
been saving for months to get money with
/ which TO buy a baseball suit.
Three possibilities were left Cyrus Juto,
Mike, the italian porter, and myself-the
first impossible, the second improbable,
the third certainly not guilty.
Could there be conspiracy on the part
of the Office to drag me from the sholl of
single blessedness in which had incnsed
myself for go years, to crush in day those
boarding house ties it had taken q decade
to form, to Danish me to top floor, II
room Nat in Harlemp
was at the Office few minutes earlier
next day, and the first thing that met my
eyes was bunch of violets on Miss Wilt
kin's desk. A few minutes later she ar
rived, and / swung around In my chair for
the purpose Of moro closely scrutlnizing
her to learn If there were grounds for the
office suspicious She took up the flowers,
bowed and smiled pleasantly at me.
Good morning." rventured, and to my
horror felt myself smile too.
As the days went by the burden of sus-
picion that rested upon me became more
and moro irksome Even in my dreams
saw the impudent eyes of Butternut tho
| CLASSY, cynical stare of Highstule and tho
jealous gaze of Books upon me. felt her
innocent smile Of gratitude to the supposed
donor of the yiolets. AL the day long my
mind dwelt upon my unpleasant position,
and the more pondered the moro l be-
cxme convinced that the way for me to
clear myself was to expose the real donor
of tho flowers This decided, my plans
were quickly formulated and rs quickly