The Irish standard., 1897-03-27
Ico,v,;eh, 1906. bv j. B. Ljppjncott Col

copyright. 1896. b,
arrest for us both If you were disuus-
cred" =. -.
81. might have been temporarily en-
barrassing. but you had the check to
show that the coat wasyours, and since
they had .carelessy neglected to bolt
the one side Of the door to the floor, so
that the lock gaye way SO easily--well.
they: should have been rthankfu that
only such honest folk wentin."
"You are SO kind" she returned, her
eyes very bright as. she looked down
ut him. 81 am sure you did not guess
that night how grateful we were. We
were SO tongue-tied with excitement
so wholly upset. But afterward-l
would have been SO glad of an opportu-
nity to thank you again. 1t troubled
me to think we had said so little when
you had been so kind"
sit was more than kind Of you not
TO thinl: it presumption" he answered
her, flushing with pleasure. II con-
fcss it rather looked like that to me
when yon had so courteously dismissed
me at the door of the Colorado building
and l persisted in still keeping you. III
sight down the walk"
"But what relief It was to me to
flnd you there when that alarm came,
and the fire company came rushing by
and tho crowd jostled me about! Twas
80 soon after the Cold Storage disas-
ter, and the idea of fire threw me into q
panic, to say nothing Of the fact that
the crowd seemed disposed to trampse
me to death without perceiving me at
all. l was 80 grateful to you for sec
ing me- she added, smiling down at
him with perhaps more of kindness
than she knew in the depths of her eyes.
"You seemed like an old friend thcn-a
friend in need
"And how grateful I was to that fire
alarm for giving me chance TO as
sumo the attitude!" he eagerly ex-
claimed. "And when I ventured to as
sumo that it might give inc pretext to
walk along beside you-ah, Miss Mere
dith, tre1nbled for my audacity then
a good deal more than when was bur-
gIarizing up in the Colorado building"
II cau hardly credit that. / renlen:-
Der you as perfectly cool and self.pos-
sessed," she declared, holding up her
: soft cap as though to shield her face
from the fire, in reality making 1t serve
gs screen to hide the blush she could
feel burning upon her checks. "And
what mercy it was that you did come,
in view Of the fact that Mrs. Hailet
was not waiting for me at the place
we had agreed upon! With the dark
ness and the crowds about the electric
fountains, l should have been wild If
you had not been there to help me find
her. And when she had been discov-
cred and it further developed that she
had lost the child and his nurse-why
you were regular godsend. 1t was such
time Of mishaps."
t'Iou did seem rather out Of luck, for
fact he laughed, though when You
make SO much OF my small services [
feel nything but sympathetic ia @
way; l can't be sorry that it happened
But never clearly understood, by tho
way. how your friend happened to let
the boy get away from her. Was it i'll
her hunt for your"
ooh, no; we had left little Paul with
his nurse looking at the trained animals
over in the Midway late in the after
noon, arranging that they were TO
take supper at some place over there
where the girl had a. friend employed.
i fancy twas her sweetheart, from her
anxiety to patronize the place. At oil
events, it was settled that they Hvero
to be left to their own devices until
seven o'clock, when they were to meet
us by the electric fountains. But Mrs.
Hallet and became absorbed in hag-
Cling over some curios ut one of the AL
gerian bazaars over by the anthropo-
logical building, and before we l<new it
1t was after seven o'clock. OF course
she felt that she must fly To- keep her
appointment with little Paul. while It
vas hastily settled That I should t.,lsc
the irtramural train around to the Col
orado- building and get my jacket.
which l had left there. 1t had never
occurred to her that she had arranged
her rendezvous at the spot which was