Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-09-15

who eat here; dose are de rules" she
| reiterated, declining ever to examine
the ring I offered, "as IL guarantee Of
good faith
The waiter, who had been fielding in
the immediate vicinity, advanced and
asked me If l had lost anything. | in.
| quired for the proprietor, but by some
hideous i'll luck he was not accessible. I
saw Miss Langton, who had gone to the
door, looking back, evidently surprised
at the delay. Then the storm burst.
The German was impenetrable; the
waiter passed rapidly from legitimate
doubt to open skepticism as | rendered
my card, which was not a trump one,
and seeing that we all talked together,
the effect was very striking.
Excuse me-, y remarked a thin, crisp
voice, sit is a little trouble about the
bill, is it not? Miss Langton, 1 shall be
with you in a moment. Don't be alarm
| ed"
OF course it was old Turnhull, who
ought to have been miles way and had
been lunching here all the time instead.
| I bowed, he looked me III the face, and
I understood that he remembered the
last occasion OH which we had met. |
recalled his terrible, "Now, upon your
oath, sir, Z" as 1 stood clutching the edge
Of the witness stand, a bit of court
plaster over n eye.
"You are doubtless aware hat Miss
Langton is my ward?" he observed
when he had appeased the Teuton
sphinx.
II learned it," l replied. Permit
me to congratulate you"
"And you will also learn now" he
retorted, shutting his pocketbook with
q snap, 'that / wish the acquaintance
TO end here"
son what grounds said I.
IF on no other than that of the pres.
ent-er-disgraceful scene, / should be
justified" he answered, "but I forbid
it observation-disclosures grounds"
Then he began to talk, "as III man
Of the world to another, " about Arbus-
cula and her sisters. He was illogical,
but convincing.
What is the amount Of the bill?" I
asked shortly.
He handed me the receipted slip Of
paper. l put it in my pocket. He
smiled sardonically, and gathering up
his black bag went out to Miss Langton,
while the waiter hailed a cab by wits.
thing through his fingers in a most tai
ented way.
Beyond the glass door l could see
Turnbull talking to Miss Langton as
she ~rearranged her veil. Some girls at
an adjacent table put their heads to-
gether, whispering and tittering. The
chariot pulled up at the sidewalk with
a flourish, and Turnbull touched Miss
Langton's arm. She made a step for
ward, but looked round and paused ir-
resolutely. I instantly went to her, and
taking the little warm hand she gave
me pressed it to my lips.
~ am 70 sorry you were inconveni-
enced, I" she said. IF I had only known"
and she actually laughed!
81 shall easily get over the recollec-
ton Of the Inconvenience in the recol-
lection Of the pleasure I have had" I
replied.
She bluahed.
"But why did you not tell me?' she
murmured.
"It would have been commonplace, :"
I replied. II preferred to be a paladin,
though a comic one"
II don't think it comic at all, she
replied, trying hard not to smile.
"What stupid people!'
Miss Langton, as this gentleman is
rather richer in time than +, perhaps he
will excuse us If we economize, " re-
marked Mr.. Turnbull. Here is the
cab. Get in, please"
She threw me a bright look and went
with him. Recollecting that I was with
out my hat, I returned for it and found
OH the ground hard by a little black silk
glove. I picked it up, intending to re-
turn it, but when l reached the street
the cab was already several yards away.
Then the lawyers talk came back to me
with diabolioal distinctness, and I said
to myself that, after all, he was right.
/ went straight to my bankers, sent
him the amount Of the bill, answered =
pelfumed, badly spelled note I had re-
ceived that morning, locked the glove
with the photo away in q drawer and
took the next train for Paris. William
Buckley in Black and White.