The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-04

cents, anu you would find It ever SO
much handler than a knife for such
work"
/ Gosh, thas was a marrow escaped
I thought she was going to say "a
wife" muttered Wigglesby to him
self as he dashed out of the room in
search of the tack hammer.
"Thank you very muoh!" said
Mrs. Wiitsey, with q grateful smile,
when Wigglesby returned with the
required article. 1T is real kind of
you to lend your hammer, and /
will be suro to bring it back the
minute I'm through using it,"
You're welcome, lin sure, and
land there's no hurry about bring
ing it back, "Wigglesby managed to
stammer as his fair caller took her
departure with the hammer.
After she was gone Wigglesby
was unaccountably and de-
jected. His bachelor bosom had sud
denly become filed with a vague
unrest, a new, strange longing.
Could it be that. after all, there was
something lacking in the life he was
leading7 He wandered restlessly
about from room to room, and some
how the big house had never seemed
to him so empty as it did then.
Next day there came q timid knock
at the door. Wigglesby's heart
jumped up into his throat, and he
straightway forgot every word of
the gracious speech he had planned
SO carefully.
Just my luck!" he groaned, and
then, hastily pulling himself togeth-
er, he started for the door, cropping
blindly around in his mind in the
meanwhile for his mislaid speech.
Before he reached the doorway he
had found it once more, and all
might yet have been well were it
not for the fact that instead of
bringing back the hammer herself
Mrs. Wiltscy had sent it by her
younger sister.
When Wigglcsby opened the door
and saw q girl standing there with
something in her hand extended to-
ward him, the smile on his face sud.
denly vanished, and he waved her
away with: Don't want anything
today, miss. Inevcr buy from''-
but I don't want you to buy it,"
she laughed. "This is your tack
hammer, and my sister said to tell
you she was ever and ever go much
Oh1iooI for f10 1,c0 nc 81
"Er-exouse me, miss!'' stammer.
ed Wigglesby. "I-I-took you for
a-one of the confounded-er-]
should say, female agents, and l.
fact is, I-er-oh, Lord, why didn't
your sister come with it herselfl
Then this wouldn't have happened"
And with this somewhat lame and
incoherent conclusion to his at
tempted apology Wigglesby seized
the tack hammer and fed, leaving
his astonished caller still STANDING
at the door.
When Maud Maxwell (for such was
the young woman's name), upon her
return, laughingly related to her
sister the particulars of her inter
view with MI. Wigglesby she wound
up by saying, Don't you think he
must be just trife cracked, Kit.
ties"
And, with a smile of superior in
telligence, the astute Kittie, other
wise known as hrs. Kate Wiltsey,
dryly observed:
II guess not-that is, no more
cracked than any old bachelor is"
From which it is evident that tho
plump widow did not have a very
exalted opinion ef g mar who pre-
ferred to flock by himself"
But to return to Wigglesby. For
several days after the hammer cpl.
sode he spent the most of his time
drifting u%neasiiy about his house
and grounds and casting furtive and
frequent glances across the way to
see if perchance his fair neighbor
might be coming to borrow some
thing else. A woman, he reasoned,
is always losing things, and of
course Mrs. Wiltsey would come
over to borrow again, for where else
could she go except to her nearest
neighbor9 So Wigglesby kept on
the qui vive, with his entire collec.
ton of farming and household equip
ments in readiness for lending at a
seconds notice. Put, alas, the
plump widow came neither to Dor.
row nor to lend. and finally Wig
giiosby was in despair. He even be- |
gan to think seriously Of sneaking
acros the way some dark night and |
stealing some OF Mrs. Wiltsey's |
tools, SO she would be compelled to
come the next day and borrow Of
him.
Somehow he felt that he must Sc
cure another interview and get bet. !
ter acquainted with her in some way
either by hook or crook, and at the
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