Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1898-04-14

WlIe, muttered Wigglesby To himso,f
as he dashed out of the room in search
OF the tack hammer.
Thank you very much" said Mr.,
Wlltsey, with a grateful smile wba,,
Wlgglesby returned with the reonirn1
artlcie. 1t is real kind of Won r.
lend you: hammer, and I will surel1,
bring 1t back the minute I'm thronab
with it, 4
You're welcome, I'm sure: and
and there's no hurry about bringing If
back Wigglesby managed to stammer
as his fair caller took her departure
with the hammer.
AFTER she was gone Wigglesby was
unaccountably nervous and detected
HIS bachelor bosom had suddenly he
come filled with a vague unrest. new
strange longing. Could it be that
after all, there was something lacking
IN the life he was leading? He wan
dered restlessly about from room 70
room, and somehow the big house had
never seemed to him so empty as if
did then.
Next day there came a timid knock
at the door. Wigglesby's heart jumped
up into his throat, and he straightwav
forgot every word of the gracious
speech he had planned so carefully,
Just my luck!' he groaned. and
then hastily pulling himself together,
he started for the door, cropping blind
ly about in his mind in the meanwhile
for his mislaid speech. Before he had
reached the doorway he had found It
once more, and all might yet have been
we'll were it not for the fact that in
stead of bringing back the hammer
herself, Mrs. Wiltsey had sent it by
her younger sister.
When Wigglesby opened the door
and saw 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. l never buy FROM
But I don't want you to buy it,"
she laughed. "This is your tack ham
mer and my sister said to tell you
she was ever and ever so much obliged
for the use Of it,
"Er-excuse me, Miss" stammered
Wigglesby. II took you for a-one of
the confounded-er-Is should say, fa-
male agents, and fact is, I-er-oh,
Lord, why didn't your sister come with
it herself? Then this wouldn't have
happened"
And with this somewhat lame and
innnhnrnnf combustion To hic offoronfo,
apology, Wigg1esby seized the tack
hammer and fed, leaving his aston
ished caller still stan ding at the door.
When Maud Maxwell (for such was
the young womans nameI upon her re-
turn laughingly related to her sister
the particulars of her interview with
Mr.. Wigglesby, she wound up by say
ing: Don't you think he must be
trifle cracked, Kittie?"
And with smile of superior intelli-
gence the astute Kittie otherwise
known as Mrs. Kate Wiltsey) dryly
observed:
81 guess not-that is, no more crack
ed than any old bachelor is"
From which it is evident that the
plump widow did not have very ex-
allied opinion of a man who preferred
to clock by himself
But to return to Wigglesby. For
several days after the hammer cpl
sode he spent the most of his time
drifting uneasily about his house and
grounds, and casting furtive and fire.
quent glances across the way to see if
perchance his fair neighbor might be
coming to borrow something 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 neighbor? So Wigglesby kept
on the qui vive, with his entire collec-
ton of farming and household equip
ments in readiness for lending at
moments notice. But, alas! the plump
widow came not, neither to borrow nor
to lend; and finally Wigglesby was in
despair. He even began to think Sc
riously of sneaking across 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 secure
another interview and get better ac-
uuainted with her in some way, either
by hook or crook, and at the same time
he kept wondering why it was that
he was suddenly taking such an inter-
est in the woman-or, at least, in one
woman.
The reader has probably Guessed the
truth; Wigglesby was in love, but be-
ing a new experience to him he did
not fully recognize the fact. He knew
that something allied him, but wasn't
exactly certain what it was. He had
general sort of idea, however, that
the society of the plump and pleasing
| widow across the way would be good