The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-06-27
AT FOUR O'CLOCK.


AT FOUR O'CLOCK.
For more than a month there had
been growing among the men of Town
sends set a suspicion that he was 60
ing to the bad Once he had been seen
coming out of house which seemed to
the eyes of Chadwick. who met him,
to conceal possibilities of faro. To be
sure, it was found afterward that
Townsend had been to visit his
''goody's" husband, who was laid up
with broken leg; but the impression
chung. nevertheless.
Then Morton saw him one day on
the street in conversation with young
woman of somewhat fiamboyant archi-
lecture, and although it was proved
beyond peradventure that she was
the very respectable person who did
his mending. yet there were many who
believed that Townsend was mashed.
Unexplained, however, was his dis
appearance from his usual haunts at 4
o'clock every afternoon There were
rumors of his having been seen in din
gy streets in the port by men who were
walking OUT from Boston and were TAX
ing short cut through that region.
Such being the state Of public opin-
ion, no one was surprised to have Town
send throw down his hand one day as
the clock struck 4, although the last
jack pot had been unusually exciting
''I'm not coming in, he said iIn
fact, I'm going out AN attempt at
wit that was greeted with derision.
With the shutting of the door every
hand was tossed upon the table as if by
common consent
"He's doing this every day to my
personal knowledge, said Chadwick.
land I'm going to see it out this after
noon +"
Urn go with your cried Morton.
The rest had no theories, but went
from curiosity-all except Allen, who
was senior and who knew Townsend
mother and was in love with his sister,
and hence felt it incumbent upon him
to take the interest of an elder brother
in his welfare
For 30 minutes he led them at smart
pace through the better part of Cam
bridgeport, and then turned aside into
a short bystreet that extended toward
the river
There was no electric light in this
obscure alley and the early dusk of the
winter afternoon concealed the group
Of spies in its fast deepening shadows
Townsend passed the tenements and
went up the steps of a cottage the on
ly detached house ON the street 1t was
at the end-beyond it tin can strewn
vacant lot, extending to the marsh.
Allen looked grave as he saw Town
send knock as if to warn the inmates
of his coming and then take latchkey
from his pocket and enter before the
door could be opened from within.
With one accord the eavesdroppers
moved toward the vacant lot, where
shaft of light streamed from a side
window Once around the corner they
did not see woman who left the house
almost as soon as Townsend had enter
ed
What they did see as they pressed to
the window, whose partly raised cur
tain allowed them good view Of the
room and its occupants, was Of ma
ture to surprise every one of them
Before the fire sat an old woman
whom the novels of so years ago would
have described as ''beldam. Wild
eyes Indicative Of a disordered mind
blazed in face crowned by a mass of
unkempt white hair. Her thin figure
ever swayed to the promptings of an in
ner restlessness, and her nervous hands
clutched necessarily at her dress or at
the air
The onlookers were in time to see
Townsend greet her. She responded to
his salutation by blow of her cane
which the young man lodged with
GOODNESS born of experience
Seemingly unrufaed by this reception.
Townsend went to closet in the room,
and taking from it chatting dish and
eggs and milk and butter he set about
the preparation of an omelet
well, I'll-be-hangedI said Chad
wick, slow in his amazement
s'By Jovel' exclaimed Morton
That's the silver dish his mother sent
him on his birthday | thought he'd
put it in hook
Allen said nothing. but he felt
twinge of remorse for he had thought
SO too
1t required some skill to serve the
meal once it was cooked. Townsend
placed small table before the old lady
She promptly kicked it over
When at last she was induced to hold
the plate. she first threw bit of the
omelet to the cat GA libation to Felis, >
whispered Grimston, who had taken
honors in classics and antiquities), and
then flung her fork into the fire Town
send rescued it and substituted a spoon,
which seemed more to his patients
fancy
To air the overheated room Townsend
opened the window directly over their
heads as they squatted on the ground
He lifted the curtain higher and looked
out blindly into the darkness Allen
thought that he heard him sigh. So did
Morton Morton was just little man
when once he was convinced
81 say, fellows. he whispered excit-
edly when Townsend had been recalled
to his duties by boiling over of the
teakettle that threatened to put out the
fire in the grate-''I say, fellows, don t
believe he likes doing it after all -
Townsend had lifted the kettle from
the fire and was making tea in a brown
teapot with broken spout While it
was sleeping he picked up the pieces of
the shattered plate from the hearth
where the old woman had tossed it
when she had finished her omelet
Here's your tea. came distinctly
through the open window a few min
utes later "What will you stir 1t with
today2'
He turned to motley collection of
articles on a shelf at the old woman s
side She selected a toothbrush at
which Townsend was seen by his watch
fuf friends to make grimace
"I'm ready; go on. they heard her
say, and Townsend. seated on the Ia
ble's edge. in proximity to his cooking
appurtenances, swung his legs idly and
began to sing "The Sunshine of Para
disc Alley.
"WelL I'll = be = hangedl said
Chadwick
The tea and the music seemed to
have composing influence upon the
old woman The incessant swaying of
her body ceased Only the nervous
hands beat continual time with the
toothbrush against the teacup
81 went through pork establish
ment the other day. said Townsend.
resting his elbow on his knee and his
chin on his hand. land there I learned
fha intimate connection between fine