The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-04-15

Let me do the telephoning.' said Frib-
leigh.
NO" 1 said. you are too rough and inn
pulsive. Fribleigh You might shock the
banana peel"
1 succeeded IN getting Charles A. NORTH
mer's number, and a gruff voice asked me,
"Well what do want?"
as Miss Brightie Mortimer there?"
asked in my blandest manner.
Il don't kpow whether She IS or not. What
do you want with herr"
"Well it's rather peculiar" I said, in
tending to be diplomatic. I'VE want her to
come here If she can"
"Who tho devil are you, anyhow" the
voice answered somewhat violently.
That's of no consequence, l said.
1T just is though" -
Then voices sounded oonfusediy. as If a
dispute were going on The dispute ended
by change of voices at the phone.
"IIelo!' said a young lady. what do
you want with Miss Brightie Mortimer?
am Miss Brigltie Mortimer
"Oh! Well, would you mind coming
here?'
"where?"
"oh, l forgot to tell you that-Doctor
Sims Office"
what for?"
"There's a lady here who's been hurt by
an accident in the street. She has your card
in her pocketbook-"
Here | was interrupted by the gruff voice,
which could be indistinctly heard in angry
tones, apparently expostulating with Miss
Brightie. Whatever the gruff voice said,
the effect was that 1 was cut off. And no
amount of ringing would restore telephone
communication.
Now you've managed it wisely, haven't
your" said Fribleigh in his jeering way.
"And the best of it is the doctor has put
her to sleep in there-said he eouldn wait;
the pain was too severe. She'll come ROUND
in about an hour, and then we can begin TO
think about dinner 1 suppose. I'm hungry.
We've got to thank the banana peel Tor
this"
"Fribleigh." I said ''lt's no use backing
out now. OF course this Miss Mortimer
won't start out and come here at the invi-
tation of an unknown man, to see an I'M
known woman who has met with an I'M
known accident. You must go there ana
introduce yourself, and describe this poor
lady, and at least see If you can't f1nd OUT
something about her."
Fribleigh grumbled at this. He said he
quite expected the gruff man at the other
end of the wire to kick him down the front
steps. but anything is better than this
inaction-and growing hunger" he said.
Before he went Fribleigh took the precau-
ton to copy from the directory the adj
dresses of both James Patrick Morris ana
James Parsons Morris, "in case" he said
| remained at the doctors office and
watched as we'll as the doctor would al
low me, the progress of the patient toward
recovery of consciousness.
What happened to Bribleigh in his quest
L cannot say in detail.
He told me afterwards that he could
hear the loud gruff tones of old Mortimer,
when the butler took a hastily written note
of Standardization in to him.
[ suppose he managed to persuade the
Mortimers that he was not an 1mpostef,
and to give them recognizable description
Of our lady's appearance, for in about
three-uuarters of an hour, after the doc
tors female attendant had answered one
ring at the telephone and delivered mes
sage requesting him to keep his patient
there a cab drove up to the door, and a
young lady and elderly man entered.
recognized the gruff voice that asked,
"Is Mrs Morris here?" 1t was the voice OF
old Mortimer.
Miss Brightie it now appeared, had some
slight acquaintance with Mrs. James Par
sons Morris-had exchanged mods with her
As a matter of common human kindness,
the Mortimers had sent word to MIS- MOI
ris' family of her whereabouts and her
safety; from like motives they had come
father and daughter-to comfort and assist
her until her own husband, son and daugh-
ter could arrive.
This was all very well-excellently we'll
and 1 felt at liberty to depart leaving the
lady in the hands of friends, as l felt sure
But where was Fribleigh?
"Oh,'' said Miss Brightie, ''your friend
Mr. Finney-"
"Fribleigh," 1 corrected her.
- beg your pardon, didn't quite
catch his name, in the hurry and confusion.
Mr.. Frilby asked US to tell you that he had
gone to dinner"
1 saw how it was. Fribleigh was too hun
1T affn
Their. 1 knew just where l should be like
" to find HMM a certain German house
of entertainment where he and had med
itated frankfurters and beer for that very
evening. But l was vexed with him. and
determined to read not which said Come
here at once. Bring money. Fribleigh.
Fribleight had ended his day in the po-
lice station.
When l got to him, with all the money
could find he told me that banana peel had
brought him to more harm than ever he
coul dhave thought possible He had been
routed out of his own rooms at 10 O'Clock
by a detective. And the charge was grand
larceny.
Mrs James Parsons Morris had been
taken to her home and doing fairly
we'll when 1t occurred to Mr.. James Norris
to ask her what she had done with her
hundred dollars she had drawn from the
bank that afternoon. The question had
brought on a recurrence of the fever symp-
toms. Mrs. Morris had not the faintest
idea what had become of her pocketbook
in which she had the money. In her fever
ish condition it never occurred to her that
the man who had found the Mortimers for
her must have her pocketbook, when con-
tanned Miss Mortimer's card.
Without loss of time Mr.. Morris had COM
munieated with the police who had, in the
meantime heard of the accident from a pa
trolman who had come on the scene Just
after Mrs. Morris, Fribleigh and l had
driven off in the hack. That gave them q
chase to the Doctors office. The doctor
had not heard of my name. but he knew
that my companions name was something
like Finney, Frimmy, or Frilby and that
we had telephoned for assistance. The
scratch pad on the telephone desk guided
them to the last number rung up that day
the Mortimers-and, finally the Mortimer.
to whom Fribleigh had infinitely introduced
himself giving his business and his place of
residence, directed the policemen knowing
Just what they were doing-to poor Frib-
leigh.
Fribleigh told me all of this, cursing his
luck and banana peel. "And the worst of it
fln-a xx-ae t1,a .