The Portland daily press., 1900-07-06

l~@V @
'THERE's ANOTHER LETTER, MISS" SAID
THE BUTLER.
nothing better than that bottle of fool
ishness. By heaven, am glad you
Gamer
"Why, what's the matter, my boy?" I
inquired.
"I1l tell you the whole story" said
he. Il went to call on Miss Ware this
afternoon, and she spoke of her disap-
pointment in not going on her Grand
of charity last evening. 1 don't know
what got into me, but [ said impulsive-
/ ly that Reed was careless about his en-
/ gagements. It's the only time I've ever
said anything against him in her pres
ence, and l did it very mildly, assure
you"
can honorable fellow" said I, will
always forbear to speak evil Of another
fellow when the plain truth might pre-
vent q good woman from marrying a
rascal"
"Honors a queer thing, I'll admit"
he said, "and it really doesn't seem to
have been made in the interest of wo-
men. However, 1 did go so far as to
say that Johnny was careless about his
engagements.
upon that she proceeded to defend
him in a manner that put me very
much in the wrong. Mr.. Reed was a
most scrupulous man. If he had failed
to keep his engagement, there must be
some good reason for it.
"At that moment in came the butler
with letters for Miss Ware on a most
beautiful salver
"'This is from Mr. ReedY she cried,
taking the topmost letter from the pile
Now we shall know all about 1t. Par
don me- And she proceeded to read.
II saw her face grow pale and then
flush.
He has been hurtr she cried. Hurt
saving a poor little girl from injury at
a crossing! Didn't you know Of this,
living in the same building with himy
No. I replied; we see little of each
other
Meanwhile the butler was standing
like statue, holding the tray. He ven
tured to cough discreetly, and Miss
/ Ware saw that there We're more letters.
SAAOluCA LIOLl MI. INCCO- HlIC CllCQ
and opened it with feverish haste.
"'Why, what is thisY she murmured.
He has fallen into a coal hole! How
terribly unfortunate after being hurt
by the cabr
There's another letter, MISS said
the butler.
"And, by jingo, that was from Reed,
too, and it said that somebody had sent
him poisoned candy through the mailsl
In utter confusion of mind Miss Ware
showed me the three letters. Each of
them named a separate excuse for not
! keeping the engagement with her, and
each alleged that after the particular
calamity detailed in it the unfortunate
victim had taken to his bed and had
been unable to get out of it.
Mr.. Taylor said Miss Ware at
last, L want you to go down to the
Aldine and ascertain the exact facts.
And you must give me your most
sacred word of honor to report exactly
what you find.
II tried to beg off, but it was no use.
1t was a case of do it or lose her
! friendship forever. SO I went down
there. And this is what found out:
Freed wrote three letters One Of
them be thought that he burned, but
really he dropped it in the elevator,
and one of the boys mailed it. Anoth-
er was found on the floor of his room
by Jack Bliss, who had heard of the
loss of the letter and thought it was
his duty to mail the one he found. The
third was mailed by Johnny himself.
'When he went out to mail 1t, he met
some fellows and staid with them so
long that Bliss, who was waiting in
Johnny's ROOM gave him up and went
to bis own place.
That's about the whole of it. Of
course W9 who know Johnny can I'M
derstand his three separate lies.
II had to report to Miss Ware, and 1
did It without fear or favor whereup-
on she wrote a note to Reed saying
that three such fearful visitations Of
Providence in one evening were evil
IDENTIFY meant as a warning to him that
he must make no more engagements
with her-indeed, it would be safer if
he did not even see her again, since
stern fate was so much opposed.
"She sent that by a messenger boy
Am mean to rejoice? Perhaps SO.
Anyhow it's luxury after having
shielded that liar to my own injury SO
long" -ss ~, q. s.e. ..,......