The Irish standard., 1900-02-10

THE IRISH S
Don't let another come in till you hear
the bell. see?"
Not muscle seemed to move in the
blank, stupid face, as the boy muttered:
"Yesser" and closed the door. Then,
however, great grin instantly divided
his face and his eyes opened almost too
wide for his head to hold them. He
dropped into his chair, and, clutching
the office copy of the morning Herald,
he quickly hunted up and read again
little two-line advertisements: "a
young man wants wife. Must marry
Tuesday. Answer before noon."
Gee wl,iz!" he muttered. "a we'd
din in de family. An ter-day's Tues
day, or I'm sinner. Hi! but here's
No. 1. Craclsy, she's corlser. He
struck it rich, sure 'nough."
Instantly he pulled every atom of
expression out of his face. Approach
ing woman hesitating in the open
door, he said:
"Good mornin', 'um. Lookin' fur de
Mr.. Malcolm as adetised in de morn
in Herald, UNI? Right dis way, UNI.
He's a-waitin' right in here"
He opened the door of the private
office. The lady timidly entered. He
closed the door again, and with a
broad grin retreated to his chair to
wait for the next and listen for the
bell.
Inside, the two faced each other for
a moment in bewildered silence.
Each naturally looked for something
of wolf at the opposite end of such an
advertisement, and each was naturally
perplexed at the excellently adjusted
sleeps clothing.
Stanton was the poorest possible
judge of woman if she was out of the
witness stand, and he was too thor
oughly bewildered to be half so good
judge as usual. He saw face the
like of which it seemed to him that he
had never seen before, with keen, quick
eyes, lips curving scornfully, yet al
most ready to laugh, and something
about it which frightened him.
He was so thoroughly bewildered
that when the woman recovered suffi-
GENTLY to remark: "This is Mr.. NAL
colin, I believer" Stanton hesitated,
hung his head, and, looking at the floor,
replied:
"Why, yes-or, rather, no, not ex-
actly."
It was an excellent reply.
ooh, indeed! I didn't suppose that
you were exactly Mr.. Malcolm" she
exclaimed, with pointed twist to Eek
actly." "But you are the one who
wrote the advertisement, exactly,
aren't you?"
"Why-yes, madam, did write it,"
he replied, with marked accent on the
"write."
Her eyes sparkled. Her head was
thrown back. Her lips were surely
laughing, but the curve of scorn was
better defined, too, and made him de-
test himself without in the least real
izing why.
With an excellent imitation of his
:write" she said:
'It doesn't matter, after all, sir, who
did the writing. You are the man who
thinks that he wants wife, I'm sure"
The tips of Stanton's teeth appeared
under his mustache as he replied:
IT am"
1t was not even professional smile,
but very like the smile of a schoolboy
| who is about to be logged and is try
ing to keep back the tears as long as
possible.
"You seem to me to be ashamed of it, !"
she said.
"a little. Yes"
"Do you wish that you hadn't adver-
tised?"
''On some accounts begin to-"
''Do you want to take it back?"
"Not exactly"
"You do really want wife, then?"
eyes"
els it a question with you of home or
of money!"
Money"
"Are you looking for rich wife,"
"No. The poorer she is the better"
This was the first redeeming fca-
ture that Stanton had been able TO
bring out, and he did it so vigorously
that the lady hesitated an instant. He
took advantage of the pause to reverse
the order of exercises, relieving himself
of the disagreeable task of answering
questions by asking them himself.
81 presume, madam, that you called
in response to the advertisement"
II called to see you concerning it,
yes"
"You are looking for husband?"
IT was more looking for the man who
thought he wanted a wife"
"Are you prepared to marry at once?"
ooh, dear! that depends
"Upon what, MADAME"
"Why, the man, of course"
"Do you want money!"
sob, no, indeed. I could easily sup
port a husband"
"a protector"
"Not Bit"
"An adviser?''
eff did, surely I know better than
to marry lawyer"
"Ever married before?"
"No, sir.'
"Been deserted, betrayed, anything
of that"
"Never."
Stanton changed the subject.
"Want to be sure of having Mrs. on
x1o,,u