The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-03-15

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present Of handsome street gown,
for Mr.. Rooterby was practical. and
she had needed it SO badly that when
she told the cashier about it the tears
came into her eyes. and she said she
thought it such pity SO dear and
good a man as Mr. Rooterby did not
have wife, and home and children,
and all those happinesses which go
with matrimony, and there was some
thing in the typewriters tone that
made the cashier wonder what Mr..
Rooterby had been saying to her any
how.
The cashier and the typewriter were
the only occupants of the office ex-
cept Mr.. Rooterby, and 1t was not
surprising that the cashier should
wonder what Mr.. Rooterby had been
saying to the typewriter, seeing that
he (the CASHIER had been saying a
great deal of Importance to her HIM
self, and with some hopes of success,
unless distracting obstacles were
thrown in his path, and Mr.. Rooterby
was a distracting obstacle. beyond
peradventure.
Nor did the fact that he had pre-
sented a fine suit or clothes to the
cashier as Christmas souvenir make
it any clearer in the cashiers mind
why he had a right to be saying things
to the typewriter when he (the
cashier) was in the Office with her
three hours to Mr.. Rooterbys one,
and thought more Of her in minute
than any other man thought OF her
in seven years by the watch.
"All I've got to say Is" responded
the cashier to the typewriter, when
she spoke to him about the matri-
monializing of Mr.. Rooterby. "all I've
got to say is that he ought to have
been married twenty-five years ago
and got out of the way"
Which seemed so bitter and unkind
that the sweet little typewriter open
ed her blue eyes in surprise and ejacu-
lated in almost tone of horror:
why, Charley. how can you say
that?"
After that the life of the cashier
began to grow narrow, and he never
saw Mr.. Rooterby come into the office
that he didn't begin to think Of those
mysterious murders in the Rue Nor
que, which Poe tells Of, and wonder
what was the price Of man-eating mon.
keys and how long it would take him
to teach one to climb up to Mr.. Root.
>~h,,,. xr,;rJou eliminate Mr.
Rooterby from the emotional problem
which was slowly but surely under
mining the mental equilibrium Of the
cashier.
Mr.. Rooterby unconscious Of what
was surging and throbbing the
bosom Of his cashier, grew more po-
lite, If that were possible, to the type
writer day by day. indeed. his man
ner to all women was changing. He
seemed to be so gentle, when before,
while he was always courtesy itself,
he was lacking in that ineffable gen.
tleness which comes only from the
heart Of hearts. In other words, Mr..
Rooterby impressed the cashier as a
man deeply and dangerously in love.
Strange that the cashier should be
so discerning, for no one else noticed
that Mr.. Rooterby was other than his
old self.
Yet he was, and the typewriter knew
something that few others knew.
Certainly the cashier did not know it.
for his manner would have been very
different had he known.
The typewriter, who was nineteen,
lived in the same boarding house that
sheltered Mr.. Rooterby, notv-ithstand-
ing the cashier had done all in his
power to have her move to some other
and with her there lived her mother.
a widow not yet 40, and so young and
pretty as easily to pass as her daugh-
ter's sister, The women were con-
fldantes, and all the typewriter knew
the mother knew. Under the circum-
stances what other results could have
been expected than that Mr.. Rooterby
was looked upon with favor?
As for Mr.. Rooterby, he would have
laughed to scorn so much as a vague
hint that he was gradually succumb-
ing to the mysterious power OF the
feminine over the masculine destiny.
It was New Years eve. The cashier
was calling on the typewriter, or
rather, they had Joined the watch
meeting" at the boarding house after
the theater, and the cashier was COM
paratively happy, for Mr.. Rooterby
was devoting himself to the mother,
quite to the neglect Of the daughter,
and the daughter seemed to be COM
paratively happy in the company OF
the cashier. There was sound OF
revelry by night ana all the boarding
house had gathered then, its beauty
and its chivalry, and they had a wal
halla kind Of a wassail until the clock
struck Il. when. the festivities ended.
and each member of the company, be-
fore departing, was called on to make
one resolution for the year just usher
ed in:
Mr.. Rooterby popped up first.
Excuse my haste" he said. "tut l
want to resolve right now and here
that l will not propose marriage to
any woman on earth. just to show
YOU folks who are everlastingly chaff-
ing me that l mean business for the
-, .voer NJ the same old stand"