The suburban citizen., 1902-03-15

her feet, so they vowed eternal loyalty
together, wept kissed and vowed again
in some moonlit grotto by the water,
l suppose. However, Enoch ran away
from Manchester and went into the
cattle country, where the gentlest must
be bold and the coarsest must be true,
And he was true, though every letter
that he scrawled to her came back un-
opened.
In the ten years OF bis fortu2e-maE-
ing not a week passed that he did not
write TO somebody at home for some
tldings of the Laperes. They had gone
away soon after he had begun writing.
leaving no trace after them. Reason
ably rich at last he travelled back to
the little Massachusetts town and
wasted money hunting for Angela. He
drifted from city to city reading direc-
tories, newspapers door plates, till one
day in Chicago, having need Of a pair
Of boots, he CHANGED into old Hlrams
shop, and, sitting in the dim light while
the old cobbler picked over his lasts,
saw upon the window sill a parcel
wrapped in a copy Of the Manchester
newspaper.
who brought that in?" he asked,
grabbing the package.
"A woman-let me see now--Tve her
name on the book" Old Hiram fixed
his glasses and pulled down his greasy
account book, and. thumblng it slow
ly, said: Here it is: Set back but
tons; ladies' pair; 81; A. Lapere; will
call That's her." he said, tossing
away the book.
when is she coming?" gasped Enoch,
looking round for place of conceal
ment. His heart was jolting like a
dynamo, his eyes We're aspark, his
long, brown hand shook,
Dunno" mumbled Hiram, pairing a
last. "OuSht t'drap in most any time.
Shoes been done two days an l need
the dollar"
Where did she come from? Which
way did she go? Was any one with
her? To such queries Hiram could
give little help, though he remembered
enough to say that she looked very
pretty, very prosperous, and Seemed
to be a great deal of a lady" But
that was all.
Enoch haunted that shop like a ghost
for days and weeks. He spent his
nights quizzing hotel clerks and read
ing the registers Of every hotel he
could find. Half of his daylight hours
were passed with old Hiram in the
shop till at last the old cobbler, recall
ing somewhat Of the agonies Of his
own dim love tale, became almost
morbidly enlisted in the cattlemans
quest.
Now, of course, this is a good place
to re-enter the long lost Angela while
Enoch, concealed in a closet, wig-wags
the old shoemaker to prepare the hero
inc for a sudden meeting with an old
friend But, alas for the harsh and
unyielding truth that must destroy
such clever imaglnings! Angela came
not, nor has she come to this day.
Enoch was compelled to go at last,
but not till he had warned old Hiram
to eternal vigilance, not till he had be-
slowed upon him a large sum to be
used if occasion warranted pursuit or
surveillance, not till he had impressed
the willing Hiram that, come what
might, the shop must be never closed,
never moved, never dlsmantled till An
gela should call for her shoes.
And that is why Hiram never works.
nor ever moves away; that is why ths
weather-beaten old shoecase stands on
the sidewalk just as it stood when the
beautiful womanlong years ago tripped
into the dingy shop with a rair of
dainty boots to be fiXeG. That is the
mystery of old Hiram, the cobbler.-
John II. Raftery, in the Chicago Rec
ord Herald.