The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-07-18
A FINANCIER
OF NEW YORK
lOriginal.l

The birthday of lady to whom he
wished to become engaged was ut
hand, and he had not the wherewithal
10 buy a present Algernon was one
or those fellows who are always seek
Ing TO gain time. In other words, he
was what is called financially shin
ner." Having a note to pay in the
bank today, he would draw with three
days grace on Milwaukee. The draft
he would meet with another on st.
Paul. BY the time he had chased his
Indebtedness around O circle by way
| of San Francisco New Orleans and
Charleston it was quite possible that
some real funds tied up somewhere
would be released and he would make
q bona fide payment. At present every
cent he had In the world was deposited
with his brokers as margin on GER
tain stocks he had bought. The market
had gone down few points, but
boom was confidently looked for, and
he was holding on with tight grip.
His only fear was that his brokers
would call for more margin.
Passing u china shop, he resolved to
look In, buy present for the lady,
Miss Gaudalet, give draft in pay
ment and chase it over the continent
till the expected boom had come and
he should have plenty Of money. En-
tering the shop he heard the proprietor
scolding luckless porter who was
sweeping up the fragments Of china
statuette.
pardon me-" said the dealer. "My
porter has just broken five hundred
dollar piece of china, one Of the love-
Hest things had in my store"
An idea seized upon Algernon.
"What will you take for the frag.
ments?" he asked.
"Nothing. You are welcome to
them"
evil you send them"
Certainly"
Algernon wrote "Elise Gaudalet, -
Central Park West" on piece Of pa
per and gave it to the dealer, asking
him to have every scrap boxed and
sent to the address.
do you hear?" said the dealer to
the,portcr. do as the gentleman says.
Don't leave out a single piece"
Algernon left the store in comfort.
able frame Of mind "The box will be
opened tomorrow. l will keep away
for week, at the end Of which time ]
will call and learn that my gift has
been broken in transit. BY that time
we shall have Il better market and /
can get money from my broker with
which to send another statuette."
But unfortunately the coal miners of
the country took it into their heads to
strike, and the market instead OF going
higher went lower. A week passed,
and Algcrnon found himself under the
necessity of duplicating the broken
present, being at tho same time in des-
perate financial straits. Entering his
club one afternoon, lie took his mail
from his box and observed Miss Gau-
dalet's familiar handwriting on one Of
the letters. Tearing off the envelope,
he read
My Dear Mr.. Withers-Why have you
not before this given me an opportunity
to thank you for your beautiful present!
It is the handsomest gft / received. DO
come and see II on its pedestal. The man
who brought It was very careless and
dropped the box in the hall. But fortu-
nately 1 found every part perfect. Sin
cerely, ELISE GAUDALEI.
To say that Mr.. Withers was aston
ished by 10 means expresses his sensa-
tons. Had q volcano opened in the
center of the club swimming tank he
could not have been more thunder
struck. Calling a cab, he rode to -
Central Park West and called for Miss
Gaudalet. He was ushered into the
drawing ROOM and there in bay win
dow on q marble pedestal was the stat
ue. In a few moments Miss Gaudalet
came in and poured forth her warmcst
thanks.
"Isn't It beautiful" she exclaimed.
"Im glad you fancy It," stammered
Withers.
"And to think" she said, changing
her tone to one Of complaint, 'that you
should have kept away all this time"
Algernon looked into her eyes and
saw or thought he saw tears. He
turned and took her hand.
slave you really missed me?"
An hour later he left the house en-
gagged. He concluded that the stupid
porter had delivered the perfect stat
uette by mistake, and as he had not
ordered it he could expect ample time
to pay for il. During the next few
days he expected with each mail to
receive notification Of the error, but
none came. Then stocks advanced,
and he sold out with handsome prof
it and sent a check for the statuette.
1t was returned with a note stating
that there had been no mistake.
Something had gone wrong. Alger-
non puzzled his brain for awhile, then
concluded to sound his fiancee with a
view to an explanation.
"Elise." he said one evening, "there
Is q mystery about the statuette / sent
you for your last birthday"
"What is itf"
"Why, you said the porter dropped
It In the hall-and-are you sure 1t
wasn't brokenT
Elise burst into laugh and, throw
Ing her arms about her lover, said:
You stupid! Did you suppose ]
would have been deceived even II your
instructions had been obeyed? Don't
know your methodist
, "What do you meanT'