Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-01-24

rest. That was the only mystery
about an otherwise open and pleas
ant friendship.
Mr.. Smith and Mr.. Carter saw Lon
don and Paris together, and thew tray-
| eled through Italy and finally brought
| up in the shadows of the Matterhorn.
| in Switzerland, for a stay of two
| weeks. Mr.. Smith didn't care for
! mountains, being in the real estate
business and knowing how hard it was
TO unload them on the public, but Mr..
carter was more solicitous of his well
tare-more anxious as TO accident.
His Gemeanor somehow reminded
! Smith of the deathwatch set over
prisoner. Up to the time of leaving
Paris he had called Smith Smith. At
ter that he called him Zebulon, and
seemed to love the name. On one oc-
casion he had asked Smith where he
would like to be buried in case of
Heath, and on another had hoped that
he would die without suffering if he
died at all. These things somewhat
worried Smith for a time, but he final
ly dismissed them from his mind as
somehow belonging to the lath and
shingle business.
During the first three days in Swift
erland s it'll and Carter met with un-
pleasant weather and did not wander
from the hotel. In this interval Car
ter's solicitousness became so great
as to be almost offensive. He would
even get out of bed at midnight to see
that Smith hadn't kicked the bed
clothes off or was lying on his back.
He bought the choicest wines and the
best cigars-he told his funniest jokes
and his best stories-he worked hard
er to give Smith good time than as if
he was being paid hundred dollars a
day. Smith wondered over it, but he
was soon to know the awful truth.
On the fourth day the two walked out
together in a twin-brother way. In
Switzerland the only way you can walk
out is to walk up hill. They walked up
hill They assembled at least SOC feet
| above the hotel roof, when they came
to bridge spanning a ravine. 1t was
200 feet to the bottom of that ravine,
with no air cushions on the rocks be-
low. The two men sat down to get
breath, and Smith noticed that Carter
was looking at him in hungry way
the way wolf is popularity supposed
to look at baby weighing about "a
pounds of fat.
Whats the matter now?" asked
Smith, as a chill crept up his back.
Il have you at last?" replied Carter,
as he smacked his lips and sharpened
his teeth.
Come of and explain yourselfl"
Then Carter settled down and told a
little story, and as he told it he kept
one eye on Smith and the other on that
dark, dank, deep ravine. While he was
attending to his lath and single bust
ness at Plum Creek his wife went up
! to Oconemawac on a visit to her sister.
Her sister gave high teas and lawn par
ties, and at one of these the wife met
suave, sleek villain. She didn't like
his sickness, but the villain pursued.
What arguments he used against the
lath and single business the deponent
couldn't say, but the result was that
Mrs. Carter eloped with him and lie TT
Carter hanging in the air. She had ten
days start, but the wronged husband
set out to secure revenge on the villain
who had broken up his happy home
and guided simply by chance he had
found him and was now about TO drop
him off the bridge spanning the ra-
vine. He would grant the villain Just
three minutes in which to prepare for
eternity.
What the devil do you mean by such
talk?" asked Smith as the story was
finished.
You are = villaini" slowly
and impressively answered Carter.
Nonsense! l was never in Ozone
mawac in my life"
"Ha! You deny it?"
"Of course, ! do! What in Texas
would l be shocking around after Mrs.
Carter for when L had a wife of NV
own?"
But it was man named Smith, /"
persisted the trembling husband.
well, what of it?"
Then it must have been you. You
are Smith, and you can't deny it'll"
But do you imagine that / am the
only Smith in the United States?"
II never heard of any other"
You ass! Why, there are over 1000
Smiths in the state of Wisconsin
alone!"
as it possible?"
And over hundred thousand in
the United States, TO say nothing of
Canada. Did you follow me here from
New York to wreak your vengeance
on me because happened to be named
Smith,"
did. | was sure you were the
man. / can't understand it. / learned
that it was man named Smith. and
you are Smith, and"
ana you are Carter, and the biggest
ass in the world! Come along back to
the hotel and let's have drink"
But how about Smith?" walled
Carter. "You-he-Smith ran AWAY