The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-01-29

that the warning had come too late
made him stagger as he sprang to
his feet.
1--WE got to go home" the clerk was
saying. ''I've just had a message
| my wife has been hurt-I'd-"
Logan did not wait to listen. The
committee room was empty, and his
secret perhaps already in the hands
of the enemy.
He hurried down the aisle with a
stride that made his nearer col
leagues turn to look after him. and
ran to the stairs. The committee
room seemed mile away. He ran
into a Waterman in uniform, and sent
him sprawling. He dashed headlong
through group of tourists, and ran
on without a word of apology. He
heard his name called, but did not
turn his head. Down the basement
corridor in front of him he could see
a woman in black walking swiftly.
He saw her vanish into the commit
| tee room, and an instant later he
flung himself through the door. The
woman was half way across the
room. His enemies had lost by
neck. She turned with a low crv,
and confronted him. In a flash he
saw that he could best protect his
secret by not letting her know that
her ruse had been suspected. He
bowed and held out his hand in his
courtliest manner.
What can l do for you, madam ?"
he asked, blandly.
The woman recovered herself with
quiclHness equal to his own.
81 want to see Congressman
Briggs" she said, smiling. He's on
| this committee, is he not?"
EYES," answered Logan; "but he's
on the floor just now"
The woman assumed a pretty air
of ditiidence.
would you mind-would it be too
much to ask you to find him for me ?"
she said. 81 don't like staying in the
waiting room.''
Logan moved toward the door of
the committee room.
with pleasure" he said, touching
the bell; 'I'll send for him at once"
The woman gave a faint gasp of
dismay.
81 think, after all, I won't trouble
him to-day" she said. "He may be
speaking"
The young congressman bowed her
out politely. The messenger, who
arrived a moment later, found him
closing the door of safe, in which
now stood an empty dispatch box.
A smile of triumph was on his face,
and long and bulky envelope in his
inside pocket marred the perfect fit
of his frock coat.
"If l could find out who sent me
that lying message about my wife
being hurt I'd kill him!" said the
confidential clerk week later, as he
walked beside his employer up the
steps of the little house where
feather-headed Ida was waiting to
welcome the lion of the hour to her
dinner table. at was a cruel trick,
don't you think?"
Logan smiled in reply. He had not
told his clerk all the trick might
have meant. He was still smiling as
he stepped into the pretty little
drawing room, and stood before a girl
who had risen to receive him. The
fluffy, vivid hair, the lines of the
face, the flash of the smile, had been
too deeply imprinted on his memory
that day in the house to have lost
any of their freshness during the
week he had been seeking in vain for
the girl who had saved him from de-
feat.
"My sister Lucy" the confidential
clerk was saying. you and she
ought to have at least one taste in
common. She was a telegrapher be-
fore she came here to be stenogra-
pher for the man you wiped up the
earth with last week"
at was only the merest chance"
she said to him two hours after
ward, when Ida had left them to-
gether long enough for Logan to
pour out his deep gratitude. Il had
scolded Ida for letting her pride in
Charley's devotion make her tell that
widow that your safe combination
was her name, but l didn't realize
what she had done till / overheard
my employer quarreling with some
body in his private office. He's got
it, l heard him say, and it's your
fault! Now, I want you to get the
woman to find out where it is and
get it!' So l put two and two to-
gether and"
And the ultimate result of that
putting two and two together to
make victory was the putting of one
and one together to make happiness.
-Woman's Home Companion.