The Tomahawk., 1903-11-27

quaintances.
Tom brought Cousin Horace home
with him that evening. and Mrs. Kings
land 'went on" over him as fondly as
young pullet over her first chick. He
was big, sweet-voiced. soldierly man,
with yellow, curly hair and the man
ner of boy. Coming from the rigor-
GUS weather of Canada, he looked very
queer in his fur greatcoat, cap and
mittens, for the day was almost warm.
They had a merry time at supper.
Kate was at her best, and Tom, de-
lighted at the first chance he'd had in
a year to take "a flyer" with 8 man
his wife could trust.
"Kate, dear" he said at last, wink
ing slyly at his cousin, Horace has to
go downtown to look after his lug
gage. It won't take us long"
| 'All right, Tom. I'll trust you with
Horace. I know he'll take care of you.
Besides, want you to mail some let
ters for me-the invitations. You
know, Tom"
She slipped the eight envelopes into
his hand and gayly slapped him on the
back. The men smoked a few cigarettes
in the parlor, chatting with Kate, be-
fore they started.
"By Jove!" snorted the Canadian,
looking at his fur coat in the hall, "Ill
wear no coat. It's blooming tropical
place, Chicago"
ooh, no, it isn't, Horace" chimed
the solicitous hostess; you must take
coat. One of Tom's-the raglan,
Tom. It's too big for you, and you
can wear the top coat
So they bundled Cousin Horace into
the raglan and away went he and
Tom.
Mrs. Kingsland was sure of her
sealskin coat (for she meant to hold
Tom to his wager), but just the same
she began to get bit nervous at five
O'Clock Thanksgiving afternoon when
| she noticed that not one Of the seven
young folks had arrived. She remem-
| bered explicitly having asked Martha
| Dinwiddie to come early. Dinner was
| to be at six, and as she had received
no notes declining her invitations she
was yet confident, but z
Tom and Horace, oblivious of her
growing misgiyings, were listening to
| her very latest and most glowing tri-
butte to the beauty, wit and grace Of
Martha Dinwiddie, and the handsome
| Canadian, we'll satisfied Of Mrs. Kings
lands judgment and appreciation, was
beginning to feel yearning desire to
| meet the much-vaunted Martha. Six
o'clock came and struck without either
Of the men noticing the change that
was coming over Kate. At 6:15 she
was in nervous tremor; she made re-.
peated trips to the kitchen, and at in
tervals stood by the window watching
the street. Finally Tom pulled out his
watch, whistled softly, looked up and
| blurted:
"By jingo, Kate, your guests are
either late or they're not coming"
She stood before him ready to fly
into a rage or weep. The tempest of
her disappointment. however, re-
| solved itself into tears, and in q mo-
| ment she was sobbing on Toms shoul-
der.
"I didn't think they'd do it, the
| heartless things!" she sobbed. "And
Martha, too, the mink! She at least
knew that had my heart set on this
confounded dinner"
It was all out now. Too late to
guard her modification from Cousin
Horace, too late to evade the silent
sarcasm of the waiting servants, too
late even to avoid the distressing scene
before her guest. But he as we'll as
| Tom came bravely to the rescue.
'Their loss, not ours" laughed Hor-
ace Lets eat up the whole dinner
ourselves. I'm ravenous, and, excuse
me, Mrs. Kingsland, don't know but,
on the whole, I'm gladder to have our
dinner privately together. You know
I never was beau. Ha, ha, hi-yi!"
So they filed out rather mournfully
to the dining room. Tom managed to
whisper a message to his wife as they
stood to let Horace pass, and when she
took her place at the table she was
little brighter for the knowledge that
she was to have the seal coat anyhow.
The wine and meat, the wholesome
humor and hearty laughter of Horace
gave zest to their merriment, and be-
fore the coffee came on they decided to
have an impromptu theater party and
make night Of it" as Tom said. He
was half sorry moment after he had
awkwardly suggested that ''impromp-
tn things are always happier" but
Kate, who noticed it, forgave him with
look.
But the theater party didn't turn out
exactly we'll, either, for as the men
were getting into their coats in the
hall Horace said:
cav, by the way, Tom! There's lot
of letters here in this box coat Of yours
that I'm wearing. 1 intended to turn
them over, don't you know, but 'pon
my word-aw-I didn't think of it till
now"
And he pulled out poor Kate's bunch