The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-03

wash it up, and you can stop and get 1t
| sometime-or ask your wife to call tor
| it." she said, with bewitching smile.
! The agent swallowed and essayed TO
! speak. but thought better OF 1t and SAID
! nothing. Mrs Fisby counted out SIX
! tens from a roll of bills.
| You count 3em too, please, she said,
/ handing them to the agent Mental
arithmetic amt my strong point, and
me and Mr. +. always did this way
first | counted, then he went over It to
see that there wasn't anybody going to
get cheated"
Its quite correct, I'm sure, without
| going over It. murmnred the agent gal
iantly, as he put the bills in his pocket
and handed Mrs. Fisby the keys OF the
| house.
His business with the lady was evil
dently over for the time being, but now
that she had given up walking him to
death, he found himself strangely loath
to relinguish her society. He went
slowly over to the parlor 1nantel and
took down his hat
A happy thought came to Mrs. F1sby,
and she innocently picked UP candy
box that had more recently contained
hard-boiled eggs.
''You might take this to your wife"
she said sweetIy; it'd be sort of handy
to keep hair-pins in.
IL haven't any wife, thank you"
stammered the agent,
''Well, if that don't beat a1ll' laugh
ed Mrs. Fisby. "A nice looking man
like you, and getting bald at that!'
The agent blushed and became decid-
eddy uneasy.
Perhaps you haven't ever been in
love though. Now me and Mr.. F., we
fell in love at first sight"
They were in the vestibule now. The
agent opened the front door and nerv-
ously put on his hat
My land!'' cried Mrs Fisby, eff you
amt just the image of Mr.. F., now you
get your hat on"
During the next week the agent found
it necessary to make several calls upon
Mrs Fisby. He was fairly driven to it,
partly by an awakened conscience con-
corning certain imperfections in the
house which he usually neglected to
mention to a prospective tenant, and
partly by more insistent force which
was doubtless responsible for the state
of his conscience.
The third time he came he brought
with him several dozen neat little rub
DSl SlOppClS, dllu tlISlSlCd lPO1i pug
ging the drains in the stationary wash
bowls, explaining as mildly as possible
that this precaution was necessary If
she wished to keep live roomers.
The fact that he might have told her
this before she hired the house never
occurred to her, and with cheerful ala
Gritty she assisted him in his task of
inserting the plugs. The two front bed.
rooms were already taken, and he no
ticed many little comforts that made
them homelike and showed woman's
care and taste.
In one room pair of gaily embroid-
cred slippers lay on the floor at the foot
of the bed.
Eyes," said Mrs. Fisby, with open
pride, 4 see you're looking at those
slippers with an envious eye, as they say
in books I made EN- Mr. F., he liked
those slippers, too. l told Mr.. F. the
very day he passed away that I was 60
ing to do them up careful, and he need
mt fear mortal man would ever set foot
III them again, but that nice boy who
took this room didn't have a slipper to
his name, and I just said to myself,
There's Mr.. F. up there, harping on his
harp and not caring penny whether
anybody's wearing his old slippers or
not and I'm just going to make that
poor boy comfortable"
AS she talked there was such a beau
itful, motherly look upon Mrs. Fisby's
face, and her brown eyes grew so soft
that the little agent had the temerity
to take her hand. Tender, unaccustom-
ed words clamored for utterance.
"My dear-n1y dear-ahem! Mrs.
Fisbyp' he said, and then a mighty
panic seized him ana the golden moment
was lost.
What is it?" asked Mrs Fisby shyly.
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