Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-11

| gam but Mercy ran to him and grabbing
| him by the lapel of the coat, said fiercely:
| Jack Selkirki''
What / was trying to say" stammered
| the hapless Selkirk, lis that Aunt Betsey-''
You ought to be ashamed of yourself!
| said Betsey, attacking him.
| Selkirk backed away, utterly confused,
while the two women stood glazing al him
with red faces. 1t is astonishing how
quickly the female hair will become disar-
ranged in moments of excitement, even
though no hand touches it. Both the ladies
seemed to be acutely disheveled at that
moment Selkirk looked at them and noted
this. He wondered If it was his fault, and
tried to save himself.
mo. no. he said. with stumbling tongue,
'it's-its grandchildren l mean"
Mercy and Aunt Betsey, ignoring the fact
that his remarks were very evidently in
tended for Cooper and not for them, broke
| in Indignantly and simultaneously:
Me! Have grandchildren they said,
as if they had learned to speak it in con-
cert at school. They were insulted by the
implica ton of great age involved In such
a statement.
mo, no." said Jack, now entirely at sea.
Not you, but 1e!'
And the almost simultaneous query from
all three was spoken wonderingly.
YOU they said.
While he stood there. flushed and wor-
ried, Cooper advanced toward him kindly
and said as if to soothe
There there, Jack don't git eXcited!'
1t was evident that he was beginning to
doubt the sanity of the wretched young
man.
Then, turning to the women, he said in
sorrowfuI explanation:
Hes been workin' too hard, Jack has.
Better git him somethin nice and cool to
drink. I'll try to coax him to lay down."
Then he said to Jack:
There, there, jack Don't you think
about 1t no more. It's all right-it's all
right. Don't you think about 1T no more.
nc ilJ1n
glass of water. How near she came to
guessing the truth of the situation none
but she will ever know, but there was no
sign upon her face that she saw a large
Joke hidden in it and was doing what she
could to help it grow Her countenance
showed nothing but consideration. Cooper
passed the water toward Jack.
There, now, old fellow!" he said sooth-
ingly, drink that. That'll do you good!'
Selkirk took ii, not because he wanted to,
but because he could think of nothing else
to do, and Cooper beckoned to Betsey. He,
at least did not understand the situation
in the slightest, and was very genuinely
worried. He whispered to her, in the mean
time casting sympathetic glances toward
the healthy but unhappy Selkirk:
You'd better send and git the doctor,
he said to her. II feel real guilty. hadn't
ought to let him worry about politics. His
paper is enough for one young man to
carry on his shoulders.
But you don't understand" explained
the exasperated journalist.
Yes yes, l do said Cooper, soothingly.
Il understand. | know. Why, certainly
we all like children. / understand That's
what the Lord said, Suffer little children
Now keep quiet, Jack, keep quiet. Maybe
it'll pass in a minute.
He turned to the women almost angrily.
why don't one of you go for the doc
tor2' he demanded.
At this Mercy burst into a hysterical
giggle, and Cooper looked at her reprov-
ingly.
''Mercy," said he. I'm astonished at ye!
L. amt nothin' to laugh at-poor young
manr'
Then he tried to lead Jack toward the
haircloth-cove couch but, while he was
by this time almost incapable of speech,
Selkirk had will enough left to absolutely
refuse this kind attention.
you shan't get me DOWN. he muttered
desperately.
He made one or two efforts at more ex-
tended explanation, but Cooper declined TO
let him speak more than a word or, two at
time, thus diSintegrating his conversation
into mere tumble of silly syllables, such as
promising case for an alienist's examina-
ton might have bubbled out In some way
the old gentleman had become possessed of
wet cloth and while he was trying to get
one of the women to go for the doctor he
attempted to wipe Jacks face with this. 1t
Is doubtful IL even he knew why he did it.
More than once he rubbed 1t into the vic
TINS mouth and eyes. Finally he became
exasperated and raised his voice.
why upon earth don't one of you go for
the doctor?" he demanded. Does it seem
funny to you to see fellow creetur in such
shape as this young man Is in? / wonder
at We! He's overdone. That's all 1t is. He's
overdonei
And as he repeated this he pushed the
cloth so far into one of the unfortunate
young mans eyes that Selkirk writhed in
pain and an effort to get loose without using
violence. An especially forcefui jerk at
length freed him from the kindly meant but