Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-09-09
THE BROKEN IDOL

DOId NHSiiHd DIooh was Soou SlIi
as rule. and as pretty as she had any
need to be- But she was of a romantic
disposition. Therefore it was great
pity that being in the book department
Of the stores with her dear mamma her
eye should have lighted upon a little
vellum- bound volume entitled FLAMES
of Passion" She picked it up, looked at
the frontspiece. read a verse or two, and
said, Il will take this"
What fCr?" said her dear mamma.
Il don't know" said the girl-which
| was quite untrue.
She had bought it because she was
greatly interested in the portrait of the
author, which formed the frontispiece
He was depicted on horseback, singu
| larly handsome type-tall, clean shayen,
| muscular, with magnificent eyes. Conse-
! quently. when Dora Virginia Brook came
| TO read those poems she found that they
were very good and lovely.
| As matter of fact the verses were
| about Of the usual badness, as most
verses are. They were full Of passion
somewhat of the nat-on-t he-tiIes order,
! calculated to strain the upper register of
! the thermometer, and they would have
! been quite unsliitcd to Miss Brook if
Miss Brook had realized what they
meant. But she did not, which was good
| for her; and women adore most that
which they do not completely understand
which was good for the author
There was a little preface which Dora
examined with greatest care 1t sug-
gested a dark past and other interesting
things, and it gave the authors private
| address. This was a house with a Japa-
nese name which | am quite unable to
spell, but that matters less, as even if l
could spell it you would be quite unable
to pronounce it. The house was situated
in Croydon, which seemed to Dora to be
all wrong. On the other hand, Croydon
has the advantage, as anybody who lives
there will tell you, of being very handy.
There could be no harm in writing to
tell an author how much one appreciated
his wcrk. Dora had almost decided upon
the step when the almost excessive handi-
ness of Croydon made a frantic and sue
cessful appeal to her. She went to Croy-
don in the afternoon, which was quite
wrong of her, and l deeply regret to add
that she told her mother that she was
going down there to see her old gov
erness, being fully aware at the time
that her old governess had been called to
her eternal rest some three months pre-
viously.
1t was really most extraordinary
thing Nobody at the station had ever
heard of Hector Leroy or of the house
with the japanese name. The policeman
did not know it, even postmen disclaimed
all knowledge Dora began to think that
culture in CroyGon was in a bad way.
She lost herself in a tangle of back
streets; rows of mean little houses de
pressed her. In desperation she stopped
bakers boy, showed him the name of
the house written down and asked if he
could direct her.
why, there it is bitin' yer" he said.
1t was. indeed as he had intended to
imply the dirty little pig of house be-
fore which she was standing The name
was painted on the fanlight and some of
the paint had come off. The front door
was open and an elderly gentleman in Il
frock coat, without collar, tie or waist
coat, was engaged in the simple act of
taking in the milk. Him Dora APP
preached.
Is Mr.. Hector Leroy at homer" she
asked.
Great Scott!" said the man. ''Yes,"
he added. Won't you walk in?"
They entered dirty room with a lit
tered writing table.
You see" said the elderly man, "I'm
not often called by that name. My real
names Peter Bum. You can't stick that
On title page, you know"
Dora sat down abruptly and said faint
ly that she saw.
THE same thing with the photo" went
on Mr.. Bum cheerfully 1.-The one I've
got in the book is Il 1air knock out. It's
really the photo of a chap who got
lynched for horsestealing in Texas. But
it struck me that he looked Just the kind
of man to write that kind of thing. Not
bad idea, was it,"
Dora murmured that it was very clever
and looked at her watch.
Its made the book CO." said the old
man. We've done 300 copies actually
sold. OF course / don't do that sort Of
thing for a living. Pm employed in some
chemical manure works. But you were
wanting to see me about something,
suppose?'
Nothing whatever" said Dora, with
sudden energy, and ran as it had been for
her life.
The old man looked puzzled, observed
to himself that it was Il funny game,
and resumed his preparations for tea
Dora had bad accident with her copy
of FLAMES of Passion when she re-
turned. 1t got a good deal burned; in
fact, it was all burned.-Barry Pain in
the Taller.
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P;II Nvasz Da,F,,