News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1905-12-13

Divpr ga nau % TO was mueeu .
smile and smile and be a villain"
practiced that smile half the afternoon
| rehearsed putative parts in hypOthet
zeal conversations. | got up stories
| dipped in a book on Queensland a
the club And at last it was 7:45 ant
| was making my bow to a somewha
elderly man with small bald heaC
and a retreating brow.
80 you're Mr. Rallies friend?' sale
he, oyerhauling me rather rudely will
his light, small eyes. "Seen anything
of him? Expected him early to show
me something, but he's never come"
No more evidently had his telegram
and my troubles were beginning early
| said | had not seen Rallies since ]
o'clock, telling the truth with JUNCTION
Willie 1 could Even as we spoke there
came knock at the door. 1t was the
telegram at last, and, after reading it
| imself, the Queenslander handed it tt
Lac.
called out of town. he grumbled
sudden illness of near relative! What
near relatives has he gotY'
| l knew of none, and for an instant |
quailed before the peril of invention.
Then | replied that l had never met
any Of his people and again felt forti-
fed by my veracity.
Thought you were bosom pals?" said
he, with (as | imagined a CLEAN of
suspicion in his crafty little eyes.
only i'll town." said l. I've never
been to his place."
We'll" he growled, 81 suppose it
can't be helped. Don't know why he
couldn't come and have his dinner first.
Like to see the deathbed I'd go to with
out my dinner. It's full skin billet, if
you ask me. Well, we must just dine
without him, and he'll have to buy his
pig in a poke after all. Mind touching
that bell? Suppose you know what he
came to see me about? Sorry shan't
see him again, for his own sake.
liked Rafties-took to him amazingly
He's a cynic. Like cynics. One my.
self. Rank bad form of his mother or
his aunt, and l hope she will go and
kick the bucket"
| connect these specimens Of his con-
versation, though they were doubtless
detached at the time and interSpersed
with remarks of mine here and there.
They filed the interval until dinner
was served, and they gave me an i'm
preston of the man which his every
subsequent utterance confirmed. 1t
was an impression which did away
with all remOrse for my treacherous
presence at his table. He was that ter.
rib.e t.pe, the silly cynic, his aim
cau5tic commentary Oh all things and
all mon, his achievement mere vulgar
irrCyerelce and uninteligent seorn.
III bred and i'll Informed, he had ION
his own shoTiAg) 1lukel into fortune
on rise in lana. Yet cunning he pos
sessed as well as malice, and he chuc-
Killed. till he chokcd over the misfortune
of less astute spectators in the same
boom. Even now l cannot feel much
compUnctiCn for my behavior to the
Hon. J. ". C"2ggs, NJ. L. C.
But never shall l forget the private
agonies Of the situation, the listening
to my host with one ear and for
Raffies with the other! Once l heard
him, though the rooms were not di-
.vided by the old fashioned folding
doors, and, though the door that did
divide them was not only shut, but
richly curtained, l could have sworn
l heard him once. l spilled my wine
and laughed at the top of my voice
at some coarse sally Of my hosts,
and l heard nothing more, though my
cars were on the strain. Dut later, to
my horror, when the waiter had final
ly withdrawn, Craggs himself sprang
up and rushed to his bedroom with
out word. l sat like stone till he
returned.
Thought l heard a door CO." he
said. Must have been mistaken
magnati0n-gave me quite turn.
Rallies tell you priceless treasure l
got in thereF
1t was the picture at last. Up to
this point l had kept him to Queens
land and tie making of his pile.
tried to get him back there now, but
in vain. He was reminded of his
great, i'll gotten possession. l said
that Raffies had just mentioned it,
and that set him off. With the con
fidential garrulity Of a man who had
d:ned too we'll he plunged into his
darling topic, and l looked past him
at the clock. 1t was only quarter
to 10.
In common decency l could not go
yet, so there l sat 1--WE We're still at
port and learned what had originally
fred my hosts ambition to possess
what he was pleased to call Il real,
genuine, twin screw, double funneled,
copper bottom old master" 1t was to
"go one better than some rival legis-
lator of pictorial proclivities. but even
an epitome of his monOlogue would
be so much WEAKNESS. Suffice it that
it ended inevitably in the invitation
| had dreaded all the evening.
"But you must see it. Next room.
This way"
isn't it packed up?' l inquired has