Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-06
THE MAN
ON THE BOX
BIZ
HAROLD MAC 0RATH

| while. just to let you know how 1 stand.
| l shall be at the house tonight. I'll find an
| excuse. I'm to go up north on hunting
| expedition; a hurry call. Do you catch
| On?"
II shall never be able 20 look Nancy in
the face / declared. Come, Bob; forget
! 1t. 1t sounds merry enough. but my word
| for It, you'll regret ii inside of tWsnty-four
| hours. You graduate of the proudest
| military school in the world. and you are
| going to make a groom of yourselfi'
| I've already done that end been locked
| Up overnight. You are wasting your breath,
| Chuck.
We'll hang you for a jackass. sure
| enough, | promise: but If you get into any
such scrapa as this, you needn't send for
| me. l refuse to help you again.
can't exactly see that you did Let
! get out. Got cigar in your pocket? l am
! positively dying for smoke.
! Suddenly brilliant idea came to me.
! did you know that Miss Annesley. the
! girl you raw on shpboard. is in Washing
ton and was at the embassy last night?
| NO You don't say" He was too clever
| for me- when I get through with this eX-
! plot. Nancy'll have to introduce me. Did
! you see her?''
Yes. and talked to her. You see what
! you missed by not going last night
| Yes. | missed a good nights rest and a
! cold bath in the morning.
Where shall | say you were last night?
! | asked presently.
Mister James scratched his chin discon-
! certedly.
! Il hadn't thought of that. Say that met
| some of the boys and got mixed up in a
| little game of poker
| You left your hat on the rack and your
| cane in the stand. You are supposed to
have left the house without any hat
| Hat He jumped UP from the cot on
| which he had been sitting and picked up
I the groom's tile. Didn't you bring me
! hat?'-dismayed.
You said nothing about it"-and 1 roar
| ed with laughter.
| T pot of 7 can't
| wear this thing through the Streets
| I've mind to make you wear it. And,
| by Jove, you shall' You'll wear it to the
! hatterS. or stay here. That's final. l never
| back down, either"
I'll wear 1t; only, mark me. I'll get even
| with you. L always did
| I'm not a boy any longer, with an in
| Election on the personal pronoun. well
| to continue about that excuse. You left
| the house without a hat and you met the
! boys and played poker all night That
bitches wonderfully. You didn't feel well
| enough to go to the embassy, but you
could go and play poker. That sounds as
| if you cared a lot for your sister And
you wanted to stay at home the first
night, because you had almost forgotten
how the inside of a private dwelling look
| ed Very good; very coherent
| Cut it, Chuck. What the deuce excuse
can l give?'-worriedly lighting the
cigar l had given him.
| My boy. I'm not making up your ex-
! cuses; you'll have to invent those. I'll be
/ silent. but | refuse to lie to Nancy on your
account. Poker is the only excuse that
| would carry any weight with it. You will
| have TO let them believe you're heartless
! wretch; which you are, if you persist in
| this idiotic exploit
you don't understand, Chuck. I wish
I could tell you: honestly. l do. The girls
will have to think mean things of me till
the farce is over. l couldn't escape if l
| wanted to"
rs it Miss Annesley. Bob? Was it she
| whom you away with? Come make
| clean breast of it. If it's she. why, that
altogether alters the face of things"
turned. Il give up. You've hit it. You
understand now. I simply can't back
| away; l couldn't if l tried
Are you in love with the grip
| That's just what l want to find out
| Chuck I'm not sure I've been thinking
of her night and day. l never had any af
| fair; L don't know what love is. But If it's
! shaking in your boots at the sound of her
| name, if it's getting red in the face when
| you only just think of her, if it's having
| a wild desire to pick her up and run away
| with her when you see her, then I've got
| it. When she stepped out of that con-
! founded carriage last night, you could have
| knocked me over with paper-wad. Come
| let's go out Hang the hat! Let them all
! laugh if they will. It's only couple of
| blocks to the hatters."
He bravely put the white hat on his head
| and together we marched out of the police
| office into the street. We entered the near
| est hatters together. He took what they
| call drop-kick out of the hat, sending
! 1t far to the rear of the establishment.
purchased suitable derby for him, gave
! him ten dollars for emergencies, and we
parted.
| He proceeded to a telegraph office and
| sent dispatch to friend up north asking
! him to telegraph him to come at once,
| taking his chances of getting reply After
| this he boarded north-going car, and was
! rolled out to Chevy Chase He had no diff
! ficulty in finding the house of which he
| was in search. 1t was a fine example of
! colonial architecture, well back from the
| road, and fields beyond it, 1t was of red
! brick and white stone, with wide veran-
! da supported by great white pillars There
modern portico at one side. A fine
| lawn surrounded the whole, and white peb
| Bile walks wound in and out. All around
were thickly wooded hills. gashed here
| and there by the familiar yet peculiar red
| clay of the country. Warburton walked
| up the driveway and knocked deliberately
| at the servants door, which was presently
| opened Il learned all these things after
| ward which accounts for my accurate
! knowledge of eventsD
| please inform Miss Annesley that Mr..
he said to the little black-eyed French
| maid
''Ees Meestaire Osborrrrne zee new
groom"
| II go thees minute.' Helm, what a fine
| looking young man to make eyes at on cold
| nights in the kitchen,
| Warburton sat down and twrled his hat.
J Several times he repressed the de-
! sire to laugh. He gazed curiously
! about him. From where he sat he
| could see into the kitchen. The French
| chef was hanging up his polished pans in
| glistening row back of the range and
! he was humming little chanson whioh
| Warburton had often heard in the restau-
| rants of the provincial cities of France
I He even found himself catching up the
| frain where the chef left off. Presently he
| heard footsteps sounding on the hardwood
| floor. which announced that the maid was
| returning with her mistress.
! He stood up, rested first on one foot then
T, on the other, and awkwardly shifted his
! new hat from one hand to the other then
| suddenly put the hat under his arm recol-
! leeting that the label was not such as
| servants wore inside their hats
| There was something disquieting in those
| magnetic sapphire eyes looking so sereneIy
| into his.
| Go be continued tomorrow)
|