Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-07-01
THE MILLIONTH
-CHANCE

LCopyf1gnt, IWS by L. &. McClure.1
There's that puppy Fielding again,
growled her father In a low tone
Turn your eyes away, Sarah, anG
don't look at him."
Miss Bradford complied by shooting
toward Fielding one Of those mysteri
Gus side glances which enable a won
an, without turning her head, to com
pass wonders Of vision. Then she
flushed rosily.
"You are very hard on him." she
breathed softly, careful of the nearby
clerk at the glove counter in the big
department store.
Hard nothing" grumbled Mr.. Brad
ford. IF there's any impractical ami
NAL on the face of the globe it is an
inventor. Take that Internally foolish
scheme Of his, for instance-that spring
cushion he has invented to attach to
the bottom Of elevators in case of q
fall. Now, what do you suppose the
percentage of accidents on an elevator
ISL"
"How should 1 known" retorted his
daughter, with a superb feminine con.
tempt for statistics.
LESS than one in a million jour.
neys," said her father triumphantly il
not veraciously.
"Just the same" returned his daugh.
ter obstinately, 1T must be very dis
agreeable when that millionth acct.
dent does happen"
Her father walked stolidly toward
the machine in question, Sarah trail.
ing obediently after him, though her
thoughts were otherwhere, and her
eyes now vainly swept the crowd for
q glimpse of young Fielding.
II suppose you are not afraid to 60
upY jeered Mr.. Bradford as the two
found themselves the only occupants
Of the cage as it rose to the fourth
floor.
"Of course I'm not" said Sarah re-
sentfully. Then she added artfully
"You talk about inventing as though
It was like-well, like drinking"
"It is as bad as drinking" said hel
father solemnly, "or as the cocaine OF
the poetry habit. Any one Of these
will ruin mans career. Now, Sarah
don't be all day choosing that scarf FOL
your mother"
This last as they stepped from the
car. Mr.. Bradford was secretly afraid
Of the majestic females that swept to
and fro on this special floor, their demi
trains gliding noiselessly over the deep
carpets, their eyes fronting his with
an insolent scorn that quite abashed
him, tyrant as he was apt to be al
home
Mere man," they seemed to be whis-
pering among themselves. Finally the
banker solaced himself by going to q
window and looking out on the street
Hence he did not see Fielding step
from the elevator in the next moment
He was not aware that two heads were
bending together over the scarf, on
which neither Of the young people saw
aught Of the colors.
last forever. 1t was prematurely ended
by the return Of the magnate, who
turned as purple as the Persian silks
before him when he beheld the pretty
tableau.
He grew more purple still when Field
ing quietly entered the car with them
But the banker choked down his wrath
ON rejecting that even inventors car
lawfully ride in any public convey.
ance. Then he snapped angrily at the
elevator boy:
"Why are we stopping before this
blank wall, you young procrastinator
Do you think this sort of thing is en-.
joyable?"
But the boy, lad Of sixteen, newly
OF duty, went white with terror.
"Somethin's wrong up above" he
stammered. "Josh, he's been drinkin'
knowed, though I never told. Some.
thin's wrong, and the brake amt hold.
in right. It's slippin," he ended in q
shrill yell.
"Three floors to fall" thought Field.
ing as he seized the half fainting girl
in his arms. Aloud he cried cheerily
"Don't be frightened, any Of you! My
cushion attachment was sold the firm
last week. II it's on
Aye-if! How large a word! AS
the cage shot downward at fearful
speed, very slightly broken by the
yielding ropes, the banker found a
whole century Of thought compressed
into that brief period. A voice cried
in his ear that it was a judgment on
him, the cushion would not be there
that the cage would strike the ground
with the sound SO happily denominated
by the newspapers as a "sickening
thud." He saw himself and his child
piled in a mangled heap-he to whom
life had always seemed so substantial
and sure.
Then half a dozen women waiting
in the basement saw the falling cage
shoot downward and rise again like q
rubber ball. When it came down the
second time it rested quiveringly on
| the springs, while inside was an undig
pif3od mass which rroSontlv oStonteh