New Ulm review., 1906-02-07

anywhere, and | got so used to it that
I'd refuse as unemot otionaliy Dis I would
an ice. cream soda in December. Their
one dark night we were coming home
from little restaurant dinner crowd
Of us had had at Green's you remem-
Der the Greens, don't you?"
Marian nodded
We'll, it was pitch dark felt posi-
lively spooky when stepped off the
car. We had to pass a little strip Of
woods. think I'll never get that out
Of my mind She sat upright, her
hands claEped tightly in her lap. You
know that little nearsighted trick the
man had of holding his chin down as
he talked - boyish little mannerism p
Marian never had even seen him, but
she made no sign. "Well, we walked
along, chatting. When we reached
about the middle of that stretch Of
woods l saw two men standing rather
queerly, one in front of the other at
the edge of the sidewalk I kind Of
grabbed the mans arm, and he thought
| wanted him to speak to some one he
was funny, because they stepped up in
front of US and answered his polite
bow by showing gun in his face and
telling him to hold up his hands,
She stopped, and after waiting awhile
for her to continue Marian said:
"Well, did hep
"Why, you know, it never occurred
to me that he wouldn't There were
two of them, and they swore terribly.
But that man! He had on a long ul-
ster with deep pockets, and he rammed
his hands way down into those pockets
and said in the most ridiculously calm
voice, I won't! The men were so
surprised they nearly dropped.
wasn't a bit afraid All could think
Of was that the man must hold up his
hands or he'd get hurt So I just
danced round him, saying Hold up
your handsv I said please I called
him dear and 'foop and idiot But
he just said I won't!' and kind of
moved forward. OF course the holdup
man didn't want to shoot very badly,
and he thought the man would give in,
so he backed up as the man moved for
ward. The other man walked behind
with me-
She laughed as she remembered till
Marian said shortly, well, go onv'
''Well, we walked, and screamed.
Pretty soon we got almost to the gate
Of the first house. We lived in the third.
Then saw what the man was up to
and felt so ashamed Of my silly sQueal-
ing. I started to sprint, thinking that 1
would ring the doorbell Of the first
house and get help, but the second man
caught me. And then he seemed to get
kind of signal from the other one, for
he let go Of me all Of a sudden and
jumped right on the mans back. And
then the gun went off. It was the most
awful sound l ever heard. I sat down
on the sidewalk for a minute.
"Well, when came to my brother
Bob was there and whole crowd Of
neighbors-they'd heard the shot and
had run out just in time to see the men
run away through the woods-and ev-
erybody was talking at once. The shot
hadn't hit any one, but they thought I
was the victim, and the man was hay
ing a serious time. But just as soon as
he found out was all right he and that
silly Bob wanted to go off and chase
those desperate men. But 1 wouldn't
let him go. I told Bob he could go
alone if he wanted to, and l cried like
such a little fool that it tickled his van
1ty, and he stayed. | thought he'd been
brave enough, and 1 guess l told him
that I was ready to hold up my hands
or some such thing, for he seemed aw-
fully glad all of sudden
She stopped, and Marian. waiting for
the end, asked finally:
'Well, what's all this to do with
| your turning him DOWN.
Everything in the world,' said Alicia
complacently. II didn'tv Then she
laughed delightedly. "You see, I've
been engaged to him ever since. He
! came to New York because there was
more business here, and you see if I
don't get even with that Polly for tell
ing around that I refused himv'
l