The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-09-26

The Professor bore the imputation
with meekness and made a bee line
for the sampling room.
BE sure you come to me IL there
rs anything unnecessary or unintelli-
gible, in your opinion" he paused to
add from the threshold-to propiti-
ate Miss Dickson and palliate the
sense of wrongdoing.
Miss Dickson nodded and smiled;
the Professor, artful and conscience
stricken, was genuinely humorous.
Left in solitude, she commenced
work on the Note; it covered several
pages, closely typewriter, and even
to her scientifically adjusted mind be-
came a trifle tedious. She turned,
for diversion, to the Professors cor
respondence and prepared the replies
for his signature.
Midday struck; the janitor
knocked at the door with a telephone
dinner invitation for the Professor.
ASK for the number and say the
Professor will ring up later" replied
Miss Dickson. HE is busy with
some fossils, and can't disturb him"
1t was her custom to waive matters
of minor Importance without refer
ence to him, an authority the Pro-
fessor never resented.
In the next hour various individ-
uals dropped in for conversation with
the Professor, and stayed to enjoy 1t
r,tth Mics nfo1yr@n w. -ant Tho
luncheon hour when the last depart
ed, and the Professor was still clos
eted in the sampling room. Miss
Dickson decided to give him another
half hour, and reverted, hungry but
patient, to the Fossil Fish Tooth. At
the end of the period she knocked at
the door and entered.
Time you went to lunch, Profess
sor," she said.
He was seated with his back to-
ward her, before a table Uttered with
rock specimens, his head sunk be-
tween his shoulders, his elbows rest
ing on the table.
1t struck her, for the first time,
that he looked very old and shriv-
elled and fragile; the reaction, posi-
BIZ, from his earlier elation. She
approached softly, to avoid startling
him.
He seemed unconscious of her
presence; his eyes were glued to a
magnifying glass beneath which lay
a fragment of limestone containing
fossils.
1T is past 2 o'clock-time you
went to luncheon, Professor" she re-
peated.
He made nc reply, nor even the
slightest movement. She waited a
moment longer, and with a woman's
intuition OWNED that something was
wrong.
"What IS 1t, Professor" she ex-
claimed.
He turned his head slowly and
stared at her with a sort of mute de-
fiance.
Professor, there's something
wrong! Tell me what 1t is" she said
sharply.
He pointed at the specimens be-
fore him and tried to speak, and with
the several languages at his command
could find no word to express himself.
He raised his eyes to hers, shame
facedly; a suspicion of the truth
flashed upon her-he read 1t in her
eyes-and flung the magnifer from
him with a gesture of despair.
"All-dis-proved," he said, fall
tering from syllable to syllable, and
sank back in the chair, a withered,
decrepit, old, old man.
Nonsense! Not the theory"
she retorted, struggling with yer
whelming conviction of the truth and
the utter futllity of fighting against
1t.
A knock came at the outer door.
1t galvanized the poor, broken old
man into active misery.
"A laughing stock! A %doddering
old idiot. Good Goi!" he said.
Miss Dickson answered the knock
instantaneously, stepped into the
passage and closed the door behind
her.
THE Professor is busy, extremely
busy; for goodness sake leave him in
peace" she said with irritation to
the intruder. "Oh, it's you, MI. Till
man; l beg your pardon-will you
come back presently mean to-mor-
row? Professor Borthwick promised
an article for the next number of
The Scientific Journal and we must
get it off to-day, somehow"
Tillman departed, after a chatting
reference to the business methods of
academic cranks. Ia his wake fol-
lowed the ~janitor with another mes
sage.
Look here, Symes," said Miss
Dickson decisively, tell every one
who wants the professor-in or out
of the building-that he's too busy
to be interrupted to-day-on any &C.
count. I'm sick of repeating the
same thing"
The ~janitor shuffied away; Miss
| Dickson re-entered the study and
paused for a moments reflection.
| Before returning to the Professor she