The Virginia enterprise., 1906-12-07

body was to be held at my own resi-
dence.
Not that l am in any way unsym-
pathetic as to church work and BE-
nighted savages and such matters; but
when half a dozen women get together
and discuss few heathen and a great
many hats and similar things the
solitary man in the house is apt to
feel ~'s-' D.
At any rate, when I saw Mrs. Haw-
kins enter my door that evening, the
first of the Executive Committee to
arrive, I experienced sinking SEN
sation for the moment Then I Sc
cured my hat, mumbled a few excuses,
and disappeared, to see how Hawkins
was spending the evening.
The inventor himself answered my
ring.
"Ah, Grfggs," he remarked. "Com-
mittee talk you out of the house?"
Something of the Sort" I admit
ted.
"Glad you came in. There's some
thing l want to-but hang up your
hat"
Hawkins" I said, closing the door,
"why do you pay large overfed Eng
lish gentleman to stand around the
premises if it's necessary for you to
answer the bell? I'm not much on
style, you know, but"
"William? Oh. it's his night out"
laughed Hawkins. II believe the cook
and the girls have gone, too, for that
matter"
"Then we're altogether alone?"
Eyes, said the inventor, comfort
ably, pushing forward one of the big
library chairs for my accommodation,
''all alone in the house"
"And it's mighty nice house." l
mused, gazing into the next apart
ment, the dining-room. "That's a
splendid room, Hawkins
isn't it?" smiled Hawkins, drawing
back the heavy curtains rather proud
ly Most of the little wrinkles are
my own ideas, too"
THAT sideboard?" I asked, indicat-
ing a fratl-looking but artistic bit Of
furniture built into the wall.
THAT, too-combination of side.
board and silver-safe." 1870.
"Safe!" laughed. 'You don't keep
the silver in there?"
"Why not?"
my dear man, anyone could pry
that door off with penknife:'' -
Admitted. But supposing your
anyone to be a burglar, he'd have to
get to the door before he could pry
it off, would he not, Griggs?"
Burglars do not, as rule, find
great difficulty in entering the average
house." I suggested.
AHA! That's just 1.-THE average
house!" cried the inventor. ''This
isn't the average house, Griggs. The
burglar who tries to get into this par
ticular house is distinctly up
against it,"
"Indeed?":
Eyes, sir! The crook that attempts
a nocturnal entrance here has my sin
cere and heartfelt sympathy"
"Hawkins' Patent Automatic Bur-
glar Alarm?" I suggested.
What the deuce are you sneering
at?" snapped the inventor. "No,
there's no patent burglar alarm in this
house."
"Hawkins' Steel Dynamite-Proof
Shutters?"
Hawkins ignored the remark and
busted himself lighting a cigar.
Hawkins Triple-Expansion Spring.
Gun?" I hazarded once more.
"Oh, drop it! Drop it," cried
Hawkins. "Positively, Griggs, your
efforts at humor disgust one. In some
ways, you are as bad as a woman.
Go back and sit with the Executive
Committee"
whats the connection?'
'Why, the thing expected to show
you in a few minutes is the very
same one which my wife fought
against for two weeks, before she let
me put it into operation peacefully!"
Hawkins burst out. There's where
the connection comes in between your
degenerate little wits and those of the
generality Of women"
"If it was an invention, l don't
blame your wife one little bit, Haw-
Kills, Sd1u C0A 0CC JO0t AOW
she must have felt about"
''There's the evening paper, If you
want to read," spat forth the in
ventor, poking the sheet across. the
library table. Il.
Herewith he turned his back
squarely upon me and settled down to
q book. >~<n
Hawkins was sitting near the win.
down fact, his chair brushed the
hangings. = AS I sat gazing pensively
att the back Of his neck. "a sudden
breeze swayed the curtains above
him. VI 9% = r. II ( = sfs $As4ssGf =. +, n.
: : There was an undue amount OF
swishIng overhead, It seemed to me:
Something near the top OF the win
dow, and concealed BY the hangings,
ratified distinctly simultaneously a
gong struck sharply somewhere up
staira. 9. !5$3$z5+ y i i ~ i
Hawkins whirled about, = most re-,
markahle expression 81 IFS; lately sui
!. len countenance.g AS nearly. as I could
analyze 1t, II was MIXTURE Of joy,
excitement and trembling expectancy.