Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-08-09
DAILY STORY
A PULLING SIGNATURE.
lOriginal.1

escaped from an ink bottle and
dragged itself across the paper:
Come up tonight. 1 have something to
tell you. Don't fail. That which has ap-
peared crooked 1 will make straight.
Unfortunately there was one thing
about the note that I could not de-
cipher-that was the signature. 1t
looked more like L. W. Native or Ma
line than anything else, but it might be
almost any name. The handwriting
was masculine, so l might infer that
my correspondent WAS man. But he
might be a man or an orang outang or
a Hottentot, either of whom could have
written as good a hand. 1 thought
over every man l knew whose conduct
toward me had appeared in any way
crooked, but | could think of no one
except Ned Nolan, whose initials We're
Il. V.
1t was as possible to twist L. V.
Nolan out of the scrawl as anything
else. Why he should expect me to
come and see him | couldn't imagine.
He had owed me SO borrowed money
for six months, and l saw nothing TO
make anything straight about it ex-
cept by paying up.
l finally settled down TO the opinion
that this was the explanation and dis
missed the matter from my mind. l
certainly had no intention to hunt up
Nolan and took no notice of his note.
In about Il week l received another puz-
Zle in the same handwriting and with
the same signature. 1t read:
I have no answer to mine of last week.
l suppose you blame me. i write this to
make sure you have received my note.
This came by messenger. and 1 re-
Neither OF the notes l received gave
any location. They simply gave the
date. This was my reply:
What YOU owe me is Il trifie. but 1
should suppose your self respect would
have prompted you to make the crooked
straight" long ago.
l wrote this on a slip of paper, folded
it once and was about to address it
when L thought il wasn't worth while
to address Il line written on Il scrap,
SO l gave it to the messenger as it
was.
This was about the time the Span
iSh-American war broke out and be-
ing lieutenant in the national guard,
L went to Cuba. When / came back to
Montauk Point, between wounds and
fevers there wasn't much left of me-.
a number of nurses came down TO
help us along. some of them patriotic
young ladies who served without COM
penSation. One day, awaking from
a sleep, saw standing at the foot of
my camp cot the only girl 1 had ever
loved.
Pity was in her eye and doubtless
in her heart, though she had refused
me a long while before, and it was
on account of this refusal that /
had been content to go to Cuba. In
deed, had been desperate enough to
prefer to leave my body there. OF
course the meeting was embarrassing,
but my condition did not admit of her
thinking of Il past situation, and she
at once began to busy herself in the
matter of making me more comforta-
BILE
When / got better she would sit by
me and read to me, and l longed to
reopen the matter that had been be-
tween us, but the moment l ventured
the slightest reference to anything
leading up to it she drew down her
features forbiddingly, and 1 was forced
to desist. One day she told me that
she had met friend of mine, Mr..
Nolan. l did not speak enthusiastical
Of hn To
know the reason. Men do not like to
give each other away TO women. l
certainly did not wish TO tell her that
Nolan owed me trifie of SO. as she
would attribute my opinion of him
solely to that if did, so 1 said:
ooh, he writes an execrable hand.
He wrote me a letter once, in which
ne said. That which is crooked l will
make straight then signed his name
n such crooked fashion that if 1
hadn't known his motive in writing I
might have supposed his note to be
from some one else"
She made no comment on this, but
vent away, and 1 didn't see her till
he next day Then I asked her to
write a letter for me. When she hand |
ID me the letter to read over l sprang |
Up in bed.
by Jove"
Her Handwriting was identical with |
hat of the two letters / had received |
from Nolan. Then l re- |
rendered that we had lived since our |
in the same town and I |
lad never seen her handwriting.
How do you sign letters to your |
riends?'' 1 asked.
"Emmaline.'
write it."
She wrote "Emmaline.'' and it was
he identical fly track bad seen tsvice
before.
OF course there was an explaRa
ion. Intending to reverse her deci-
ion, she had written me to come to |
Ter, but when she got my note she
l.