The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-06-02

L
| - almost anything If you
don't. was the sumptuous
.... dump of lieutenant of in
dustry named Baptista. Half the
time he carried his right arm in a
sling by reason of acute cupon-clip-
pers' paralysis.
Among his other assets and liabil-
tiles We're two dizzie daughters,
Katharine and Blanca.
Ri was all to the mayonnaise in
the matter of disposition. az well as
of looks, while Kate had n dauder
that was a cross between n glass-eyed
bronco, package of cayenne pepper
and bottle of tabasco. She was easy
to look at; but that's a good place to
stop talking about fer If you're not a
knocker. If a day passed without her
upbraiding her father and sister and
abariding a few servants, great un-
9asiness was felt. She was the Ben
Tillman of Italy.
Because Blanca looked like a
pleasant sugar coat to Baptista's
money pill, platoon or so of toll
summers camped on the younger
girls trail and wanted to marry
her the worst way, which
means for her money. Among those
present whenever the butler went to
sweep off the front steps were
Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio.
in the herd. The others were still
anxiously reading the wild oats crop
bulletin.
But Baptista was very much reyn-
ard. Was he going to lose his little
Ri. and have that four-em-dash-and-
transformations fly up the :
creek left on his unprotected hands
Unanimously not. If he had to lose
his joy, his sorrow went also. This
was the proposition he sicked onto
every calf-eyed hardupski that came
drooling around about Blanca. 1t
held every one of them for awhile.
1t was nice to have money. but hard
cash came too hard, with bilious Kate
pinned to it.
Hortensio beat it with the rest,
and was sitting at home. wondering
If he couldn't raise money any other
way, when his friend Patruchio. a
deadgame sport from Verona. came
carrying his trunk, and proudly an
nounced that he and his man would
be on the household roster for some
time. Hortensio was as glad to see
him as people always are to see COM
pany when they are short, but manag-
ed to conceal his Joy. Then in q
confidential moment, he spilled the
whole yarn to Pete.
Now, Pete was the sort that are
always hunting trouble, and when he
got to looking over the verbal plans
and specifications of Kate, as per her
unenthusiastic would-be brother-in-
law, he began to sit up and take no.
tice. He had become blawzay from
fooling with rthe cling variety peach,
and the prospect of roping one that
had never been manhandled certainly
made his mouth water. He had a
nerve that no dentist could deaden,
and that had lived through several
years experience in house-to-ho house
canvassing for THE Royal Towpath
of Life" in two volumes, bound in
calf and sold on subscription only.
"Horty, old boy" he said cheer up
Twenty-three for your worry. From
the way you have doped the OH mans
collateral cluster. it's enough to make
it worth mans while to hitch with
the harry. I've been on the stock ex.
change myself, and the chances are
/ wouldn't hear her widest tantrum,
or, if | did, it would seem like a fur
cap dropping down a deep well and
lighting on a feather-bed And if the
worst came to ditto, f1atter me l can
rise a little of Sherman's definition
Of war myself. Take me to her"
And Hortensio did. They arrived
at the million-ducat howell of Baptista
just after Kate had been amusing her
self by tying her sister up with bed
cord and slapping her, and telling
their expostulating papa where he got
off at. So when Pete got to talking
to the old man about that nice eirl
he came to collect, Baptista thought
"a couple of tuts! Here's another one
after BIZ" Restraining an impulse to
knock Pete's block off. he told him
the mistake.