The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-06
< OUR DAILY SHORT STORY ;.

and James could not recall that he II had ever heard of her or her family Her obscurity convinced him thor oughly that net had been spread for V nliam and that that gentleman, un- | suspecting in spite of his years, had ] promptly fallen into it.
 i But all that seemed trival when he
 thought of Billy" being henpecked
 Billy for whom he had thrashed a
 score of boys. Billy whom he had
 protected from score of designing , mammas. Billy whose business moni- tor and stronghold he had been for l more than a quarter of a century! The only difference between the ] Beggs twins was that of temperament James liked to fight and William liked
 to let him. James loved antagonism and responsibilfty, while William shirked both. But in every other way | they were exactly alike.
 Their physical similarity was some thing marvellous James was accus- toned to say that when he looked in
 the mirror he did not know for an
 instant whether to congratulate him
 self upon being himself or to thank
 heaven for being Billy.
 Both were exactly five feet ten and | both weighed in exactly the same
 notch They had the same dark hair l streaked with exactly the same
 amount of silver, the same blue eyes, tilS SdNIe luuuy cOulplectiOn0, the same tone of voice. James shaved with painful closeness and William shaved With closeness just as painful. Little
 crows feet had appeared at the cor
 ners ot James mouth and eyes and
 the tracks of the identical bird ap- pears on Williams countenance As babies, they had been dosed with the same medicine to track down the dis eases which seemed forever getting lost in the shuttle of identity; as schoo1boys they had been punished for each others crimes; as young men they had courted each others ladv loves and for the past twenty-five years, until James had been sent abroad by his physician, they had lived as one man.
 Its this internal crossing the pond that's responsible for everything" fretted James, as hls cab whlrled him from the Deutchiand's pier to the train which was to bear him to his upstate home. Once abroad, he heaved a sigh of relief and settling back In his seat, wondered in what shape he would find things upon his arrival Billy had written only twice and it was so un- like Billy not to confide in him. Doubtless he was tod miserable to confde in anybody. It was Bob Car rinEton's letter that had brought James back in such haste. Bob had been an intimate of the Beggs twins for years. T saw, Billy yesterday the letter ran, and he made no bones about feeling pretty glum. Honest. Jim. you would hardly know him. ! think without any doubt that he is the worst henpecked man in America to- day"
 It was that last sentence which made James blood boil. He wagered that Mrs William Beggs was a big, beefy woman with amazonian arms and little gleaming black eyes. He had noticed how often such women lord 1t over their little husbands. He imagined poor Billy fleeing the pres ence of such an ogress and seeking refuge in the factory office.
 But he would fix her! She should find in him Zoe worthy her steel or whatever she browbeat Billy with. He was coming unanpounced and the whole thing would be over and BilIy would be emancipated before she real l ized what he was about.
 After dusty ride of three hours he reached home. He alishted from his