Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-01-18
DAILY SHORT STORY
A CASE OF AMERICAN PUSH.


better one"
Brown is better than Skrable."
HE doesn't think SO. Mrs. Peter
Brown would be but little Improvement
on Miss Alice Skrable."
The lover went away sorrowful.
One day Browns eye fell on para
graph in newspaper that set him
thinking. He thought all day and
most of the night When he awoke in
the morning his thoughts went right
ON like an automobile in which the
stopping apparatus has become unman-
ageable. He thought whole week. at
the end OF which he brought his fist
down on II table and exclaimed:
I'll do it,
From that time Browns law partner
noticed that he was paying very little
attention TO business. He seemed TO
be spending all his time searching for
something. 1t was not legal matter,
for no legally drawn papers appeared
to be passing through his hands. He
received great many letters. but ney-
err spoke of the contents of any one of
them. Indeed. whatever was his par
pose he kept il profound secret.
Then suddenly Brown announced
that he was going abroad. His part
ner. astOnished and dissatisfied. threat
ened TO dissolve the firm. complaining
that Brown would leave him to do all
the work-it was not Onerous-and was
keeping important matters from him.
Brown told him just enough to satisfy
him, then suddenly disappeared.
Six months passed. The Skrable
family, Alice excepted, had forgotten
Mr.. Brown and We're greatly pleased
10 have an opportunity to forget him.
His intimate friends wondered where
he was and how he obtained the means
to spend so much time away from
home. Some one said that an uncle. his
mothers brother. was furnishing him
with money. This was true. The uncle
supplied him with barely enough for
his purpose. Browns partner sat in
his office waiting for clients who did
not come and wished for Brown. who
was Il pushing fellow and had many
ingenious methods of securing bust
ness. Have you heard from Brown"
everybody asked of everybody. and
everybody replied: No. Have you"
NO. | wonder where he is and what
he's up to- 'Oh. he's got some wild
scheme on hand. But. no matter how
wild Browns schemes, he has a way
of carrying them out. He's probably
getting contract for replacing the
street ears in some foreign city with
American flying machines. But he'll
do it. You bet. he'll work it through"
There was a good deal of such talk.
and the uncle who was grub stalking"
Brown looked very knowing whenever
approached on the subject. but said
nothing. All this increased the curl
osity Of Browns friends and acQuaint-
ances
One day a steamer arrived. and in
the passenger list published was the
name of Sir Peter Brown. The name.
in the minds of Browns friends, had
no connection with him whatever.
Some of them saw it. but went on with
their daily avocations just the same.
1t occasioned not the slightest rufile
among them, but the next morning Il
paragraph in newspaper let out the
secret of Browns absence, and none Of
his friends did anything during the
day except visit one another and Cos
sip with mouth and eyes wide open
upon this exploit. This was the para
graph referred to:
Our fellow citizen. Peter Brown. has
just returned from a trip to England.
where ne has established his right to the
baronetcy granted in 1862 to Hugh Brown.
after the restoration of Charles H.. for
loyalty to the house of Stuart. dormant
since 1888.
These few lines were quite enough to
stir every one who had ever heard of
Peter Brown. For week nothing else
was talked of, and every one wondered
that Brown had never been heard to
claim any relationship whatever with |
any baronet Meanwhile Invitations
We're showered upon Sir Peter. and |
cards came from the Skrable family |
for musicale. Sir Peter accepted, and
during the evening he and the smiling |
Alice vanished into corner by them |
selves
'Come, tell me all about it," she ask
ed How did you ever do it?''
"One morning l read a paragraph in
a newspaper stating that as the law of |
now stands any man can as |
sumo with impunity some presumably |
extinct or dormant baronetcy prior to |
1873. A recent work, called Extinct |
and Dormant Baronetcies.' says that a |
thousand of these titles have lapsed be- |
tween the original creation and the /
present day. OF these the majority be- |
came extinct or dormant before 1888. |
Armed with as much information /
about my family as l could collect. I |
went to England to find a dormant |
Brown baronetcy. 1 lighted on the one |
granted Hugh Brown. | proved that |
my ancestors came from the same
county and before l got through made
the discovery that l am really Sir
Peter Brown"
Alice Skra bic clapped her hands. then
threw her arms around her lovers