Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-03-03
A CLUSTERO OF VICLETS

all the travelling men connected WIN the
firm of Knight, Powers g. Co, the most
prosaic, unsentimental, matter OF TACT
fellow one would find in a months search.
SO when Horace Worth, another drum
mer for the same house, one raw, chilly
day in March CHANGED to step into Frantz
karter's, the florists, Just in time to hear
Mr. Mayhem say, Now, Mr.. karter, do
not fail to get the violets off by today's
express. Same address, as usual: you
have it i suppose. And, here, put this
card in the box; my train leaves i'll iif-
teen minutes. or | would stay until you
get them packed and when Worth ac-
cidentally saw that the card bore the in
scription, ITO my darling. with hearts
best love-LaWence" to put it mildly, he
was astonished.
Hello, old fellow" said he; sending
violets to your best girl, chr
Yes, | thought they would surely be
appreciated such dismal day as this"
well, you are the last man | would
ever suspect of being guilty of falling in
love; a confirmed old bachelor like you,
with plenty OF gray hairs. But they say
when a man of 40 or over does get hit
AT any rate" laughed Mayhem, lin
this instance l could confess it is true, /
am hit hard as you say, and my best
girl is the dearest girl on earth" and he
FASTENED away to the depot, where his
sample case had preceded him.
Worth had only entered the employ of
Knight, Powers 4 Co. six months before,
but during the time he mad met Mayhem
several times and had liked him from the
first, mentally clubbing him a good fell
low, with a keen sense of humOr, ready
to take or give joke in his quiet way,
but seldom entering into the story telling
of his brother knights of the grip, when,
as was occasionally the case, some of
them met at the end of their several
trips; and he had never been heard to
boast of the pretty girls as he had met
or fiirted with, as some of the Others
were wont to do. So the above incident
impressed itself upon the memory of
Horace Worth, who, although volublc,
easy going man, was kind hearted al
most TO a fault, and possessed of a strict
sense of humor
Two months later Mr.. Worth happened
to be spending Sunday at small town
some fifty miles out from the city Sat.
urday evening the ladies of one of the
churches were serving ice cream and
Strawberries in a hall near the hotel
where Worth was stopping, and to while
away an idle hour as much as TO help in
a good cause he strolled in about 8 o'clock
and took n seat at one of the tables.
4 bright little woman came forward to
serve him, and he instinctively noted her
plain but attractive face, lighted up by
large gray eyes and crowned with
wealth of hair, once dark brown, but now
thickly threaded with silver The rush
of the earlier part of the evening being
over, he was the only one at the table
while disposing of the daintily served re-
freshments the little woman brought in
response to his request; so, seeing that he
was Il stranger in town, and seemed to
know no one, she remained by the table
pleasantly chatting in manner that
showed her to be n lady i'll every sense of
the word.
Soon someone called, ooh, Mrs. MAY.
hew, please come here Il minute" and
saying, Excuse me-" she FASTENED away.
! Five minutes later she returned. Mir.
| Worth not yet having paid for his re
freshments. As he handed her the
amount he said: Pardon me. but heard
| your name called, and it Is a familiar one
to me, as another travelling man with the
firm | represent bears it, Mr.. Laurence
Mayhem. Is he a relative of yours ?"
Quickly smiling, she said: ooh. do YOU
know Laurence? Why, he is my husband.
| am glad, sir, to meet friend of his
may | ask your name?"
! Horace Worth, at your service" re.
| piled he, bowling, but you surprise me.
did not know that Mr.. MAYHEM had
maried; may l inquire how long since
the happy event took placer
You did not know that Laurence was
married? That is strange" laughed she:
yet perhaps not strange, either, for he is
SO rehcent regarding his own affairs
| Why, we have been married fifteen wears
though were 1t not for my son and daugh
ter, both of whom will soon be as tan as
| am, | could hardly realize it had been
so long by half" and again she laughed
merrily
1t was with difficulty that Horace re.
strained his astonishment, and as the
scene ut the florists two months before
! flashed across his mind. his INDIGNATION
knew no bounds. But by an effort he
/ quietly made a few more commonplace
remarks, babe her good night and re-
| turned to the hotel.
The scoundrel!" thought he. ito be un.
true to such fine little woman as that
and the mother of his children. too, iust
because he has been attracted by the pref.
" face of some young girl. while his
wife's hair is gray, like his own / feel
ike shooting him."
He sought his room and bed. but II was
nearly dawn before sleep visited his eve
lids, so wrought up was he over his dis.
eovery OF the evening. He felt he ought
to warn her, the poor little unsuspecting
wronged wife, and yet he dreaded TO he
the eNeeutioner of the love and trnst