Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-07-16

At another time Elsie wou,d nroho-
bly have appreciated and enioved tho
Joke as much as any one br+ +his
evening it did not appeal to her in the
least Ralph put in a very unco,n-
Portable half hour and then cut his vis-
If short and departed.
II certainly was Captain Jerrv,s nm
lucky evening. for he left Perez chat.
ting with fisherman friend who had
left q favorite pipe in his shantv and
had come down to get it and entered
the house alone. He had seen the cleo
trician 90 and was surprised at the.
brevity Of his call, but he was as far
from suspecting that he himself was
the indirect cause of the said breyity
as a mortal could be.
He came into the dining room hing
his cap on the back of a chair and re-
marked cheerfully: "Well, Elsie. what
did you send your company home SO
Quick for? Land sake, II O'Clock
want none too late for. me when I
was young and goin' round to see the
girlsr'
But Miss Preston did not smile. On
the contrary, she frowned, and when
she spoke the captain had a vague
feeling that some one had dropped an
icicle inside his shirt collar.
Captain Jerry" said the young lady,
II want to have a talk with you. Why
| do you think 1t necessary to get up
and leave the room whenever Mr.. Ha-
! zeltine calls? You do it every time,
| and tonight was no exception, except
| that by what you said. you made me
appear a little more ridiculous than
usual Now, why do you do it?'
The captains jaw fell. He stared
| at his questioner to see if she was not
| Joking but, finding no encourag cement
| of that kind, stammered: "Why do /
do it? Why"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, l don't know. 1 thought you
! two would ruther be alone. 1 know
when l used to go to see my wife fore
we was married r.
please, what has that got to do
with Mr.. Hazeltine's visits here?' =
"Why, why, nOthin', 1 s'pose, if you
say so. jest thought
what right have you to suppose
that Mr.. Hazeltine is calling on me
more than any other person or persons
IN this houseY
! This was. something of a poser, but
the captain did his best. He sat or
the edge of chair and rubbed hi:
knee and tlren blurted out: ''Well,
s'pose THAT is, we thought he was
jest cause he naturally would; that's
bout all. If I'd thought-why, SCI
here, Elsie. don't you think he's comm
to see you"
81 don't know that | do. At an.
rate, 1 have given you no authority t.
act on any such assumption, and
don't want you to put me again in thu
ridiculous position YOU did tia even
! ing and as you have done so 6Tten be
fore. Why. his visits might be perfect
/ torture to me, and still 1 should have
| to endure them oat of common polite
ness. l couldn't go away and leave
him alone"
Captain Jerry's face was a study o.
chagrin and troubled repentance
Elsie" he said, I'm awful sorry
l am so. If I'd thought was torturiu
Of you stead of maxim it pleasan
/ I'd never have done it, sure. 1 Won
80 out again won't, honest l hop
YOU won't lay it up against me.
meant we'll"
Now. if Captain Perez had delaye
his entrance to that dining room onl
two or three minutes longer, if he ha
- not come in just in time to prevent E
sizes making the explanatory and SCOTT
ing answer that was on her tongu
events would probably have been eel
: tirely different and a good deal {
trouble might have been saved. BJ
in he came, lis if some perverse i'm
L had been waiting to give him the 81!
nal, and the interview between Capital
Jerry and the young lady whom L
bad unwittingly offended broke off the
l. and there.
{ Elsie went upstairs feeling a lit
e conscience stricken and with an III
n easy idea that she had said more tina
t she should have. Captain Perez too
t up the newspaper and sat down, I
ii read. As for Captain Jerry, he Sc
= down, too, but merely to get b
5, thoughts assorted into an arrang
It ment less like spilled box of iacl
D straws. The captains wonderf1
d scheme that he had boosted of an
worked so hard for had fallen to cart
Is like an exploded airship, and when
$. hit it hurt
D. His first idea was to follow the usu
i'd procedure and take the whole matt,
re to Captain Fri for settlement. but IL
he more he considered this plan the le
he he liked it. Captain Fri was an u
IS. merciful tease, and he would be SUI
be to rub it in in a way the me
Of thought of which made his frier
IN squirm. There wasn't much use
lis confiding to Captain Perez either. E
l. tlN1