Middletown transcript., 1906-04-21
FRO BE Continued

AAA1N -
Mrs. Puffer.
So have I, for the matter OF
that, but / never had one come
SO near home as the case OF Aunt
Perliny. She told US all about It
soon as we got home from the
station, and showed US some OF
his letters. His name was ).
Lester st. Clair, and she wanted
to know If we didn't think 1t was
a"sweetly romantic name. They
were beautifully written letters
as thick with love poetry as a
Christmas pudding is OF glums'
Shed sent him her photograph,
but she owned up to me that 1t
was one she had had taken about
thirty years ago. She said he
had sent her his, but that 1t had
got lost in the mail.
What / didn't like in his letters
was his anxiety to know the
exact amount of her means. He
said that he had a chance in a
thousand to go into business
that would pay a profit of fifty
per cent. if he and she together
could put enough into it, and
what do you think? If she han't
sold one of the two houses she
owned in the little town she lived
in, and brought the money she'd
got for it, and taken sixteen hun
dred dollars from the savings
bank-three thousand dollars in
all-and brought it all with her
to invest with "Lester' in his
business" as soon as they were
married.
The only sensible thing shed
done was to plan to give her
'Lester boy" as she actually
spoke of him once, a little sur
prise. He wasn't expecting her
until the next week, and she'd
never told him a word about me
and Puffer. 1t just made me feel
kind of good all over when |
thought of how he'd have Susan
Puffer to deal with likely. Aunt
Perliny had thought it would be
.'such,a surprise" if she come on
in advance of the time her lies
ter boy" was expecting her and
then invited him to come and
meet her at our house. She
asked me if l didn't think he'd be
sever an ever so surprised, an |
told her I was sure of it, an l
had to turn away 10 keep from
GRIMM when 1 said it.
And was he surprised?
Mrs. Puffer shook one finger
toward me and said mysteriously:
You just wait till you hear it all!
I felt in my bones that things
want right, an, silly as she
was, was bound that that fool
ish old woman shouldn't be
tricked if | could help it. So |
just slipped out an went to see
the minister O. the mission go
to an laid the case before him.
He was suspicious as was, an
he said, he'd call durin' the day |
an have talk with Aunt Per-
liny. You see she'd mailed her
Lester a note teliin' him where
she was, an early in the after
noon a messenger boy brought
her a note sayin' Lester would
call on his sweet one that even
in an suggestin' that they go
out at once an be married at the
house of "a friend An if she
wasn't ready TO fall right in with
that idee! I got boy in our block
to carry a note to the minister,
askin him to come around that
evenin', an he sent back word
that he would.
Then I waited for the lights to-
be turned down an the curtain !
to be rolled up an the play to be-
gin, as it were. The way l look
ed at it we had all the elements of
a good old-fashioned drammy
right there. Aunt Perliny
was the innocent damsel who
loved not wisely but too well, an
there was me an the minister to
the rescue, an you can guess who
the william in the play was, while
Pufer could come in most any.
where as supe.
She gave one of her CHEEKY
shouts of laughter before adding:
Aunt Perliny.got almost hysteri-
cal as night come on. She went
into her room to dress up, an
Solomon an glory an the lilies
o. the field an the Queen o. Shelby
wasn't in it with her when she
come out in a bran new greenish-
yallow silk with a lavender-satin
front an a wide white lace
fiounce of this Oriental lace that