Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-11-28
A Bachelor Quest.

copyright. 1907, by E. c. Parcells.l
Charles Shaw, attorney, was forty
and unmarried. He had proposed
twice and been rejected both times.
After that he refrained and became
cynical about marriage.
One night in returning from his club
to his bachelor quarters he witnessed
a collision between a hack and a street
car. The street car couldn't turn out,
and the hack wouldn't, and so they
came together with a crash.
When the incident had reached its
end Mr.. Shaw resumed his way, but he
hadn't taken twenty steps when he
made a find on the sidewalk. 1t was q
white satin slipper, and it belonged tc
a woman with a dainty foot. The find.
er admired it by lamplight and then
slipped it into his pocket. His heart
gave a sort of funk as he did so. Here
was a seed of romance-a lost slipper.
a dainty slipper, a slipper belonging
to some fair lady who had fed from
the collision in wild haste. She must
have been without an escort or the
slipper would have been searched fol
and found. What was a handsome wo.
man doing that she vas out alone at
midnight? Had the question been put
to him by a caller at his office the
lawyer would have answered that she
probably belonged to the Tenderloin
and charged $40 for the information
but, as it was, he made himself believe
that 1t was far otherwise. AS he took
the slipper out of his pocket and looked
at 1t with the eyes Of a man Of the
world and an old bachelor instinct
told him that the loser was q damsel,
that she was blond, that she had merry
blue eyes, that she had an aristocratic
foot and belonged to the Four Hun.
dred. Real old solid romance was bub.
bling and seething in his bosom before
he went to bed that night. He may
have thrust the slipper under his pill.
low. He may have put it into the
pocket of his nightshirt so as to have
1t next his heart.
If the slipper had looked cute and
dainty and aristocratic by gaslight it
looked so per cent more so in the sum
shine Of the morning. Instead of dying
out, the romance dubbed the harder.
Mr.. Shaw felt that he had a case where
the jury couldn't go back on him. He
gazed long at the dainty thing before
he went to breakfast. Then he put 1t
In his pocket and carried it to his
Office and placed it on his desk. His
girl typist saw it there and was prop
erly shocked. A man who wanted to
u another man because his dog had
bitten him saw 1t there and went away
without suing. An old woman who
wanted to lend some money on a mort
gage saw it there and went right off
and consulted a lawyer who had been
married fortwentyyears. None of these
things affected MI. Shaw, however.
Next day the papers contained a
carefully worded advertisement to the
eHec that a gentleman who saw the
collision that took place In a certain
locality had made a find afterward and
was anxious to restore the article to
the loser. Some men would have men
toned the slipper right out in print.
Mr.. Shaw didn't do this out Of respect
to the damsels feelings. If she had
been out stunning alone he wasn't 60
Ing to give her away to her stern IA
Their or Mortified mother. 1t was just
mentioned as a 'ind," and the result
was what might have been expected.
One man wrote that he had lost a bot
tie of whisky in the crash and would
be much obliged at receiving it back.
Another wrote that he had missed a
wad Of SD and was glad to find an
honest A third had lost his hat
and a fourth a cane, and three women
wrote about lost bags and back combs.
The one who lost the slipper didn't
write, however. Mr.. Shaw figured it
out that she hadn't got up early enough
In h morning to see the paper before
the cook logged it downstairs, and he
advertised again. No answer from
her. The only epistle was from a par
ty who claimed to have lost his wood
en- leg in the accident, and he dropped
a warning that it must be returned
within three days or he would limp
around to police headquarters and set
fifty detectives at work on the case.
For a third and fourth time Mr..
Shaw ordered that advertisement in
serted. In fact, he made it a st. f."
ad., which means that it was to run
till forbidden. He felt that sooner or
later the damsel must see it. She was
no doubt wondering what chevalier
had picked it up, and she would Won
der until she turned to the papers.
The ad. was given a place between a
bulldog for sale cheap and a second
hand farm wagon for sale at a bar
gain, but he had faith that her eyes
would light on it. And Mr.. Shaw was
rewarded. The day came when his
office boy hunted him up at lunch and
told him that there was a lady waiting
at the office. and he almost ran the
four blocks. There was a lady. She
was a young lady. She was a colored
young lady. She had taken the slip
per off the desk and was holding it
in her hand.
much %obleeged, boss,'' she said as
the lawyer stared at her.
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