Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1907-08-01

t0t.ch a carG again. 1 woAIess l~,w efsssN
Eve sworn to- ttsatg GNt tnsaTS lioS
must change sC'GNe tl1n@. 1t eara't ~ e,l
forever like this
| A knock al the street dSSr brwaN T!at
thread Of his srowiinSK. but ha wsst
On pacing still. and did mot bear step
which came blunderin. up tine s&airsaxs
| and halted outside his dc5r.
| Come in ~ he cried, in startled an
swer to rapping on the panel. and a
slatternly servant girl pushed her head
round the edge OF the door.
Here's somebody for you, Mr.. Frost.
Gentleman with a portmanteau. He
didn't give no name"
| III come down and have a look at
him." returned Mr.. Frost, taking up his
candle. Four separate fights of dirty
wooden stairs, uncarpeted. brought him to
the hall. Frost. holding his candle high,
advanced toward the shadowy figure Of his
guest. TITS you! !" he said, with an odd
| laugh. "Come upstairs"
The guest, seizing the portmanteau.
mounted after him. and the dingy apart
| ment at the top of the house was reached.
us this the palace you continually
| live in?" asked the guest, with the faint
est possible trace of some foreign accent
| in his voice. II had expected from your
last letter to have found you in marble
| halls, with vassals and serfs at your side.
| Ohio! you have been at it again, | sup
pose," said the visitor, making move
| ment in imitation of the dealing of pack
of cards. Isn't it time you dropped
that? Haven't you lost enough by this
time? What should you have done if
| had not turned up?'
II don't know" Frost answered, care
| lessIy enough But | was thinking at
| the very minute when I heard you knock
| at the door, and saying to myself, III
| drop it. I'll tell you the truth. Zeno-'
Tell me as much Of the solid truth as
your constitution will allow, but do not
call me by that name. Wroblewskoff will
| answer. It's q jawbreaker, but it's very
| easy when you come to know it. Well,'
| said Mr.. Zeno, smiling still, this is the
advantage of talking over things. I have
| lived in New York a year or two. You
| knew me there You meet me here. You
know me to be safe mana man to be
| depended upon. You introduce me to
| Dobroski- Well, at what are you
| staring?"
II will see you boiled in OIL" returned
| Mr.. Frost, with extreme slowness; L
| will see you roasted on a gridiron. | will
see you cut up so extremely fine that a
| microscope won't find you-and then l
won't introduce you to Dobroski."
| Zeno got up from his seat and knee-
| ing on the floor unstrapped his portman-
| teau and took therefrom a razor case. a
small metal soap bowl and a brand new
shaving brush. Frost watched him in 81
| lence.
| Zeno took off his coat and threw it
across the back of a chair tnen produced
a pair of scissors. and taking great
! handful of his beard, sliced it off before
the glass then another, and another, and
another, until he was close cropped all
over the cheeks and throat and chin. Next
he attacked the mustache, and cropped
that also so close as the scissors would
go to the skin. Then pouring little
| hot water into the metal bowl, he began
to lather himself with great energy, and
| then to shave. Even to himself the
| metamorphosis he produced must have
seemed more than little droll. Under
| the razor he came out no longer Greek
| and austere in contour, but chubby, with
| fat round cheeks. and a chin very Curl
ousIy thrust forward and pointed, and
beneath the lower lip and the base of the
chin there was a good half inch in length
| less than one would have expected to find.
The change was amazing, and when Mr..
Zeno drew spectacle case from a waist
coat pocket set the glasses on his nose,
and, removing a wig. appeared with half
an inch of sandy natural hair below it..
and forehead an inch higher than it had
been, the disguise looked impenetraDle.
He took handkerchief from his coat
pocket, rubbed a corner of it on the soap
in his shaving bowl, and applied it vigor-
ously to his lips. The corner of the
| handkerchief went crimson, and Mr..
Zeno's cherry lips grew pallid and dry.
He soaped and moistened another corner
of the handkerchief, and scrubbed at his
eyebrows. The handkerchief became
black, and the eyebrows sandy, like the
hair. Then he resumed his coat, set the
two candles upon the table, drew chair
between them, and sat down.
(To be contnued.)