The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1907-02-08

suppose, and to your great surprise
your hand was emptyT
"Yes," said Alicia, simply. MY first
thought was that ! must nave dropped
1t somewhere on the floor and / began
to look around for it. Just then a
voice at my elbow said, 1 beg pardon,
but have you lost anythingT"
what kind of yoice?" / asked.
sit was a very musical voice." re-
piled Alicia, "rich and deep and pene-
trating, with an indescribable quality
in it, If you know what | mean"
"A liquidityT
"Not exactly a liquidity. No. There
was sort of sympathetic timbre But
you don't know what l mean. You are
just laughing at me-"
''I assure you l was not Was 1t a
mans voice or woman's?"
why, a mans, of course" said ALI
cia, widening her eyes. How could a
man speak In a woman's voice? And he
was just splendid. Tall and dark and
with the loveliest little silky black mus
tache."
II wish had been there" l said.
I'm sure / don't know why you
should, because he was perfectly re-
spectful. think he SAID, Have you
lost anything, madam"
"Oh, one of the fioorwalkers."
''He was nothing of the kind He
| didn't look In the least like floor
walker; most of them are bald and
middle-aged. They are at RaxtrelPs.
There are some young ones at Spoon
derby's. There is one in the ribbon
department who is per"
"Never mind. What did you do2
Did you freeze him?'
OF course l know that the idea of
Alicia's freezing anybody is quite pre-
| posterous. "You should have done so,"
I said.
II told him that had lost my purse
and he was most polite and concerned.
He didn't try to be silly as some people
| do"
What people"
"Never mind He asked me to de-
scribe the purse and looked all around
under the counter and stools and ev-
erywhere, but We couldnt find 1t, and
then told him that I'd probably left
it at the embroidery counter in Spoon
derby's and he offered to go back there
with me-"
Alicia" l said, severely, I'm going
to speak to your mother and ask her
not to let you go shopping alone The
idea of walking around the stores with
a stranger-a young man you know abb
solutely nothing about-and talking
with him and smiling at him and"
But didn't walk around with him."
protested Alicia. 81 told him that l
wouldn't think of troubling him and l
asked the clerk to show me some al
batross and he bowed and walked away
just as nicely as could De. He was
perfectly lovely about 1t and | felt
mean because / was afraid he would
think | was trying to snub him.
you did perfectly right" l said.
Perfectly right"
81 don't know" sighed Alicia. II
don't like to be rude. Well, when ! got
| through looking at the albatross |
went back to Spoonderby's and, what
do you think? They told me that some
body had Just called for the purse and
described it exactly and that they
had given it to him, and, do you know,
| it must have been that same young
man. The description the young wom-
an gave of him makes me absolutely
certain that 1t was he."
81 never keep my money In my purse
when l go shopping" said Alicia, with
| a faint blush. There were lot of
| hated dreadfully to lose it. But papa
bought me another and I'd wanted
new one for ever so long. It's just the
beautifulest little thing, but | never
could have afforded it myself, and papa
wouldn't get it for me as long as had
the old one.
"Still, I'm sorry for that young
man. l suppose he thought I'd be at
Raxtrell's for long time and he'd get
the purse and bring it back to ME and
surprise me. / wonder if lie isn't walk
ing up and down State street now with
that wretched little purse in his hand
looking for me?"
81 wonder" l said. And, as re-
marked before, am still wondering
Chicago Daily News.
|