The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-04-28

] strangely uHcOnlmunlcatlNc on inc SUD-
| iect Of his escort. But as we rode into
the city, he vouchsafed;
''That girl s coming in again tins af-
ternoon TO see if any vacancies have
| turned up
':No!'' I burst out.
eyes he insisted, with dangerous
CLEAN in his eyes. ''And If You don I
approve,
"Then you necdn Z Join us-that q
In vain [ argued, ] pleaded, He
would have his way and | thought L
might as well sec it ont,
Jessie came tripping up the stairs an
the afternoon, as sweet and unsuspI-
cIous as ever. Once again we could not
put our hands upon any actual vacancy
for the position of nurse; but there was
an even more sumptuous tea provided
than before. Alas! it was fated to re.
main unconsumed, The first cup had
hardly been poured out, when a heavy
tread upon the stairs warned us that our
isolation of the day was TO be at length
broken. Hardy looked at me appeal
ingly and I went outside. The door was
stout, ed.faced man in an unmis-
taxable rage. He eyed me from head
to foot and I felt my courage oozing
out of my boots
"Is there anything / can do for
you?' | asked nervously.
''What the devil S the meaning of
this he shouted.
"Who are you'' ! faltered.
He burst into an angry laugh, just rs
Joblc came rushing in TO my aid. But
as soon as he caught sight of our I'M
invited guest, thought he was going
to faint,
"Joble." cried the newcomer fierce
this?', ""' " ~ " '
"I've merely asked one or two
friends In TO tea, sir, stammered poor
Joble meekly.
''And this precious placard-has il
also come for tea?' inquired the other
sarcastically, pointing TO our unlucky
notice.
At this moment came the sound Of
merry laughter and with an ugly frown
the stranger rushed into the inner room,
before / could stop him.
Hardy looked round in annoyance.
But the ferceness OF his stare was re-
turned with interest.
"What is it you want?' he cried
angrily.
~ want to know what the dickens
you re doing in my oticc?'' burst out
the stranger hotly,
And suddenly came a startled cry of
"Papaln and the no less surprised
"'Jessie! You here?'' In another mo-
ment the girl was hiding her head on
her fathers shoulder.
II would not be easy to determine
which of the party was most astounded
at this unexpected encounter. For my
self, know | would gladly have sunk
into the floor if I could. And the next
thing / recall clearly is Hardy agitat.
edly pointing out that the girl had
tainted.
She soon came to herself But this
little contretempss was not wholly un-
fortunate, in that it postponed any at
tempt at explanation. Mr.. Robins s
cab was awaiting outside and in few
minutes father and daughter drove
away together.
"I;ll see you tomorrow. Mr.. Joble,'
was the former significant leavc-tak
ing. "No doubt your friends will eN-
cuse my bidding them goodbye
That evening we were rather dull
TO put it mildly. In the morning Joble
took his portmantcau with him.
- shall want 10 pack up a few
things he explained sadly
We both insisted upon going with
him, feeling all the more guilty as the
dear fellow uttered no word of re-
proach Perhaps. after all, we might
contrive to shift part of the blame onto
at the idea of our losing Jobe his post,
which would be extremely hard for him
TO improve on. So We bearded the lion
in his den. Hardy made a clean breast
of the whole affair, and once more did
his good fortune stand him IN good
stead. At first, indeed, Mr.. Robins so
fretted and fumed, that we almost
But at the end Of our story, ] fancied
I could defect a curious twitc hing of
his lips. as if the ludicrous side of the
affair was beginning TO dawn on him.
And, pray, who are you?' he in !
quired, with brow somewhat relaxed.
50 And how comes it You have nothing |
better to do with your time than to
play such silly pranksl'
With unwonted sclf-control my 6ery !
friend briefly recounted his pedigree I
and his prospects.
"Whatl" cried Mr. Robins. "Sure-
" no relative of old Harry Hardy, with |
whom | was at Trinity thirty years
ago2,
proudly; and this lucky chance final |
~ disposed of the fear of tragic con
sequences JobIe was forgiven and we
were let off with caution-or, rather, |
some kindly advice Indeed, Mr.. Ro. |
bins became quite friendly and told us |
how his journey had been so successful, |
that be had come straight back from
Salamanca on receipt of Mrs. Carter s
wire announcing Miss .lames's 6ight
and how he had looked in at the Office
on the way to his house. He even
so far as to accede to Hardy s
cool request to allow us TO call and beg
Miss Jessie g pardon Although - he
added laughingly, ~ really don t see
that you have much cause to apologize
10 that silly puss. She never dreamed,
,f course, it was my office-she knows
no more of my business affairs than
the Man in the Moon
Nevertheless, we went. IN half sor-
ry now, for | don Z see half so much
IF Hardy as ] used to, Not that he
las no spare time, for his new post
ucky beggar-leaves him plenty
But he spends most of it with Jessie
now,
Next week. "The Managing Lady
by Mrs. Walford.