The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-05-23
Continued from last week. }
CHAPTER XIV.


Il s upon a world canopied with
Ia storm, hung with mourning
~ purple and habited in black,
4 L did Mr.. Flitcroft turn his
morning face at 8 o'clock antemeridian
Monday as he hied himself to his daily
duty at the Washington National bank.
Yet more than the merely funereal
gloomed out from the hillocky area Of
his countenance. Was there not,
+ faith, q glow, a Vesuvian simmer,
beneath the murk of that darkling
eye? Was here one, think you, to turn
the other cheek? Little has he learned
of Norbert Flitcroft who conceives
that this fiery spirit was easily to be
quenched! Look upon the jowl Of him
and let him who dares maintain that
people-even the very Pixies them.
selves-were to grind beneath their
brougham wheels PROSTATE Norbert
and ride on scatheless! In this his
own metaphor is nearly touched: II
guess not. They don't run over me.
Martin Pike better LOOK out how he
tries it!'
So Mother Nature at her kindly
tasks, good Norbert, uses for her
unguent our own perfect inconsist-
ency. and often when we are stabbed
deep In the breast she distracts US by
thin scratches in other parts, that in
the itch Of these we may forget the
greater hurt till it be healed. Thus,
the remembrance Of last night, when
you undisguisedly rem from the wrath
Of a Pike, with q pretty girl looking
on Ito say nothing Of the acrid ARP,
who will fling the legend on a thou
sand winds), might well agonize you
now, as, In less hasty moments and at
a safe distance, you breed upon the
piteous figure you cut On the con-
trary, behold! You see no blood GRIM
soning the edges Of the horrid cash in
your panoply Of self esteem; you but
smart and scratch the scratches, for
getting your wound in the hot itch for
vengeance 1t Is an itch which will
last (for In such matters your temper
shall be steadfast, and let the great
Goliath in tie mean time beware of
you! You ran last night. You ran-of
course you ran. Why not? You ran
to fight another day.
A bank clerk sometimes has oppor-
tuni&ies.
Tne stricken fat one could not un-
ders,and how 1t came about that he
had blurted out the damning confes-
sion that he had visited Beaver Beach.
When he tried to solve the puzzle, his
mind refused the strain, became foggy
and the terrors Of his position acute.
Was he, like Joe Louden, to endure
the ban of Canaan and, like him.
stand excommunicate beyond the pale
because of Martin Pixies displeasure?
For Norbert saw with perfect clearness
today what the judge had done for
Joe. Now that he stood in danger OF
fate Identical this came home to him.
How many others. be. wondered. would
do as Mamie had done and write notes
such as he had received by the hand OF
Sam Warden late last night?
Dear Sir-this from Mamie, who, In the
Canaanitish way, had been wont to ad-
dress him as "Norb"-My father wishes
me 10 state that after your remark yes
terday afternoon on the steps. which was
overheard by my mother, who happened
to be standing in the hall behind you,
and your behavior to himself later on
he considers 1t impossible to allow you
to call any more or to speak to any MEM
Der of his household. Yours respectfully
MAMIE PIKE.
Erasures and restorations bore wit.
ness to a considerable doubt In NAMES 8
mind concerning Yours respectfully"
but she had finally let it stand, evident
" convinced that the plain signature.
without preface. savored Of an intima-
cy denied By the context.
Dear sir!" repeated Norbert be-
tween set teeth. Impossible to allow
you to call any more"" These and
other terms of his dismissal recurred
to him during the morning. and ever
and anon he looked up from his desk,
his lips moving to the tune OF those
horrid phrases. and stared out at the
street. Basilisk glaring this, with no
Christian softness in it, not even when
it fell upon his own grandfather, sit
ting among the sages within easy eye
shot from the big window at Norberts
elbow. However, ColoIel Flitcroft was
not disturbed by the gaze OF his de-