Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-05-01
CHAPTER XIV,
AS upon world canopied with
~ storm, hung with mourning
purple and habited in black,
did Mr. Elitcroff turn his

ulu MAJ. CAlSrOll luiu ulS
face at o'clock antemeridian
Monday as he HE'D 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, a glow, 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 concelves
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 hook 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 ran from the wrath
Of Pike, with a pretty girl looking
on Ito say nothing Of the acrld Arp,
who will fling the legend on thou
sand winds), might well agonize you
now, as, in less hasty moments and ut
safe distance, you brood upon the
piteovs figure you, cut On the con-
trart, behold! You see no blood GRIM
soping the edges Of the horrid cash in
3 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
shallsbe steadfast), and let the great
Goliath In the mem time beware of
you! You ran last night You rnn-of
course you ran. Why not? You ran
to fight another day! 81
A bank clerk sometimes has oppor-
tunities.
The stricken fat one could not I'M
derstand how it came about that he
had blurted out the damning confess
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, he wondered, would
do as Mamie had done and write notes
such as he had received by the hand of
Sam Warden late last night?
Canaanitish way. had been wont to adj
dress him as "Norb!'-My father wishes
me to 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 menu
Der Of his household. Yours respectfully.
MAMIE PIKE.
Erasures and reservations bore wit
ness to a considerable doubt in Mamie's
mind concerning yours respectfully"
but she had finally let it stand, evident
ly convinced that the plain signature,
without preface, savored Of an intima-
cy denied by the context.
"'Dear STRIP" repeated Norbert be-
tween set teeth. "Impossible to allow
you to call any more!" These and
other terms of his dismissal required
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 glazing this, with no
Christian softness III it, not even when
it fell upon his own grandfather, Sit
ting among the sages within easy eye
shot from the. big window Mt Norbert's
elbow. However, Colonel Flitcroft was
not disturbed by the gaze of his de-
scendant, being. in fact, quite unaware
of it. The aged men We're having n
busy morning.
The conclave was not what it had
been. (See Arp and all his works.)
There had come. as the years went by
a few recruits, but faces were missing.
The two Tabors had gone, and Uncle
Joe Davey could no longer lay claim
to the patriarchship. He had laid it
down. with half sigh, and gone his
way. Eskew himself was now the
Oldest Of the conscript fathers, the
colonel and Squire Buckalew pressing
him closely, with Peter Bradbury no
great time behind.
Today they did not plant their feet
upon the brass rail inside the hotel
windows, but courted the genial wealth
err outdoors and, as their summer GUS
tom was, tilted back their chairs in the
shade of the western wall of the build.
ing.
"And who could of dreamed" Mr..
Bradbury was saying, with side
glance Of expectancy Mt Eskew, "thnt
Jonas Tabor would ever turn out to
have niece like that!'
Mr.. Arp ceased to fan himself with
his wide straw hat and said grimly:
II don't see as Jonas has turned
out-not in particular! II he's turned
at all lately l reckon It's in his grave
and I'll bet he has If he had any way
Of hearin' how much she must Of spent
for clothesw
II believe" Squire Buckalew began
that young folks memories are short.
They're lucky! interjected Eskew
'"The shorter your memory the less
meanness you know"
II meant young folks don't remem
Der as well as older people do" con
tinued the squire. 81 don't see what's
SO remarkable in her comm back and
walkin' up street with Joe I.ouden
She used to 60 kitin' round with lin
all the time before she left here. AnG
yet everybody talks as If they never
heard Of sech thing"
ut seems to me-" said Colonel Fit
croft hesltatingly, .4that she did right
know 1t sounds kind of queer thin.
to say, and stirred up a good deal o
opposition at home yesterday evening