The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1907-08-17

6eucA . eaaa ses514 x,sAasr Ae~ NNA
I've sworn to tAat9 But naaHS tsss<
must change .s@e time. It easf4 . ~
forever Ike thiA~
A knock 1t the street AOsF bsuae hae
thread II hjs gro~ifnxA, bst h ves4
on pacing still, and did not hea1 step
which came b}nndeFinx up the staircase
and halted outside his door.
Come inw be cried. in startled an
swer to q rapping ON the panel, and q
slatternly servant girl pushed her head
round the edge of the door.
Heres somebody for you, Mr.. Frost.
Gentleman with a portmanteau. BE
didn't give no name"
I'll come down and have 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, Selling 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 l
had not turned up?"
II don't know" Frost answered. care
lessly enough. But l 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. Wroblewskoh will
answer. It's jawbreaker, but It's very
easy when you come to know 1t. Well,
said Mr.. Zeno, smiling still, "this Is the
advantage of talking over things. l have
lived in New York year or two. You
knew me there. You meet me here. You
know me to be a 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; Il
will see you roasted on gridiron, l will
see you cut up so extremely fine that
microscope won't find you-and then l
won't introduce you to Dobroski."
Zeno got up from his seat, and kneel-
ing on the floor unstrapped his portman-
small metal soap bowl and a brand new
shaving brush. Frost watched him in ST.
lence.
Zeno took off his coat and threw it
across the back of a chair, tnen produced
a pair of scissors, and taking a 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 a 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 a 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
ously thrust forward and pointed, and
beneath the lower lip and the base of the
chin there was good half inch in length
less than one would have expected to find.
The change was amazing, and when Mr..
Zeno drew a spectacle case from 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 impenetrable,
He took a handkerchief from his coat
pocket, rubbed 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..
Zenos 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 a chair
between them, and sat down.