The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1908-07-04
THE PROXY
Copyright. by Daily Story Pub Coz
By STELLA McALLISTER SLACK


Freddy seized his hat and made
dive for the door.
Get dozen records," yelled Rus
sell after the departing man; you'll
need every one of EN-"
In ten minutes Lord was back again,
breathless and enthusiastic.
In less than no time a blank record
was in place, and Russell stood, ready
to set it in motion.
"All ready, old man." he said;
"stand up near and smile at the lady
now begin"
Suddenly all Freddy's eagerness, en-
thusiasm and self-confidence forsook
him. His jaw dropped and he gazed
at his friend helplessly.
Good heavens, Toni" he cried,
blankly, what shall l say?"
Say? Well, I'll be hamstrung!
Have I got to propose for your"
Freddy flew mad.
mo, you haven't" he raped out;
land IL you'll just leave me to myself
a few minutes I'll do my own propos-
ing!"
Left alone, young Lord approached
the photograph with a return of all
his self-confidence He reached for
the lever and opened his mouth. 1t
stayed open.
'Jehosephat!" he exclaimed, at last.
His cuffs came ripping off. Then he
lighted cigar and, Topping down in
a chair. gave himself up to medita-
ton.
An hour later the door of Russelrs
sitting room opened and Freddy en-
tered, subdued and chastened In
spirit
Tom was again at his drawing
board.
How many of those records did you
spoil?" he demanded.
Lord sank dejectedly into a chair.
ITEM" he answered family.
Russell snorted.
That tenth record was a peach"
continued Freddy. disconsolately. II
was getting on fine with it, when the
thing went wrong somehow, and-and
Il swore at it, Then / gave 1t up"
Il could have told you at the very
first that you'd have to write 1t out
and read it into the machine" COM
forted Tom.
Freddy seized pencil and drew
the tablet toward him. He cEewed the
lead a moment and then flung the pen.
Gil down.
"Oh, come, now" he said, stubborn
ly, Il can't write things-never wrote
letter in my life, not even to my
mother. Always sent kilograms, don't
you know"
It's taken a long time to reach the
point, but / knew it would come to
this" said Russell desperately. Then
he commenced writing.
He covered several pages with the
bold, angular writing of a draughts
man and tossed them across to Fred.
erick.
The young man read it through
carefully, with knitted brows, then
raised his head.
1T sounds wooden!" he complained.
Russell stared moment.
It's that or nothing" he remarked
CURLY.
We'll, you don't need to be nasty
about it" said Freddy. looking hurt.
The following afternoon Frederick
Lord presented himself at the home of
Miss McAlden at five O'Clock. the
blood pounding in his ears and his
heart doing stunts inside him.
He had previously sent the precious
record by messenger, with a note
stating that he was sending her q new
Shubert record, never heard in pub
lie, and requesting her to crafty .
within Of his by going to the music
room alone and listening to the record
quite by herself. He would call at
five o'clock to ask her opinion of 1t.
The maid ushered him into the IL
brary, where he found a slender, dark
eyed girl curled up in big easy chair,
gazing dreamingly intos the open fire.
She rose quickly as he came toward
her. and waited. looking very shy and
oocAobAOs until iCdSACu uCf oiQc.
They looked at each other a mo-
ment.
"Did-did you mean it, you bold
MANI" she whispered, coyly, after q
time.
Freddy's head commenced to swell.
Mean it," he repeated proudly.
"Am man to do thing of this sort
for IA joker"
Five minutes later Mary Alice lifted
her head from the broad, manly bosom
Of the self-satisfied Mr. Lord.
How did you ever happen to think
of p" she said. toying with the flower
in his button-hole. Il always knew
you were dreadfully clever" she con-
tinued, gazing upward with fond,
proud eyes; but never dreamed you
had such acuteness. such-such origin