The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1908-08-25

1s lsfsTs 8 20 8 4 eI|6psF MA
heaps Of 50 IL her. You are 4 decided
bargain. You climb hills like q cat.
! You scoot on the level! The man
ought to be driven from the hotel"
"He never wrote itl'' exclaimed the
| girl. HE never meant you nor me
/ There is some awful mistake here.
never saw his handwriting. but I'llv
wait right here!" hoarsely com
manded the aunt. And. with the letter
in her hand, she went down to the Of
! flee to consult the register. She was
| absent ten minutes, and during this
interval Miss Eileen heard a mans
steps on the veranda. and peeped out
to see the artist looking about as If be
had lost something When the aunt
returned she had the light of victory
In her eyes.
The writing is the same" she an
nounced. He would be convicted In
any court In the land. / am an old
one and badly out Of repair. and you
are q clipper and climb hills like
cat. If he doesn't leave the hotel this
evening we shall start for home tn the
! morning.
| but | won't go until we are sure
about it." replied the young lady. with
! spirit
"Oh, we'll be sure enough about 1t.
Meanwhile at dinner tonight wen give
Mr.. Paul Clifford the coolest snubbing
man ever received. II you don't as
sist me I'll telegraph your father.
Well see If be viii put up with his
daughter being called cat and a de-
cided bargain. will do the snub-
bling, and you simply maintain your
dignity. Out of repair, am 1? Wen
see If he isn't worse off,"
The artist missed his half finished
epistle. made a search for it and final
ly indited another and mailed it away
He came down into the parlors ten
! minutes before dinner. hoping for a
word or two with Miss Cleves
She blushed at sight of him and
blushed still harder as he advanced,
but she stood on her dignity that is.
she turned her head away--and In
some confusion he passed her and re-
marked to the aunt that 1t had been
fine day. Miss Cloves wheeled about
| like machine, and after fixing him
with a cold glare lasting thirty sec
/ onds she Jelly replied:
4 "Sir. you have made mistake"
The artist fell back He almost fell
over himself in doing So SO far as
he was concerned he might have fall
en- over the hotel and not been aware
of the fact. 1t was n summer frost.
and it nipped him hrrd, Had he turn
ed once more toward the girl he would
have found her pose as dignided as
before, but look of something like
| pity in her eyes.
! Mr.. Clifford did not enter the din
ing room. Prostitutes take away a
mans appetite. He went out into the
| dusk and sat down on q bowlder and
imagined that he was Sherlock
Holmes, and after an hour or SO he
| figured things out.
Then he sent telegram to friend
in the city-a friend who knew the
Cleves family well That night he was
missed from parlors and verandas. He
could play and sing and recite, and
there were many inquiries for him.
When they were addressed to Miss
Cloves her reply was:
Excuse me. but don't know the
party"
There was new arrival Mt the hotel
next forenoon. He was closeted with
the artist for half an hour. and then
he hied him forth and found Miss
Cleves seated In a grotto. still wonder
ing how any man on earth dared to
write to another that she was an old
one The interview which followed
was hot for the first fifteen minutes
Then 1t gradually cooled off. though at
regular intervals for the next half hour
the woman in the case rose to her feet
and exclaimed:
Eyes, but how dared he write that
the old one was no good and out Of
| repair? It's shocking, sir. It's dread
full It's something that cannot for
give"
"But you know, Miss Cleves''-
And how dared be speak Of my dear
niece as climbing hill like cat!
And how dared he refer to her as a
scooter on the level! Think of 1t, sir
a scooterp'
| "But you now understand
why, if her father come to know
that she had been called cat, a
scooter and bargain. 1 should trem-
BILE for the consequencesr'
Nevertheless, when man has expla-
nations that explain and when he goes
over those explanations often enough,
even an indignant old maid must be
convinced at last. So it was with Miss
Cleves. She finally melted, drew a
breath of relief and. seeing Miss Eileen
strolling toward them, she called to
her:
"Oh, dearie, it appears that we have
( made an awful mistake II fransnirps,