Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-05-13
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A boy was sitting on a low stone
wall reading a paper covered book.
He was small boy with a big cap.
and the big cap had a number on its
front.
Presently a quick puff of wind came
up the roadway, lifting a little cloud
Of dust and whirling the fallen leaves
It f1uttered the leaves Of the boys fGs-
chatting romance, too, and then deftly
lifted a yellow envelope from a little
pile Of other yellow envelopes on the
wall beside the boy, and toppled it over
the stone wall and into the garden on
the other side, and then sped along.
When the boy finally reused himself
and thrustth romance into his pocket,
he failed to notice the loss Of the en-
velOpe. If he remembered right there
six messages to deliver, and now there
were but five. Perhaps he had been
mistaken. He had been mistaken on
several occasions. So he trudged along
and the message sent by Shelburn
Apgar was not delivered. It was in
tended for the edification of his daugh-
ter, Grace. But she remained in happy
ignorance Of its contents.
This was the message:
"Am sending up Curtiss Thorne on
the threesthirty. Meet him at station
Ind make him welcome There's noth-
ing too good for Thorne. L can't leave
here until six"
Grace would have understood this.
She knew how Curtiss Thorne was the
famous young engineer whom the
bridge company, of which her father
was president, was so anxious to Sc
cure. But ats 80 o'clock the message
was lying In the long grass behind the
stone wall on the East hill.
The father of Grace had said moth
ing to her about the coming Of this
guest. She knew that the company
was anxious to get his services, and
that the directors meant to make him
a handsome offer. Her father had
spoken in high praise>of his work, but
the engineer was out Of the city at
the time and nobody seeeed to know
just when he would return. So that
Curtiss ThOrne was not at all In Grace
Apgar's mind.
But at breakfast that morning her
father had said something about his
fear that the electrical wiring Of the
house was not In the best of order.
There had been disastrous fire in the
nelghborhood and the cause had been
given as defective wiring.
I'm going to have man up here"
he said as ne passed her coffee cup,
''to look the wiring over. I'm little
afraid of electricity myself. And a
stitch in time may save a fight with
the insurance companies"
Cant you telephone for workman,
daddy?" Grace asked.
"No," her father answered. 81 want
something better than an ordinary
workman. 1 want an expert to look
the thing over and tell me what needs
to lie done. The ordinary workman
can do the rest"
What you want is a specialist,
DADDY"
That's it. A specialist on installa-
ton. I'll attend to it as soon as 1 reach
tue city. Perhaps 1 can get the man
up here to-day"
"All right, daddy, I'll be on the look
out for him."
Grace had this electric specialist in
mind when she saw a man coming up
the gravel walk late that afternoon.
She went to the door to admit him.
He was a well built young man. not
far from thirty He wore a neat lit
ting gray suit and light felt hat and
carried a hand satchel. He was rather
.darl: with dark hair. and he wore
pair of dark glasses over his pFesum-
ably dark eyes.
Home of Shelburn Apgar, 1 pre-
sumc?" he said in a sharp, quick fash
ion.
"les"
Possibly you are one of his house
hCldg"
81 am his daughter"
lie drew off his gray hat.
"Glad to meet you"
He seemed to look at her with either
admiration or surprise-the dark
Rl,lsses quite effectuelly hiding his eyes.