The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-06-23

than what it would elsewhere" said
Bales.
TRY it on the bracket where the
Hermes is now--you had better fetch
the steps, perhaps"
Bales fetched pair of steps, and
bringing them to the mantelpiece,
mounted laboriously, and, after de-
posing the reduced but faithful plas-
ter. copy of the antique, prepared to
establish the Oriental in the room
of the classic divinity.
He turned on the steps, holding
the image out at arms length, as
he remarked with strong disgust:
"Just think, now, that there's mig
| gers so ignirent as to fall down and
worship this here old figgerhead-
why, shouldn't have believed"
But what Bales would not have be-
| lieved was not destined to appear on
that occasion, for at that instant he
lost his balance and fell, accompanied
or preceded by his burden. wild
clutch at the small overmantel
brought the entire piece down, with
it's valuable load of old Bohemian
| glass, Venetian pottery and Roman
| terra-cotta, the hard won spoils OF
| Campion's Continental wanderings,
and Bales lay on his back in the
midst of the ruin.
WELL" said Campion, rather grim
| ly, as he relieved him of the over
| mantel and picked him out of the
| fragments, "you've contrived to come
down on a rather extensive scale,
Bales"
Bales sat up and rolled his eyes.
"I've come down on the edge of
| fender" he i'd It'll take me an
hour to clear up this mess, !" he added,
in an injured tone.
IL didn't make it, confound you!"
said Campion, laughing in spite of
his anger; there, get up, and col
| lect the fragments. My Hermes
smashes to atoms, I see, and / sup
pose the idol has come off no better"
THE idol, sir, being uncommon
strong, has remained old and entire,
which is more than I can say the
same of my ed my skulls all in frac-
lions, and my brains in that state
of conclusion 'ardly know what
I'm a-saying of, or whether I'm sit
ting down or standing up. All can
say is, the next time your friend takes
a fancy for sending you present
hope he'll choose one that's easier
to 'andle, that's all"
But at least SYPHILIS gift has es-
capped the slightest scratch, and Rom
| aid, in the midst of his annoyance
at the wholesale destruction, was
| glad that he would not have to tell
her that her idol was in fragments.
Where should he place it now?
Perhaps, after all, the studio and not
the sitting-room was the best place
for it, and there Sybil would see it
when she came the next day; he had
a little Chinese pedestal round which
gaudy dragon curled 'ts2lf, and up
on this pedestal he established the
idol for the present.
The next morning, when he came
il to his breakfast, it was to find
letter on his plate, the stamp and
marking of which made his hands
shake as he opened the envelope; he
knew it contained the long-expected
answer from SYPHILIS father, Colonel
Ellsworth
1t was cautious and rather hesi-
| tating letter. The colonel began by
saying that, if Campion's position and
projects were all he had stated them
to be, there could be no reasonable
objection to the match, particularly
as his sister, who was better judge
of these things than he could be, had
allowed them to become engaged; for
he presumed that her consent would
naturally have been obtained in the
first place.
The probability that Mrs. Stani-
| land, too, had heard from the colonel
that morning, and be hopelessly pref
udiced against him, made Campion's
work fitful and unsteady until the
time fixed for the appointment, and
when the studio bell announced that
Sybil and SYPHILIS aunt had arrived
he felt extremely i'll at ease.
But Mrs. Standard s manner, which
was the same as usual, showed him
at once that she suspected nothing :.
yet; the colonel must have put off
writing or missed the mail, and Cam
pion was still in time.
She was a stately handsome old
lady, with iron-grey hair veined with
silver, large and luminous eyes, and
complexion still unwrinkled, and
l
tinted like a delicate apple; she spoke
with certain incisiveness, and even
when she meant to be most gracious
her tone was the tone of one having
authority
To be Continued.