Spray courier. (Spray, Or.) 1???-19??, 1908-03-07
BY MISADVENTURE
r R A ~ X B A r r SIT
CHAPTER |.

CHAPTER l.
My name is Keene-Anthony Keene.
am lawyer; sixty-four years is my agt
You may see what kind of man am b
my portrait; not over pleasant with any
one.
George Flexmore and l were friends
He was my first client when l set up Ii
Coneyford, small town just large enougl
at that time, as l believed to keep law
yer of Its own; there are couple of III
now, and we have as much to do as W,
need. Flexmore had just then come int
fortune and he did not know what t.
do with it. l prevented him from losin.
1t, as he certainly would have done with
out proper direction, for he was an easy
going man, of a credulous disposition
such as your needy adventurer and shifty
speculator love to take in hand. For ev.
cry man that has money there are ninety.
nine who are anxious to spend it for him
IF any one asks you for money, Flex-
more" said l, don't refuse him; send
him to me-" And he did SO. with this re-
sult-he never lost penny by these good
natured friends.
He had a great respect for me-more
than l deserved doubtless. He seemed to
think that whatever l did must be right,
and l believe it was the sheer force of ex-
ample that kept him out of matrimony so
long; because l did not care to take a
wife, he thought it best to keep single.
But the conditions were different. l am
not an easy-going man, and marriage
would have been purgatory for me or my
wife, and the result must have been equal
ly bad for both of us in either case. But
Flexmore had nothing to do from morning
to night that might not very well be set
aside to attend to the wants of some
body else. He saw that he ought to have
some other object in life than to eat and
sleep and kill time-that his life was in
complete in fact. But he still made pre-
tense of being content with bachelors
Nistence.
One day l caught him singing his old
song, when a mans single he lives at his
ease" but In such lugubrious strain
that it would have made me laugh if it
had not irritated me,
That's humbug, Flexmore," said l,
"and you know it. A mans happiness
consists in making other people happy
unless he's lawyer. You're not law
yer, and you ought to be making some
body happy. You'd be more at your ease
If you had somebody else to think about,
end somebody else to think about you"
do you mean that ought to marry,
Tony" he said, blushing like a girl.
''That is exactly what | do mean,
George. There's little Miss Vaughan, |
who has been waiting to be asked these
three years there are dozens of girls to
be chosen from"
DO you think she would have me?" he
Interrupted eagerly.
"Well, the best way of deciding that
point is to go and ask her this afternoon"
said l.
The result of this advice was that
Flexmore married Miss Vaughan just six
weeks after.
wife should be- A happier couple l never
saw. He lived to please her, and she to
please him-that was the chief object Of
their lives.
A year after their marriage they had a
child, and nice fuss they made about it.
She grew up a pleasant little thing, shy
and timid, with a clinging affection for
lovable persons and things. l never saw
anything like the passionate attachment
that existed between her and her sweet
tempered mother. Poor Mrs. Flexmore {
had never been robust person, and
well, to cut short story that is too pain
full to dwell upon, she died when little 6
Laure was eleven years old. S
Flemore was then sixty-two, but he t
was not too old to suffer. The loss un- '
manned him completely. He took on like
a woman and he would have been less i
nan If he had not, perhaps. e
"My poor old friend" said l, "it would q
have been better to let you live on an r
Did bachelor" n
"No, no." he replied. After such hap a
piness an eternity of suffering would find v
ne still gamer" a
"You have your child-your little
Laure," said 1 and then, to turn his t
thoughts from the past, / talked about "
he future, and what he should do for T
he childs welfare. Indeed the childs Y
,rief gave me almost as much concern as b
he fathers. 1t was not passionate out l
,urst, that spends itself like summer a
hover and gives place to peace and p
miles, but continued fruitless yearn-
ng for that loved one to come back who te
vas gone forever. 81
''You must have woman here to com
ort her." / said to Flexmore hi
He agreed to this, and sent for his de- nj
eased brothers widow, who had married tt
gain and been a second time left OF
widow, as being his nearest female rela- Vi
i've, and she came readily enough-a to
voman of fifty, hard as nails, and stringy to
s an old crow. She looked upon little fo
.aure's distress as unnatural in a child, re
nd her morbid condition as the result of
effective education; and she set about he
directing all this by setting the little of
hing to read some instructive and moral fe
ooks which no conceivable creature could tn
nd interest or pleasure in. W
After she had been there three days VI
,r. Awdrey had to be sent for. Laure or
ras feverish and couldn't hold herself WI
p properly" DR.. Awdrey ordered her in
} be put to bed at once. gave directions ca
treatment, and sent physic to L.
. administered every two hours. lhe