Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-01-10

>-gscA card again. I YOoIas how Oes~'a
I've sworn to rhat2 + but t,saafs D,o,S
must change some time 1t eanrt 70 ~u
forever like this"
A knock al the street dSvr krSIGe tEa4
thread Of his grova1nx1. but be- Ue-nt
IN pacing Btil1. and did not hear step
which came blunderinG up the staircase
and halted outside his door.
Come I'M" he cried, in startled an
swer to a tapping on the panel. and a
slatternly servant girl pushed her head
round the edge of the door.
Here's somebody for you. Mr.. F4'sNt.
Gentleman with a portmanteau. he
didn't give no name"
I'll come down and have a look at
him." returned Mr.. Frost, taking up his
candle. -Four separate flights Of firty
wooden stairs, uncarpeted, brought him to
the hall. Frost, holding his candle high.
advanced toward the shadowy figure Of his
guest. tits you I" he said, with an odd
laugh. Come upstairs"
The guest, seizing the portmsnteau,
mounted after him, and the dingy apart
ment at the top Of the house was reached.
rs this the palace you continually
live in?" asked the guest, with the faint
est possible trace of some foreign accent
in his voice. II had expected from your
last letter to have found you in marble
halls, with vassals and serfs at your side.
Ohio you have been at it again. / sup
pose" said the visitor, making a move
ment in imitation of the dealing Of a pack
of cards. Isn't it time you dropped
that? Haven't you lost enough by this
time? What should you have done If /
had not turned up?"
II don't know" Frost answered, care
lessly enough But l was thinking at
the very minute when l heard you knock
drop it, I'll tell you the truth. Zeno-"
Tell me as much of the solid truth as
your constitution will allow, but do not
call me by that name. Wroblewskof will
answer. It's jawbreaker, but it's very
easy when you come to know it. Well"
said Mr.. Zeno smiling still, this is the
advantage of talking over things. l have
lived in New York year or two. You
knew me there You meet me here. You
know me to be a safe mana man to be
depended upon. You introduce me to
Dobroski-- Well, at what are you
staring?"
81 will see you boiled in OIL" returned
Mr.. Frost, with extreme slowness; II
will see you roasted on gridiron. l will
see you cut up so extremely fine that a
microscope won't find you-and then
won't introduce you to Dobroski."
Zeno got up from his seat, and kneel-
ing on the floor unstrapped his portman-
teau and took therefrom a razor case, a
small metal soap bowl and brand new
shaving brush. Frost watched him in ST.
lence.
Zeno took off his coat and threw It
across the back of a chair, tnen produced
pair of scissors, and taking great
handful of his beard. sliced it of before
the glass; then another, and another. and
another, until he was close cropped all
over the cheeks and throat and chin. Next
he attacked the mustache, and cropped
that also so close as the scissors would
go to the skin. Then pouring a little
hot water into the metal bowl. he began
to lather himself with great energy, and
then to shave. Even to himself the
metamorphosis he produced must have
seemed more than a little droll. Under
the razor he came out no longer Greek
and austere in contour, but chubby. with
fat round cheeks, and a chin very curl
ously thrust forward and pointed, and
beneath the lower lip and the base of the
chin there was a good half inch in length
less than one would have expected to find
The change was amazing, and when Mr..
Zeno drew a spectacle case from a waist
coat pocket. set the glasses on his nose,
and, removing a wig appeared with half
an inch of sandy natural hair below it,
and forehead an inch higher than it had
been, the disguise looked impenetrable.
He took a handkerchief from his coat
pocket, rubbed a corner of it on the soap
in his shaving bowl, and applied 1t vigor-
ously to his lips. The corner of the
handkerchief went crimson, and Mr..
Zeno's cherry lips grew pallid and dry.
He soaped and moistened another corner
of the handkerchief. and scrubbed at his
eyebrows. The handkerchief became
black, and the eyebrows sandy, like the
hair. Then he resumed his coat, set the
two candles upon the table, drew a chair
between them, and sat down.
(To be continued.)