Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-01-28
CHAPTER I.

have to be very careful about breath
ing where there is vegetation it would
never have happened; or, rather, we
would not have been mixed up with it.
l don't know after all whether 1t was
not Gabrielle's gold beads that were
to blame just as much as Elizabeth's
hay fever; for If the string had not
broken everything would have been
all right.
Gabrielle and Elizabeth are friends.
They know each others inmost
thoughts, and their past lives contain
no reservations whatever from one
another-which seems a little hard
on the men whose pictures they have
framed and preserved as relics.
l am their friend also, but I still
have a few ~undivulged thoughts, as
well as a modest number of reserva-
tons. My name is Eliza, but / prefer
to spell it Elise, and perhaps l am a
little envious of the other two, having
lost my own alter ego by her mar
riage and never replaced her. How
ever, that doesn't belong to the story,
which really begins on the steamer
that carried us to Canada.
Elizabeth had heard of an island vii
lage up there where hay fever was II n
known, and she read us so many ex-
tracts concerning 1t from a booklet
she kept in her work basket that about
the first of June we cut adrift from
III respective families and started
off to spend the summer there. We
could do this with propriety, for we
had all passed the pin-feather age, al
though I wish 1t distinctly understood
we were still a long way from being
stringy about the throat.
We were sitting on the deck of the
steamer watching the moonlight on
the water and enjoying ourselves very
much indeed when a nan came around
the corner of the cabin and sat down
e "a us, as, Of course, he had a per-
feet right to do. Suddenly Gabrielle,
who was next him, jumped up and
clutched my arm.
Come away" she whispered. Come
away"
And, of course, we came forthwith.
She was quite pale and trembling
when we reached the cabin, and for a
few minutes was unable to satisfy our
curiosity; but at last she spoke.
HE threw a chair into the water"
she said, in an awed voice.
"Oh!" said Elizabeth, with evident
disgust, sis that all? I thought it was
something interesting"
1T was quite enough" insisted
Gabrielle. IT was afraid he might
throw me next. You should have seen
his face and heard him muttering."
What did he mutter?" Elizabeth
liked the whole of a story or none
at all.
"I couldn't hear. But I think"-Ga-
brielle glanced around apprehensively
II think he's crazy, and don't like
being on a boat with an unguarded in
SAM man. You never know what they
are going to do. Besides, he looked
at me-"
l did not blame him there, for Cab
rielle is we'll worth looking at, espe-
cially when she is gazing at the moon
with the uplifted expression she re-
serve for that purpose. I sometimes
wonder why she doesn't think some
man on earth worth it, but she says
distance lends enchantment in such
matters, and l suppose she knows her
own affairs best.
Perhaps his keeper is somewhere
around" speculated Elizabeth. Lets
go back and see If he is still there"
So we rec%onnoitered stealthily, and
saw him sitting quietly smoking and
not looking at all dangerous-a rather
tall, spare man in blue serge clothes,
with a cap pulled down over his eyes,
and the air of one who is quite sat
isfied with his surroundings. 1t was a
cool night, and the deck was almost
deserted, so he had our secluded cor
ner behind the cabin all to himself,
and we could stand just outside the
door and examine him at our leisure.
HE looks just like anybody else"
said Elizabeth, plainly disappointed.
II didn't say he had a hump on his
back" returned Gabrielle, Indignantly.
81 said he threw a chair overheard
and SO he did"
1T is a new way Of beginning a
Irritation" I murmured, "but customs
differ in various places. Perhaps you
should have sent your chair after 1t,
by way Of acknowledging the atten-
ton. Obi"
For at that moment he leaned for
ward, looked with interest at the chair
beside him, felt its back and legs,
poised 1t lightly in the air, and shot
1t over the railing into the water be-
low, where we saw it bobbing in the
Soam in our wake.
"There!" triumphed Gabrielle. Nov
what do you say%
We said nothing, for Just then he
reached for another chair. This time,
however, he was not bent on destruc-
ton, for he merely detached a dark
object hanging on It's back. For the
second time Gabrielle clutched my I'M
fortunate arm, which was quite bruised
with her attentions.
Its my bag!" she exclaimed. my
new shopping bag. I left 1t hanging
on my chair-and he's opening It'll
oh, the wretch"
The wretch" proceeded to investi-
gate the contents Of the bag, and
carefully examined each article as he
drew it forth. First a pair Of gloves,
and then a handkerchief, which he
held critically to his nose after scru-
tinizing the monogram.
Il hope he likes It'll" calculated
Gabrielle, in an indignant whisper.