The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-01-20
The Boy at the Bank.

By AUSTIN PHILLIPS,

local fishmonger purchase the pro-
letariat hake from an itinerant mer-
chant by the. wayside. This was
rather Langton's idea. Still croolSing
De Haviland's arm, he stopped at one
Of the stalls. Doubtless the fish was
good and fresh. But the stall itself
was rather foul the sun was baking
hot, and the slap-slap of the hake as
it was thrown down on to the trestle
counter was not precisely grateful to
the ear. Langton put down seven
coppers, the itinerant merchant
sliced a pound and three-quarters
from the hake's tail end, then wrapp-
dit briskly in a piece of newspaper
and handed over the parcel with an
air. At that moment the Bassett
girls drove by in their dogcart. They
are the daughters of Alderman Bas.
sett, the sa!tmaker (very dashing
young women, believe), and De
Haviland had just begun to visit the
house. AS luck would have it, they
pulled up to speak to some one right
in front of the stall. This was more
than the boys flesh and blood could
bear. Quickly, even roughly, he dis
engaged his arm from Langton's,
threw up his head and swung round
on his heel. And in a voice that could
be heard IN, down and across the
street, he cried, protestingly: "Oh,
hang it all, Langton; | am gentle
man, you know"
Langton merely grinned and went
home to his wife. But he put the boy
and the fish and some trimmings into
his novel-which won first prize in
Disher G. Co.'S celebrated competition
not long after. AS Langton turned
out to be a lord (who had given up
diplomacy for literature, and had tenn
porarily offended his father, the Mar
quis of Meadshre, by the step), the
book created some sensation, and
was read by all Belboro. But, as
have said, the boys luck carried him
through. Langton had made him so
like life that nobody recognized him
which explains why more authors
are not murdered every year.
But in spite Of, here and there, a
little incident like this, the boy be-
gan to get very near the top of the
ladder. That is to say, he was on
the fringe of the county. Before long
his star, and the return of Kitty
Baker from Cheltenham High School,
drew him into the charmed circle as
magnet draws a needle. Kitty
Baker and the boy were in class b.
themselves.
She was a nice, dull, fluffy haired
girl, with rosy cheeks and manly
walk that half the young women of
Belboro tried to initiate. The results
were seldom quite successful; often
they were wholly ludicrous. Her
father was old Baker of Battenhall.
His father had been draper at Muir
cester (the country town seven miles
away, who had made a fortune and
had bought Battenhall when Spiggot
the brewer, came to grief. Now
Papa Baker was county, and because
the second generation in these cases
is always plus royaliste que lie roi, he
was very throaty and dreadfully ex
elusive. He had passion for games
of all kinds, and as soon as Kitty
: was old enough to hold golf club
he got the professional champion tC
; come to Battenhall and coach her
When he was older still, he took her
all over England to watch the Doh
y / rtstNrC nxr ha
twenty there wasn't lady player In
the country to touch her at either
game, and it was the same at croquet
, and badminton, and any other form
of feminine sport Except Irritation,
that you liked to mention. Filtration
= she was no use at. She was too hon
est. That is why, though the bo,
was poor and prospectless, she fel
head over ears in love with him.
1t was possibly the boys good looks
= more possibly still his ancient name
d most probably Of all his genius TO
games, that made Papa Baker Civ,
his consent. Old Morson had SOM
hand in it, too. He had rushed on tn
boy to be cashier before he was five
: and-twenty, and he and Papa Bake
= with the recommendation of the on
and the immense influence of the 9th
err were going to get De Haviland
: managership before he was thirty
= And they would have done it. too,
. De Havilands star hadn't got nike
. up with a comet or entangled in a
q eclipse, or upset in some inexplicabl
astronomlc fashion.
It But his apotheosis came before hi
v tumble. In the one county mate
e that Murcester spares to Belboro e,
a cry summer he got a glorious hui
t. dred against Kent and won the mattel
Y He made the runs in the fourth il
a. nings on worn pitch, and l hav
Ie never seen anything finer in my lif,
in The crowd rose at him as he cam
10 back to the pavilion; the salt-maker
h from the lower town seized and ca
IL ried him in; long after the team
Id had changed a crowd besieged tn