Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-05-20

dCCuSc uSE vi IOICluS an entrance 10
his rooms for the sole purpose las far
as ascertainable) of presenting him
with the outline of her hand in the
dust OF his desks top? Oh,
hardly! 1t was all very we'll to be
daringly eccentric and careless of the
worlds censure; but one scarcely
cared to lay ones self open either to
an unknown girls derision or to a
sound pummeling at the hands of fell
low passengers enraged by the insult
offered to an unescorted woman.
The young man was still pondering
| ways and means when dull bump ap-
! prised him that the ferry beat was en-
tering the Long Island City slip. THE
| dewitt" he exclaimed in mingled dis
/ gust and dismay, realizing that his
distraction had been so thorough as to
| permit the voyage to take place almost
| without his realizing it, So that now
| worse luck!--it was too late to take
any one of the hundred fantastic steps
| he had contemplated half seriously. In
another two minutes his charming
mystery. so bewitchingly incarnated,
| would have slipped out of his life, fl
nally and beyond recall And he could
do naught to hinder such finale to
the adventure.
Sulkily he resigned himself to the
| inevitable, waiting and watching,
while the boat slid and Numbered
clumsily, paddle wheels churning the
filthy waters over side, to the floating
| bridge; while the winches ratified, and
| the woman, sitting up briskly in the
drivers seat of the motor car, bent
forward and advanced the spark; while
the chain fell clanking and the car
shot out, over the bridge, through the
gates, and away, at very consider
able, even If lawful, rate of speed.
Whereupon, writing fms to the final
chapter of Romance, voting the world
| athematiZing in no uncertain terms his
lack of resource and address, Maitland
paid off his cabby alighted, and to
| that worthy's boundless wonder,
walked into the waiting room of the
railway terminus without deviating a
hairs breadth from the straight and
circumscribed path of the sober in
mind and body.
The 1920 had departed by a bare
| two minutes. The next and last train
| for Greenfields was to leave at 10: So.
Maitland with assumed nonchalance
composed himself upon a bench in the
| waiting room to endure the 37-minute
interval. Five minutes later an able
bodied washerwoman with six children
| in quarter sizes descended upon the
same bench; and the young man in
| desperation allowed himself to be dis
| possessed. The news stand next attract
ing him, he garnered a fugitive amuse-
ment and two dozen copper cents by
the simple process of purchasing six
might extras" which he did not want,
and paying for each with a five-cent
piece. Compromising, at length, that
he had irritated the news dealer, he
meandered off, jingling his copper for
tune in one hand, Juggling his news
papers in the other, and made a de-
termined onslaught upon slot ma
chine. The latter having reluctantly
disgorged "a assorted samples of
| chewing gum and stale sweetmeats,
Maitland returned to the washerwom-
an, and sowed dissension in her brood
| by presenting the treasure horde to
the eldest girl with instructions to
share it with her brothers and sisters.
1t is difficult to imagine what folly
might next have been recorded against
him had not, at that moment, a fe-
rocious and inarticulate howl from the
train starter announced the fact that
! the 1859 was in waiting.
Boarding the train in a thankful
| spirit, Maitland settled himself as COM
! fortably as he might in the smoker
and endeavored to find surcease of
ennui in his collection of extras. In
vain; even two-column portrait of
Mr.. Dan Anisty, craftsman, accom-
| panied by vivacious catalogue of that
notoriety's achievements in the field of
polite burglary, hardly stirred his in
| terest. An elusive resemblance which
| he traced in the features of Mr.. Anisty,
as presented by the sketch-artist-on-
| tne-spot, to some one whom he, Matt
| land, had known in the dark back
| wards and abysm of time, merely drew
| from him the comment: "Homely
brute!" And he laid the papers aside,
| grading his chin in the palm of one
| hand and staring for a weary while
out of the car window at a Keeling and
moonsmitten landscape. He yawned
extensively, his thoughts astray be-
| tween girl CARRIED all in gray, Ban
nerman's earnest and thoughtful face,
| and the pernicious activities of Mr..
Daniel Anisty, at whose door Maitland
laid the responsibility for this most
fatiguing errand.
The brakemans wolf-like yelp--
"Greenfields! was ringing in his
ears when he awoke and stumbled
down aisle and car steps just in the
nick of time. The train, whisking
round curve cloaked by belt of
somber pines, left him quite alone in
the world, cast ruthlessly upon his
| own resources.
An hour had elapsed; it was now
midnight; the moon rode high, cold
white disk against a background of
sapphire velvet. its pellucid rays re-
vealing with disheartening distinct
ness the inanimate and lightless road
side hamlet called Greenfelds; it's gen.
eral store and postoffice, it's soi.disant
hotel, its struggling line of dilapidated
W