Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1909-09-09


He noted mentally that the clergyman
and his wife lad not yet lost them
selves in abusive language.
Company manners hold pretty
strong, II it is only restraint" he re-
fiected, and watched forgetting his
own annoyance.
Suddenly Mrs. Percivai laughed-a
low. quick laugh of deep amusement
Robert" she said, softly, and her
voice rippled with fun, Robert, I'm
afraid you'll have to go down the
coal chute"
The clergyman gasped at the idea.
The coal chute was long, box-like
tunnel about IL by 16 inches in size,
black and smutty, of course, which
ran under the porch on a slight in
cline and communicated by means of
glass window with the coal bin in
the cellar The clergyman removed
a latticed screen in the front of the
porch that concealed the coal chute
from outside view and surveyed the
small, square, black hole obviously.
Mrs. Percival and the bishop surveyed
it, too.
There's nothing else for il,
my dear man. I'll hold your coat"
The clergyman removed his over
coat and handed il to the bishop.
With sigh for his best coat, he
clambered feet foremost into the
chute. Mrs. Percival felt hysterical.
The bishop would never engage a CO.
*. n
ing seen under such undignified cir
cumstanceg!
The clergyman writhed down the
chute like an elongated crab, until
his patent-leather shoes came in con-
tact with the cellar window. 1t was
necessary to remove this obstacle to
his further progress.
The clergyman did his strenuous
best, and at the end came a crunch
of splintered woodwork and the crash
of glass. This sound was followed
in the ears of the anxious listeners
above by dull thud and then sick
ening silence. Mrs. Percival squeezed
the bishops arm apprehensively.
THE chute takes sudden drop
at the window and there isn't much
coal in the bin. Do you suppose he
is very badly hurt?"
Call down to him." said the bishop
in voice of concern.
Robert" called Mrs. Percival,
Robert"
silence, and then the clergyman
voice came out to them holloway.
Suddenly Mrs. Percival shrieked. Il
was a low-toned, semi-voiced shrek,
but it spoke a volume of enigmas.
The bishop thought she had stuck
herself With pin. The clergyman
down in tine dark cellar interpreted 1t
as a frenzy of dismay.
Perhaps | can break 1t open," he
called UP through the sepulchral me-
dium CT the chute.
"Oh, Robert his wife replied, her
voice floating down to him as dulcet
as spring breeze blowing over
clover, "Oh, Robert, I'm so sorry.
Will you forgive me-"
The bishop listened with amaze
ment. But the clergyman, whose
keen mind had an almost feminine
power of jumping at conclusions,
smiled-a bit grimly, perhaps, but he
smiled.
Where was it," he called.
The bishop stared at a sound of
ripping, and saw Mrs. Percivals arm
plunge into the recesses of her coat,
far below the limit drawn for the
depth of even a woman's pocket
"There-there was a hole in my
pocket" she called, in confession, and
slowly drew forth-the missing key.
Here was the bishops test He
held his breath. 1t would never co
to engage a coadjutor whom he knew
to be addicted to the use of strong
language, nor one who quarreled with
his wife.
We'll, hurry up and unlock the
door, and remember I'm a prisoner
down here called the clergyman,
with incredible amiability. I'm thank
full we've found the key to the sit
uation."
The bishop shivered in the cold
night air and shook his head 1t was
company manners Anything else
under the circumstances would be un.
natural. He would listen with his
bedroom door ajar for the aftermath
The decision at stake justified the
act
Mrs. Percival unlocked and opened
the front door, and while the bishop
stood over the register she disap-
peared into the back entry There
was the sound of a withdrawal of
bolts and of persons cropping in the
dark. Then the clergyman emerged,
looking like a coal-heaver.
Apologies were exchanged hastily
The clergyman's voice shook percep
tibly, and Mrs. Percival murmured her
good nights inaudibly, her faci
averted.
The bishop was conscious of dis
tinct sensation of disappointment.
He had grown fond of these twI
simple, natural young people; they
were wholesome, charming And tn!
clergyman would have made car.
ital coadjutor. He had even reached