The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1909-07-21

IOTmeu ndnQ, 10 nlmSelI. II contained q
dirty scrap of paper bearing these words
Jim: I'll be at the Occidental Hotel
tonight at o'clock. Don't fail to come.
BILLY"
Wheaton tore up the note with irrita-
tion and threw 1t into the waste paper
basket. He called the Chinese servant,
who explained that a boy had left it in
the course of the morning and had said
nothing about an answer.
The Bachelors did not usually muster
full table at Sunday dinner. All Clark.
son dined at noon on Sunday, and most
of the bachelors were fortunate enough
to be asked out. Wheaton was not fire.
quently diner out by reason of his more
slender acquaintance; and to-day all
pere present, including Rari6an, the most
tickle OF all in his attendance. II had
pleased Wheaton to find that the others
had been setting him apart more and
more with Raridan for the daily disci-
pline they dealt one another. They liked
to poke fun at Raridan on the score of
what they called his mad social whirl;
there was no resentment about it; they
were themselves of sterner stuff and had
no patience with Raridan's frivoities 4;
and they were within the fact when they
assumed that. If they wished, they could
go anywhere that he did. 1t touched
Wheaton's vanity to find himself joint
target with Raridan for the arrows which
the other bachelors fred at folly.
Wheaton after dinner went to his room
and made himself comfortable. He re-
read the Sunday papers through all theil
supplements, dwelling again on the events
of the carnival. He had saved all the
other papers that contained society news,
and now brought them out and cut from
them all references to himself. He re-
solved to open kind of social scrap
book in which to preserve record o.
his social doings. He remembered com
plant often heard in Clarkson that there
were no eligible men there he was MOI
sure Just what constituted eligibility, but
as he reviewed the men that went about
he could not see that they possessed any
advantages over himself. 1t occurred to
him for the first time that he was the
only unmarried bank cashier In town
and this in itself conferred a distinction
He was not so secure in his place as he
should like to be; If Thompson died there
would undoubtedly be a reorganization
Of the bank and the few shares that Por.
ter had sold to him would not hold the
cashiership for him. 1t might be that
Porter's plan was to keep him in the
place until Grant grew up. Again, ht
reflected, the man who married EvelyI
Porter would become an element to reck
on with; and yet if he were to be thai
man
He slept and dreamed that he wa'
king of a cream realm and that EvelyI
Porter reigned with him as queen thel
he awoke with a start to find that it wa
| late. He sat up on the couch and gath
cred together the newspaper cutting
which had fallen about him. He remem
bered the imperative summons which hat
been left for him during the morning; |
was already o'clock. Before going on
he changed his clothes to a rough bust
ness suit and took car that bore hir
rapidly through the business district an
beyond, into the older part of Clarksor
| The locality was very shabby, and whe
he left the car presently 1t was to cor
tinue his journey in an ill-lighted stree
| over board walks which yielded a pr'
carous footing. The Occidental Hot
was in the old part of town, and ha
long ago ceased to be what 1t had ono
been, the first hostelry Of Clarkson.
had descended to the level Of chea
boarding house, little patronized exceI
| by the rougher element of cattlemen an
by railroad crews that found 1t conven
ent to the yards. Over the door a dil
light blinked, and this, it was understoo
in the neighborhood, meant not merely a
invitation to bed and board, but also
the Occidental bar, which was accessib
at all hours of the day and night, an
was open through all the spasms OF vi
tue with which the city administratio
was seized from time to time. The doc
stood open and Wheaton stepped up
the counter on which boy sat playir
with a cat.
rs William Snyder stopping here?"
asked
The boy looked up lazily from his pla
"Are you the gent he's expecting"
Every likely. Is he inT'
Eyes, he's number eighteen" He dro
ped the cat and led Wheaton down dal
hall which was stale with the odors
cooked vegetables, up a steep flight
stairs to a landing from which he poin
ed to an oblong of light above door.
"There you are" said the boy. +
kicked the door and rctreated down Il
stairs, leaving Wheaton to obey the sur
mons to enter which was bawled fro
within. William Snyder unfolded h
long figure and rose to greet his visito
Ito he continued.)