Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-12-24

'T shall first run down to Nice in
order to get rid of the rest Of the win
ter
''That will be delightful. Elmwood
is awful in winter"
Not receiving any comment on the
desolation Of the place where she
would pass the winter. Mrs. Tedford
continued:
Il suppose / shall never see those
lands l have always so Ionged to see.
There's Dresden, with its Sistine Ma
donna; Munich. with the best mod
ern paintings In the world Then
there is Venice, a picture in itself OF
a dead past and the only one of its
kind. Oh, how / wish were goingr''
He went TO her and attempted to put
an arm about her. She drew back, but
only in pretense. He enclrcled her
with both arms
why not go with me, NeIlg"
There isn't time
There's more than two hours"
"At what hour does the steamer
saily'
AT 2. I have stateroom all TO my
self"
But besides my packing we'd have
to be married"
IF there isn't time for a marriage
before we sail we can be married on
the ship"
What will mother Think"
Never mind that. You throw what
you can't get on without into a trunk
I'll go out and telephone your mother
and order a carriage"
do you really think we can make
it?"
Certainly. Don't take much cloth
ing. You'll wish to get a lot of things
abroad"
Il didn't think of that"
She flew upstairs, and he hurried out
He soon returned with a carriage
and announced that he had had an in
terview over the telephone with Mrs.
Corkle, Mrs Tedford's mother, an
nOuncing what had occurred. Mrs.
Corkle had said that she might catch
Il train that would take her to the city
in time to reach the steamer before it
sailed and say goodby, but it would
be a close call.
The floor was covered with clothing
that Mrs. Tedford was heaping into a
trunk Mr. Tedford stood over her
with watch in hand, every ten minutes
informing her of the hour and how
much time she had. Then she informed
him somewhat impatiently not to be a
fool. but put the house in better shape
to leave and write certain necessary
letters for her. Going down to the
library. he wrote the letters. then went
about locking certain windows and
mailing others. Having finished his job,
he want upstairs again, 10 find Mrs.
Tedford trying to close and lock a
trunk that she had stuffed so full she
couldn't get the lid down. He sat on
it and the deed was accomplished.
Then the coachman was called. He
shouldered the trunk and took it down
stairs and put it on the box.
Now. it happened that Tam Maloney,
alimony clerk, saw Mr.. Tedford get
ting into a carriage with a lady and
heard him tell the coachman TO drive
to an ocean liner. Maloney knew that
Tedford had not paid his last install
ment of alimony and thinking to make
something out of getting it for the de-
serted wife. took another carriage and
followed. 1t was then half past l
o'clock and several miles to go. The
Tedford carriage was moving lickety
split when it turned into the dock
house, and up the street appeared Ma
loney's rig coming at the same gait
Just behind Maloney's came another
coach-evidently in a hurry. 1t con-
tanned Mrs. COrkle.
stop that man." shouted Maloney to
a policeman. Hes going abroad
without paying the alimony due his
wife"
Mr. and Mrs. Tedford were stopped
at the gangway. Maloney jumped out
and confronted them.
Fork over that alimony," he said,
cor l step your going"
Men began to remove the gangplank.
There's no time to lose in explana-
ton, Nell said Tedford. He'd swear
we were clipping or something. What
did you do with the envelope 1 gave
you?"
CONTINUED on Page Nine)