Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1910-10-14

a hero or a coward. II a hero, it is
forgotten in day; II coward. not
for years, II ever
Mr.. Parker hurried straight to the
hotel. People who saw him in his
flight looked and wondered. Mrs. Par.
ker had not come out. The son burst
into her room and flung himself down
and covered his face with his hands
and wept
what is it?" she asked as she
stood beside him with her hand on his
head.
"A child fell of the wharf," be an.
swered after time.
"And you were there?'
Il was the one to have leaped in
after him."
Poor boyl We should not have
come to the water"
with that she turned away aud
commenced taking her garments down
off the hooks and folding and packing
them.
When the son could control his
voice he stepped to the telephone and
asked for his bill and ordered a car
riage for the depot. Two hours later
mother and son were on their way
home. When they talked It was not
Of what had happened on the wharf.
Don't you see he couldn't have
done anything else7" queried DR.. Har-
graves at lunch, when some one said
that ''the coward" had departed.
He passes out OF our lives. of
course
And 1t so comes about. When the
doctor again visited the safe deposit
company he saw young Mr. Parker,
but neither bowed. Some one else
waited on the patron. People who had
met the young man socially at the
doctors residence inquired about him
in careless way. and were as care
lessly answered. Now and then the
father wondered IL the daughter had
been interested enough to care or be
disappointed. but he could not make
up his mind. The affair had never
been referred to again after the first
day.
A whole year passed. Father and
daughter were again bound for the
same hotel, but this time they were
motoring a part OF the way, the car
being driven by chauffeur.
In the middle Of the afternoon, on
a broad highway. four foreigners who
had struck work in quarry not far
away and were ripe for mischief,
halted the auto to commit highway
robbery. The chauffeur was a pol
troon. He could have run them down,
but he halted the machine.
The doctor was not armed, but he
refused to leave the car. and struck
at the fellows who sought to pull the
daughter out, Such one-sided con
fiict could not last long, and must
terminate in victory for the attack
ers. They were pushing the adyan-
tage of numbers when a second auto
rolled up quietly behind them and a
young man leaped out. Without any
weapons but his bare fists he sailed
into the four. They drew knives on
him, but he struck one after another
and fought fiercely and silently. The
battle ragged up and down the road for
five minutes. and then the used-up
men retreated to the woods.
The doctor and his daughter had
watched it without word. They
| knew the attacker, and they saw blood
on his face and hands as he waved to
them that the road was clear and
walked back to his own machine.
1T Is Mr. Parkerl" whispered Miss
May.
Hanged If it isntl" replied the
father
"But folks said he was coward"
"Um! | was among those who said
so. Guess we made a. mistake some
where
I'll hope COZ
"Eh? Eh? You hope what?p
The words were not repeated.
A week later. at the Harbor hotel,l
the doctor called his daughter into
his room to say.
Il wrote to friend of mine In the
city and asked him to do me a favor.
He had an interview with Mr.. Parker's
mother. Say, dear. while the public
mas a notion that your father is a
great doctor. want to adult TO you
that he is a great fool ~
why, what is it?"
q ought to have suspected some
thing of the kind from the first. When
Mr.. Parker was a child OF two his
nurse let him fall into the water. He
had a close call from drowning. Il
gave him a dread and horror of the
water, and 1t will always be with him.
He's no coward. He simply fears the
one thing. Plenty of cases ike H.
I'm writing him very abject letter
this afternoon. Don't you want to in
close something? II hen be sensible
and forgive, I'll take him for son-in.
law about a year hence. Eh? EhY
That makes you blush, doesn't 1t? I
believe you've been his champion right