Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-04-01

! 1 Timmins at his Office In the
stables.
"Been here some time. haven't you,
ummins?' he suggested.
''Came here as bridegroom fifteen
years ago, sir"
Must know the old gentleman fair
" well. them"
"Lor', yes, sir! And he's a very fine
cd gentleman. sir, in his way"
''Sure," assented the Cherub. He
had settled back in an office chair and
was studying intently the vanished
pine ceiling. "But what's his way?"
he asked abruptly.
iTimmins looked perplexed.
S"Where are his short ribs" went on
,hir. Devine. whats his strong suit?'
"Oh." Timmins had translated Mr..
Devine's figures of speech. well, sir,
he's all wrapped up in the Countess
vecchi, sir, him being a widower for
so long. Nearly knocked him out
when the count turned out to be so
'bad. He was regular wicked, sir:
played roulette most of the time. Why,
they hadn't more'n left the church be-
fore he asks the countess for money
and chokes her when she wouldn't get
1t for him."
"Who made that match, Timmins? ?"
"Mr. Hewington himself, sir. He
was carried away with the idea of his
daughter being a countess"
Banks heavy on society, does he?
Do the Hewingtons cut much of a fig
ure now in the giddy whirl?"
"Lor', no, sir. Since they lost their
money they've kind of dropped out of
1t all. 1t goes hard with the old gen
tleman, too, sir"
Mr.. Devine smoked t%houghtfully for
several moments before asking, ANY
real swell neighbors around here?"
Lots of 'em, sir. It's Il very select
neighborhood, sir, as you'll find. Why.
just above us are the Wilburs-Knick-
erbockers, sir. Above them are the
Miller-Tremways youngest daughter
married into the Earl of Dippington's
family and was received at court.
And next below us are the Wallo-
ways, folks that has their own coat
of arms and"-
4NOb MIN WdiiONuy
Hes the head of the family now,
sir, Nicholas is"
$50 Nick is a neighbor of mine, Is
he?"
"But they're very exclusive. the Wal
ioways are, sir. They entertain lots
Of titled folks. They used to be very
aMak bcsszDWzu but none of them's
been here now for nearly two years."
4Then It's time they came" declared
Mr.. Devine. How about the other
folks. the Wilburs and the Tremways?"
Haven't been here for a long time
either, sir"
Every thoughtless of them, isn't it?
But Wen fix that. Hitch up two or
three of those gingersnap horses and
take me over to the .Walloway place.
"Today, sir?" Timmins stared his
astonishment.
"No: right away"
But it's-it's Sunday. sir. Begging
your pardon for being so bold, sir, but
the Walloways don't receive on Sun
days, sir, and they've got a bishop
there
Good! I'm right at home when
there's a bishop around. And I'll SEQ
about the receiving business. You
Just attend to the hooking up, Tim
Minis"
So Timmlns did, but 1t was with
much concern for his professional dig
nifty that he drove up to the imposing
carriage entrance of the Walloway
residence. The reception opened quite
as he had feared. In fact, the Wallo-
way butler, who weighed twice as
/ much as Eppings and was laughter
In proportion, was coldly doubtful as
to whether or not Mr.. Nicholas Wal
loway could be seen. He surveyed the
Hewington COBB with whitening scorn
and glanced with disappearing eye at
Mr.. Devine's tobacco brown waist
coat.
II don't think Mr.. Walloway Is re-
eeiving today" be observed.
"Oh. that'll be all right, fatty" cheer
fully remarked Mr.. Devine. You
trot along in and tell Nick that Cherub
Devine is out here"
The Walloway butler gasped. Tim
minis trembled in his seat. Two min
utes later Mr.. Nicholas Walloway,
much perplexed and not a little embar-
raised, was escorting Mr.. Devine past
the awful presence of the stout butler
and into the house.
A clean cut young man of sedate,
somewhat stiff bearing and with sober
gray eyes was Mr.. Nicholas Wallo'
way. No one but the Cherub, not even
A1r. Walloway's most intimate friends.
ever dreamed of calling him Nick.
Mr.. Devine had honored
young Mr.. Walloway with a social
call before, but he had dropped in
once or twice at the new offices of
Walloway & Co., and his reception had
been extremely cordial. In fact, Mr..
Nicholas Walloway had felt himself
singularly favored, and he said SO.
for his firm. in sDite of the heavy