Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-11-08
Ghe GIRL IN
THE CASE
Leads to the Finding of
a Wife
By STACY z. BAKER
Copyright, 1910. by American Press
Association.

riOr umepiece, found IN Its place an
fexpensive watch with three diamonds
set In the rear case and the initials
w. A w. engraved thereon.
Naturally Rawlins was surprised.
He returned the watch to his pocket,
carefully folded his paper and glanced
about in search Of the philanthropic
person who had effected the exchange.
The vinegary faced female wedged
in the seat to the right Of him stared
back suspiciously.
A wheeling fat man. uncomfortably
crowded. sat at his left and grinned
heavily rs he noted the observant eye
Of his fellow passenger.
These street cars are crowded sun
thin awful. hain't they"
Rawlins agreed. He couldn't accus-
tom himself to the thought Of this
mans pudgy fingers deftly inserting
themselves In his waistcoat pocket on
a delicate mission of substitution.
He stared about him searchingly,
but the enigma was unsolved when
the conductor called Twenty-third
street.
In the sacred precincts Of his own
little used law offices Rawlins gave a
keener inspection to this gift the gods
had thrust upon him.
Heavy lines corrugated the brow OF
the young attorney, and he pushed bis
thick black hair back into an i'm
promptu pompadour as his mind grap-
p,ed with the problem. The slim fin
gers of the youth touched the stem,
and the case snapped suddenly open'
disclosing the pictured face Of ra-
diant girl.
Rawlins-John P. Rawlins. Esq.-was
young-young enough. In fact. to be-
lieve In the ideal woman. and this
likeness corresponded exactly with the
dream in his heart. The great blue
ewes. the fawless contour Of the face.
with its piquant. retrousse nose ana
determined little chin: the wave In
the heavy hair. the peerless neck and
shoulders-everything about the maid
summed up soul dear to the youth.
The sudden advent Of that rara avis.
a client. compelled him to forego the
pleasure of lingering longer In admir-
Ing contemplation Of the picture. Be
fore finding the likeness Of the prob
able owner-Rawlins had an active
mind-the man who had come into
such peculiar possession Of the watch
had decided to turn 1t over to the po-
lice. but now
Now the united efforts Of the entire
constabulary Of the town could not
have dragged 1t from him.
And yet-paradox-the youth wished
to find the owner. II possible. more
than ever. The riddle of how the lit,
tie timepiece happened to be In his
pocket had gripped him with an In
satiable curiosity at first: now. strange
" enough. his sole thoughts were OF
the maid In the case. He longed to
meet her He wanted to become &C
quainted with her
The attorney was bothered with no
clients that day. and In the afternoon.
with the fair pictured face Of the mys-
terious damsel propped before him. he
compiled an advertisement for the
morning papers:
Found. under peculiar circumstances.
valuable watch. Owner can have same
| by calling at - Broadway and proving
property Rawlins. fourth floor.
Rawlins was wealthy youth OF
good city connections He had grad
uated from Harvard the year before
and was now awakened to the fact
that New York Is overcrowded with
attorneys. Clients. from pecuniary
standpoint. he didn't need. but the
ennui of a listless life was boring him.
stilling his ambition. This little ad-
venture. with the flavor OF romance
so strong upon 1t, bade fair to give
life back its relish.
The advertisement brought results.
Every faker In the city seemed to have
bought a paper and picked the Raw
Inns found" as the easy money Of the
morning.
The lawyer entertained the sly ad-
yenturers with tentative questions on
their lips. keen searchers after infor,
nation that. In turn. was to be given
over to shrewd confederates. who
would follow up with better chances
Of landing the prize. and coarse wo.
men who attempted to wheedle the ad-
vertised article away from its holder.
and. failing In this. fell into vocabu-
larry of vehement and impolite protest.
The attorneys faith In human ma.
ture was sadly Jared.
The keen youth gave absolutely no
information to the cleaners along the
paths of chance. and thus 1t came
about that none was able to come
later with sufficient information to
draw down the trophy. Rawlins breath
| ed his relief at the end of the day and
| again drew the watch from his pocket
and studied the photograph. One longs
| doubly for the unattainable. The
youth was In perfect frenzy to meet
the girl.
Time passed. Several months went
by and still the young man was vainly
striving to meet the fair one Of the
photograph. II became habit with
him to stand before the window Of his
office and stare down into the street.
In this way there was a chance that
his knowing eyes would 6nd the owner
Of the watch.
One day az he stood at his usual
poin, of vantage, bis contemplativs
eyes on a lazy cab, the latter came
to a stop in front Of one Of the large
stores, and-oh, the sudden shock Of II
she stepped out.
In q moment the long legs Of the
youth were fairly flying down the
stairs-he wouldn't wait for the els'
vator-and he was across the street
and into the store In another fast FOL
lowing sixty seconds.
It took the attorney some time to
lind the girl The wonder Of It Is that
he found her at all In that huge bee
hive Of struggling patrons and clerks.
She was on the first floor and at the
handkerchief counter he patiently
waited until she had finished her pur
chases.
II beg your pardonw he commenced
approaching, hat In hand
The girl stared at him coldly. She
/ Ia haa,,ku-an and