The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-05-03
NUMBER 47s7.

49, vas WdSn 4 lulutu Tie hty III
/ the office door The manager and all
the travelling men were gone and I
was gloriously alone. and at leisure,
for the first time since this branch
Office had been established.
The telephone rang. Interrupted the
first thing, and probably by some one
waiting "a the pool room whose NUM-
Der we had taken. said Hello rather
curtly
Hello, JIM"
You have the wrong number" I
managed to say more deeently Ii was
q woman. IA lady with a deuced nice
manner.
oh, isn't this 4797?"
Yes, but
Don't joke, Jim. | know you are In
town, and knew you must be there. In
fact just came back from Cousin
Mary's. And the fiat is SO desolate
this morning, | can't bear It. Come
on down, Jim. I've forgotten it, and
In waiting, There Is a fire in.thc
CRATE, and--and. dear, listen. I'vsAgot
q story accepted, and paid off that
you needn't be afraid to stay--every-
things pretty near all right You'll be
right down, won't YOU
Il beg your
Don't beg my forgiveness. You
have 1t, you know that, and don't let's
talk any more over the 'phone'--her
voice was breaking pitifully.
Something often takes hold OF me
SO that | am not responsible for my
actions-I can't account for 1t any
other way.
| said, "You come up here, can't
you? I'm deyilish busy"--I felt pretty
sure that Jim would say that. Then
happened TO think was asking her
10 a pool room, as far as she knew
You see we've cleared the old bust
mes OUT
"Oh, - The gladness was delightful.
and shall | Just walk in--but you'll
Nv iophlA6i Wou you
you bet
hundred thoughts spun in my
Uranium. The greatest of them that
she would be disappointed terribly. /
was an ass. Well. I'd find jim, and
give him a piece of my whirling mind
but by Jove, maybe she would moi
like it. | think | was % at that time
A cowardly impulse told me to be
astonished at the whole proceeding,
when ! saw how sensible, how unsentl-
mental and womanly she was.
| told her the truth about 1t like a
culprit. She moved toward the door,
of course.
I'm admit that seem a practical
joker, Or worse, but I'm not, You
wouldn't let me tell who was
Il know--l was so worried. and so
sure she said; half In anger and half
In belief.
Come back and sit down and tell
me. won't you? know that sounds
like benevolent old gentlemans re-
mark, doesn't it,"
| laughed as kindly as an over
grown sapling can, and-s she sat down.
BY Joye, you know when you said
you had story accepted, /, well, II
er--you see, | am working like a Tro-
jan TO get a feeble attempt of mine
used as a cover page. I'm going to
pay off something, too, If get this
bloomin' thing TO go. You see, my
mother has little place where the
hollyhocks and cabbages, and potatoes
she digs herself all grow together
half garden ana half flower beds, and
there's a little two-by-four porch in
mont where morning glories have
grown since | was kid in dresses,
and
And you understood, didn't you?'
Her face seemed the loyeliest | had
ever seen as she leaned over, inter.
ested.
! handed her my card. and she told
me her name was Virginia Weston.
You see, jim is my twin
Your twin?" The blood went roll
licking III my veins.
She repeated 1t. and for the first
time there were tears in her warm
eyes, and her mouth quivered.
Jim is az straight as a string" now,
and he and share Virginia together
and am her illustrator. besides.
Four thousand seven hundred and
ninety-seven is M luck number, she
says. --Elelle Becker.