The Washington herald., 1911-01-01
STORIES OF THE TOWN.
By. FRED c. KELLY.

summer resort on bright June day. and
vet he knew that he must be about TO
get his.
You look worried about something,
| he ventured. whats didding?'
Nothing. Nothing at ALL" she de-
clared in a tone that confirmed his sus-
picions that there was something at all.
They ate along in silence for q few
moments, Timmins with a conscience as
| easy as the Pythagorfan theorem, and
T! yet knowing that something might drop
| with sharp report, like the crack OF
| doom. at any moment.
] He tried to throw a switch and get
| the conversation going along some line
| that would brighten things up.
Il started to get tickets for the theater
for next Wednesday night" he said. by
/ way of trying to clear track. but l
thought I'd wait until | saw you."
| DO you know what day this is?'' put
in Mrs. Timmins sharply, also irrele-
vanity. ..E
Still Timmins wasn't on. He thought
a moment. wondering what the catch
was. Let's see." he said. Its Mon
day. OF course: but then l don't s'pOse
| that's what you mean Well, I'll bite
| WHAT'S the answer"
| Mrs. Timmins shook her head defect
edly and muttered something about land
after only four years.
But her remark was enough to bring
Tfmmins in out of the fog.
| 'Hoh!' he laughtcd. with an attempt at
mirth. Il guess l pretty near made you
believe I'd forgot about it, eh: | oughn't
to joke with you that, way lie was
| laughing little grunts of laughs as he
went ION. But just don't worry, old
GIRL he said. about little Willie for
getting. 1t was too big a day to be for
gotten In any hurry. Why. l thought of
ii this morning at breakfast-the fact is,
thought of it as soon as | got my
eyes open this morning.
Timmins kept right on going. "No
siree. he says, you needn't wear any
Grape over my memory falling short on a
proposition like this. Hum, it's been ,
mighty short four years. though; eh.
SirGe? And just 10 think that it was
almost at this very hour, four years ago.
that we were marching in through the big
double doors to that slow throbbing mu-
sic. Well, | guess we haven't regretted
il. have We, hey?''
Il. don't believe YOU remembered il at
ALL came back Mrs. Timmins, although
her tone showed that she was loosening
up wee teentsy bit. I'll venture to say
that you would never have mentioned il
4 il | hadn't brought the subject up.''
II wouldn't. eh? Oh. no. suppose not
haven't been talking about it down at
the Office to the boys. or anything.
I've got little CopIey print of myself
letting the day pass without saying any
thing about it. Just because decided to
kee& quiet this evening until after dinner
was over and see If you remembered. you
take il for granted that the date didn't
mean anything 10 me more than Arbor
Day
NJ. Timmins still looked some uncon-
vino d. and Timmins added this one:
What ole do with that package I sent
out this afternoon? Give ii away? Huh?
Didn't get any package, We'll. that't a
nice deal, And l told 'em to he prompt
Well. I'll run up to the drug store and
call up and sec whats caused the delay
oh. never mind what it is. You'll find
out
!. He went TO the door leisurely, but as
soon as he was out of the hallway up tC
their fiat, lie broke into a wild Iope. Just
about hundred seconds later he had a
! jeweler friend VI hi; on the 'phone-at
the jewelers. club. because the stores
were al! closed You'll have TO rush on,
a little crclet Cf pearls right away. All
. in the safe. Then you'll have to open the
safe. No: ] can't wait an hour? Huh
, How do you know what | want? You'll
have to use your own Judgment. You'll
, send EN- out inside of an hour. will you:
All right Now hustle.
They sent that package to the wrong
address,. Timmins told his wife. in al
annoyed tone, when he got back to tn,
t flat but it'll be out now in little while
No; l won't tell you what II Is, Huh
. Why. of course, ] forgive YOU
: The next day when he went in to pa,
for the pearl pin. ne found that he owec
the man si2 He would have spent abou
1 81, probably, if he had gone i'm a day ol
Z he didn't complain.
| Fool Questions.
Then lose people that come to apart
. ment houses with fool questions
Take the case of Gnash. for instance
habitat. snug little suite on tho tol
floor of an apartment house providin
all the discomforts of an ordinary house
y The Crashes bell rang just after he ha,
. his vittles and sat down to look over tn
10-cent magazine he had brought home.
Gnash hollered down the tube but tn
man at the other end seemed TO be on
of those boneheads who won't answer yo,
through the tube. but wait for you t
traipse downstairs and see what the,
= want
Gnash went down. The visitor was on
of those exasperatingly meek. polite ones
a | that fill a person with rabid desire to b
just the opposite.
Mr.. Thompson in?' inquired the man.
Thompson? I'm sure 1 haven't tn
faintest idea how much he's in. or wheth
er he's in at all or not responded Gnash
sarcastically.
Mr.. Henry Thompson, mean," ex
planned the man.
.Uh, huh." says Gnash; and still
can't tell you if he's in
We'll. he lives here, doesn't hep
"Mebby he does. 1 don't know. Their
| are twelve different families here in tn
building. ! don't know them. None o
them are on my pay roll. 1 can't argu
about whether Thompson lives here o
mot
Then the stranger has an idea. why
his cards in that place over there say
he, with the confident, there-you-are ton
of man who has put forth an argumen
that is unassailable.
Sure enough" admitted Gnash. Hi
card is there
Then he must live here, all right,
argued the man.
Il don't know whether he lives here a
right or not But IL his card is there
must occupy suite here. Looks like
safe bet. Want to write your ow
ticket?"
The stranger stared at Gnash the wa
| a man will when he's wondering wha
! the joke is.
! well, is he-is he in now?' he pul
| sued cranking UP for a fresh start.
| s'In what ?" asked Gnash blanl<ly