The Arvada enterprise., 1912-12-19

lrlHhelS INTO the satCuel. IL WIS too
much for the little old lady's little
old husband He fairly shrieked:
Young man, you're damned
scoundrel, and the best argument |
ever saw for helLtire!"
Mrs. Temples grief changed to hor-
ror at such bolt from the blue:
Walter" she gasped. such Ian
guage,"
But her husband answered in self
defense: Even a minister has right
to swear once in his lifetime
Mallory almost dropped in his
tracks. and Marjorie keeled over on
him, as he gasped Good Lord, Dr.
Temple, you are "a minister"
Yes. my boy" the old man con
fessed. glad that the robbers had re-
lieved him of his guilty secret along
with the rest of his private properties.
Mallory looked at the collapsing Mar
iorie and groaned: And he was in
the next berth all this time"
The unmasking of the old fraud
made a second sensation. Mrs. Eos
dick called from far down the aisle:
DIR. Temple. you're not detective!
Mrs. Temple shouted back furious
ly: How dare you?"
But Mrs Fosdick was crying TO her
luscious-eyed mate: "Oh, Arthur, he's
not a detective. Embrace me"
And they embraced, while t'e rob-
bers looked on aghast at the sudden
oblivion they had fallen into. They
focused the attention on themselves
again, however, with ferocious:
Here. hands up" But they did not
see Mr.. and Mrs. Fosdicl steal Kiss
behind their upraised arms. for the
robber to whose lot Mallory fell was
gloating over his well-hlled wallet.
| Mallory saw it go with fortitude. but
noting piece of legal paper, he said:
Say. old man, you don't want that
marriage license, do you?"
The robber handled 1t as If 1t were
| hot-as if he had burned his fingers
on some such document once before,
and he stuffed it back in Mallory's
pocket Il should say not. Keep it.
| Turn round"
Meanwhile the other felon turned
up another beautiful pile OF bills in
| DR.. Temples pocket. Not SO worse
for parsou," he grinned. You must
| be one of them Fifth avenue sky
shaffures."
And now Mrs Temples gentle eyes
and voice filed with tears again: "Oh
don't take that That's the money for
his vacation-after thirty long years.
| Please don't take that"
| II I,t, nlw n
the tender spot of this robbers heart,
for he hesitated, and called out:
Shall we overlook the parsons wad.
podner?"
Take it, and shut up, you molly
coddle!" was the answer he got, and
the vacation funds joined the old gew-
gaws.
And now everybody had been
robbed but Marjorie. She happened to
be at the center of the line. and both
men reached her at the same time:
Il seen her first" the first one
shouted
You did not" the other roared
Il tell you | did
Il tell you | did They glared
threateningly at each other and their
revolvers seemed to meet, ike two
game cocks. beak to beak.
The porter voiced the general hope.
when he sighed: "Oh, Lawd, II they'd
only shoot each other"
This brought the rivals to their evil
senses, and they swept the line with
those terrifying muzzIes and that
heart-stopping yelp: Hands up"
Bill said: You take the east side OF
her, and I'll take the west"
"All right"
And they began to snatch away her
sidecombs, the little gold chain at
her throat, the jeweled pin that NAL
lory had given her as the first token
of his love.
The young soldier had foreseen this.
He had foreseen the wild rage that
would unscat his reason when he saw
the dirty hands Of thieves laid rudely
on the sacred body OF his beloved.
But his soldier.schooling had drilled
him to govern his impulses. to play
the coward when there was no hope
of successful battle, and to strike only
when the moment was ripe with per-
feet opportunity.
He had kept telling himrelr that
when the finger OF one OF these men
touched so much as Marjorie's hem.
he would be forced to fling himself
on the profane miscreant. And he
kept telling himself that the moment
he did this, the other man would
calmly blow a hole through him, and
drop him at Marjories feet. while tho
other passengers shrank away in ter
ror
He told himself that, while it might
! be a fine impulse to leap to her DO
| fense, II was a tool impulse to leap
off prccipice and leave Marjorie
! alone among strangers. with dead
! man and n scandal as the only re-
wards for his impulse. He vowed that
| he would hold himself in check. and
! let the robbers take everything. leav.
| ing him only the name OF coward.
| provided they left him also the power
to defend Marjorie better at another
time