Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-20

won't be needed at Allardyce's before half
past eight"
Honk! With the mechanical tattoo of
machinery Tommy was off for San Jose.
RUNG stood and contemplated his mas
~ tiers departure with a feeling of weak
ness about the knees. He was left alone, as
it were, with that terrifying dress suit, and
| the thought made him as nervous as though
he, and not Tommy, was to be the bride
groom. Also he remembered how he had
| refused to give the bride the lucky Ho Gee;
and the'more he thought it over the more
he was convinced that some awful calamity
would befall the nuptials unless the little
jade idol was delivered before the knot was
tied. He was sorry he had taken the god in
| anger from Mrs. Allardyce the night before.
He was resolved to make amends. He
would tuck Ho Gee in his pocket and take
him to the wedding in order to scare away
the demons of evil.
Finally he carefully put away his hoe He
went to his shack and heated fve-gallon
oilcan full of water. With yellow laundry
| soap he bathed himself to shiny cleanliness,
then put on new suit of overalls and
shuff1ed over to the ranch house.
On clean bed at the head of the stairs
Bung beheld the dress suit, a long, ambassa-
of countenance. The trousers, coat, and
| waistcoat were carefully laid out like inva-
lids of incalculable Importance; next to these
a shirt of fine and intricate pattern, in de-
sign similar to the one he had torn from the
back of the impairment laundryman.
There were thick-ribbed socks of silken
blackness and under the bed pair of pat
ent-leather pumps that made Bung's toes
ache with anticipation. He fingered the
goods reverently, looking at his hands to
see if they were perfectly clean. Pridefully
reposing on a pillow were a pair of white
gloves, a lawn tie, and an overwhelmingly
brilliant high hat.
Bung sighed and began to disrobe. Far
be it from him to disobey orders! If his
master ordained that his servant should go
dressed like a nobleman, let his mandate be
obeyed! He pulled on the trousers, which,
clinging sausage-tight to his limbs, dragged
on the floor almost foot beyond his toes.
He turned them up. He closed the stiff
shirt with difficulty over his broad bosom.
He was impressed by the splendor of the
studs, which flashed like fine jewels. His
pride began to assert itself as he contem-
plated the white silk vest with buttons to
match the studs. True, it split up the back
as he tried it on but it seemed to feel much
better that way. The coat was compare
lively easy to wear, the shoes were torture,
and as to the collar-well, Bung had never
worn one of those iron-clad creations before,
and was utterly at loss how to get it on.
He had a vague notion the collar button had
something to do with the operation; but
just how he could not exactly figure out.
After much struggle he managed to fasten
the collar behind, letting the ends flop like
ears on both sides of his head. Finally he
set the silk hat wrong way to on the back of
his skull. There was long mirror at the
end of the room. For several minutes he
contemplated himself with all the satisfaction
of matinee hero. What fine figure he was!
7 IMPING painfully on his tortured toes,
- he went over to the stable and hitched up
Daisy, who, observing Bungs changed ap-
pearance, stood with her head pointing at
her tail while she snorted at the miracle.
Bung drove round to his cottage and got
out the image of Ho Gee, which he dropped
into his pocket, intending to present it to the
bride before the worst had happened. Hold
ing the reins high and trying to look over
whelmingly aristocratic, he drove away along
the west drive. There was an air of eccen-
trio elegance about him. He gave the APP
pearance of some yellow plutocrat who had
escaped from fashionable lunatic asylum
o,,I 1,;r All