The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-04-10

nands, and how, no doubt, she had
been lying In her room when he called
today, with shades drawn, resting be-
fore the long hard evening" when Lon
don would be amused by her, delight
ed by her, charmed by her voice, by
her body and her grace. He had
wandered up as far as Piccadilly,
went into a florists and stood before
the flowers. Her sitting-room had been
full OF roses, but Dan chose some
thing else that had caught his eye
from the window-a huge country bas-
ket of primroses, smelling of the earth
and the spring. He sent them with
his card and wrote on 1t, ITO the Girl
from My Town." and sent the gift
with a pleasure as young and as fresh
as was his own heart.
He got no note of acknowledgment
from his flowers. Miss Lane was evi.
IDENTIFY better and played every night;
no mention was made of her indispo-
sition In the papers. But Dan couldn't
80 to the Gaiety or bear 10 see ner
make the effort which he knew must
tire her beyond words to conceive.
After few days he called at the
Savoy to get news of her. He got as
far as the lift when going up In it he
saw Prince Poniotowsky. The sight
affected Miss Lanes townsman so for
chilly that instead of going up to the
dancers apartment Dan took himself
on, and anger, displeasure and some
thing like disgust were the only SEN
timents he carried away from the Sa-
voy. He sent her no flowers, and gave
himself up unreservedly to Joshua
Ruggles and to couple of men who
came In to see him by appointment.
And when toward four o'clock he found
himself alone with Ruggles, Dan
threw himself down In a big chair d
looked intensely bored.
We'll, guess We don't need to see
any more Of these fellows for a week,
Dan," Ruggles yawned with relief.
I'm blamed II 1t isn't as hard to take
care OF money as to get 1t. I was
poor man once, and so was your IA
ther. Those were the days we had
fun"
Ruggles took out big cigar, struck
q match sharply, and when he had lit
his Henry Clay he fixed his gaze on
the flying London fog, whose black
curtain drew itself across their win.
dow.
There's q lot Of excitement" Rug
giles said, "in not knowing what you're
going to get; may turn out to be any.
thing when you're young and on the
trail. That's the way your father and
me felt. And when we started out on
the spot that's Blairtown on the map
today, your father had forty dollars
q week to engineer busted mine and
to pull the company into shape"
Dan knew the story of his fathers
riss by heart, but he listened.
He took on with the mine lot OF
discontented half.hearted rapscallions
"a whole bunch who mad failed all
along the line. He didn't chuck 'em
out. There's no life In old wood
Josh. he said to me. but sometimes
there's fire In 1t, and I'm going to light
up. and he did. He won over the
whole lot OF them in eighteen months,
and within two years he had that
darned mine paying dividends. Mean.
while something came his way and he
took It,"
From his chair Dan asked: You
mean the Bentley claim?"
Measles" his friend said comically,
with grin. Your father was sick
to death with them When he was sit
ting up for the first time. peeling in
his room, there was q FELLOW, an Eng
lishman, q total stranger, come In to
see him. Better clear out of here
your father says to him. I'm shed.
ding the damnedest disease for a
grown man that ever was caught
I'm not afraid of It, the Englishman
said. I'm shedding worse When