The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1913-01-17
HE CAUGHT THE CAT
BY EDITH COHEN.

mats In this building" Althea Simp-
son inquired casually, as they stood
at the back door of the Simpson fat
Young Dewberry was cracking ice
on the stone doorstep by way of help.
ing Althea make lemonade for the
rest of the callers In the living room
He had attained this privilege by
sheer force, inasmuch as three other
young men had sprung to their feet
when Althea had murmured some
thing about making the lemonade.
Young Dewberry had simply hewn a
path through their ranks as he head
ed for the icebox and bit of soil
tude with Althea.
rs that SOP" he remarked in re-
Spouse to her remark about the thir-
ty-six flats. He looked down into the
huge curved court, which nearly BIZ
sected the long building. It was a
canyon with walls showing spidery
staircases and narrow little porches
and 1t ended in a cement well at the
ground, with an exit through the base
ment to the street.
"Oh!" Althea cried at that mo-
ment. For something 1.-THE and gray
leaped over young Dewberry to the
porch and vanished. There goes my
cat! i never allow him out at night!
Catch him, quick!"
Dropping the ice, young Derberry
made leap after the cat. 1t glided
down the narrow staircases like a
ghost. Breathless, its pursuer reached
hn oh al,
feline around the cement court. At
last he grabbed it's tail and hung on.
The cat, scratching furiously, was
gathered to his manly chest and fur
lively choked.
"Now I've got you'll" young Dew
berry muttered viciously. "Consarn
you! Why should she waste affection
on you?"
He looked up at the canyon wall
and was impressed by it's UNMARRIED
Imonotony. Then, seeing a staircase
near, he started up. Mechanically
after a while he stopped. All the
back doors on that floor were closed.
All loked alike. 1t suddenly dawned
on young Dewberry that he was con-
fronted by thirty-six back doors and
that his chance of finding the right
one was rather slim.
Peering over the rail, he counted up
from the ground and found that he
was on the third floor He began
considering doors. Most of them had
names on them and none of the
names was Simpson. He had not
realized before how very many other
names there were in the world Final
ly he came to nameless door and
took a sight out over the court. This
must be the one, for the angle was
similar to that he had seen when
Althea had called his attention to the
size OF the court. He tapped gently.
The door flew open with disquiet-
ing suddennesss and a fist was shak-
en- under young Dewberry's nose.
"You clear Quit" said the voice that
went with the fist. "I've been waiting
for you-and let me tell you, if you
come around again bothering my cook
I'll have the law on you! A loafng
drunken husband and she a hard
working wo-" Then the door was
Walking very rapidly and very
straight, young Dewberry headed for
the end of that row of porches. He
was lost and must go at it sensibly.
Selecting door, he knocked. After
while he found the bell and rang
Presently it opened and a woman
peered out over the chain.
excuse me, madam" Dewberry be-
gan in his politest tones. 81 have"
"Good gracious!" the woman cried.
"An agent at this time Of night" It's
perfectly disgraceful disturbing peo-
pie who don't want to buy anything"
She slammed the door shut and rat
tied the chain pointedly.
Young Dewberry leaned against
post and gazed at the cold, twinkling
stars. He and the cat were very
much alone. 1t occurred to him that
all this trouble could have been
averted had Althea remained on her
back porch and watched his progress.
He began to feel bitter toward AL
thea.
Suddenly he realized that he was
not on the third floor, but the second
he had counted the back stairs up
from the cement basement where he
had caught the cat!
Hastily ascending another flight, he
renewed his scrutiny of doors. The
name of Simpson was not on any of
them. So, still clutching the dis
gusted cat, he went downstairs once
more and assembled the flights on the
opposite side of the canyon.
Presently he paused before a door.
There were bits of ice on the door
tep! Thus encouraged, Dewberry
turned the knob and entered.
'Why, where on earth have you
been?" asked Althea in some confu-
sion. She was at the icebox and
young Spriggs, who was with her,
moved aside quickly. You've been
gone ages! They've drunk up all the
lemonade and eaten everything! I
don't think 1t was nice Of you'll"