Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1913-03-21

| IhO CuiiOSlly ielI ny IlObS Wdb Sho'SN
by the whole hotel The swing door
to the bar opened and men pressed
into the aperture. Mrs. Perley came
up from the kitchen, wiping dish.
Cora appeared in the dining-room
doorway, and In answer TO Miss Can
mons inquiringly-lifted eyebrows,
called across the hall:
IT'S the Murphysville stage on tho
down-trip to Rocky Ber. l guess they
thought they couldn't make it. The
driver don't like to run no risks and
so he's brought 'em round this way
and dumped em here. There aih't
but two passengers. That's them"
She indicated the two men who,
standing by the hall stove, were d.
vesting themselves of their wraps.
One Of them was a tall upright old
man with sweep of grlzzled beard
covering his chest, and gray hair fall
ing from the dome Of bald head.
The other was much younger. tall
| also, and spare to leanness. He wore
a gray fedora hat. and against It's
chill, unbecoming tint, his face. it's
prominent. bony surface nipped by
the cold to a raw redness, looked sal
low and unhealthy. With an air OF
! solicitude he laid his overcoat across
a chair, brushing on the snow with
| careful hand. Buttoned tight in
! black cutaway with the collar turned n
up about his neck, he had an appear-
ance Of being uncomfortab1y com-t
pressed into garments too small forl
| him. His shiny -knuckled, purplishl
hon .tN,NI III. 4
his coat over the chair back, were in
keeping with his general suggestion
! of large-boned meagerIy covered
lankness. The fact that he was
smooth-shaven, combined with the ,un-
usual length of dark hair that ap-
peared below his hat-brim, lent him
suggestion Of something interest
| ingly unconventional, almost artistic.
In the region where he now found
| himself he would have been variously
set down as gambler, a travelling
clergyman, an actor. or perhaps only
vender of patent medicines who had
some odd attractive way of advertis-
ing himself, such as drawing teeth
with an electrical appliance, or play
ing the guitar from the teilboard of
his showman's cart.
Now, having arranged his coat to
its best advantage, he turned to Fer
ley and said with a curiously deep
and resonant voice:
And, mine host, a stove in my
bedroom, stove in my bedroom or
| perish"
Cora giggled and threw across the
! hall to Miss Cannon n delighted MUIR
mur of:
"oh, say. amt he just the richest
thing?'
you've got US trapped and Gagged
here for spell, guess" said the
older man. ANY one else in the
same box?"
"Oh, youil not want for company"
said Perley, pride at the importance
of the announcement vibrating in his
tone. We've got Willoughby here
from the Bella X with his four set
ter dogs, and Bill Cannon and his
daughter UP from the coast"
"Bill Cannon!"-the two men stared
and the younger one said:
bill Cannon, the Bonanza King
from San Frarcisco?"
That's him all right" nodded Per
ley. up here to see the diggings at
Greenhide and showed in same as
you"
Here Rose. fearing the conversa-
tion might turn upon herself. slipped
from the doorway into the passage
and up the stairs to her own room.
An hour later as she stood before
the glass making her toilet for sup
per, a knock at the door ushered in
Cora, already curled, powdered and
beribboned for that occasion, small
kerosene lamp in her hand. In the
bare room, it's gloom only partly
dispelled by the light from similar
lamp on the bureau and the red
CLEAN from the stove, Miss Cannon
was revealed in the becoming half
dusk made by these imperfectly-
blending illuminations. pink silk
dressing-gown loosely enfolding her.
a lightly brushed-in suggestion of fair
hair behind her ears and on her
shoulders. Her comb was in her hand
and Cora realized with an uplifting
thrill that she had timed her visit
correctly and was about to learn the
mysteries of Miss Cannon's coiffure.
II brung you another lamp" she
said affably, setting her offering down
on the bureau. "One amt enough
light to dress decently by have
three" and she sank down on the side
of the bed with the air Of having
established an intimacy, woman to
woman, by this act of generous con-
sideration.
Them gentlemen she continued.
ARE along on this hall with you aud
your pa. The old ones Judge Wash
burne, of Colusa, pioneer that used
to know Mr. Perley's mother way
back in Sacramento in the fifties, and
knew your pa real well when he was
poor. It's sort of encouraging to
think your ma was ever DOOR"