The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1913-06-21
BY o. HENRY.
Illustrated Especially for This
Newspaper by Dan Sayre
GrOesbeek.

OF less culture ana pOlSe auS
wealth would have sworn. Blu
Blinker- always remembered tina
he was gentleman thing tina
no gentleman should do. So he
merely looked bored while he rode
In a hansome to the center of dis
turbance, which was the Broadwa.
office of Lawyer Oldport, agen
for the Blinker estate.
81 don't see," said Blinker
"why l should be always signing
COMPOUNDED papers. am packed
and was to have left for tn,
North Woods this morning. Nov
l must wait until tomorrow.
hate night trains. My best razors
are, of course, at the bottom o
some unidentifiable trunk. 1t is ;
plot to drive me to bay rum anC
monologueing barber. Give me
a pen that doesn't scratch. l hate
pens that scratch"
"Sit down." said double
chinned, gray Lawyer Oldport
"The worst has not been tolt
you. oh, the hardships of the
rich! The papers are not ye
| ready to sign. They will be lait
before you tomorrow at eleven
You will miss another day. Twice
shall the barber tweak the help
less nose of Blinker. Be thank
full that your sorrows do not en-
brace a haircut"
"If," said Blinker, rising. "the
act did not involve more signing
of papers l would take my bust
ness out of your hands at once.
Give me a cigar, please"
IT." said Lawyer Oldport, 81
had cared to see an old friend
son gulped down at one mouthful
by sharks l would have ordered
you to take it away long ago.
Now, let's quit fooling, Alexan-
der. Besides the grinding task
of signing your name some thirty
times tomorrow, / must impose
upon you the consideration of a
matter of business-of business,
and / may say humanity or right.
I spoke to you about this five
years ago, but you would not lis.
ten--you were in a hurry for a
coaching trip, think. The sub
ject has come up again. The
property"
ooh. property" interrupted
Blinker. Dear Mr.. Oldport, /
Let's have 1t all at one dose to-
morrow-signatures and proper
ty and snappy rubber bands and
that smelly sealing-wax and all.
Have luncheon with me? Well,
I'll try to remember to drop in at
eleven tomorrow. Morning."
The Blinker wealth was In
lands, tenements and heridita-
ments, as the legal phrase goes.
Lawyer Oldport had once taken
Alexander in his little pulmonary
gasoline runabout to see the
many buildings and rows of
buildings that he owned in the
city. For Alexander was sole
heir. They had amused Blinker
very much. The houses looked
so incapable of producing the
big sums of money that Lawyer
Oldport kept piling up in banks
IOT HlIH 10 SpenU.
In the evening Blinker went to
one of his clubs, intending to
dine. Nobody was there except
some old fogies playing whist.
Everybody was out of town. But
here he was kept in like a school,
boy to write his name over and
over on pieces of paper. His
wounds were deep.
Blinker turned his back on the
fogies, and said to the club stew
ard who had come forward with
some nonsense about cold fresh
salmon roe:
"Symons, I'm going to Coney
island" He said it as one might
say: "All's off; I'm going to
Jump into the river"
The joke pleased Symons. He
laughed within a sixteenth of a
note of the audibility permitted
by the laws governing employees.
Certainly, SIR" he Uttered.
"Of course, sir, think I can see
you at Coney, Mr.. Blinker."
Blinker got paper and look
ed up the movements of Sunday
steamboats,. Then he found a
cab at the first corner and drove
to North River pier. He stood
in line, as democratic as you and
I, and bought a ticket, and was
trampled upon and showed for
ward until, at last, he found him
self on the upper deck of the
boat staring brazenly at girl
who sat alone upon camp
stool. But BIinker did not in
tend to be brazen; the girl was
so wonderfully good looking that
he forgot for one minute that he
was the prince incog and be-
haved just as he did in society,".
She was looking at him, too,
and not severely. A puff of wind
threatened Drinkers straw hat.
He settled 1t again. The move
ment gave the effect of a bow.
The girl nodded and smiled, and
in another instant he was seat
ed atsher side. She was dressed
all in white, she was paler than
Blinker imagined milkmaids and
girls of humble stations to be,
but she was as tidy as a cherry
blossom, and her steady, SUI
premely frank gray eyes looked
out from the intrepid depths Of.
an untroubled soul. "a
How dare you raise your hat
to me?" she asked, with a smile
redeemed severity. ~
II didn't" Blinker said, but
he quickly covered the mistake
by extending it to, 81 didn't know
how to keep from 1t after / saw
you"
81 do not allow gentlemen to
sit by me to whom / have not
been introduced" she said, with
a sudden haughtiness that de-
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