Norwich bulletin., 1914-07-17

Oient Cia hehFN NO I'll FOLLOW your | first advice and hunt tip the owner. It would-be quite romantic. and besides I you hinted that might make a shilling or two bST it. You found her name and ! address there. didn't you 2"
 Yes" Al reluctantly answered T found her name and an address, but
 it Is hardly likely you could find her after so many years You know they
 keep luggage long time before 1t is
 sold.'
 'Pm not sure about that" said Fred. l I've thought about 1t all the morning,
 and the idea grows on me. It will be | rare fun to try anyway What did you say the name was?"
 But no doubt this girl was killed 1 luggage is seldom lost except by some an old woman,
 ] Fred laughed immoderately. | Just as if that would make an act
 of charity less meritorious. Old women don't usually wear white lace hats, | though You must have found some | thing precious in there-jewelry or
 something-which makes you anxious
 to martyrize yourself It's mine, how ever, and I am not as anxious to part with it as I was-not till I've looked 1 through 1t anyway"
 | As he turned the key Al remembered
 that his own photograph was lying
 in conspicuous box and exclaimed:- Wait until after dinner, then. I am hair starved!
 Perhaps it would be better" was 1 the answer. and they passed out to- l gether.
 | When fairly down stairs. Al said he had forgotten his handkerchief and l flew back three steps at a, time to get
 it. Securing the picture and placing | it in an inside pocket, he said to him | self:-
 Surely there is nothing else to give me away. But I must wheedle him
 out of the trunk"
 After dinner Fred went through" | the contents of the trunk making boy | fsh remarks concerning each article as he threw it aside. Al inwardly winced at these remarks and could scarcely
 restrain himself from knocking him over on the spot.
 What makes you SO crusty?" quer- jed Fred suddenly as one of his choicest jokes was met by gruff 'H'mi" There's no fun in you, and why you want this stuff beats me. Your sis ters would turn up their noses at sec ond-hand clothing, if it is pretty. But 1t isn't worth fussing over, so take it along. No doubt it would prove a white elephant on my hands sooner or later" Not until the trunk was safely in his room could Al breathe freely. Even out of his sisters sight. They made
 both pet and a. confident of their one brother and had fashion of dropping into his room at all hours to tell him of their schemes and woes. He had pushed the trunk under a mahogany table in the corner. the old-fashioned cover of which reached almost to the floor. When he told them he was going away for a little business trip" they beset him with questions and petitions to be taken with him, finally declaring u-hf he a
 gone and sort out his trash.' So behold him, in the dead of night, carrying the white elephant" up the narrow attic stairs, pumping his head | on every rafter and getting cobwebs in his mustache. He covered it with
 of 1t and then crept down stairs feel ing as guilty as if he had been con-
 cealing some crime At breakfast the girls both talked at once about the burglar who tried to get in and how they pounded on AIS door and could not even get an answer.
 At noon he was off and as the train whirled on ward he became possessed
 with fears. She might not be at Hast ings; she might not care for him after these three years; she might even be
 married or dead.
 Arriving at his destination at last, he only stopped to leave his bag at a hotel and walked rapidly to a familiar house in the suburbs. Ringing the bell, he inquired for Miss Burr in a
 her the day before. He watched the girls face as she spoke and saw no trace of surprise. She simply said:- Miss Burr may not be able to see you. but come in and I will ask" Presently he was shown into a small sunny room, where on a couch lay the one girl he had ever loved. He meant to explain at once the cause of his
 foolish going and eager coming, all of which he had fromed into frank, beau , tiful sentences. but somehow they for sock him, and he fell back on the commonplace. She received him with quiet words of welcome and then said
 Pardon my position, but I am such
 an invalid that it is a trial to sit up." An invahd?" he echoed faintly
 Yes" she answered. Did you not hear of my accident several months ago? On coming home from a visit
 I stopped for a day or so in a London hotel The building caught fire a few
 hours after I entered it. The horror
 of the scene is stamped-branded on my memory that I cannot bear to talk of it. I lost everything except the ulster which was wrapped about
 me, and would have lost my life, but for the brave fireman who broke my fall. Oh, no, I am not seriously in- iured," she continued, in answer to his
 half spoken question. though I have l been i'll ever since. It--was such a | shock you know"
 By delft questioning he succeeded in
 making her say
 Yes, lost my trunk It was left at the station q expected to go on in a
 day or two), and the deposit ticket
 was destroyed with my pocketbook. Railway people are necessarily partic- | ular about identifying luggage. and for weeks I was too i'll to even remember 1t. Besides. had only gone for a short outing, and 1t held nothing of
 much value, except some keepsakes that were dear to me"
 A deep flush stole over her face at these words. He watched it for one
 delicious moment, and then gathered her up in his arms. exclaiming:= "I will bring them back if you will
 pay the reward I want"
 Then-or. rather, after he had tor
 tured her impatience mercilessly-he
 told her of Freds bargain bought at
 auction. She. begged for it, coaxed
 pleaded, all in vain. He declared she
 could only have the little leather trunk
 as wedding present. And a very
 happy wedding party it was too-I,on-
 don Tit-Bits.