Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1914-06-27
A Tale With No Moral
BY Montague Glass
Copyrighted by Frank A. Munsey Co

Judge crowley ana L sat next To
each other at Paillard's and dis
cussed the faces and characters of
those present as the Weekly
Bugle would say.
~D'ye see who's sitting over
there ?" he asked.
At one Of the center tables was a
spare, STOPPING man, whose face had
a euriously withered appearance.
who is he?" said |. "Seems to
nae I've met him before"
That's Billy Wagner" the judge
replied. Notice those queer skin
folds around his face and neck.
That's due to shrinkage. Eight
months ago he weighed two hun
bred and twenty pounds-you may
have noticed him in here last win
ter Always had a little dark girl
with him. Then he got typhoid
pneumonia, and after that his stom-
ach went back on him"
How about the little dark girl ,"
! asked.
Went back on him, too. Want
10 hear about it?"
l nodded.
We'll, then" said the Judge. set
Ting himself comfortably, this man
Wagner is the chief auditor i'm the
finance department. Gets five thous-
and a year. His father, old Captain
Charlie Wagner, left him good roll
-seventy-five thousand, hear
and he's got most of it yet He's =
good, level-headed boy, too.
"Now, about this little dark girl
You were asking for. She worked
down at the comptroller's Office
stenographer, or the like-and Billy
takes her around a good deal. A
shore dinner down at Upmann's was
the last thing / heard about, and
the doctor said that the bugs-the
bacilli, you know-were in the clans
At any rate, Billy was clean off his
nut for six weeks. They gave him
Rce-baths and the like, and he was
coming around all right when one
dav | dropped in to see him.
Where is She?' he asked
WHO'S that l said, pretending
that | didn't know what he meant.
He mentioned her name, and | went
ON; Why she was around here every
day, but they wouldn't let you see
her.
"'O-hov he said.
~And | left him quite happy.
Now, as a matter Of fact, I'm here
every night for dinner, and at least
three times a week, during Billy'S
sickness, she came in with a short,
thin one with brown whiskerS. His
name is Ed Walsh, so I'm told. and
hes collector of arrears Of street as
sessments. You sec, she just had to
dine out and be in the excitement.
and the last one on the job made the
biggest hit with her. Well. this
Walsh man only holds down two
thousand year, and you could have
aoored me with playing-card when
Il heard, the very next day after |
saw Billy at the hospital. that they
were married-thiS Walsh fellow
and the little dark girl, | mean.
~The next day went up to the
hospital again.
Can | see Mr.. Wagner | asked,
be being in the private medical cor
ridor-nice, big room.
" No, you can't said the superin-
teMdent.
Why not
on We're the one that saw him
Yesterday he said.
THAT'S me- / answered.
And ten minutes after you left,
said he, 'his temperature shot up TO
a hundred and five and half
80 Not by me- ! said positively;
cad then got it like a flash.
guess ! turned little purple around
tns chops, for saw the old boy
emile. Have you got last nights
Journal p | asked him.
sFfThaN fp1,I a -Dprau-ba g,l
sure enough, on the third page, there
this Walsh fellow. side by side. with
cupids around, and.
underneath, two sticks with the
priests name, and SO on. | had left
that paper for him to read, mind
YOU.
y We'll, | Quit there at once, YOU
bet. II was nip and tuck for Billy
hut he had a good strong heart, and
twcnty-one weeks saw him leave
that hospital pretty much as he
ooks now. Then his stomach went
hack on him, and Billy Wagner sank
down from two hundred and twenty
June 10 one hundred and twenty
I'm October.
I got the rest straight from the
IGpulN llluScll over at inc nail lilln
Billy went downtown the
first Of October and walked into his
oTicc. Louis Schultz, a detail COP,
vaet him at the door.
Looking for some one?' he .
asked.
why, no, Louis Billy said.
q" See here, Louis came back, 'yo1
got a pretty good nerve with yer.
amt yer, springing this Louis busi
ness on me?'
Il don't think Billy realized till
that time how he'd fallen away, and
he Just dropped into his own chair
and did the baby act Well, he soon
got himself together and took out .
his keys. Then he opened his desk .
IA front of the astonished Louis. /
pulled his fountain pen out of his .
pocket, and signed his name on
Slip of paper. After this he took out .
a bundle Of cancelled checks from a
S'Compare them,' he said to
,Ouis, handing over the slip of paper