The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-14

you must be craZyi The last time you did sthat you was worth near half million, all in Fannie's name. You got her to let go of it; then you tied it up in nice little bundle and blindfolded old E. IF. Falls so he wouldn't know what you was going, to do to him and slipped the pretty little package in his pocket along with my fifteen thousand; then you stepped back and giggIed-"
 Mrs. Wallingford looked at her hus- band His lower lip had pr0truded slightly and was squared. She knew that if he meant to have this thing, no tears or protesta lions would turn him, and no earthly argument move him.
 ss I Il go down with you tomorrow and sign anything you think best, Jim, !" she said quietly.
 Contrition seized him for a moment, and he longed to take her in his arms and reassure ,heS. He would have done so had it not been for the pres ence of Daws. Nevertheless, his con triton in no way obstructed his pur- pose. as his wife, knowing his counte- nance so well. imm ediately recognized.
 Violet Bonnie, however, insisted upon being the conscience for the par ty, and now took Mrs. Wallingford se- verely to task .tHonest, Fannie, you don't know the first principles of train- ing husband,' she charged. 'sYou're too easy.''
 tsyiolet.'ss protested Blaclie sternly. s'this<is none of your funeral"
 Well, i'll be jiggeredl'' declared that lady, positively aghast at Blackie's temeritY. What did you say?" she depanded, recovering her boise.
 "I said that the whole affair was none of your butt in,r announced BIaclzie firmly. rising and resting his knuckles upon the table and looking Sauarely into the blue eyes of his here tofore much better half. For a solid minute and a quarter. the blue eyes re sisted, then they dropped. Fifteen minutes afterward Violet Bonnie stood contentedly behind the chair of her husband, stroking his hair.
 The grand opening of the factory of the Speckled Bass Hollow Walled Portable Bungalow company was a function long to be renembered. Fully one-third of the front of the remodel ed factory was given over to offices be fitting such a distinguished set of off cers. Entering spacious vestfbule in Dutch tilfng, one saw surrounding him a number of beautiful glass doors lead ing into the of1ce of the president in white and gold, of the vice president in mahogany and ebony df, the second vice president in rosewood and silver birch, of the secretary in walnut and cedar, of the treasurer in redwood and birdseye maple, and of the manager in plain oak Besides these, there was an arched and groined directors room, which was a triumph in ceramic artS a buffet stocked with more varieties of liquids than a dyeshop, and a small boy, proud in so many gold buttons that in the sunlight he was one solid blaze Behind all this there was simple factory, with the shafting care fully gilded and the belting futtering with kaleidoscopic ribbons; workmen. grinning foolishly when unobserved, in. snow white uniforms, and the very cleanest of clean shavings scattered everywhere. The officers of the com pany brought hosts and hocks an( bevies of women, some young ane some old, and all so beautiful by aEt that nature, out of pure spite, had wasted no gifts upon them. These la dies, taught carefully from infancy to be charming, were charmed Into costa sies by everything they saw without discrimination, unless they discrimi- mated in favor of Wallingford himself, whom they voted to be most ckarm- ing manager, as did the board, of di- rectors next day at their first regular meeting in the new quarters
 ssYou see, fellows declared Hickey Saunders. its not only sport1n% but rippin', what this chap WalIingford's done He's made it possible for each fellow to entertain in his own offices with all the resources of a club and all the privacy of his own quarters, and yet it doesn't need ehaperonage be cause it's. a bfoonfn' factory office Wonderful business man, call him. '. 4sRemarkable,'' agreed Benssy. I never saw a aIine of ltquorssand wines selected with so nice discrimination Boy, tell Ike to make us another of those absinthe puffs.'
 ssYes, sir,' said Toad Jessop.
 seI should say that we should vote to increase our managers salary" sug- gested Von, Humperdinck, his little pompadour bristling backward with the happy. thought.
 s.ImpossibIer' declared RinggoId Cash, rubbing his left hand with his right as if he would rub of the black spots "He has no salary, if you re member, but it would be perfectly proper, I think, to render him a vote of confdence.''-
 < This the board of directors did, and Mr. Wallingford, called in to receive it, was ,gratified almost to death He was dressed that day with faultIess precision, and his costume bore in it the combined traces of a social favor ite-a business magnate and an eff cient maitre d'hoteL