The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-03-26
HIS
FRIEND
By PERLEY POORE
SHEEHAN
by Frank A. Munsey Co.

SOluS Ou IOILy anu las I'LL cSoAoLiISo'
wife and a steady job, a man who
stays home evenings and rolls his W
cigarettes-when a man like this has
been yearning for just one weird. scar
let adventure before he is forever too
old and he is suddenly confronted with
it, what happens?
Does he fall for It?
Sometimes, and again There was
the case of William Q. Johnson!
OF course you may argue that his
Isl was exceptional in that William
was none other than the son of Bill
Johnson.
Bill had brought his picturesque ca
reer to a close by getting hanged in
Melbourne-an interesting man and ia
nous in his day throughout the south
seas.
But William had never been permit
ted to know anything about his ia
theirs activities. And, as for ships and
things, his sainted mother had brought
him up to shun them as evil inventions.
On the evening of his adventure
Johnson came home from the Office. as
usual, at 6:3O, dutifully kissed his wife
and washed himself hurriedly in prep
aration for the waiting soup. He was
visibly preoccupied.
Presently his wife said to him:
you look worried. dearie. Isn't your
work all right?"
"Everything's o. H." he responded.
but be relapsed into silence.
She didn't question him further. He
had these silent spells.
Sometimes it was a dispute with his
chief at the Office. sometimes q stirring
Of old ambitions, sometimes a goading
thought Of his small salary.
It was eve anything worse than
that. His habits exemplary. and
his wife knew It.
Yet the very thing that now held
Johnson tongue tied was something be
dared not understanding he could
hardly admit to himself without blush
ing.
1t was the memory Of a grill
We should state at nee that there
were e~xtenuating circumstances. Not
only was the girl extraordinarily beau.
tiful, but the way In which she anne
across Williams notice was extraordi.
nary as we'll
BE had een her just a be was com
ing up the steps with his latchkey in
his hand. She couldn't have been more
than nineteen or twenty. She was
slim and dark, and her face was o
derfullv lOvahle and alert.
For a fraction of a second she had
inclined in his direction-eyes, face.
%igure-with parted lips. as though
about to speak to him.
Then something in his attitude-he
vas the most delicate minded of men
or some second thought of her W
had made her hesitate.
The girl passed hurriedly on. VII.
liam passed into the house.
The oddly Of the experience had not
Immediately appealed to him. But a
minute later as he climbed the stairs
and later still when he washed his face
and on through supper he recalled the
a%lertness of the way she had looked at
him.
1t gave him a shadowy feeling of
uneasiness and regret. lie tried yer
and wei again to imagine the words
that she might have said had he given
her the opportunity.
Recollection Of the incident returned
to him necessarily long after Mrs
Johnson had gone to bed.
He was nervous and wide awake.
Suddenly amid the little sounds of
the deepening night-the ticking of the
clock. the rumble Of a distant trolley
car, the stirring of an uneasy window
sash-there came q soft. distant tap.
ping at the door.
Johnston started and looked up.
It was past II. For an interval he
did not stir. The summons was re
peated. a little louder. but still guarded
and cautious.
johnson tiptoed to the inner hall.
turned up the gas and cautiously open,
ed the door.
He had pretty good nerve for an
Office man. still he couldn't suppress q
movement Of surprise. .
Standing there before him. gro
tesquely black and m~isshapen. was a
negro dwarf.
The visitor didn't attempt to come in.
Instead. he Immediately plunged into
a series Of urgent signs that johnson
was to follow.
He was obviously in a hurry.
johnson came to a swift resolution
The night had begun adventurously
He would see It through.
As best he could be made the dwarf
understand that he would come as
soon as he could change his slippers
for his shoes. A few minutes later.
without having disturbed his wife, he
was following the negro silently down
the stairs.
It was but q few minutes walk from
the placed johnson lived to a park.
facing upon which the houses Of
the wealthy That's the way It Ia In
New York-poverty and opulence sep.
arated BY q line Al narrow and intan.
gible ~ . meridian.