The Monroe journal. [volume] (Monroe, N.C.) 189?-1965, 1915-07-23

please. he passed rapidly from coun'
ter to counter. making his selections
with manlike celebrity and certainty
and bargaining not at all. When he
was quite through. there was enough
TO furnish a generous travelling ward.
robe; a head-to-foot change of gar.
MEETINGS with a surplus TO fill two
lordly suitcases: so he bought the
suiteases also. and had them taken
with his other purchases to the dress.
ing room.
All traces of the deck-hand Gavitt,
and OF the Sonneschein planter-cus.
toner having been obliterated. there
remained only the paying of his bill
and the summoning of a cab. Oddly
enough. the cab. when II came, proved
TO be four-wheeler driven by little,
wizen.faced man whose thin, high
pitched voice was singularly familiar.
The Hotel Chouteau?-yis. sorr.
Il you PLACE hand me thin grips
| can't lave me harrses."
The drivers excuse instantly tied
the knot OF recognition. and the man
who had just cremated his former
Identities swore softly.
All things considered. 1t was the
Griswold of the college-graduate days
the days of the slender patrimony
which had capitalized the literary be-
ginning-who presented himself at
the counter of the Hotel Chouteau at
half-past nine o'clock on the evening
of the Belle jules arrival at st. Louis,
wrote his name in the guest-book and
permitted an attentive bell boy to re-
lieve him of his two suitcases.
The clerk. a rotund little man
with promising bald spot and per-
manent smile. had appraised his latest
guest in the moment of bookkeeping,
and the result was a small triumph for
the Olive street furnishing house. Next
to the genuinely tailor-made stands
the quality of verisimilitude; and the
keynote of the clerks greeting was
respectful affability.
Glad to have you with us. Mr.. Girls
void. Would you like room, or a
suite?"
Neither; II have time to get my
supper and catch train. Have you a
railway guide?"
There is one in the writing room.
But possibly | can tell you what you
wish to know. Which way are you
going?"
Without stopping to think of the
critical happenings which had inter
vened since the forming of the i'm
pulsive resolution fixing his destina-
ton, Griswold named the chosen field
for the hazard of fresh fortunes, and
its direction.
North; to a town in Minnesota
called Wahaska. Do you happen to
know the place."
The clerk smiled and shook his
head.
Plenty of time, is there?" Griswold
asked.
ooh. yes. Your train leaves the ter
minal at eleven-thrty; but you can
get into the sleeper any time after
eight o'clock"
Seated at a well-appointed table in
the Chouteau cafe, Griswold had ample
time to overtake himself in the race
reconstructive. and for the moment the
point of view became frankly Philis-
tire. The luxurious hotel, with its
air of invincible responsibility; the
snowy napery. the cut glass, the
shaded lights, the deferential service;
all these appealed irresistibly to the
epicurean in him. 1t was as If he had
come suddenly to his own again after
an undeserved season of deprivation,
and the effect of il was to push the
hardships and perils of the preceding
weeks and months into a far-away
past.
He ordered his supper deliberately,
and while he waited for its serving,
imagination cleared the stage and set
the scores for the drama of the future.
That future, with all its opportunities
for the realizing of ideals, was now
safely assured. He could go whittier
he pleased and do what seemed right
in his own eyes, and there was none
to say him nay.
In this minor city of his hasty selec-
tion he would find the environment
most favorable for rewriting Of his
book and for renewal Of his studies.
Here, too, he might hope to become by
transformations degrees the beneficent
god-in-the-car of his worthier ambition
raising the fallen. succoring the help
less and fighting the battles Of the
oppressed.
Further along, when she should have
quite forgotten the Belle jules deck
hand, he would meet Miss Farnham
on an equal social footing; and the
conclusion of the whole matter should
be a triumphant demonstration to her
by their irrefutable logic Of good deeds
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