Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-07-23
CHAPTER VIII.
Griswold Emerqent.

the hue-and-cry runaway from the
curb in front of the saloon two doors
above, Mr.. Abram Sonneschein, deal
er in secondhand clothing and sweat
shop bargains, saw a possible custom
er drifting across the street, and made
ready the graphing hooks of COM
merical enterprise.
There was little suggestion or the
tramp roustabout, and still less, per-
haps, of the gentleman, about the per-
son who presently emerged from the
Sonneschein emporium. A square far-
ther on he selected a BARRIERS shop of
cleanly promise. An hour later, reach
ing the retail district, he strolled past
many brilliantly lighted shops until
he found one exactly to his liking. A
courteous salesman caught him up at
the door, and led the way to the des-
ignated departments.
By this time Mr.. Sonneschein's hes
liant and countrified customer had un-
dergone a complete metamorphosis.
No longer reluctant and hard to
please, he passed rapidly from count
er 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 in gar
mentings with a surplus to fill two
lordly suitcases; so he bought the
suitcases 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 cab. Oddly
enough, the cab, when it came. proved
to be a four-wheeler driven by little
wizen-faced man whose thin, high
pitched voice was singularly familiar.
THE hotel Chouteau?-yis, sorr.
Will you plaze hand me the grips? l
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, it 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 and
permitted an attentive bell boy to re-
lieve him Of his two suitcases.
The clerk, a rotund little man
with a promising bald spot and a per-
manent smile, had appraised his latest
guest in the moment Of book signing,
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
wold. Would you like a room, or
suite?"
Neither; if l have time to get my
supper and catch train. Have you
railway guide?"
There is one in the writing room.
But possibly l 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 fixed his destina-
ton, Griswold named the chosen field
for the hazard of fresh fortunes, and
it's 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.
"Oh, yes Your train leaves the ter
minal at eleven-thirty; 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-
tine. The luxurious hotel with it's
air of invincible responsibility; the
snowy napery, the cut glass, the
shaded lights, the deferential service;
all these appealed irresistably 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 it was to push the
hardships and perils of the preceding
weeks and months inO a far-away
past.
He ordered his supper deliberately,
and while he waited for it's serving,
imagination cleared the stage and set
the scenes for the drama of the future.
That future, with all it's 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-
ton he would find the environment
most favorable for a rewriting of his
book and for a renewal of his studies.
Here too. he might hope to become by
unostentatious degrees the beneficent
god-in-th -the-car Of his worthier ambi-
ton, raising the fallen, succoring the
helpless 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 triumphant demonstration to her
by the irrefutable logic of good deeds
and a life well-lved that i'm his case,
at least, the end justified the means.
The train of reflective thought was