The Washington herald., 1915-12-14
DAILY SHORT STORY.
rHE HANDY HAM
~ LOUISE oLIvEn.

, othy. sliding her hand OF Commas arm
and starting for the door.
You must notr' he commanded
She stopped for an instant a. though
submissive to q will stronger than her
ow:. Then. before he realized what she
was doing. she dashed . glass Of water
over . napkin. caught Il mp to her face
and was out Of the door. through the wall
Of smoke and tearing up the stairs.
Connie was at her heels. but he could
not stop her. There had been no time
for him to protect himself. and tho
smoke in his eyes and lungs strangled
him. but he kept on.
Come back-come back here. Connie
Dorothy" called the others below. Are
you crazy!" But Dorothy kept on and
Connie after her o.
Upstairs the smoke was less dense.
Dorothy ran along the hall and into .
room at the right
You can't come in.' she called. But
Connie. with eyes alert for flames. paid
no attention.
Hurry" he urged. Get what you
want. But for heavens sake hurry!"
She new to . bureau. opened . small
top drawer. got something that looked
like a card, slid It into the front Of her
gown and faced him. lin ready!
she choked.
Comics eyes were smarting % he
could scarcely see. But they groped their
way along the hall. keeping As close to
the floor as possible They almost fell
down the stairs. In another instant they
were outside on the porch just - the
firemen arrived.
The men rushed into the smoke-filled
house. upstairs. down cellar, garrett
ward-yet there were no flames. only
dense, acrid smoke.
NO fire in the house at ALL" yelled
some one Its all coming out of the
registers Something wrong with tho
furnace
So to the cellar they went and found
piece of damp carpet smolderins In
disused furnace.
Max Wells swore Its that blankety-
blank new man Of ours. When the
weather got colder. I sent him down to
light the furnace. i never thought of tho
old one It's been stuffed up for years.
WelI-the jokes on u.s.
Open windows soon cleared he house
sufficiently for the guests TO :eturn to
their coffee.
AS Connie placed Dorothy's chair for
her. he noticed white square on the
floor. He picked it up and saw-his own
photograph. with something written on
the back, In an instant 1t as in his
pocket. In some way he knew 1t was
what Dorothy had been so frantic to
rescue. It was very puzzlinS! Instinct
told him. too. that she must never know
he had discovered II.
The rest of the evening passed uneyent-
fully enough except that Connie felt that
he had suddenly ascended to the seventh
heaven Of delight Dorothy MAXWELL was
already the only girl in the world He
discovered that he had visited her cou-
sin. college chum, a fact that might
explain her possession Of the photograp ph
Then she discovered her loss. oh, I've
lost the-the paper went up stairs for
she cried suddenly. NO. please don't
help me hunt 1t. / must have dropped
II on the porch. Please-don't come.
Mr. Collins" So Connie let her search
When she returned. white faced. without
il. he was ready with an explanation.
Miss MAXWELL. when think Of 1t. l saw
fireman pick up a piece of cardboard
and light his cigar with it Do you sup
pose it could be what you lost"
''Oh. hope so!'' she cried passionately.
Il should have burned 1t myself long
ago. That Is why I wanted to get Z
when they called fire; vas afraid it
would be discovered"
This was what was written on The
photograph, and what Connie felt lie was
entitled to read before he put a match
tc il at bedtime:
II love his eyes. love The way the
hair waves over his left temple. I love
the cleft in his chin. and his arm. strong
mouth. l wonder II / shall ever know
him
Connie went to bed 200 nappy to sleep.
After ALL" he reflected. there's some
advantage in being a supply. But I'm
afraid Belle will have to hunt up another
handy man. I'm gone
tCorrriaht ly5D