Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-09-14
By OSCAR cox


Its all over between u.s."
but, sweetheart"
Don't sweetheart mer'
"For heavens sake, what can have
made this changer"
"I1l never marry a medical man;
that's what! I'd rather marry an I'M
dertaker.'
But you have made no objection to
my studying medicine before now"
"a sexton in a cemetery would be
far preferable to a sawbones."
"Come. tell me what has happened to
excite this antagonism to the noblest
of the professions"
"You don't deserve to know"
(Haughtily) No one is more compe-
tent to pass on my deserts than you.
1 dare say it is better that 1 should
not know. Where is my hat?"
"You shall know. l shall punish you
by telling you. Answer me. Weren't
you and Dick Trimmingham riding in
a trolley yesterday on College street?'
81 was"
"And who was the third person of
the party?"
I'VE had a skeleton with us. We
were taking it to our rooms"
And who was the person you called
Bfly?"
why, that was what we called the
skeleton"
$50, indeed, you called 1t Billy? And
who put the cigarette between its Jaws
and said, Don't smoke, Billy; It isn't
allowedY"
"Oh, you must have been told this
yarn by some mean contemptible"-
mot a bit of 1t. No one told me-"
'Then how did you get on to itr'
Never mind that. Was it necessary
that you should put a nickel between
the horrid things finger bones and say,
Here, Billy, pay your fare Like q
MANI"
"Did we do that?"
Yes, you did"
"You mean Dick did it."
at doesn't matter which of o did
1t. You were both acting like ghoulsL
And If you didn't do it you did some
thing equally frightfuL"
"What was that?"
"You said: Billy, you ought to w
worn your overcoat. You'll catch
cold"
I'll was thinking of the real person
the skeleton was before he died"
"Oh, you were! Then why did o
laugh when Dick said, He slipped out
the back door and got away from his
poor old mother, who was chasing him
with his rubbers?"
ibid l laugh at that?"
"You know very well you laughed at
it"
at wasn't funny at ali, WIS nf
"Funnyl 1t was shoeking!"
"Well, Dick, he
ooh, yes; it's always Dick, he.'
That's the way you crawl out Of every
thing. Whose hat was on the things
head?'
81 put my hat on 1t, but only for a
minute"
"And said, There's too much draft
for a bald head"
"That wasn't funny either"
at was reSoltingI'
A pause.
st wish you'd tell me how you got
on to all this"
perhaps you don't remember a girl
who got into the car with a thick veil
over her face to protect her from the
storm and hung on to a strap. The
thing was sitting on your lap
sob, my
Sand you said-what did you sayr'
81 don't remember"
"Don't rememberl You said, Get up,
Billy, and give the lady your seat"
A pause-a dreadful pause.
"What did you doT'
"What did l do? 1 know what l
wanted to do. | wanted to tell the
conductor to let me get off, but just
then a gentleman real gentleman,
such as l always supposed you to be-
arose and gave me his seat. / shut my
eyes to keep from looking at the grim
ming ghost opposite"
A pause, in which the young man
looks at the ceiling, the floor, the
walls. anything, everything except the
girl; then he gulps sorrowfully:
Il suppose it's ali over between us?'
81 should think So
This evening I'll not have you by
me, as usual. You'll not sit on my lap;
my hearth not beat against yours. I'll
sit alone IN my room, with no one to
comfort me except
who'll comfort your
None but Billy
"You don't deserve any one-I mean
anything-else.'
It'll be awful lonesome sitting there
that way"
"What way?'
with nobody but Billy"