Graham guardian., 1917-12-14
CUPID'S
WORK
By ETHEL HOLMES

arthur Armstrong was driving III
grade In hts motorcar and nearing a
sharp turn.
Toot! Toot. loot. toot. toot.
On the other side of the summit the
ground fell off. A motor was coming
| up at the accelerated speed used by
all chauffeurs in hill climbing At the
wheel was girl, the only occupant.
! Not being quick enough in turning or
| not having the strength, she shot out
on to the wrong side of the road on
her left.
Armstrong; car received The blow
on the bumper and was not injured
The girls car was put out OF commits
sion, and the girl-well. the girl was
caught in Amstrong's arms. But 1t
should be noticed that Armstrong was
q famous baseball catcher.
"Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously
II think not" she said. but she lay
limp In the stalwart arms Armstrong
looked down into her face anxiouSly
Her eyes were closed His lips were
within an inch Of hers He redu cd
the interval to zero.
"Oh. my! Good gracious!'' she ex
claimed. starting up and looking at her
car.
How fortunater said Armstrong
Fortunate! Do you call that wreck
fortunate?"
II mean that you are moi seriously
hurt"
But my brand new car Is ruined
Better that than you should have
been killed or mangled. Had you been
thrown Against the tar or hadn't miss
ed the wind shield by hairs breadth
you would have been killed. AS 1t
was. being thrown into.
He stopped short.
"Oh. dear. what am ! going to dog
moaned the girl.
"I'll take you home. My car is all
right"
"But mine what shall we do
with it?"
Armstrong looked puzzled They were
In the country. far from any town
TITS of the road" he said, "and won't
endanger any one. Well go to the
nearest garage and have them send
out for It. But I'm afraid Il isn't
worth hauling in"
This being the only thing that could
be done. she consented reluctantly
Armstrong got out of his car gathered
up her belongings. then, returning to
his car. pushed button. pressed Il foot
brake, made other starting moves and
began to descend the slope before him
The girl cast lingering look at the
wreck and wiped away tear.
There is every reason to believe thar
Cupid had sat beside the girl aud
caused the disaster, Else why should
1t have occurred, and why should she
have been shot into Armstrong; arms
being just enough upset to lie there
long enough for him to kiss her ruby
lips? And there is every reason to
believe that Cupid. having caused the
collision. hoped into the rear seat of
p, Armstrong; car. At any rate. every
thing from that moment was beauti.
fully arranged to hasten union he
tween these two young persons.
In the first place. It was late In the
afternoon and growing dark. As soon
as he had started Armstrong pressed
button to turn Oh bis lights No light
came.
That's bad" he said. The shock
must have broken the electric connec
tion."
If Cupid was managing the affaiI
this was his most important work. No
one but q fool dare run an auto at
night without lights. Another clever
stroke was that Armstrong had no
skid CHAINS. and there was lot of
Ice on the road. which. being of as
phalt, was thereby made very slippery
In addition to this. the country was
billy and the road full of turns. The
time was late In November. and with
In twenty minutes after the collision
darkness fell over the face of the land
Coming to what looked through the
gloom as II the road suddenly ended =
II was sharp turn Armstrong pulled
as far out of the road as be dared aud
stopped
It'll never do to go any farther III
this machine he said,
"Oh. dear, what shall we dor
I'VE must find house And don''
see any way but for US to stay there
and 90 on In the morning"
Wrhof xpnuIA ha i,,nnccthIa Ia, ~ a.
case"
"Why so?"
After some pressure the girl said
that her father and mother were
French. The French have very strin
gent notions as to girl being awa.V
from home. unaccounted for. overnight
Her life would be blighted
"We'll have to find house. all the
same" said Armstrong THE rest OF
II we can settle later"
Leaving the auto. they went back
over the road. having seen light
! some distance to the rear. Maybe II
had been put out. At any rate. they
didn't find It. They wandered for
miles before house. darkened. loomed
up before them. They were In small
village. Armstrong banged at the door
till man opened II.
"Got a parson In this placer Arm
strong asked.
Right over there in the house across
the street"
The couple went to the parson. call