Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1919-12-19

glanced at II abSently, merely noticing
the title and subtitle, and wandered
out of the room, thinking of other
things and feeling no curiosity about
the book. But he hsd thought of it
several times since With faint, vague
uneasiness; and move when he entered
the lobby he walked directly into the
parior where he had seen the book.
The room was empty, as it always was
on Sunday mornings, and the fiamhoy-
ant volume was still upon the table
evidently a fixture as a sort of local
Almanach de Gotha, or Burke, for the
enlightenment of tenants and boarders.
He turned to the index where the
names of the five hundred Most Promi-
nent Citizens and Families in the His
tory Of the City were arranged in al
phabetical order, and ran his finger
down the column OF AS: Albeit ABB
bolt, Abrams, Adams. Adams, Adler,
Akers. Albertsmeyer. Alexander. Allen,
Ambrose. Ambuhl, Anderson. Andrews,
Appenbasch, Archer, Arszman, Ash
craft, Austin, Alvey.
Georges eyes remained for some
time fixed on the thin space between
the names "Allen" and Ambrose"
Then he closed the book quietly, and
went up to his own room. agreeing
with the elevator boy, on the way,
that 1t was getting to be a mighty
nasty wet and windy day outside.
The elevator boy noticed nothing I'M
usual about him and neither did Fanny,
when she came in from church with
her hat ruined, an hour later And yet
something had happened-a thing
which. years ago. had been the eager
est hope of many, many good citizens
! OF the town. They had thought of II,
longed for 1t, hoping acutely that they
might live to see the day when 1t would
come to pass. And now 1t had hap
pened at last: George Minafer had
got his come-upance.
He had got It three times filled and
running over. The city had rolled over
his heart, burying 1t under, as IL rolled
over the Majors and buried 1t under.
The city had rolled over the Amber
sons and buried them under TO the last
yestige; and II mattered little that
George guessed easily enough that
most OF the five hundred Most Promi-
nent had paid something substantial
ito defray the cost Of steel engraving,
etc."--thc Five Hundred had heaved
the final shovelful of SCOT upon that
heap of obscurity wherein the Amber
sons were lost forever from sight and
history. Quicksilver in nest of
cracks I"
George Minafer had got his come
xpance, but the people who had 50
longed for It were not there to see 1t,
and they never knew 1t. Those who
were still living had forgotten all
about 1t and all about him.
George had seen Eugene only once
since their calamitous encounter. They
had passed on opposite sides of the
street. downtown; each had been
aware that the other was aware OF
him, and yet each kept his eyes
J straight forward, and neither had
shown a perceptible alteration OF coun.
tenance. 1t seemed to George that he
J fele emanating from the outwardly Inn
: .perturbabie person OF his mothers old
friend hate that was like hot wind.
AT his mothers funeral and at the
: Majors he had been conscious that
! Eugene was there: though he had aft
J erward no recollection Of seeing him,
: and, while certain Of his presence. was
, uncertain how he knew of 1t. Fanny
> had not told him, for she understood
/ George well enough not to speak to
him of Eugene or Lucy. Nowadays
} Fanny almost never saw either OF
them and seldom thought OF .hem--so
. sly is the way Of time with life. She
} was passing middle age, when old In
, tensities and longings grow thin and
flatten out, as Fanny herself was thin
! ming and fiattening out; and she was
} settling down contentedly to her apart
ment-house intimacies.
The city was so big, now, that peo-
pie disappeared into 1t unnoticed, and
the disappearance Of Fanny and her
nephew was not exceptional. People
no longer knew their neighbors as q
matter OF course; one lived for years
next door TO strangers--that sharpest
Of all the changes since the old days
land a friend would lose sight of q
friend for year. and not know It.
One May day George thought he had
glimpse Of Lucy. He was not Ger.
tain, but he was sufficiently disturbed
In spite % his uncertainty. A promo
ton In his work now frequently took
him out Of town for a week, or longer
and II was upon his return from one Of
these absences that he had the strange
experience. He had walked home from
the station, and as he turned the cor
/ ner which brought him In sight Of the
apartment house entrances, though two
blocks distant from II, be saw a charm
ing little figure CONS Jut, get into a
shiny landaulet automobile, and drive
away. Even at that distance no one
could have any doubt that the little