The Jasper news., 1919-10-23

for we'd passed the Statue of Liberty
and were steamlng up the baS and
would be on dry land almost before we
knew 1t. And then we were hanging
over the rail and looking down at the
friends Of the passengers on the dock.
and heard Claire, in an hgonized
voice: Mamma isn't meeting mel"
Claire began to cry, not bolsterously
hut In dreadfully pathetic, lost-chlld
way, into very beautiful French en-
broidered handkerchief and all the
customs inspectors gathered about her
and she asked them each In turn II
he'd seen mamma and described man.
ma. and he shook his head and told
her he'd help her look for mamma In q
minute as soon MS he got the baggage
inspected: and Mrs. Delarlo and l got
our suitcases opened and made Claire
open her bags and her trunk and we
the inspectors to look at our
meager belongings in hurry and the
Inspectors were all too busy asking
Claire what her mother looked like
and what hotel she stayed at; and
Claire would use her exquisite hand
kerchief on her more exquisite eyes
and say she supposed 1t was Hotel
d'Angleterre-they always stopped at
d'Angleterres when they Travelled.
Finally I managed to induce an lnspec-
tor to take hls~ eyes off Claire for q
minute and devote them to the bag.
gage of middle-aged person-my.
self-and he cast glance over my
suitcase and Mrs. Delario's. which was
open on bench beside mine. and snId.
That's all right. Where does the
young lady come from. and isn't 1t
awful her mother isn't here. and may
be she's met with an accident on the
way and been killed."
Claire heard him-and almost faint
ed into Mrs. Delario's arms.
Now just moment before he said
these words | noticed that one of the
two pairs of turquoise-studded slippers
had fallen between the two suitcases.
picked 1t up and | was on the point
of asking Mrs. Delario If II belonged
to her when Claire collapsed, and three
seconds later saw my cousin. who
should have met me, coming mp ON the
trot.
He mnde the first sensible sugges.
tlon that had been offered-that as
Mrs. Delnrio had Claire In charge
she'd better take the child home with
her and cable to the father for instruc.
tions.
The slipper was all this while in my
hand, and without giving II another
thought-indeed, hardly being con.
scious what did stuffed It In
among some clothes In my own suit
case and shut the lid and away we
went. Wasn't 1t, under the circum-
stances, perfectly natural thing to
do? Well, the moral is "don't"-don't
every carry of an old slipper unless
you're sure it's yours. That old slip.
per nearly cost me my sanity and my
lifel
Now, when unpacked ] found the
slipper. but even then 1t didn't occur
to me that 1t wasn't mine-I merely
wondered how I'd lost the mate, and II
was couple of days before l got to
the bottom Of the other suitcase and
found my own pair neatly done up In
tissue paper. OF course / knew In.
stantly that the old slipper was Mrs
Delario's, and remembered then how
Id carried 1t off; but | didn't have q
box suitable for sending 1t through the
mail to her, so | set 1t on @ chest
where I'd be sure to see II and not lei
1t get mixed with mine. meaning to
take II down to the house as soon rs
could find time for 1t. And thus
several more days went by. and
forgot the slipper and that Mrs. Jimm
son was coming to clean. I some
how assumed that Mrs. Jimmson had
sense enough to see II was an odd
slipper and leave 1t on the chest
where she found 1t, but you never
can tell what anybody will do-per
haps she'd have done just the same II
I'd told her not to: for she mixed
those slippers up and set them In 9
row beside my bed along with oxford
ties and bath slippers.
~ noS oh pie uuy tiiut suio. viIhm
son cleaned that Claire came tripping
up to see me and tell me that her fa
ther had arrived.
II was the first time I'd seen hel
since we'd parted at the cable office
and of course" had to spare her Q
few minutes and hear what she had tC
say. Sbs was staying with her father
at a hotel-mamma hadn't yet come
because grandpapa was dying every
day and she didn't dare TO leave him
And then she suddenly wished to know
II all Americans lived the way Mrs