Ellsworth American., 1920-01-28
A Trick
of Fate
mn
By CECILLE LANGDON

glowing prospect of ambition. He
had worked hard as law student
had been admitted to the bar and had
taken a months vacation at the in
sistent command of his uncle.
Forget everything and have good
time" said that indulgent Individual.
81 have placed a liberal account at
your bankers. You begin active serv-
ice with Chapman, Burt & Royce as
full partner, and l expect to take
pleasure in watching and nurturing
your professional career. There can't
be much that you want that you can
not have"
What Egbert wished for at heart
was congesial companionship and
close human sympathy. He had been
an orphan from the age of ten and
had lived with his bachelor uncle in
a massive but cheerless home. I'm
pulsive, warm-hearted, now that his
future was practically solved he longed
TO unite with it all the various social
amenities, ready and eager to make
friends, and his artless and sincere
frame of mind made him an easy cap
tive to love if it came along.
Merton, whittier he sojourned, was
an ideal spot for the enjoyment of
nature. He took long tramps every
day, dining at some old-time cross
roads hostelry, or carried a liberal
lunch, which keen exercise caused him
to enjoy with rare zest. 1t was his
fifth day of exile from city life and
its turbulence that Egbert sought the
grateful shade of a thicket near a
pretty brook, placed his package of
lunch on the ground and gave himself
over to slumbrous ease. He closed
his eyes to open them as a swishing
sound struck his ear.
- "Here! you audacious robber"'
calculated Egbert, arising to his feet,
but too late to avoid speedy action on
the part of an intruder.
A small, brisk dog had come into
view bearing in his teeth dark OBJ
ject, which he dropped to take a sniff
at the package of lunch. Made aware
of the contents of this the animal
straightway transferred 1t to his jows
and skithered away In a flash.
J. Egbert called, whistled, ran after
the canine thief, but the latter was
speedily out of sight. More slowly
Egbert traversed the immediate vi
cinity without result, to return to the
thicket and regard with considerable
surprise the object the dog had
dropped.
1t was a shoe, a lady's shoe, but so
dainty and diminutive that Egbert de-
clared that its owner must be a mir
acle of grace and form. 1t was nearly
new, was of expensive fabric, and
built along the lines Of fashion.
Il declared" ruminated Egbert
"Where did the dog ever come from
and where can be the owner of this
<arvel of shoemaking excellence?"
and he began to mentally construct
a fairy creature to fit the shoe. She
was worth the pains of looking for,
he decided, and a sensation born of
romance urged him to traverse quite
a distance in search of the lady In
question, but vainly.
He returned to his hotel late in the
day, the shoe in his pocket. He placed
1t on the stand at the side of his bed
and smiled at the vast romance his
mind conjured as he went to sleep. 1t
was several hours later that he awoke.
gasping, half blinded, so utterly help
less that he found himself unable to
struggle to an upright position.
Egbert experienced a suffocating
sensation that warned him of serious
peril. Then a conception of the cause
of the same aroused him to desperate
action. The room was full of escaping
gas, coming from leak in the supply
pipe or from the jet, which had in
some way been turned on after the
light was extinguished.
He CROPPED and tried to cry out. His
hand met the top of the stand. 1t
rested upon the shoe. He grasped it
and then with all the strength he was
capable of he hurled 1t at the broad
transom over the top of the door of
the room.
Crash There was a slight relief
of the poisonous pressure For a mo-
nent sensibility deserted Egbert, but he
was reawakenede as a servant In the
corridor was showered with the falling
glass, burst open the door and Egbert
was saved.
"And the shoe saved mer, he re-
fiected the next morning, and before
noon he was retraversing his route of
the day before. A certain belief in
fate, an inexplicable desire to find the
owner of the shoe possessed him.
Traversing the sloping shore OF
the brook Egbert spurred up as in the
sand he detected the impress of dogs
feet Next his glance fell upon
dainty heel marks of shoe, and then
of one of coarser mold.
mot mates" !" breathed Egbert. 'It
must be she!" and turning past q
grove he came in sight of the canine