Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1920-04-02
A Trick

By CEcILLE LANGDoN

glowing prospect of ambition. He
mad worked hard as a law student.
had been admitted 10 the bar and had
taken a months vacation at the In
sistent command of his uncle.
Forget everything and have good
time" said that induIgent individual.
Il have placed liberal account at
your bankers. You begin active serv-
Ice with Chapman. Burt & Royce as
full partner, and ! expect to take
pleasure in watching and nurturing
your professional career. There can't
be much that you want that you can
not have,n
What Egbert wished for at heart
was congeniaI companionship aud
close human sympathy, He had been
an orphan from the age of ten and
had lived with his bachelor uncle in
a massive but cherries 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 trainps every
day. dining at some old-tme cross
roads hosiery, or carried 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
pretty brook, placed his package of
lunch on the ground and gave himself
over to a 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 a dark OBJ
jeet. which he dropped to take sniff
at the package of lunch. Made aware
of the contents of this, the animal
straightway transferred it to his jows
and skithered away in fash.
Egbert called, whisted, ran after
the canine thief, but the latter was
speedily out of sight. More slowly
| Egbert traversed the immediate VIZ
cinity without result, to return to the
thicket and regard with considerable
surprise the object the dog had
dropped
II was shoe, lady's shoe, but so
dainty and diminutive that Egbert de-
clared thar its owner must be mir
acle of grace and form. 1t was nearly
new, was of expensive fabric, and
built along the lines of fashion.
Il declare p runinated Egbert
"Where did the dog ever come from
and where can he the owner of this
marvel of shoemaking excellencefp
and he began to mentally construct
fairy creature 10 fit the shoe. She
was worth the pains of looking for,
| he decided, and a sensation born of
romance urged him to traverse quite
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 conIured 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 so upright position.
Egbert experienced a suffocating
| sensation that warned him of serious
| peril. Then 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 ont. His
hand met the top of the stand. II
rested upon the shoe He grasped II
and then with all the strength he was
capable Of he hurled ii at the broad
transom over the top of the door Of
the room.
Crash There was a slight relief
of the poisonous pressure. For mo
ment sensibility deserted Egbert. bur he
was reawakened as a servant in the
corridor was showered with the falling
glass. burst open the door and Egbert
was saved
@And The shoe saved me y he re-
fected the next morning and before
noon he was retraversing his route ~
the day before. A certain belief in
fate. an Inexplicable desire to find the
owner Of the shoe possessed him.
Trayersing the sloping shore OF
the b, ook Egbert spurred up as in the
sand be detected the impress of a dogs
feet. Next his glance fen upon
dainty heel marks of shoe. and then
OF one of coarser mold.
"Not mates p breathed Egbert. at
must be shei" and turning past
grove he came 10 sight Of the canine
robber and at his side a winsome-