Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1920-03-03
A Trick
of Fate
01
BY CECILLE LANGDON
tCopyright. 1913. Western Newspaper Union,

oo!hood, pleasant college career
and clear record. Before him was
glowing prospect of ambition. He
mad worked hard as a law student.
had been admitted to the bar and had
taken months vacation at the In
sistent command of his uncle.
Forget everything and have a good
time, said that indulgent individual.
i nave placed a liberal account at
your bankers. You begin active sew
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"
What Egbert wished for at heart
vas congenial companionship and
ciose human sympathy. He had been
an orphan from the age of ten and
had lived with his bachelor uncle in
a massive bat cherries home. I'm
puisive, 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
uh Ideal spot for the enjoyment OF
nature. He took long tramps every
Jay, 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
It's turbulence that Egbert sought the
grateful shade of a thicket near
pretty brook, placed his package Ct
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
iGe part of an intruder.
A small, brisk dog had come into
view bearing in his teeth dark OBJ
ject, 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 sklthered away in a fash
Egbert called, whistled, ran after
the canine thief, but the latter wa.
Egbert traversed the immediate Vi
entity without result, to return to the
thicket and regard with considerable
surprise the object the dog had
dropped.
1t was a shoe. lady's shoe, but SO
dainty and dlminutive 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.
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
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 ut the side of his bed
and smiled at the vast romance his
mind conjured as he went to sleep. Ii
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 sutfocating
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 a 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 II at the broad
transom over the top of the door OF
the room.
Crash There was slight relief
of the poisonous pressure, For mo-
ment sensibility deserted Egbert but he
was reawakened as a servant in the
corridor was Showered with the falling
glass, burst open the door and Eghert
was saved.
"And the shoe saved me-" he re
hected 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.
Not mates!" breathed Egbert. at