Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1920-01-08

the title and subtitle, and wandered
out Of the room, thinking Of othel
things and feeling no curiosity about
the book. But he had thought Of Il
several times since with faint, vague
uneasiness; and now when he entered
the lobby he walked directly into the
parlor where he had seen the book
The room was empty, as it always was
on Sunday mornings, and the fiamboy
ant volume was stI1 upon the table
evidently a fixture as 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 Promf
nent Citizens and Families In the His
tory Of the City were arranged in al.
phabetica! order, and ran his finger
down the column Of AS: Albeit, Alb.
bott, 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 caller" and Ambrose"
Then he closed the book quietly, and
went up to his own room, agreeing
with the elevator boy, on the way,
that it 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 bat 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 it,
longed for It, hoping acutely that they
might live to see the day when it would
come to pass. And now it had hap
pened- OF last: George Minafer had
got his eome-upance.
He had got it three times filed and
running over. The city had rolled over
his heart, burying it under, as it rolled
over the Majors and buried it under.
The city had rolled over the Amber
sons and buried them under to the last
vestige; and it mattered little that
George guessed easily enough that
most Of the Eve hundred Most Promi-
nent had paid something substantial
to defray the cost of steel engraving,
etc."-the Five Hundred had heaved
the final shovelful es SCOT upon that
heap of obscurity wherein the Amber
sons were lost forever from sight and
history. Quicksilver In a nest of
cracks 7"
George Minafer had got his come
upance, but the people who had so
longed for it. were not there to see It,
and they never knew it. Those who
were still living had forgotten all
about 1t and all about him.
= -
George had seen Eugene only once
since their caIamitous 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
straight forward, and neither had |
shown a perceptible alteration of eoun-
It seemed to George that he
felt emanating from the outwardly I'M
perturbable person of his mothers old
friend a hate that was like a hot wind.
At his mothers funeral and at the
Majors he had been conscious that
Eugene was there though he had aft
erward no recollection Of seeing him,
and, while certain Of his presence, was
how he knew Of It. Fanny
had not told him, for she understood
George welIe enough not to speak to
him Of Eugene or Lucy. Nowadays
Fanny almost never saw either Of
hem and seldom thought Of them-so
sly is the way Of time with life. She
vas passing middle age, when old In
-ensities and longings grow thin and
latten out, as Fanny herself was thin
ling and fattening out; and she was
settling down contentedly to her apart.
aent-houses intimacies.
The city was so big, now, that peo-
DE disappeared into it unnoticed, and
he disappearance OF Fanny and her
lephew was not exceptional. People
10 longer knew their neighbors as a
natter Of course; one lived for years
text door to strangers-that sharpest
4 all the changes since the old days
land a friend would lose sight Of
riend for year, and not know it.
One May day George thought he had
glimpse Of Lucy. He was not Ger
ain, but he was sufficiently disturbed.
q spite Of his uncertainty. A promo
lon in his work now frequently took
i'm out Of town for a week, or longer,
nd Il was upon his return from one OF
hese absences that ne had the strange
experience. He had walked home from
he station, and as he turned the cor
er which brought him in sight Of the
partment house entrance, though two
locks distant from It, he saw charm !
lg little figure come out. get into a ,
hlny landaulet automobile, and drive !
way. Even at that distance no one
Ould have any doubt that the little
CURE was charming; and the height,
he quickness and decision Of motion. !,