The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1922-02-08

and he had copy OF this awful paper
;hat little Florence had given him"
"WhO gave 1t to hlm2" Aunt Fanny
asked. "Who2"
Little Florence"
"HVhy, that's curious" Cousin virgl-
hia tnurmurcd. II must telephone anu
ask her mother about that"
The brooding Herbert looked up,
and there was gleam in his doggcd
eye; but he said nothing.
"Go on" Aunt Harriet urged. "What
did Noble do?"
why, his mother said he just went
UP to his room and changed his shoes
and tie"
II thought So" Aunt Fanny whis-
percd, hurriedly, but soemnly.
Crazy"
and them" Mr.. Atwater continued.
"he left the house, and she supposed
he'd gone down to the Office; but she
was uneasy, and telephoncd his IA
Tier. Noble hadn't come. He didn't
come, all afternoon, and he didn't 80
back to the house; and they telc-
phoned around to every place he could
20. that they know of-and they
couldn't find him or hear anything
about him." Mr.. Atwater cougled, and
caused.
"But what" Aunt Harriet cried,
what do they thinks become of him?"
"Old man Dill said they we're all
pretty anxious" said Mr.. Atwatcr.
"rhoy're afraid Noble has-dsap-
gearcd."
Aunt Fanny screamed.
Then, in perfect accord, they all
turned to look at Herbert, who rose
md would have retired upstairs had
he hcen able.
AS that pcrturbing evening wore on,
word gradually reached the most out
lying members Of the Atwatcr family
connection that Noble Dill was miss
ing. Ordinarily, this bit of news
would have caused them no severe
anxiety. Mobiles person and intellect
were so commonplace-"in -"insignificant"
was the term usually preferred in his
own circlc--that he was considered to
be as nearly negligible as it Is charita-
Bile to consider fellow ! 'ng True
there was one thing IL. SGT him
apart; he was found wor /, Of SUI
perlative when he fell III love with
Julia Atwntcr. or all the large and
ardent group in like condition, he OBJ
taincd consDicuousncss as "The
Worst" or course, this distinction
caused him TO become better known
and more talked about than hi his
earlier youth
However, the ecccntrlcitics Of Il per-
son In such an extremity of love are
seldom valued except as comedy; ana
even then with no warmth of heart
for the comedian, but rather with an
increduIous disdnin, so it IS safe to say
that under other circumstances Noble
might have been missing, indeed, and
few Of the Atwaters would have
missed hlm. But as matters were, they
worried great deal about him, fear
Ing that g. rash act on his part might
reflect notoriety on themselves through
their beautiful relatlvc-and through
the North END Daily Oriole. And
when nine o'clock came and Mrs. Dill
reported to Hcrbcrt's father. over the
telephone, that nothing had yet been
head T-om her son, the pressure OF
those who were blaming tho Oriole
moro than Julia became so wearing
that Herbert decided he would rather
spend the remaining days Of his life
running away from Wallie Torbln than
put In any more of such dogs eve
ming as he was putting in--thus he
defined It,
He made confession; that IS to
say, 1t was proclamation. He pro-
claimed his innocence. He began the
history Of 1t with description Of
events distinctly subsequent to the lit
tie game with Patty Fairchild and
explained how he and Henry had felt
TINT their parents would not always be
with them, and as their parents wished
them to be polite, they had resolved
to be polite to Florence. Proceeding,
he related In detail her journalistic
exploit.
OF the matter in hand he told the
perfect and absolute truth--and was
Immediately refuted, confuted and
demonstrated to be false witness by
Aunt Fanny, Aunt Carrie, and Cousin
Virginia, who had all heard him ve-
hemently declare, no longer ago than
the preceding Sunday, that he and his