Evening star., 1923-06-24
MR. Boccs DID THE TALKING IN TERMS WORTHY OF HIS

! Through dream" replied that
| shameless one.
Her glance iivened. Strange. she
murmured. You dreamed--what?
That there was preserved at the
| top of this house a prophetic letter of
| Stonewan Jackson's.''
| The old lady's eyebrows twitched.
He had touched the right chord of
superstition. Her voice was quite
animated as she asked: And you
actually expected this dream to be
| confirmed"
! Pardon me; IL is already confirmed.
A few days after. 1 saw a newspaper
| clipping, stating that such letter
| was said to. be in existence, but that
| it's whereabouts was unknown"
| l shuddered Couldn't the reckless
came straight and sharp:
Have you the clipping"
"I have"
I gasped with relief, wonder and
admiration.
That wise young Ananias had
| quietly provided for it all by getting
| Inky Mike to set up and strike of a
| brief and vague article which the Lit
tie Red Doctor himself had composed
for the occasion. Nine. Tallafferr read
it with heightened color.
This she said TO Old Sally
calmly. lis without doubt the Sign"
| IRON a beautifully inIaid box she
l. reverently took an old buff en-
velope stamped and postmarked, and
put it in the Little Red Doctors
hands. This, sirs,' said she. "is my
| talisman. 1t was given to me. as his
most priced possession, by my father,
to whom 1t was written"
What do you value this at. Nine.
Tallafferr?" asked the physician.
1 Her reply came without hesitation.
Eighteen hundred and forty-five dol
lars and fifty cents"
"The Little Red Doctors jaw fell.
| "Eighteen-did / understand you to
say eighteen hundred?"
"And forty-five dollars and fifty
cents. That is the minimum. 1t is
perhaps worth more"
"Er-yes. Certainly. Very likely
said the Little Red Doctor jerkily.
'"I bid you good day, sirs." said the
Duchess. "You will. OF course. ex-
ercise every care of Cen, Jackson's 8
letter."
We bowed ourselves out. On the
sidewalk we looked upon each other
in dismay. "And Old Sally down to
the last dollar" said the Little Red
Doctor, neglecting to mention that
he had given her the dollar.
Lets try the letter on the trade,
anyway" piped Boggs hopefully
"You can't tell but maybe it might be
worth the money. Is there an auto
graph trade, dominie?''
| I CHANGED, happily, to be informed
upon this and to be able to make
some DEFINITE suggestions. We went
to Mr.. Barker's small and recherche
curio shop with the talisman. Mr.
Barker did not bark. He purred. The
substance of his purring was that
while the letter was authentic be-
yond question and would be OF inter-
est to some southern historical So
ciety. It could claim no special value.
As for the prophetic feature, upon
which so much stress had been laid,
a mere opinion that BE it sooner or
be it later. the moot question OF state
rights will demand a final settle
mont" could hardly be regarded as
an inspired forecast of the civil war.
However. should we say twenty-five
dollArs7'
As the business brains of our dele
ration, Mr.. Boggs. intrusted with the
loarraaning. would not say $25. Mr.
Boggs would not say anything re-
motely suggesting $26. Mr.. Boggs
would say good-day, which he forth
with did In great disgust OF spirit
From Mr. Barker we went to Mr.
Pompany. Mr.. Pompany neither
barked nor purred. He mumbled
tThe .upshot Of his submaxillary com.
+, munication was a dim Twenty dol
lars, take 1t or leave it." We left
1 1t, and Mr.. Pompany. the latter with
a Parthian arrow sticking in his soul
(tf he had one) in the form Of Mr.
Boggs' firm opinion, delivered in a
balefuf squeak, that he might be
only an ignoramus. but had rather
this appearance and bearing OF q
iSwindiAn
f -