Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-02

|
1t be If some one were to go to Clap
ham and pretend to be detective
making inquiries about me? Give the
impression that was wanted for
something or other. You get the
idea? You would ask a lot of ques.
tions and take notes In a book
How do you meant would?"
Surely, old horse. you wouldn't OBJ
ject to doing this for an old friend?"
II would, strongly. And in any
case, what would be the use Of my
| going? They've seen me-"
"All right, them" said Ukridge de
spondently; "in that case there's moth
ing to be-"
A T this moment he disappeared. /
"A was so swiftly done that he
seemed to be snatched up to heaven.
Only the searching odor of his power.
FIJI tobacco fingered to remind me that
he had once been at my side, and only
the slam of the front door told me
where he had gone. l looked about,
puzzled, and as did SO l heard gal.
Looping footsteps and perceived a stout,
bearded gentleman of middle age, clad
in frock coat and a bowler hat.
recognized him at once. 1t was the
creditor, the man who had tried to
|
Was that Mr.. Smallweed you were
talking tor" he demanded.
NO" I replied. mo. Not Mr..
Smallweed."
| You're lying to me, young man."
cried the creditor. And at the words
| the street seemed to wake from slum-
Der Maids popped out of windows,
areas disgorged landladies, the very
stones seemed to belch forth excited
| spectators. I found myself the attrac.
| tion-and, for some reason, which was
beyond me, cast for the role Of the
villain. What 1 had actually done to
know. but the school Of thought which
held that had picked his pocket and
| brutality assaulted him had the largeS'
number of adherents, and there was g
good deal of informal talk Of lynchinl
me. Fortunately, young man in g
| blue flannel suit, one of the earlies
! arrivals on the scene. constituted him
| sell a peacemaker.
Come along, O. man." he said, his
arm weaving itself into that Of the
fermenting creditor. You don't wan
to make yourself conspicuous, dc
your"
"In therer' reared the creditor
pointing at the door.
The crowd seemed to recognize that
| there had been an error in its dag
nosis. The prevalent opinion now was
that had kidnapped the mans daugh
ter and was holding her prisoner be-
hind that door.
Now, now!' said the young man.
whom l was beginning to like more
every minute.
"I'll kick the door in!''
Now, now! You don't want to go
doing anything silly or foolish" plead
ed the peacemaker. "There1l be po-
liceman along before you know where
you are, and you'll look foolish if he
finds you kicking up a silly row."
The creditors violence began to ebb.
You know where the fellow lives >
argued the young man. See what
mean? Meantersay you can come and
| find him whenever you like"
This sounded thin to me. But 1t ap
| peared to convince the injured man
| He allowed himself to be led off. The
| audience melted away.
A hoarse voice spoke through the
letter box.
Has he gone, ladder"
Eyes"
The door opened and an embittered
Ukridge emerged.
TITS a little hard" he said. "You
| would scarcely credit it, Corky, but
all that fuss was about measly one
pound two and threepence for a rotten
little clock work man that broke the
| first time / wound it up. Then a few
| weeks went by and this bloke started
to make himself unpleasant. Wanted
me to pay him money! He continued
| to make a fuss, until / had to move.
Fortunately, had given him false
name"
"Why?"
Just a business precaution," ex-
planned Ukridge.
II see.''
II looked on the matter as closed.
But since then he has been bounding
| cut at me when I least expect him.
Persecution, that's what it is-perse-
cution!'
THE result of this episode was that
= Ukridge vanished from his lodg-
| ings and came to dwell in mine.
I cannot say that situation gave me
| rapturous pleasure, but I must say
guest. His only defect, indeed, was
the habit of looking in on me at all
hours of the night to discuss some
new scheme designed to relieve him
| Of his honorable obligations to Miss
Mabel Price. My remarks on this be.
havior checked him for 48 hours, but
at 3 o'clock on the Sunday morning
that ended the first week of his visit
he was in again.
"I think, laddie," heard a satisfied
voice remark, as a heavy weight de
scended on my toes, II think laddie
that at last I have hit the bull 'S-eye
Hats off to Bowles, without whom
would never have got the idea. 1t was
only when he told me the plot of that
story he is reading that began to see
daylight. q Listen, old man, and tell me
IL you don't think I am onto a good
thing. About a couple of days before
Lord Claude Tremaine was to marry
Angela Bracebridge, the mast beauti
full girl in London"
What are you talking about? And
do you know what the time is?"
Never mind the time. Tomorrow
is the day Of rest and you can sleep
II was telling you the plot Of this
Primrose novelette, thing that Bowles
is reading"
"You haven't woken me at 8 in the
morning to tell me the plot of rotter
novelette,"
you haven't been listening, ole
man." said Ukridge, with gentle re
proach. IT was saying that 1t was
this plot that gave me my big idea
To cut 1t fairly short, as you seem ir
"a strange mood, this Lord Claude
bloke, having had pain in his left
side, went to see a doctor couple OF
days before the wedding, and the doc
gave him the start of his young life
By telling him that he had only six
months to live. There's lot more OF
II, Of course, and it turns out that the
doctor was wrong; but what I'm drlV
ing at is that this development abso
I,1tely put the bee on the wedding
Everybody sympathized with Claude
and said it was out of the question
that he could dream of getting mar
ried. So it occurred to me, laddie, that