The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-02-12
The friend looked IN at me.
Copyright: 1896: BY
VINCENT SHEEAN

The friend looked up at me.
Say, boy" he remarked, what you
tinka this country, anyway"
I sat down to have a drink with
them, and before five minutes were up
1t dawned on me that here at last
was the Paris for Helen.
He suggested the idea himself:
Say. boy" he. murmurmed, shave
you seen the old mans daughter?
Some baby, uh? What you tinka datP"
His admiration for Helen, alone,
would not have been enough to deserve
her, of course I thought highly. OF
Helen. But the fact was that this
70 many particulars that the sugges,,
ton was inevitable. He was very good
looking. for n thing; he was spruce,
Spic and span, quite unlike the Slov-
emily peasants she usually saw; he
lived in a far-off land-Harrisburg,
Pa. to be exact-and was more than
sure to arouse Helen's longing for the
if you caught the giints In it, his
hair was not quite as dark as that
of most people Helen knew. At a
pinch she could use the Homeric adj
j~ectives for Psaris-you know, paris,
the ~fair-haired," and "Godlike Alex
ander," and SO on. The thing that
!clinched it was that the mans name,
"Aleck Sargo's my name," he said,
and I asked how that happened. "Alex:
ander SargopoulaS 1t was in the old
country" he explained, "but we amt
got time to say all that in Harrisburg"
Well" said I to myself. IF this is
not Paris himself, it's the nearest
thing to it that Helen is likely to see
underneath that accent"
It seemed as I found out by lead
ing the conversation into the right
channels, that he was the son Of some
poor. peasants Of the neighborhood.
He had gone away to Corinth when
he was twelve years old. and to
couple Of years after that he had
taken the golden road to America.
First in New York, and then in Har-
risburg, he had piled various trades,
chiefly those which concern the re-
victualing Of the hungry, and with
twenty-six or tw%enty-seven, the pro-
prietor Of q small restaurant, with
this triumphant return to the land
of his fathers. Everything seemed
very small to him here; it was all
very old-fashioned; he did not like
the dirt and the absence Of modern
conveniences; he was not going to stay
long. Harrisburg for me, boy" he
said.
Well, perhaps I am making him
sound like a figure Of fun, but he
wasn't; he spoke English without re-
specting Observation-Disclosures of that
language, it is true; but suppose you
go to a foreign country and pick up
what you can of its language in hit
S,rdnlsf.1 fash aSsap and ss1a your y III probably oqIas
Underneath his what-you-tinka &C
cent. he was brisk, Intelligent, and
tnquiring;t he was not boastful-in
fact, considering his really remarkable
achievement in such a short time, he
was conspicuously. modest: in small
ways he showed kindness; he was re-
fore, after 10 minutes, firmly on Alexis
side-assuming already that he had a
side-in the race for Helen.
Aleck Sarge didn't live in the inn.
He was staying with his parents on
their farm in the neighborhood and
complaining to himself, I have no
doubt, Of the dirt and Inconvenience
every. evening. before supper, ignoring
the frowns that began to come to
old Georges brow, and on the third
or fourth evening he began to take
long walks with Helen. This I knew
not by seeing them, but by overhear-
ing a most tempetuouS row between
the %innkeeper and his lovely daughter
one night. Helen said little, but that
little made me think she was pre-
JUDGED in the right direction.
IT lead a dull life here" she said,
and when somebody comes along
who likes me, and whom I like, I
don't see why I shouldn't talk to him.
If you don't want me to see him
you'll have to lock me up or sent
me to JAIL"
Georges outbursts were less mod
crate in tone; in fact, he "a so
violent that I took an opportunity of
talking to him about it the next day.
20, by the way, George" I said,
that young fellow from America
seems to have taken a great liking
to our Helen. What do you make OF
it?"
you're q selfish old brute, George"
I told him. What business have you
got interfering with the girls happi-
ness? You a. u the inn perfectly
we'll without her, and in America no
body knows or cares that the Sarge
poulas family are poor peasants.
Alexander is a rich young man. He
owns a restaurant in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, which is a great capital,
larger than any city in Greece, lar
ger than Corinth or Patras or Athens
or any other place."
George shifted.
$50 he says" he snapped, "As for