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A MAKER OF WARS
BY CHANNING POLLOCK.
Copyright, 1904, by Channing Pollock.
When the consul's wife proposed
that every one rise to sing- “America,”
I rose and prepared to slip out of the
room. To a man with a good ear for
music—and, once upon a time, I stu
died under Von Plachmann In Vienna
few things are more dreadful than a
rendering of “America" by an untrain
ed chorus of Americans. It is seldom
that any one present knows much
about either the tune or the words,
and in Central America the English
people on hand usually take advantage
of this ignorance to come out strong
witlr “God Save the King.” National
anthems are an abomination anyway.
The United States has five of them,
and yet our troops entered Santiago to
the melody of “A Hot Time in Old
Town!”
In the Datiole I found Elvarez. He
jras smoking a brown paper cigarette
>nd directing a malignant gaze toward
Antonio Rivas, president of the re
public, who stood in the doorway
watching Americans and English cel
ebrate the Fourth of July. Rivas had
been able to read our language only
about a year, and I think he had an
idea that the occasion for the festivity
was the anniversary of the defeat of
Sir Thomas Lfipton.
“Do-ag on!” exclaimed Elvarez, who
had a i>artiality for our expletives
when they were available. “He hasn’t
taken his eyes from her a dozen times
to-night.”
“Why ‘do-ag on’ him, then?” I in
quired. “Isn’t that precisely what
you want? If I am not mistaken the
whole plan of campaign rests upon our
ability to persuade Madame Rivas into
an exposition of the theory that ‘hell
hath no fury like a woman scorned.’”
“You mistake.” replied Elvarez. “It
Is from Madame Rivas that he has not
In the middle of tbe light stood President Rivas. He was holding s revolver in his hand.
taken hie eyes. Oh, he Is cunning as a
monkey!"
“An animal which he somewhat re
sembles!”
“Friday at Ac&jutla he could not
ray enough attention to your little
friend from America. To-night— ’’
“Mrs. McLemore is no friend of
mine," I interrupted hotly. “I do not
sell my friends!”
“And you intend selling me?” said
Mrs. McLemore, walking out of the
darkness, the sound of her footsteps
lost In the splash of the fountain and
the medley of “America” and “ God
Save the King!”
"Caracca!” X observed blandly. I
always swear In Spanish, as I often
talk to women in Italian, because of
an infinite sense of propriety.
“To whom?” she asked. Ignoring
my rudeness.
"To his excellency, the President,”
I replied. “Senor Elvarez believes
there would be a fortune In effecting
an—an arrangement.”
It was a bold thing to say, but the
husbandless American women one
meets south of Mexico are not Inclin
ed to be squeamish. Besides. I have
learned these two things—that the on
ly way to keep hidden a sin In which
one has been caught is to confess a
v orse one, and that no creature femi
nine really resents what flatters her.
It was manifestly Impossible to tell
Mrs. McLemore that I had undertaken
the theft of letters which Elvarez had
seen her receive from Rivas that very
evening. Anything which might
alarm her and lend her to take -he
packet from (he bosom of her dress
would be fatal lo my plans and to my
llnanclal prospects.
Elvarez came to time handsomely.
“We thought.” he explained, “that If
you would consent—”
"Senor!" she cried out. and I assure
you that the dignity end dcflancs In
her ton# was such that neither my
companion nor I noticed the absurdi
ty of her pronunciation. “Honor! Tou
call yourself a gentleman!”
It stung like a whiplash the way
ahe said It. For the moment I could
have loved her- -at least, I could had
1 riot known of the billet doux from
the husband of another woman at that
Instant burning the flesh on her throat.
' 'tie Ihlng Is sur#. standing oppoalt#
her, noting the flush on her cheek
and the angry sparkle of her eve, I
fdl very sorry indeed that 1 had her*
gained to betray her A man who
lives on his wits often has occasion
to wish that he were not no quick -
wMtoA,
' Menora!" returned El versa, hie fare
seal let with lags, “U a epe**.u like
mine angers you, why are you in Sal
vador?”
“On business!”
“Whose business?”
“Not yours, Senors-who-would-be
president. nor yet yous, my friend the
adventurer!”
She turned and walked across the
wide porch to the room. which had
been allotted her in the Hotel Nuevo
Mundo. It was very near to the con
sul's apartments, and when her feet
touched the cement Rivas looked up
and saw her. “I shall be back in five
minutes." she said to him.
"What do you think?” whispered El
varez.
“That the letters are not in her
dress, but in her room, and that she
has gone to get them.”
"What are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
"But she suspects; she will return
the packet to the President!”
“Exactly.”
“Then I shall have lost the balance
of power and you will have lost con
siderable money.”
“No,” I replied, “I shall obtain the
letters from the President.”
Elvarez gasped.
I am glad things have turned out
so,” I continued. “There would be no
possible chance of getting them from
her within the next few moments, it
is always safer to fight men than wom
en, and, anyway, I don’t think I want
to fight that woman."
“I don’t care how you steal the bun
dle,” quoth Elvarez. “When you give
it to me you receive 5,000 pesos.”
“I have your promise in writing,”
I responded, tapping my coat pocket.
“Your’s is In my desk,” said Elva
roz.
“Yes,” I replied. “I rather wish It
weren’t.”
X did, too. Five thousand pesos is
not much over twenty-five hundred
dollars in gold, and I had never be
fore contracted to sell anybody ex-
cept myself. Beating Carlos Ezeta
back from the walls of Santa Anna,
working one's way through the bush
with a detachment of farmers In the
Tranavaal, carrying messages from
London to Nihilists in St. Petersburg
—these were tasks In which one earned
one’s pay by the risk of one’s neck
and which were dignified by that risk.
But to sell a woman’s reputation In
order that the half-black wife of a
half-white executive might be moved
to Interesting her friends against her
husband—faugh! My only excuse was
that until that night Mrs. McLemore
had been an abstract. If I was to
succeed In my mission she must con
tinue to be a “Job,” not a woman. I
must forget the color of her hair and
the turn of her lips. I must, and by
God I would!
“I told you,” Elvarez whispered In
my ear. "See. she is giving him the
packet!"
”Yes,” I replied. “Why doesn’t she
draw her hand out of his?”
“Why? Because she is—"
"I know.” I Interrupted. "Tou
needn’t take time to tell me about it.
I want a pass to get Into/the White
House and the fastest donkey to be
had in the Plaza!”
Elvarez stared at me admiringly a
moment and then hurried away to get
them.
11.
The White House at San Salvador
looks about as much like the White
House at Washington as Bt. Paul's
Cathedral look* like the Moulin Rouge.
It Is the only brick building In town,
Is low enough to resist earthquakes,
and has two sentry boxes projecting
from Its facade like wart*. A soldier
clad only In cotton trousers and a belt
from which hung his machete greeted
me with a loud "Qulen vtvl?'
"Amigo,” I replied, swinging from
my mule.
He cam* down and looked at my
I ass, a proceeding which 1 endured
without nervousness, because Elvarex
had been the President’s secretary long
enough to have mastered his hand
writing.
”Khali you want a man with you?'
asked the soldier.
"No," replied. "I know the room
and 1 shall be gone only king enough
to get tbs snuff boa which hta excel- ,
iMicy requires.”
“But the snuff boa Is In the vault.”
"Vss; his excellency guvs me Ibe
combination."
central A mar leans respect "gringos”
?utte as much os they hat* them, and
passed without further questioning.
SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY. DECEMBER 11. 1904.
Immediately after crossing the thres
hold I turned to the right and entered
Rivas’ bedroom. I had no plans—l
never have—of what use are plans to a
man who must suit his structure to
whatever foundation opportunity of
fers? I knew that the President must
bring the packet to that apartment,
and I hoped for the rest.
The room was brilliantly lighted
when I entered it. I stepped upon a
chair and cut the electric wires close to
the low ceiling. Then I sat down to
wait in the darkness. Two methods
suggested themselves to me as prom
ising initial success. I chose the sim
pler. Rivas probably would come alone,
since he would not want the packet to
be seen if he could help it, and there
was a good chance that he would have
the letters in his hand ready for the
big safe that had been placed in the
■ wall. At the sound of his footsteps I
had but to plant myself near the door,
seize whatever he held as he entered,
slip into the hall and run as though the
devil was after me.
I have said the plan was simple; the
thing which frustrated it was simpler.
Rivas had hardly set foot In the room
when he slammed the door shut and
locked it. I heard him withdraw the
key. I was trapped.
In the next five minutes I’ll swear
I did not breathe aloud once. Rivas
tried to turn on the light and swore
audibly when he found that he could
not. I hugged the wall in silence. If
he rang for servants I would have to
fight for it. I had neglected to cut
the wire that connected the push-but
ton with the bell below.
But Rivas did not ring. He wanted
to make sure of his letters first. Even
more important than I had thought
these letters, since having them made
him suspicious the moment the lights
failed. I heard him fumble in his
clothing. Was the replacing the packet
or drawing out a revolver?
The answer to my question was not
long in coming. The rattle of matches
in a box came to my ears, and then
the touch of his fingers against the
pasteboard. There was but one thing
for me to do and that was to remain
still. If he was facing away when
the match ignited I might escape de
tection; if not I should have to spring
at him. Fortune favored me. The
tiny illumination showed me his ex
cellency standing before the safe fin
gering the combination. A second later
the match went out. Evidently it had
burned long enough. I heard the hinges
squeak as the ponderous door swung
open.
Rivas was about to put the bundle
of letters In his vault. . Once there
they would be beyond my reach for
ever.
Under such circumstances It is the
thought of violence which first occurs
to a man. I was about to launch my
self upon his excellency when a less
risky plan suggested itself. I drop
ped to my hands and knees and then
crawled rapidly across the floor. The
President was fumbling for the bun
dle; he must have dropped it Into his
pocket when he began turning the
combination. When I was within five
feet of him a board creaked. Rivas
turned toward the door of the room,
and, rising to my feet, I darted into
the safe and crouched there with out
stretched hands.
I had not long to watt. Alarmed
at the noise. Rivas threw the packet
into the vault. In my haste to pick
It up I forgot that my life depended
on the rapidity of my movements.
The hinge creaked again. I thrust
out my leg, intending to interpose my
foot, but too late. The heavy door
closed with a clang and I heard the
bolts shoot Into their places.
So great a headway may a man get
toward a certain end that even the
dreadful crash of that Iron did not
immediately take my mind from the
packet. I continued to feel about
until I had found It—a little roll con
taining three or four letters bound
with a rubber band. Once I had
that roll in my hand my mind flew
back to the plight In which I had got
ten myself. Only the determined use
of nil my mental force prevented my
yielding to despair and throwing my
self again the door. “If you do
that.” I said to myself, "the President
will hear you and you will be shot at
once. If you restrain yourself you
have at least an hour of life. In
that hour someone may open the
safe.”
Waiting grew very hard, however.
The air that I was able to draw Into my
lungs seemed to do me no good, and
both my head and my chest began
to ache frightfully. I grew dizxy, too,
and put the letters Into my pocket so
that I might not let them fell. An
Instant later I heard voices. The
President must have rung for lights.
“Home one bus rut the wires!” I
heard him exclaim loudly. It was
only when be spoke at the top of bis
voice that I could distinguish what toe
was saying.
Aftei a Ume f heard him rage;
"ttodn't come null Thau there woe
someone her* !*
The sentry had reported my passing,
probably even the fact that I had
entered the bedroom. What an ac
cursed fool I had been not to look
behind me as I came into the build
ing! But then I had been an ac
cursed fool from the beginning—fool
and knave. I deserved to be smoth
ered like a stray cat in a box. I had
undertaken to barter a woman and
was about to pay the penalty. Ah, if
there were & way out—never again,
never again!
Rivas was speaking. I knew that,
but his words were no longer intelli
gible. I began to be faint. I felt my
self falling, and reached out to sup
port myself against the wall. The
wall receded. I reached still further.
Then I saw that I was grasping a
patch of light, and that in the mid
dle of the light stood President Rivas.
He was holding a revolver in his hand
—it’s eye was staring me in the face.
“Mr. Danford,” said the President.
"I hoped to find the diamond snuff
box you told the man I had sent you
for. I did not hope to find you. This
is indeed an unexpected pleasure."
For a second I did not think that I
should be able to answer. Then I ral
lied my strength. "Your excellency,
the pleasure is mine," I replied and
fell forward to my full length.
111.
I do not believe that I could have
been unconscious more than a min
ute or two, for President Rivas still
held the revolver in his hand when I
came to my senses. The look on his
face convinced me that he would be
glad of a reason to use its sufficiently
valid to satisfy the diplomatic offi
cers of the United States.
“Well,” he remarked when he saw
me open my eyes, “now perhaps you
will explain what you were doing in
my safe?”
"When you have explained what
you meant by thrusting me in there
and locking the door,” I replied.
It was a thin argument, but I ob
served that both of the officers in the
room believed it, and knew that his
excellency’s opportunity for killing
me as a common thief had been lost.
Rivas realized this, too, for he did not
even take the trouble to deny the
charge.
“You came here for a packet of let
ters,” he said, “and I think you have
It. I want it back.”
“To what letters can your excellency
refer?” X asked.
“To three letters written by you to
Senor Alvarez promising to aid him
in his plans against me by obtaining
certain private correspondence of
mine.”
At the time I thought it merely a
good guess, and Rivas a clever man
so to avoid confirming the suspicions
his men must have felt, and which,
confirmed, would soon have been com
municated to the entire populace. I
felt sure that he would never venture
to have the soldiers look for that bun
dle.
"I have no letters of any kind,” I
returned therefore. "Does your ex
cellency care to have me searched?”
"Search him,” was the order given
In reply. Then to me; "If the packet
is found on your person I give you
my word that I will have you shot be
fore morning.”
The words had scarcely left his
mouth when one of the men drew that
accursed bundle from my pocket.
“Your excellency,” he reported, "here
is the packet.
“Those are from my sweetheart In
America,” I exclaimed. "If you open
them I shall appeal to my govern
ment.”
“Open them,” ordered Rivas.
The soldier did as he was told. For
an Instant which seemed an hour long
I waited, and when the man spoke I
closed my eyes as though the bullet
were already on Its way. What he said
penetrated slowly to my brain.
“Your excellency, these are blank
pieces of paper."
_ And blank they were! Meohanlcally
I pocketed them, and, walking between
the soldiers, went to the outer door,
where the command of the President
was fulfilled and I was released. The
night air and the moonlight seemed
very good. Across the narrow street
I made out a figure in skirt and man
tilla, and I felt my heart grow sick
again as I recognized her. She was
Mrs. McEemore, the woman who had
tricked me and whose trick had saved
me, who had sent me on a wild goose
chase for a roll of white paper while
her letters rested God knows where,
the woman I loved and who doubtless
was even then on her way to the
White House to meet Rivas.
But she came to me and stopped.
Her face was white and she looked
ill, though she smiled when she Identi
fied me. “Danford!” she exclaimed.
“Thank God you are safe!”
“You thank God.” I retorted, “and
yet you send me to stick my neck In
a halter for a packet of bare sheets!
Why did you do that?”
“Because I saw that you meant to
take the letters from me. My only
chance of gaining time to destroy them
was in making you go after the bogus
bundle.”
“And you wanted to destroy them?”
She hesitated.
“The truth!” I cried. "The truth!
Why did you want to destroy them?”
She hung her head.
“Because they were your letters to
Alvarez,” she answered. “I stole them
out of his desk last night and gave
them to the President, who returned
them to me. You heard Elvarez ask
my business. I am the paid spy of the
Republic of Salvador.”
”A woman who hunts down men!”
“You are a man who hunts down
women. Which of us in the better?”
“But I—”
“Regret? So do I. From the bottom
of my heart, I regret everything In my
life that has been evil. One of those
things has not been my association
with Rivas. He paid me to Incriminate
you, at my request he gave me back
the evidence I had handed him. and 1
got away while I burned It."
"You did that—why?”
"I did not want you to know, save
from me. that I had been so near to
ruining you.”
"Again why.?"
“That question," she said, “I cannot
answer.”
The sentinel was looking, but I
reached out and took her In my arms.
“All my life,” I whispered, “I have
been a maker of wars. Hereafter I
shall be a maker of love If you will let
me.”
She lifted her lips and I kissed her.
There was a revolution In Salvador
three months later, but Mrs. McLemore
and I had nothing to do with It. Neith
er did the wife of Rivas. Elvarez shot
the President down during a dance
at the White Houae. the hired soldiery
proclaimed ‘ him dictator, and no one
cared enough about the matter to dis
pute It with him. About the time that
this incident occurred Hlvas’ spy pass
ed out of existence and Into another
life as the spouse of Frederick Dan
ford, coffee merchant, at your service.
An emergency ration, packed In a
small two compartment cylinder of
lln, la carried In the Haversack of every
HrltlMh soldier. As Its name suggests,
the ration Is not to be used except In
rases of the direst necessity. One com
partment holds four ounces of cocoa
paste and the other a similar quantity
of concents ted beef. Jf consumed
In small quantities It will maintain
strength for many hours.
—-J. ff. Tilton, a merchant, of Rose
man, Mont, left In a will that was
probated on October Id, the Incotna
of bis estate. whl<h will amount to
several thousand dollars annually,
fur the celebration of the Fourth of
euly with ftiewwkii Hags at td bunt -
lug.
HIS AWAKENING.
(Continued from Opposite Page.)
um doin’ to det dwy in a bid towl, ess
a baby is.”
The C. B. closed his eyes. A pang
of regret shot through him. Here was
he. a lonely, unloved duffer. In a cold,
miserably kept fiat, and there was
some lucky man across the shaft with
:i cherished wife and baby and a
home.
And then his illusion was rudely
dispelled. There was a short, sharp,
yelping hark, followed by a whine of
pain, and then the query, full of moth
erly solicitude;
“000 poor ’itte dear! Did oo mama
wub her ’itte petsle-wetsie too hard?”
HER “MENDED*’ CHINA.
The nouvelle rich woman who had
mythical portraits painted of her an
cestors and then held them near the
fire so that the paint would crack, says
the New York Press, thus giving them
the ideal appearance of ago and gen
uineness, was not a whit brighter than
a little woman who invented some nice
heirlooms the other day. She had
grown weary of trying to trace up a
family tree, and she had not a cent
to invest in the untiques which every
scion of an old family must possess
in order to prove that he is a genuine
twig of a famous tree.
Day after day she would visit her
more favored friends and gaze upon
their time-dimmed family portraits and
drink tea from their real old Delft cups
and saucers and eat tea-cakes off their
old English plates, until her heart grew
bitter with envy. The very newness
of the pretty furniture in her smart
littlo apartment became an abomina
tion to her. Its lustre was disgusting
beside the dimness which time seemed
to have thrown over the ancient ma
hogany of her friends’ drawing rooms,
and real gold dinner plates would not
have consoled her for not possessing
one genuine piece of Delft from a
Dutch great-grandmother.
One day she wys walking briskly
along Twenty-third street when she
saw a merry peddler selling some kind
of glue for broken ehinaware. From
a hook he had swung a plate which hud
been mended with the glue, to prove
the efficiency of which he had a weight
attached to the other side of the plate.
All at once an idea occurred to her,
and in a spirit of gratitude to that
peddler she bought a bottle of the
stuff.
She remembered that nearly every
piece of her friends’ real Delft had
been mended somewhere, which gave
it the better appearance of genuineness.
Thn she wertf to a department store
and invested In some beautiful Imita
tion Delft and imitation old English
plates and things. She hugged herself
happily all the way home, and she
could scarcely wait until her purchases
had arrived. The moment they had
been washed she took those plates one
by one and broke them, some in two
and others in three places, and then sat
down to mend them with her new glue,
taking all sorts of pains to make the
cracks show. When they had been
hung about the top of her dining room
wall none but the unkindest and most
suspicious eye could have suggested
that they were not genuine. At last
she had vindicated her ancestors.
AMERICAN HUSBANDS.
An extraordinary reason for separa
tion from her husband, says the Brook
lyn Eagle, was that given by a Colo
rado woman In applying to the courts.
It was that her husband, by his un
varying obedience, made life too mo
notonous for her. While the state
ment Is doubtless subject to some dis
count on the score of the reporter’s
imagination, it recalls the familiar
criticism of foreigners that the aver
age American husband is "too good”
to his wife. In English households Bt.
Paul’s sterling words on the subject
are still quoted with approval, and the
elimination of “obey” from the mar
riage service has not even been sug
gested. There is a saying abroad that
to tell the nationality of a couple one
has only to observe them entering a
hotel dining room, writes Robert Web
ster Jones in the Housekeeper. If the
man precedes the woman they are
English; if the woman precedes the
man they are French; but if they walk
side by side they are American. The
saying aptly illustrates the truth that
nowhere Is there greater equality of
sexes than In this country. Individual
tyrants, both masculine and feminine,
there may be, but on the whole men
and women have come to an under
standing that each has a particular
work to do and is not subject, as a
sex, to the authority of the other.
If, as a type, the American husband
possesses one fault more conspicuous
than another, it Is his tendency to
become absorbed in business to the
exclusion of his domestic life. A busi
ness man In one of George Ade's fables
says that he provides the cash while
his wife provides “culture enough for
two.” Jt is a tendency which should
be combated. The American husband
Is made for better things. That he
is "good” to his wife we admit. But,
in the highest sense, is he "good” to
himself?
There's Health
HIKE
Yartoua experiments by end*
nent scientists hare proven
the great value of lemons la
destroying the genus of ty
phoid fevers. Germs of die- •
eases are deposited In the
system by the failure of the
bowels to act regularlyt
MOZI/EY’g LEMON ELIX
IR is au ideal laxative, made
from the Juice of pure lem
ons, and has no equal for
cleansing the system of all
Impurities. It acta prom pa
ly on the bowels, liver and
kidneys, and does not gripe
or as tier any nnpleasantneaa
go cents per bottle at all drug
stores.
LEMON HOT DROPS
CURE ALL COUGH* AAE
COLD*.
MOZLEY’S
LEMON ELIXIR
SANTA CLAUS’
UNDERSTUDY.
BY TROY ALLISON.
Copyright, 1904, by Troy Allison.
‘ Ive thought of the finest scheme,
girls!” Nan exclaimed, standing off
from the easel and trying the effect
of her picture with one eye shut.
Winifred delayed the taa-maklng
and turned around with a celerity
which showed a willingness to aid in
any scheme to bridge the difficulty
that Nan’s fertile brain might sug
gest.
Helen simply raised herself one pil
low higher on the couch and stretched
out a little more comfortably. No
one had ever yet been able to surprise
Helen into a show of active interest.
“You know we never could get that
long list of people Into this tiny
room,” Nan continued trying a touch
of yellow on the snow bank she was
painting, “and I want to invite them
every one. I know that a crowd of
art students can put up with as few
accommodations as any crowd you
could pick out. but I don’t see how we
could buck thirty people in the whole
flat, to say nothing of the amount of
condensation necessary to get them
into this sitting-room.” 1
The three girls had clubbed together
in tho wee three-roomed flat, with
Nan Trucsdttlo for business manager.
Wtnefred looked after the housekeep
ing, and Helen—nobody ever expected
Helen to work ut anything except the
very brilliant ladles in water colors
with which she amused herself. But
it was Helen's generous checks from
home, that had helped the little estab
lishment over many a financial
chasm.
"Se we will use the parlor of the
adjoining apartment to receive the
guests In, and this room for refresh
ments,” Nan continued with the as
surance of one accustomed to finding
correct answer to any problem met
with.
“That man’s spartment?” Wlnnlo
gasped with an emphasis on the world
“Is there such n person as Santa Clans after all my cynicism f” gasped
Wl Ills.
man which Intimated that there was
only one left on earth.
“I think you brilliancy has over
reached itself this time, Nancy.” Helen
showed enough interest to sit up on
the couch and hunt for another pil
low. "That’s really the most ridicu
lous proposition I ever heard you
make, which Is saying a great deal,”
she added, and having discovered the
extra cushion she lay down again.
"Not so ridiculous as you might
think," Nan went on airily. "I heard
the elevator boy tell someone this
afternoon that the gentleman would be
gone two weeks, and I’m going down
stairs directly after tea and beg the
clerk to lend me the room for this af
fair. I’ve been smiling at that clerk
occasionally. You see, girls, the ad
visability of following the old proverb
and casting your bread on the waters.
All I have to do now is to reach out
and rake It In, ready for use.”
“If you have been as prodigal with
your smiles as you generally are, my
good child, you can rake In your bread
by the baker's dozen,” Helen said re
provingly, as they seated themselves
at the tea table.
The girls had caught glimpses of The
Room when the door had -been left
ajar, and had learned to recognize The
Man who sat smoking and reading his
paper by the window sis the same tall,
broad shouldered Individual with the
Chrlsly features whom they had often
seen In the elevator. These glimpses
of the beautifully furnished room had
filled them with an admiration that
made Nan’s scheme for using It for the
Christmas breakfast seem all the more
charming.
"That room is so nice snd large that
we could carry out our first Idea and
have the tree with a gift for each one
of them.” sighed Winnie.
They had planned the Christmas
breakfast with the Idea that they
would begin the day with an old-fash
loned Jollification. The invitations
were to Tend, "To a grown-up chil
dren’s party,” and Helen had been dec
orating them with pictures of funny
fat Hantas In giddy looking sleighs.
*T wish I could have my childish
faith In Santa Claus restored long
enough to write him a list of the things
I want,” said Nan, eating the last
crumbs of cheese left on the dish.
"I’d ask for a whole box of white
gloves,” Winnie returned quickly, ‘T’ve
cleaned mine so often that they reek
with gasoline. I don’t enjoy the
theater half so much as I would If I
didn’t have to small gasoline through
the whole performance."
“I’d take that new set of Christy
pictures.” Helen said, yawning. “I’d
like to try copying them.”
“And 1 would like a palm,” chose
Nan, eyeing the exact spot near the
window where she would put It. "I
don’t want a 111 He Insignificant looking
palm that I could afford to buy my
self, but a great big spreading cheat
nut affair that I could alt undar and
feel realistic when I wanted to play
the banjo and sing 'Under the Bamboo
Tree ' "
Helen roae from the table and con-
I descended to continence clearing up
I the dishes
l "l aae t’U have la do the work that
you two girls may Indulge in visions
Christmas morning Is not far off, and
I hope Santa Claus may be able to
play his part.”
"Don't listen to us. Helen,” laughed
Winnie. “It’s such a relief to be able
to talk without having “The Man”
overhear everything we say. We are
simply relieving our pent-up feelings.
I’ve been talking in whispers ever
since he moved in, for I know he can
hear everything through that folding
door. I believe the rooms were in
tended for one apartment anyway.”
Nan Jumped up from the table.
“Get to work, girls. As soon as the
dishes are out' of the way I’ll go
down and Interview Mr. Clerk.”
In the adjoining room "The Man”
got off the couch where he had been
trying to sleep for the last two hours.
He crept softly Into his bedroom, put
on his overcoat and hat. took hts sutt
case and walked out to the elevator.
"I wonder whether I could make a
success as St. Nick If the old man
himself happened to be indisposed,”
he soliloquized as he drove away In
the cab, ufter telling the clerk that
he had changed his plans again, and
vould not be in his rooms until after
New Year's Dav.
The girls had arranged everything
the night before Christmas. “Tha
Man’s" sitting room was gay with
holly sprays and festooned with cedar.
Nan rose early, slipped on her dress
ing gown and went to take a final peep
at the little tree before dressing for
early arrivals.
She opened the folding doors and
then rubbed her sleepy eyes in as
tonishment. A huge, wide spreading
palm towered over the little Christ
mas tree, its large leaves glistened
and an Immense bow of scarlet rib
bon decorated the tub that held It.
Two packages tied with the same rib
bon lay on the floor in conspicuously
awkward spots.
"Is there such a person as Santa
Claus, after all my cynicism?" gasped
Winnie, who had rushed in upon hear
ing Nan's exclamation. Bhe sat In
the floor holding a box of white gloves
with "Winnie” printed in scrawling
letters on Hie cover.
Helen actually showed all the symp
toms of a genuine ease of astonish
ment when the other package woa
found to contain the desired Christy
pictures.
If the breakfast party had been of
sufficient Importance to receive news
paper notice the account would have
ended, “the pleasure of the occasion
was slightly marred by the breaking
of an Indian tobacco Jar by one of the
grown-up children."
A week later a very embarrassed
and apologetic Nan stood in the hall
with the pieces of the tobaeeo Jar
In her hands, making her confession to
"The Man.”
"We would have bought another
and never let you know anything
about it,” she concluded naively, “If
It had not been so peculiar that we
couldn’t match it. I hope you did not
prize Jt very much.”
"I would willingly have made a
much greater sacrifice for the pleasure
of becoming acquainted with my
charming neighbors,” he answered
with a smite that Nan's relieved mind
thought the most fascinating she had
ever seen.
Three months later he sat with Nan
In the parlor of the little flat. *The
big palm might have been less on the
order of a spreading chestnut and still
have covered both their heads.
The glrl'a head was on his shoulder,
and she was toying with one of the
palm leaves with she had pulled down
to hide her flushed face.
“We will have the palm In our new
home,” he said tenderly.
“Yes, It was your first present to
me,” she said, looking at him quiz
zically.
"How did you find out?” he asked
with a guilty flush.
She laughed, and put a tiny kiss on
the Up of his Christy nose.
“I made the elevator boy confess
long ago,” she said, "and I must say
that you played the part remarkably
well.”
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