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I A 11 uL * • band’s increasing love for liquor. But he never came home really drunk until j one stormy night in late March a week j before the baby was born His wif* and her mother waited mtil some time after the arrival of his usual train, then took their dinner so that the older wo man might go to bed. This was the | daughter’s suggestion for she feared- wtthout cause, she told h< rself—the con dltlon in which the master of the house i might appear, ff he came In later. Her mother did not suspect the truth with regard to Bert’s weakness. She must not. So Mary hurried her up to her room, and chatted with her nervously as the preparations were made for the night. Then, kissing her mother, she put out the light, closing the bedroom door tightly that any sounds from be low stairs might not penetrate to the sleeper’s ears. She Remembered. As Mary washed the dishes and put them away, she remembered one night, months ago, when she had sent her mother to bed and awaited the copiing of her suitor—the man who was now her husband She seemed to have lived a lifetime since then. The dinner dishes put In the closet and the table set for breakfast, the anxious wife seated her self by the lamp In the parlor, and tried to put the finishing touches on the tiny wrapper she was making. She had fashioned all her baby’s clothes herself, and this was the last gar ment. She was sorry that the bit of dainty work should be done when she was nervous. for the stitches were slightly uneven. “But,” she whispered, with an at tempt to be humorous with herself, “baby will not mind.” The whistle of the 10 o'clock train sounded through the quiet village. The wife folded the little wrapper, then, with a sudden motion pressed It to her lips. “My baby! my baby!” she whis pered. For his sake she must keep her self calm. But even this thought failed to quiet the wild beating of her heart as the time drew neur when she might expect her husband. She began to pace the floor, pausing often to listen. At last she heard stumbling, uneven foot steps on the walk, and she hurried to the front door and t>ng it open, peering out into the darkness. “Bert.” she called softly, “is that you?” “Who the devil were you expectin’ this time o’ night?” queried the inan thickly, as he staggered up the steps toward her She paDd and shrank from him as he uttered the coarse joke then as he reeled on the top step, she sprang forward and caught him by the arm. “Softly, Bert," she cautioned, “or you'll wake mother!” “And what if 1 do?” he demanded angrily. “1 expect a man’s got a right to make all the noise he chooses in his own house ain't he? I’m boss here, remember! She ain’t even boarder.” “Yes, Bert, 1 know,’’ assented bis wife. She recollected that she had heard one should never argue with an intoxicated man Anything now to keep him quiet. The smell of his breath made her feel faint, and she shuddered as she saw the blurred eyes, the droop ing jaw and the stained clothes. Her bert Fletcher had fullen down, anil his trousers were caked with mud. Drunk ms he was. he sow her recoil as she g'aneed at his coat. “Yes." he said roughly, “It's pretty dirty, 1 know, but you needn't take on any o’ your fine lady airs about it! Many n better woman than you has had to tend her husband when he was under the weather You oughter be pityin’ me ’stead o' lookin’ like a white saint despisin’ a sinner. Here, help me off with this coat!” She took, hold of the garment with trembling hands But for the thought of the unsuspecting woman upstairs she was sure she would have refused to touch it He might do his worst. What If he did fly into a rage and kill her— his wife—what difference would that make? It would be a blessing if he did kill her now before her baby came Then her common sense reasserted It self, and. setting her teeth, she obeyed her husband’s commands When, with much coaxing, she had gotten him safe ly upstairs and past her mother's door, she undressed him and helped him into bed. Then, when his heavy breathing assured her that he was sleeping, she took the stained clothes into the bath room, locked herself in and scoured the soiled garments, opening the windows wide that the cold outer air might less en the attack of deathly nausea that seized her. Carrying the clothes down to the kitchen, she hung them to dry on the hacks of chairs near the range In which she had already banked the Are for the night. It wuilld not do for her mot) er to set thest gai • • nt- di y ing upstairs in the morning, for she might suspect the truth. Then the worn woman crept dpwn into the caller, and, with as little noise ax possible, deposit ed several heaping shovt lfuls of coul on the furnace. If this lask were neglected, the fire would I ut in the morning, and she would hav< to makt a fresh blare before the family were astir. Her Excuse for Him. The furnace attended t- . Mary 1 'etch er got us lur us the little parlor w! ere the Lamp was still burning Here she dropped down exhausted on the glaring blue sofa For a while she ■' d not move, but as she became conscious that she was growing chilly she pulled Over r er the hideous green-an<i-y©llow slum ber robe that had been Bert’s Christmas present to her. and arranged under her lead the hard but gorgeous sofa cush- on which had been her mother-in-’aw’s noliday gift to the household. The wife *elt that she had endured a ! she could, that to-night site could not bear to sleep In the room that site and B. rt shared in common. The wind ratt ed the win dows. and the rain dashed against the panes The listener was so tired that she could not think, but cculd only be aware of her miser> Yet. so drunk was her husband that he did not know the next morning that his wife had not lain bv his side all night His head a<“ ed furiously and he growled to Mary, when she told him it was nearly breakfast time, that he would “cut business to-day." To her mother the wife said calmly that “Bert had come home late with one of his bad headaches, and was so far from web to-day that she would not disturb him, even to have him go to business.” * T i ’ V. '.'V & JTK .. .# •' , y. yc 'iv'-' -j *. f Jrg v . \. *" ■ e % - €sM Nell Brinkley Says T 1IE best little swimmer in the seaside colony drags herself out on a wet rock and sits happy and salty, swinging her silken-dad feet in the Hy ing spray. Iler lashes are wet and ding together in little starry points. Her hair hugs her baek in sprays of wet gold, close as ivy to a young tree. Iter brown arms glisten. Salt drops bead her cheeks. Every wave that shivers into ■"•ms glisten Salt drops bead her eh eks. Every wave that shivers into suds on the rocks sends its reaching spu ie against her face and knees. Her eet are sometimes, as the sea draws b ek, high above the water—then they re hidden in the welter of white and g n. Over and around the rocks it ours and foams, waving the long bear Is of seaweed on their grim gray sides, i'he best little swimmer lifts her chin a d smiles. For the sea and she are in close allegiance. She is not afraid of nm. Her strong brown shoulders and her deep breast never fail—they carry her far, and when she clambers out of the sea’s green arms she is as little tired as when she slipped into them. She stretches her hard little arm and inspects it proudly. She is also very proud when she remembers the stunts she can do. She swings her f?et in the froth and exults I Suddenly out of the swirling deep water below her a sleek head lifts and iridescent, fish-like, lovely eyes regard her mockingly. The hair of its head is green as jade'—and big pink shells lie against its ears. She lifts one arm from the water and the wet hand is webbed. Far behind her—to the amazed eyes of the wet girl on the rock a finned tail lifts from the surf. She rears her body far out and the scales that dimly begin at the pale flesh of her waist are as red gold as the Japan se fish in a lily pond. And then and there the creature of the sea begins, w th mocking laughter, a string of mar velous exhibitions. Slit* does nil the wonderful stunts that the land-girl can do anf l ill of those she could do if she had gills instead of lungs in her deep chest. The land-girl s pride falls. t\ hen she has done, the mermaid circles seal like below her, leaping high as she laces her, like a wet jewel in green and gold —triumphant—and speaks. Ho, land-maiden! I saw you showing off this day—showing your little valor in the sea. What can you do that stands beside all this? In your chest you have lungs that must breathe air or you die. The seals and I are blood- brothers. \ ou are an alien—a pitiful swimmer and the sea is your enerov!” The sea creature laughs and dives deep. The flicker of her gold scales—the jade of her writhing hair are vanished. The land-girl’s cheeks were hot with envy. “I wish I were a LUNG-FISH!” she declares. “Can not you tell me?” pursued Cam eron, wildly, “or will you not? You say you love me. show it now Your right hand, Molesworth, or your left, Genevieve or Mildred, which, is It?” But though a strange yearning look came into the dying man’s face, he did not stir, and the doctor seeing it desisted from his efforts and pdt as it were all selfish thoughts away from be tween them, and bending down, rever ently kissed the forehead, damp now with the dews of death. A thrill that seemed to have nothing but happiness in it passed through the outstretched form. The hand he had re fused to move passed slowly toward Walter, and gave it one earnest pres sure, then the deep, unreadable eyes closed as It were forever, when Dr. Cameron, stooping nearer, murmured in his ear: “Bridget Halloran walked the length of the ward for the first time to-day, and you have received the credit.” Instantly a smile shone out on those paJe lips and the eyes opened again with a look that Dr. Cameron was in vain trying to read, when a well- known voice murmured slowly and sol emnly In his ear. “It is all over, doctor; we must find some other way of getting at the truth you want.” The Great Question. wa ^OME other way? What other nay?” A little time had pass ed. and Dr. Cameron stood in the parlor alone with Mr. Gryce. The detective meditated. He had passed his prime, but he was the great Gryce yet. How should he find his way out of this difficulty? “I can not wait,” pursued the doctor, “for the slow process of comparison and investigation. I must know at once and without a doubt whom I have been cherishing in my bosom.” “And we,” subjoined the other, “must certainly know.” And his tone became curt and businesslike. “What was the last word from your home?” he asked. “That my wife had moved again, but slightly.” An expression passed over the detec tive’s face, which, if it had been seen by those who knew him best, would cer tainly have aroused great curiosity and interest. For he only looked thus when he had made some famous discovery or originated some deep-laid plan calcu lated to settle a vexed question. “You want to know’,” he cried, “how we can all be satisfied as to whiclj of the sisters you have under your roof In the person of Mrs. Cameron?” “Yes.” “I will tell you.” And, leaning forward, he whispered some earnest and impressive words into the doctor’s ear. Gryce Redeems Himself. -w ▼HAT is this? Have we not left \/\/ Mrs. Olney’s and have we not * * returned to Dr. Cameron’s room? Yes, but something has occur red here—changes have taken place, unaccountable changes to one who has not the clew to the situation. For while the walls, the ceiling, the fireplace and doors are those we have been accus tomed to see in Mrs. Cameron's apart ment, the carpet, which has been laid between the window’ and the^bed, the curtains which shut off the light and make a semi-darkness In the room, even the bed with its coverlets and pillows are not only different from those in use here before, but are so strangely out of keeping with the general furnishing of this house of dainty appointments that we are dazed and do not know what to make of It till we suddenly rec ognise a picture that has displaced an exquisite Madonna on the wall opposite the bed and perceive that we have the surroundings and almost the look of that room in Mrs. Olney’s house which we have been told was the one W’hich had formerly held Mrs. Farley and her daughter. The Illusion Is so complete. owing to the use of a screen which has been placed at the side of the bed In a way to cut off a view of the fireplace and such portions of the room as were out of harmony with this idea, that we are not at all astonished to see Mildred's little stand, with her favorite books and knick-knacks upon It, and close by, with her plain, benevolent face turned to ward the silent form still stretched In its old quietude on the changed bed, the figure of Mrs. Olney herself, gazing with watchful eye and eager Interest at the countenance which to all glances but her own looks out of place upon these coarse pillows, and amid belongings so poor and common. For in the dimness made by the cur tains and the fast-approaching night fall. two other forms can be faintly seen, waiting, as all things in the world seem to wait at such a moment, for the re newed stir in those quiescent limbs and fallen eyelids, which would tell of life returned to this long unconscious body. They were those of Dr. Cameron and Mr. Gryce, and it would be hard to tell which countenance betrayed the most intent interest though there would have been no difficulty in determining which had the husband’s anxiety at heart an<i which the detective’s. The hour was 6 and the silence something appalling. In it you could hear but one sound; the beating of the doctor’s heart. "You said that the powder you gave her would lose Its effect in forty min utes,” whispered Mr. Gryce in the ear of his companion, as he quietly replaced the watch he had Just closed. “Those minutes are up. sir.” A long drawn sigh answered him. It came not from the doctor, who had sim ply shivered, but from the bed. Mrs Olney leaned forward till her lips al most touched the sick woman’s fore head, and the word she uttered was: “Mildred!” The beating of Dr. Cameron's heart stopped, he strained his ears for the answer or exclamation which was to tell so much. "Mildred?” Mrs. Olney again breathed "Oh!” came in a soft, lingering note from the bed; then two dark eyes sud denly unclosed, and fixing themselves upon the face bent over them, slowly smiled as much as to say, “I am here.” But in another instant a shudder went through that exhausted frame and those two eyes, wild now, and unutterably searching, flew from object to object about her, then back to Mrs. Olney. who, perfect in her lesson, gave her an affectionate look and remarked quietly. “You have been ill, dear, very ill.” At which Mrs. Cameron looked again at the bed, then ut the little faded shawl which had been pinned about her shoulders and lastly at her hands from w’hich all her rings had been ta'ktr. and cried in sudden anguish: “Is it a dream then? Is there no Gen evieve, no Walter, and am I only Mil dred Farley?” The sound of a step, the smell of some pungent odor about the bedhead and Mrs. Olney found it unnecessary to answer: unconsciousness had set tied again upon the partially awakened woman. The Question Settled. ^ T">0 not care for the compliment? I sir.” And yet the detective look- A ed decidedly gratified notwith standing “I merely wished to satisfy you and satisfy myself that it was not the adopted daughter of Mr. Gretorcx whom you had made your wife. The experiment wus satisfactory? You are thoroughly convinced?” To Be Continued To-morrow. Musical. It was at a musical given in an old-fashioned country house, and the soprano was screeching her loudest. “The room is cold,” complained one of the guests, “and I would like to stir the fire in the grate, but I don't know how to do it without interrupt ing the music.” “That’s easy,” suggested his com panion; “stir it between the bars.” After Shaving AIR-FLOAT Talcum re- **■ moves the shiny redness and gives that smooth, natural, wholesome effect that men covet. TALCUM PUFF CO. M t tiers and amrmlartnrer* Bush Terminal Building Brooklyn, N. Y. Talcum Ponder Do \ ou Know :: :: THE HEAD WAITRESS :: :: Thai — By HANK. //if THERE’S Mr. Flake*?" asked ! ing about Mr. Flakes in the paper One perspicacity Ju.- t now and even the ’ ,n * lighted gas jet consumes as much air as four adults. The Jew?, «»t Now ^ ork number about ‘.*00,000. one-thirteenth of the entire race. St. Martin’s Church. Canterbury, is -aid to be the oldest church in Kngland ! in use to-day. In China and Japan railway sign- I boards beat the names of places in both English an«i the native language. The twelve million pounds’ worth of ; linen which is the average yearly out- l*ut of the I n t«d Kingdom would wrap 1 the earth at the equator seven times round*. Portugal is the most illiterate coun try in Europe. t*T per cent of Its popu lation can not writ.-. In Italy the pro portion of illiterates is 53 per cent, in Russia 36. in Spain in England 3!*. A poultry rearer at Domremy France, lias discovered that by mixing cayenne pepper with the food of fowls their plu mage turns pink, which changes to a vivid scarlet about an hour before a coming thunderstorm. vV the 1 * * Hei d'Enfant as he noticed the absence of the genial manager. ' He's on his vacation,” she replied. “Pretty soft for some guys You Just come back from your, didn’t you?” “Yes, Louise.” said the Steady Cus tomer “For one beautiful week I trav eled on the water in a motor boat with my friend Jimmy.” "Did it always mote?” asked the Head Waitress. “Most always,” replied t lie Steady Customer "You see we had a good en gineer on board. You needn’t ask who he was. Modesty would prevent my replying.” ‘Sure, you always did hate yourself,” said the Head Waitress. "1 was in a tor boat once myself. The engine 1 behaved as if it had ch i tion. and hesitated every now and then like you do when you're figuring on I whether you can afford creamed chick en on toast or browned hash But. say, lull joking aside, you want to stop writ- j of the bosses was speaking to him about ; it the other day, and said it looked as I if he was getting too familiar with the I customers.” | “That's too bad,” said the Steady Customer. "If they had more manag- , ers like Mr. Flakes they’d have to turn away the crowds. There’s nothing that . cheers anyone up like walking into a place like this and seeing somebody 1 wearing a genial expression. Why I often, take an extra piece of pie just to be able to exchange a few more i cheerful won! with him. Who’s the | new manager?” “That’s Mr. Governor.’ said the Had Waitress. “He’* a very nice man, too. That's one thing I like «.bout Mrs d'Enfant, she a’ways picks out real gents for managers. That’s what I call jhaving perspicatity.” “That’s too n. ich fo me,' — .. groaned nic presump- the Steady Customer. “I suppose you mean perspicacity, but give me my Check quick, 1 feel faint.” "Louise is getting too high brow for •lie.” said the Steady Customer to Marie, the cashier "She tried to say beans turned cold.” "Perspicacity in Indiana, where I come from, is a very ordinary word.” replied Marie loftily. “Very ordinary. I’m surprised at you. This way out.” He Had Felt It. “Electricity in the atmosphere af fects your system,” said the doctor. “Yes,” said the patient who had paid two guineas for two visits. "There are times when one feels overcharged.” No Wonder. "Do you play anv instrument, Mr. Jimp?” "Yes; I’m a cornetist.” "And your sister'."' "She's a pianist.” "Does your mother play?” "She's a zitherist.' And your father?” "He’s a pessimist.” SEEING THINGS Whether it's through a field glass, opera glass, telescope or a pair of Kryptok . . be s ire they are from “Moore’s.” "Moore” qual ity is our watchword. "We sell everything to see with.” Jno. L. Moore Sons, expert opticians North Broad street. Palmer's Skin Whitener For Dark Comp'exions T TS EFFECT is marvelous * upon a dark or sallow skin. You cannot realize what it will do until you have used It. Guaranteed pure and harmless. Postpaid^ ^ £ Anywhere All Jacobs’ Stores And Druggists Generally. ■"Jita Via New Orleans THE SAFEST AND BEST ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA LOW One Way COLONIST Rates from Atlanta, in Ef fect September 25 to October 10. $42.20 TO CALIFORNIA Through Standard and Tourist Sleeping Cars. Ask for information and literature. 0. P. BARTLETT, G. A. R. 0. BEAN, T. P. A. D. L. GRIFFIN, C. P. A. 121 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Ga. V \ *