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Copyright. 1399. by Doubttday
Copyright. 1902.
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(COXTINI'K!) FIIOM LAST WT.KK )
Ross looked out or tiio winnow mm
liuiKlicil as lie took her hand, which hu
shook with a long up and down motion,
but ho wns set nt hotter cast' by her
apparent unconsciousness of the fact
that the decorations were for her. "Oh,
H ain't much, 1 reckon," he replied,
mid continued to look out of tho win
dow and laugh.
She went to the desk and removed
her gloves and laid her rain cloak over
a chair near by. "Is hls Mr. Harkless'
chair?" she asked, and, Flsbee answer
ing that It was, she looked gravely at It
for a moment, passed her hand gently
over the hack of it and then, throwing
the rain cloak over another chair, said
cheerily:
"Do you know, I think the first thing
for us to do will be to dust everything
very carefully V"
"Von remember, I was confident she
would know precisely where to begin,"
was Flsbee's earnest whisper In the
willing ear of the long foreman. "Not
n Instant's indecision, was there?"
"No, slreo," replied the other, and as
he went down to tho pressroom to hunt
!for a feather duster which lie thought
might he found there ho collared Kud
TIpworthy, the devil, who, not ndnilt
Ited to the conclave of Ills superiors,
Kvas whistling on the rainy stairway.
"Von hustle and tlud that dustbntsh
we used to have, Rtid," said Parker.
And presently as they rummaged In
the nooks and crannies about the ma
chinery he molted to his small asslst
nnt. "The paper Is saved, Huddle
saved by an angel in light brown. You
can tell it by tho look of her."
"Gee!" said Hud.
Mr. Scholield had come, blushing, to
Join them. "Say, Cale, did you notice
the color of her eyes?"
"Yes. They're gray."
"I thought so, too, show day and nt
Kedge Ilalloway's lecture. Hut say,
f'ii!. they're kl!d of chuuceuble. When
die come in upstairs with you and Fls
bce they weie jest as bluenear
matched the color of our ribbons."
"(!ee!" repeated Mr. TIpworthy.
When the editorial chamber had been
made so neat that It almost glowed,
though It could never be expected to
shine as did Flsbee and Caleb Parker
.and Ilii Scholield that morning, the
lady took her seat at the desk and
lookt-d over the few items the gentle
men hail already compiled for her po
jnisal. Mr. I'nrkor explained many tech
nicalities peculiar to the Carlow Her
ald, translated some phrases of the
printing room and enabled her to grasp
the amount of matter needed to till au
issue.
When l'arker finished the three in
competents sat watching the little fig
ure with the expression of hopeful and
trusting terriers. She knit her brow
for a second, but she did not betray an
instant's indecision.
"I think we should have regular
market reports," she announced ear
nestly. "1 am stut' Mr. Harkless would
Approve. Don't you think he would?"
She turned to l'arker.
"Market reports!" Mr. Flsbeo ex
claimed. "I should never have thought
of market reports, nor do I Imagine
would either of my my associates. A
woman to conceive the Idea of market
reports!"
The editor blushed. "Why, who
would, dear. If not a woman or a spec
ulator, and I'm not a speculator, and
neither are you, and that's the reason
you didn't think of them. So, Mr.
l'arker, as there Is so much pressure,
ami If you don't mind continuing to act
as reporter as well as compositor until
after tomorrow, and If it Isn't too wet
you must have an umbrella would It
be too much bother It you went around
to all the shops stores, I mean to all
the grocers and the butchers and the
leather place we passed, the tannery,
and If there's one of those places where
they bring cattle, would It be too much
to ask you to stop there- and at the
flour mill, if It isn't too far, and at the
dry goods store and you must take a
blank hook and a sharpened pencil, and
will you price everything, please, and
Jot down how much things are?"
Orders received, the Impetuous Par
ker was departing on the Instant when
she slopped him with a little cry, "Hut
you haven't any umbrella!" And she
forced her own, a slender wand, upon
blm. It bore a cunningly wrought
handle, and Its fabric was of glisten
ing silk. The foreman, unable to de
cline it, thanked her awkwardly, and
as she turned to speak to Fisbee he
bolted out of the door and ran down
the stops without unfolding the um
brella, and then as he made for Mr.
Martin's emporium he buttoned It so
curely under his long Prluco Albert,
determined that not a drop of water
should touch and ruin so delicate n
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thing. Thus he carried it, triumphant
ly dry, through the course of his re
port lugs of that day.
When he had gone the editor laid her
hand on Klsbee's arm. "Dear," she said,
"do you think you'd lake cold If you
went over to tho hotel and made a note
of all the arrivals for the last week and
the departures too? I noticed that Mr.
Harkless always tilled two or three
sticks, Isn't it? with them and tilings
about them, and somehow It 'read very
nicely. You must ask the landlord all
about them, and If there aren't any, we
can take up the same amount of space
lamenting the dull times, just as lie .
used to. You see, I've read the Herald
faithfully. Isn't It a good thing I al
ways subscribed for it?" She patted
Flsbee's cheek with her soft hand and
laughed gayly Into his mild, vague old
eyes. "It won't be tills scramble to 'till
up much longer. 1 have plans, gentle
men, mid before long we will print
news; and we must buy 'plate matter'
Instead of patent Insldcs; and I had a
talk with the Associated Press people
in Rouen, but that's for afterwhile.
And I went to the hospital this morn
ing before I left. They wouldn't let me
see him again, but they told me all
about him, and he's better, and I got
Tom to go to the Jail, and ho saw some
of those beasts, and I can do a column
of description besides an editorial about
them, and I will bo tierce enough to
suit Carlow, you may believe that. And
I've been talking to Senator Rurus
that Is, listening to Senator Hums,
which Is much stupider and I think I
can do nn article on national politics.
I'm not very well up on local issues
yet, and I" She broke off suddenly.
"There, I think wo can get out tomor
row's number without any trouble. Hy
the time you get back from the hotel,
father, I'll have half my my stuff
written 'written up,' 1 mean. Take
your big umbrella and go, dear, and
please ask at the express olllce If a
typewriter has come for me."
She laughed again with sheer delight,
like a child, and ran to a corner and
got tho cotton umbrella and placed it
In tho old man's hand. As he reached
the door she called after him, "Wait!"
and went to him and knelt before him
and, with the humblest, proudest grace
In the world, turned up his trousers to
keep thon rrom the mud. Ross Scho
lield had never considered Mr. Flsbeo a
particularly sacred sort of person, but
he did from that moment. The old
man made some timid protest at the
girl's action, but she answered: "The
great ladies used to buckle the Cheva
lier Hayard's spurs for him, and you'ie
a great deal nicer than the Chev
You haven't any i libbers! I don't be
lieve any of you have any rubbers!"
And not until both Flsbeo and Mr.
Scholield had promised to purchase
overshoes at once and in the meantime
not to st-y in any puddles would she
let the former depart upon his errand.
Ho crossed the square with the strang
est, Jauntiest step ever seen in Piatt
vllle. Solomon Tibbs had a warm ar
gument with Miss Selina as to his
Identity, Miss Selina maintaining that
r tlgure under the big umbrella-only
the legs and coat tails were visible to
them -was that of a stranger, probably
nu Englishman.
In the Herald olllce the editor turn
ed, smiling, to the paper's remaining
vassal. "Mr. Scholield, 1 heard some
talk In Kouen of an oil company that
had been formed to prospect for kero
sene in Carlow county. Do you know
anything about it?"
Itoss, surfeited with honor, terror, and
possessed by a sweet distress at (lad
ing himself tete-a-tete with tho lady,
looked at the wall and replied, "Oh.
it's that r.ph Watts' foolishness."
"Do you know If they have begun to
dig for it yt ?"
"Ma'am?" said Ross.
"Have they begun the diggings yet?"
"No, ma'am, I think not. They've
got a contrapshun llxed up about three
mile south. I don't reckon they've be
gun yet, hardly. They're git tin' the
machinery In place. I heard Kph say
they'd begin to bore dig, I mean,
ma'am; I meant to say dig" He
stopped, utterly confused and unhap
py, and she understood his manly pur
pose and knew him for a gentleman
whom she liked.
"You mustn't be too much surprised,"
she said, "but in spite of my ignorance
about such things I mean to devote a
good deal of space to the oil company.
It may come to be of great importance
to Carlow. Wo won't go Into it in to-!
morrow's paper beyond an item or so. '
hut do you think you could possibly
find Mr. Watts and ask him for some
information as to their progress and if
it would bo too much trouble for him to
call hero tomorrow afternoon or thei
day after? I want him to give me au
Interview If ho will. Tell him, please,
he will very greatly oblige un." I
"Oh, he'll come nil right," answered
her companion quickly. "I'll tnke Tibbs'
buggy and go down there right off.
Epli won't lose no time glttln' here."
And with this encouraging assurance
be was tlylng forth when he. like the
others, was detained by her solicitous
care. She was a horn mother. He pro
tested that In the buggy he would bo
perfectly sheltered. Hesldes, there
wasn't another umbrella about tho
place. He liked to gel wet anyway;
had always loved rain. The end of It
was that he went away In a sort of
tremor wearing her rain cloak over his
shoulders, which garment, as it cov
ered its owner completely when she
wore It, hung almost to his knees. He
darted around a corner, and there,
breathing deeply, tenderly removed It,
then borrowing paper and cord at a
neighboring store wrapped It neatly
and stole back to the printing olllce, on
the ground lloor of the Herald building,
and left the package In the hands of
Hud TIpworthy, charging him to care
for It as for his own life and not to
open It, but if the lady so much as set
one foot out of doors before his return
to hand It to her with the message,
"He borrowed another off .1. Jlnuklns."
Left alone, the lady went to the desk
and stood for a time looking gravely at
Harkless' chair. She touched It gently,
as she had touched It once before that
morning, and then she spoke to It as if
he were sitting there and as she would
not have spoken had ho been sitting
there.
"You didn't want gratitude, did
you?" she whispered, with sad lips.
Soon she smiled at the blue ribbon,
patted the chair gayly on the back and,
seizing upon pencil and pad, dashed
Into her work with rare energy. She
bent low over the desk, her pencil mov
ing rapidly. She seemed loath to pause
for breath. She had covered many
sheets when Flsbee returned, and as
be came In softly In order not to dis
turb her she was so deeply engrossed
that she did not hear him, nor did sin;
look up when Parker entered, but pur
sued the formulation of her fust Hying
Ideas with the same single purpose
and abandon. So the two men sat and
waited while their chieflainoss wrote
absorbed ly. At last she glanced up
and made a little startled exclamation
at seeing them there mid then gave
Willi, the humblest, jmmdeal grace In the
world.
them cheery greeting. Each placed
several scribbled sheets before her, and
she, having first assured herself that
Flsbeo had bought his overshoes, and
having expressed a fear that Mr. Par
ker had found her umbrella too small,
as he looked damp (mid indeed he was
damp), cried praises on their notes and
offered the reporters great applause.
"It is all so splendid!" she cried.
"How could you do It so quickly? And
In the rain too! It Is Just what wo
need. I've done most of the things I
mentioned, I think, and made a draft
of home plans for hereafter. Doesn't
It seem to you that It would bo a good
notion to have a woman's page 'For
Feminine Renders' or 'Of Interest to
Women' onco a week?"
"A woman's page!" exclaimed Fls
bee. "1 could never have thought of
that. Could you, Mr. Parker?"
Hefore that day was over system had
teen Introduced, and the Herald was
running on It, and all that warm rainy
ufternoon the editor and Flsbeo work
ed In the editorial rooms, Parker and
Hud mid Mr. Scholield (after his return
with the Items and a cqurtcous mes
sage from Fibrillin Watts) bent over
the forms downstairs, and Facie Xeno
phon was cleaning the storeroom and
scrubbing the floor. An extraordinary
number of errands took the various
members of the printing force up to
see tho editor in chief, literally to see
the editor In chief. It was hard to be
lieve that the presence had not flown,
Jmrd to keep believing without the re
peated testimony of sight that the din
gy room upstairs was actually the set
ting for their Jewel, and a Jewel they
swore she was. The printers came
down chuckling and gurgling after
each interview. It was partly the
thought that she belonged to the Her
ald, their paper. Once Ross, chuckling,
looked up and caught tho foreman gig
gling to himself.
"What In tho name of common sense
you laugh!!!' at, Cale?" ho asked.
"What me you laughing at?" re
i
joined the other.
"1 duiinol"
The day wore on, wet and dreary out
side, but all within the Herald's bosom
was snug mid busy and murmurous
with the healthy thrum of life mid
prosperity renewed. Toward (J o'clock-,
system accomplished, the new guiding
spirit was deliberating on a policy, as
Harkless would conceive a policy were
he there, when Minnie Rrlscoe ran Joy
ously up the stairs, plunged Into the
room waterproofed and radiant and
caught her friend In her eager arms
and put an end to policy for that day.
Hut policy mid labor did not end at
twilight every day. There were even
ings, as In the time of Harkless, when
lamps shone from the upper windows
of the Herald building; for the little
editor worked hard, and sometimes she
worked late: she always worked early.
She made some mistakes at first and
one or two blunders which she took
much more seriously than any one else
did. Hut she found a remedy for all
such results of her Inexperience, and
she developed experience. She set at
her task with the energy of her youth
fulness and no limit to her ambition,
and she felt that Harkless had pre
pared the way for a wide expansion of
the paper's Interesfi, wider then he
knew. She brought a fresh point of
view to operate In a situation where he
had fallen perhaps too much In the rut,
and she watched every chance with a
keen eye and looked ahead of her with
clear foresight. What she waited mid
yearned for mid dreaded was the time
when a copy of the new Herald should
be placed In the trembling hands of the
man who lay In the Rouen hospital.
Then she felt If he, unaware of her
Identity as he was and as he was to be
kepi, should place everything hi her
hands unreservedly, that would be a
tribute to her work. And how hard she
would labor to deserve It I
After a time she began to see that as
his representative and editor of the
Herald she had become a factor hi dis
trict polities. It took her breath, but
with a gasp of delight, for there was
something she wanted to do.
Rodney McCuno had lifted his head,
and the friends of his stricken enemy
felt that they and the cause that Hark
less had labored for wore lost with
out the leader, for the old ring that the
Herald had beaten rallied around Mc
Cune. "The boys were In line again."
Every one knew that Halloway, a dull
but honest man, the most available ma
terial that Harkless had been able to
find, was already beaten. If John
Harkless had been "on the ground to
work for him," It was said, Halloway
could have received the nomination
again, but as matters stood he was
beaten and beaten badly, mid Rodney
McCuno would sit In congress, for nom
ination meant election.
Hut one afternoon the Harkless
forces, demoralized, broken, hopeless,
woke up to find that they had a leader.
There was a political conference at
Judge Hrlscoe's. The politicians de
scended sadly at the gate from the
omnibus that had met the afternoon
train Roswoll mid Keating, two gen
tlemen of A mo, and Hence and Shan
non, two others of Gaines county, to
confer with Warren Smith, Tom Mar
tin, Rrlscoe and Harkless' representa
tives, Flsbee and the editor or the
Herald. They entered the house gloom
ily, and the conference began In de
jected monosyllables. Hut presently
Minnie Rrlscoe, sitting on the porch
pretending to sew, heard Helen's voice,
clear, soft and trembling a little with
excitement. She talked for only two
or three minutes, hut whtft she said
seemed to stir up great commotion
among the others. All the voices burst
forth at once In exclamations, almost
shouts. Then Minnie saw her father,
seated near the window, rise and strike
the table a great blow with his clinch
ed list. "Will I make the nomiuailng
speech?" he cried. "I'd walk from
here to Rouen and back again to do
It!"
"We'll swim out!" exclaimed Mr.
Keating of Amo, "The wonderful
thing Is that nobody thought of this
before. There are Just two dllllcultles
Halloway and our man himself. He
wouldn't let his name bo used against
Kcdge. Therefore we've got to work
It quietly and keep It from him."
"It's not too dlflleult," said the speak
er's colleague, Mr. Hoswell. "All we've
got to do is to spring It as a surprise on
the convention. Some of the old crowd
themselves will be swept along with es
when wo make our nomination, and
you want to stuff your ears with cot
ton. You see, all wo need to do Is to
pass the word quietly among the Hal
loway people and the shaky McCuno
people. Rod may get wind of It, but
you can't llx men In this district against
us when they know what we mean to
do now. On the first ballot we'll give
Halloway every vote he'd have got If
he'd run against McCuno alone. It will
Help him to understand how things
were afterward. On the second ballot
why, we nominate. Of course It can't
be helped that Halloway lias to be kept
In the dark, too, but he's got to be."
"There's one danger," said Warren
Smith. "Kedge Halloway Is honest, hut
I believe he's selllsh enough to disturb
his best friend's deathbed for ills own
ends. It's not unlikely that he will get
nervous toward the last and be tele
graphing Harkless to have himself car- J
nun on a cui in urn cuiivciiuoii io nou
blm. Thnt wouldn't do at all, of course.
And Miss Sherwood thinks maybe
thoro'd bo less danger If we set Tho
convention a little ahead of the day
appointed. It's dangerous, because It
shortens our time, but we can fix It for
three days before the day we'd settled
on, and that will bring It to Sept. 7."
"It's a groat plan," said Mr. Hence,
who was an oratorical gentleman. II i
thrust one hand In his breast, raised
the other toward heaven and contin
ued, "For tho name of Harklcs-t
hull"
"Walt a minute," said Keating. "I'd
like to hear from the Herald about its
policy, if Miss Sherwood will tell us."
"Yes, Indeed," she answered. "It will
be very simple. Don't you think there
-
"llcrc'n to our cnndldntel"
Is only one course to pursue? Wo will
advocate no one very energetically, but
we will print as much of the truth
about Mr. McCuno as wo can, with del
icacy and honor, In this case; but as I
understand It the work Is almost all to
be done among the delegates. Wo shall
not mention our plan at all, and wo
will contrivo that Mr. Harkless shall
not receive his copy of the paper con
taining tho notice of the change of
date, and I think the chance of his see
ing It In any Rouen paper may ho
avoided. That Is all, I think."
"Thank you," said Keating. "Thnt H
certainly the course to follow."
Every one nodded or acquiesced In
words, and Keating and Henco camo
over to Helen and engaged her In con
versation. The others began to look
about for their hats, vaguely preparing
to leave.
"Walt a minute," said the Judge.
"There's no train duo Just now." Anil
Minnie appeared In the doorway with
a big pitcher of crab applo elder, rich
and amber lined, sparkling, cold and
redolent of tho sweet smelling orchard
where it was born. Hehlnd Miss Urls
coe came Mlldy Upton with glasses and
a fat, slinking, four storied jelly cakn
on a second tray. Tho Judge passed
his cigars around, and the gentlemen
took them blithely, then hestltatingly
held them In their fingers and glanced
at the ladles, uncertain of permission.
"Let mo get you some matches,"
ncleu said quickly, mid found a box
on the tabic and handed them to Keat
ing. Every one sat beaming, and fra
grant veils of smoke soon draped tho
room.
"Why do you call her 'Miss Sher
wood'?" Hoswell whispered In Kcat
lng's ear.
"That's her nnme."
"Ain't she the daughter of that old
fellow over there by the window? Ain't
her name Flsbeo?"
"No; she's his daughter, but her legal
name's Sherwood. She's an ndop"
"Great Scott! I know all about that
I'd like to know If there's a man, wo
man or child In this part of tho coun
try that doesn't. I guess it won't bo
Flsbeo or Sherwood either very long.
She can easy get a new name, that
lady. And If she took a fancy to Hos
well, why, I'm a bach"
"I expect she won't take a fancy to
Boswell very early," said Keating.
"Go way," returned Mr. Hoswell.
"What do you want to say that for?
Can't you bear for anybody to bo hap
py a minute or two now and then?"
Warren Smith approached Helen and
inquired If It would be asking too much
If they petitioned her for some music,
nnd she went to the piano and sang
some darky songs for them, with a
quaint suggestion of the dialect. Two
or three old fashioned negro melodies
of Foster, followed by some rollicking
modern Imitations, with the movement
and spirit of a tin shop falling down a
flight of stairs. Her audience listened
In delight from the first. Hut the lattet'
songs quite overcame them with pleas
ure and admiration, and before she fin
ished every head In the room was Jog'
ging from side to side and forward
Mid back In time to the music, white
every foot uhuflled the measures on this
carpet.
When tho gentlemen from out of
town discovered that it was tlmo to
leave If they meant to catch their trail,
Helen called to them to wait, and they,
gathered around her., m
(to ni: continued.;
That Settle's It.
When a Colorado Mind stone walk is
laid that si tiles ii. Sue Overing Bros
& Co. for pneos.
Go to Fred Plumb's for Hour or feed.
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