8
THE COURIER.
S
THE
CONTROLLER.
He was drewed in complete mourning
with an unusually deep, broad band
round hie Lat;be looked bitter and
weary. The rain swished steadily against
the windowa of the railway carriage.
"Nice, refreshing rain, isn't?' it he
said presently.
"Yes," I said, "and much wanted in
the country."
"The country may thank me for it,"
he continued almost vindictively. "I
made that rain. I control thiDgs, I do.
I control the world wherever I come in
touch with it.
I said nothing. I was trying to make
up my mind whether this was an excess
of the funeral sherry or a mind dis
traught with grief. He seemed to read
my thoughts.
"I am not speaking wildly. I am
speaking from a long and painful expe
rience. ,I've realized that Destiny has
made up its mind to put me is the
wrong, whatever I do, and whatever it
may cost other people to put me in the
wrong. As long as I'm in the wrong,
that's all that's wanted, and other peo
ple don't matter. ThiB time other people
are profiting by me. Last night I watered
my tennis-lawn. I've not got a hoee,
and I carried the water in cans until
my back was nearly broken. This
morning I started out without an um
brella and with a new haL To make it
more certain, I'm going up to London -Pric8B thla winter
for a day's pleasure and amusement.
It'll clear up while I'm in the cheater
this afternoon, and begin to tain again
as I come out. It's lucky the uiantry
wants rain; we've got it because I
didn't."
He hardly looked like a man on a
spree, and I suppose 1 was rude enough
to let my eyes rest on hk obtrusive
mourning.
"You're looking at my clothes. Yes,
I know, it does seem queer. I'm in
mourning for my uncle. He s not dead,
mind you; he's as well as ever he was.
He owes hk life to me, and yet he'll
never speak to me again, and he has cut
me out of his will. He was very ill and
I knew the doctors had given up all
hope, and that it was only a question of
hours. Consequently I was not sur
prised to get a telegram to say that he
was dying, and I must come at once it I
wished to see him alive again. I went
off at once, and, knowing how busy I
should be the next few days with the
f aneral arrangements and so on, I or
dered a auit of mourning on the way.
'My tailor lives close to the station, and
1 had a few minutes to wait for my
train. Any other man would have done
the saw, My uncle got better, of
course; there's never been such a won
derful case before, end the doctors who
were attending him have written to the
medical papers to make excuses for
-themselves, because, by all the roles, the
sum ought to have died. Of course, he
only lived because I bad bought mourn
ing for hk death. He foand out that I
'had bought that mourning before he
was dead, and he has never forgiven me
and he never will, and there's a quarter
of a million hanging to it. The tailor
refused to take the clothes back, and I
dont mean a to lose them as well. I'm
wearing them, and I'm going on wear
ing them; "and," he added reluctantly,
"I don't care a damn!"
I sympathized with him, and asked
him if he enjoyed the theater.
"Yea," he said, "as well as a man can
enjoy it who never sees the particular
actress or actor that he has gone to see.
'Whenever I go I get an understudy with
-a coagh in the principal part There k
a whole theater audience disappointed
jast in order that I may be pat in the
wrong. I've gives ten shillings for my
seat today, aad if they knew the sort of a
-nun I was, they'd pay me ten pounds
.sot to coin.
"Yon any you saved your uncle's life,
owing to your peculiar destiny; tell me,
did you ever kill a man in the same
way?"
'Very possibly, but if bo it was in
directly and I never got to hear ot it. I
killed a horse, though. I backed Holo
caust for a pound each way. You re
member that Derby? I've never made
a bet since. What right have I to kill
other people's, horses? But it's some
sort of a consolation to me to recall the
good I've done. I've saved a man's life;
I've brought this rain that's so much
wanted; I've saved tbe poor man from
starvation, and given him bread to eat."
"Bread to eat? You haven't told me
about that?"
"You remember at the beginning of
the Spanish-American war that tbe
price of flour went up, and everybody
said it was going highervery much
higher?"
"Well, no; I don't know much about
flour; I'll take your word for it."
"It was so. I was fool enough to for
get that I have got to be in the wrong,
and I bought flour for the rise. It fell;
it went bumping down like a carload of
bricks going down a coal shaft. It
nearly broke me, but was a boon to the
poor man. I try to look at it in that
way," he said with a sigh.
"And are you going to do anything
with regard to coal?" I asked. "Unless
you interfere coal will be at famine
Don'tyou think it's '
your duty to get in a couple ot truck-
loads at present prices and oblige the
poor again?"
"No, he said; "if I bought coal with
a philanthropic motive, with an idea of
making it cheaper, the price would rush
up even higher than if I had left it
alone. I should be prevented from mak
ing any profit out of it, because my coal
would either be stolen or catch fire.
You can't play about in that way. If
your destiny means you to be wiong,
you will be wrong. It's of no use to
struggle."
i "He glanced at his watch. "I can't
make this out," he said. "The, traip is
quite punctual, and -yet 1 xbav,e-, an ap
pointment in town Which I should miss
if we were more than a quarter of an
hour late."
He had hardly spoken before the train
pulled up short. People put their
heads out of the windows and asked
questions ot railroad officials who did
not answer them. At last they broke
the news to us that a goods tiain had
gone off the rails just ahead of us and
blocked both lines. We should cet on
again in twenty minutes'orhalf an hour,
they hoped. Black and White.
!
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The Most Complete Line of Tailor's Suitings Here
WHAT WOMEN ADMIRE IN MEN.
What we admire most in them is a
loving appreciation of ourselves. The
most admirable man is he who makes a
comfortable home for the woman who
loves him and who delights to make
that home bright and cheery for bis
sake. For after all it matters little
what we admire in men; it is what we
love in them that is the important
factor in the well-being of the world.
Pall Mall Gazette.
So It Will.
"They Bay that this year's wheat crop
can't be beat," said Hojack.
"But it will have to be thrashed,"
added Tomdik.
Do you get your Courier regularly ?
Please compare address. If incorrect,
please send right address to Courier
office. Do this thk week.
FALLSWINIER
DRESS GOODS
Lv I sHK. sasV .H CkKlgLK
TIE LINENS
SE1D
ETC.. HERE.
0
c
ft
s
0
I H
0
0
ft
I 8
Large line of cheviots
for skirts and tailor
suits, black and all col
ors, at, per yard,
65c, 75c, 83c, 98c,
$1.10, 1.25,1.35,1.49,
and $1.75.
HOMESPUN
IT
We are having" large
sales on our Homespun
Suitings, they are good
values at, per yard,
65c, 75c, 85c, 98c,
$1.10 and $1.25.
PI
SI
I
Peau de Soie Silks
are in the greatest de
mand for fall dresses;
all qualities, are guar
anteed to wear, at, per
yard.
75c, 98c, $1.10, 1.25,
1.49, 1.75 and $1.98.
PIE VELVETS
Panne Velvets will
be used in large quan
tities for waist trim
mings, etc. ; our import
ed quality, all silk face
and back, is a bargain,
black and all colors,
per yard . . . r $1.75
I
12c Fast Black
Percaline 10c
15c Fast Black Per
caline 12c
20c Fast Black Per
caline 15c
25c Fast Black Per
caline 20c
DAMASK
Just received a large
line of table linens, in
cluding German, Irish
and Scotch damask,
with napkins to match,
price ranging, per yard,
35c, 49c, 65c, 69c, 75c,
83cc, 89c, 98c, $1;25
and $1:49.
P
CLOTHS
We are showing a
large line of fine pat
tern cloths, all double
damask and Irish linen,
2 and 3 yards long, at,
per pattern,
$2.49,2.75,2.98,3.25,
3:49,3.75, 3.98,4.25,
4.50, 4.98.
Ml
Our assortment
linen napkins are
ceptional bargains
of
ex
at
49c,. 65c, 75c, 98c,
$1.10,1.25,1.35,
1.75, 1.98.
per dozen.
to
1.49.
$4.98
it
Nottingham Lace
Curtains at, per pair
49c, 65c, 75c, 89c,
98c, $1.25, 1.49, 1.75,
1.98 to $4.98.
If LED WIS
The greatest values
ever shown in Ruffled
Curtains for the price,
per pair,
$1.49, 1.98, 2.25,
2.49 to $4.98.
mm snides
Cloth, oil color, win
dow shades, complete,
25c.
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