Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 107: what you’re looking at

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A MARKET FOR STORIES. Lucy whisked away. In the tumult of her mind indignation was foremost. Here was another who could profit by Abner’s gift without compensating him! But she quickly suppressed this feeling. Perhaps she could learn something to Abner’s ad- vantage. She delivered an unusually large wedge of pie to Mr. Samson. ‘“ That’s the girl,” said Mr. Samson approvingly and attacked the tip of it. “ By the way, I suppose Ab- ner’s here somewhere?” “No. He don’t work here now.” ‘““ What?” Mr. Samson laid down his fork in consternation. ‘‘ You don’t mean to say he’s left Windham?” “Oh, no. Guess you'll find him down to Seth Dolittle’s store.” ‘“T thought that young man was a fixture here!” Lucy rapidly sketched the course of Ab- ner’s recent history. ‘Sam Taug’s a fool,” said Mr. Samson when she had finished. “ But Abner’s well tid of the old man’s daughter, I should Say.” Lucy blushed. “ Well, it’s all right with me,” she said. His practiced eye saw her brief confusion and noted the ring on her third finger. His felicitations were im- mediate and hearty. “ Abner’s all right,” he said, “a darn good fellow.” Then, his pie finished, he went out to join the circle in Seth Doo- little’s store. Late that evening when he returned he was waylaid by Lucy on the front porch and the two held long and earnest converse in guarded tones. When they finished Mr. Samson was feeling his fatherliest. “Leave it to me, little girl,” he said, patting the back of Lucy’s hand. “I’m a sreat little fixer. And I’ve got some good friends up there to Crystal Springs.” V. ANOTHER two weeks rolled by and the date of Salviny’s and Tom’s wedding was drawing near. They had agreed upon a short engagement, both, perhaps, having a half-conscious idea that it would be well to forestall changes of mind. And Tom TA 897 had promised a bang-up wedding trip— in nothing less than the new car. “T’ll get one with a convertible body, Salviny,” he said, ‘and after we’ve had our trip in her I'll use her in my business. And we'll go up to Crystal Springs first off and stop at the Breevort—swellest house there. How does that strike you?” It struck Salviny as quite the thing. No Windham girl, so far as she could remem- ber, had ever made so much of a splash with her wedding journey. Then four days before their wedding day the village was deeply and enjoyably shocked. Lucy Wilmer and Abner Hitch- cock disappeared simultaneously and, it would seem, together. “All I know about it,” said Seth Doo- little in his capacity as postmaster, “is that Abner gets this letter from Crystal Springs and he and Lucy read it together over there in the corner and they both seem sort of excited and glad about some- thing, and Abner gives her a squeeze, like, and they goes out together and that’s everything I seen or heard.” It was all anybody knew, but that did not still the buzz ef scandal. Sam Taug was especially severe. ‘Should I have kept her here if Id known she would do such a thing?” he asked. “No. Nor him either. This is a respectable hotel and I don’t want none but respectable people around here. I tell you, Tom, Salviny showed fine judgment when she give that feller the gate. And she was right about Lucy, too. I didn’t like to believe her when she told me that Lucy wasn’t just the girl to have around the hotel, but now I see that she was right. Trust the women in a case of that kind.” Salviny outwardly took smug satisfaction in the vindication of her judgment, but in- wardly she was a little disturbed. She had not thought that Abner possessed the gump- tion or romantic feeling to elope and his astonishing action caused her a twinge of doubt as to the wisdom of her change of mind. She could not imagine Tom eloping for all his hustle. Perhaps if she had stayed true to Abner—? But it was too late now and so she and oO CoMmicbooks CO