The Argosy, October 1906 — page 41: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a P a. 4 ¥ es: 4 : 2 i oe ' ON THE SPUR OF THE peanuts themselves, T shall be fully satis- fied. That is,’ he added hastily, “Suntil my hand gets well and. I have a chance EO: boosting myself into something more ae lucrative.” But even these‘ modest demands upon Destiny seemed in a. fair way not to be realized. It was a muggy, cloudy morn- sing, and the hurrying, bedraggled crowds along Fourteenth Street were-not stop- ping to buy peanuts.. The hours dragged slowly along toward” noon’ with a: total of only six bags disposed of, and one of those he had givefr-away toa little street waif because he could not resist , the appeal of her hungry. eyes. 5 Then, to add to- his. discomfiture, it began to,rain hard... All the other’ push- carf@men* headed for home ;, but Horace had -no place to go. . It would hardly do, che ‘thought,.to drag a peanut=roaster in through the front door’ of the’ Hamble- tonian; and as yet he Had. secured “no other domicile. Indeed, there was nothing to be done™ except to protect his. wares aS well as he was-able -with the ‘raggéd oilcloth, and take whatsoever heaven chose to send. As for himself, he got out his rain-coat -from-under the little: wagon, thankful ‘that hé had had sufficient sense not to-let it go" when he. pawned his other things ; and S0 eseaped the drenching..he must otherwise’ have received. He -did snot’ réalize ~ himself what a ‘figure he was cutting; but many a pas- ser-by half stopped im“amazement to - glanée at the tall gentleman in a stylish _ gray _Cravenette, who was so sedulously striving to.preserve some hapless ven- dor's= stock..from. a wetting. Had the downpour béen less determined, Horace would probably have -had as’ big a crowd around him in-a few moments as though © he had been a monkey or a trained bear. Finally He overheard one of two men, sheltering, themselves. in .an.. adjacent doorway, ~ remark ‘to his - companion ; _ “It’s evidently some ‘ blood’ doing it_on a a geet. There'll probably come along wd in an automobile presently. and MOMENT. ‘i 415 noticeable coat; but immediately a spirit of defiance rose within him. ‘““No,” he declared; ‘ instead, F will wear it all the time, ce or shine. good-ad, for.it will draw attention to me amd so help out my business. Why should I care, anyway? -I don’t know a single soul in all New York A _How often Fate gives the lieto our careless statements. . Hardly. were the ‘words out of Clarkson’s mouth when an umbrella which had been “bobbing along the sidewalk toward him was lifted so as to disclose its owner’s face,and a sweét™ voice observéd in‘ a tone-of relief : “Ah, here is a peanut-cart. after all, mother. We can Baecen. .Bunny’s heart in spite of the rain.’ . If: Horace had-been at that moment ‘the possessor of-the million dollars which the departing Antonio. had wished him, he would have given every. cent of it to = be anywhere else than where. he was. @ That*face and voice were too deeply im= pressed upon his memory ever to be: for- gotten. His “new: customer was. Miss Daisy Clarkson. Worse than that, the Te commaitiCn was mutual. The gray eyes fixed upon him operied to their farthest. width; an ex-: pression of absolutely’ blank | bewilder=* ment overspread her .face; she gasped rathér than uttered: ‘‘ Why, Mr. Clark- son, what are you doing here?-” Now, Horace Clarkson-had as little false pride, perhaps, as any man alive, and the business that he was engaged in was as honorable and legitimate as any that could” be named; yet he would sooner have cut-off his right-hand than sonfess to this girl that it was= his. If he had not directly: said so, he had posed Before her on the train-ds a many of large affairs, and now to let her know Lemos ca. that he was merely the keeper of..a_pea-s— nut-stand on the corner? simply could not do it. Nor could he well explain, either. To enter into a long-winded recital “of his troubles here in the midst of a driving He simply comménce to guy him. “Let’s- wait ands rain-storm-to a girl, moreover, whom he see the fun.’ Then Clarkson began. to “comprehend , that he must present a rather’ unusual : " appearance. -His first impulse was to strip off the ~ had only met once in -a casual. fashion, and whom he had no reason to believe Was- more than: ordinarily interested in him, would manifestly only serve to make a bad matter worse. cS ——GOMIGDOO (<6)