The Argosy, June 1904 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

492 some one bearing a strong resemblance to Major Worthington had wilfully and cruelly imposed on two unsuspecting young people, and the police were strongly recommended to take steps to bring the offender to justice. A rider submitted by Mr. Merridew was rejected as being of unnecessary strength, and another, offered by an officious guest, that it would be well in future if Mr. Merridew would wear spectacles, was so coldly received by that gentleman, who was sensitive about his eyesight, that it was hastily withdrawn. In view of the indignities inflicted on the rightful owner, Mr. Wonderman olfered to vacate the house at once, but Mr. Merridew, in spite of his iragcible temper, was not destitute of chivalry. Of a combative disposition, he looked back on his encounter with the two po- heemen with a certain sense of enjoy- ment, and regarded his protracted re- sistance to superior numbers as a sig- nal proof that age had only slightly impaired his pristine vigor. He first lectured his quondam antagonists sharply on the evils of being guided by first impressions, and then soothed their resentment by a largess which converted them at once into compcti- tive eulogists. To Mr. Wonderman, and especially to Mrs. Wonderman. whose pretty face rr et te tr I re re es mee THE ARGOSY. and evident distress touched him, he extended an invitation to remain as his guests until the return of his wife and daughter, and was so masterful in his insistence that they could not do other- wise than accept it. The intimacy thus established throve amazingly, and the young couple never found any cause to regret that they had once fallen victims to the wiles of the unscrupulous Mr. Jernyngham. IV. SEATED in a low wicker chair, on the broad piazza of a Florida hotel, Mr. Hlorace Jernyngham, now temporarily passing under an assumed name, drew a letter from his pocket and reread an extract. | “There is a big row on,” wrote his correspondent, “ over some man rent- ine some other man’s furnished house while he was away. ‘The real man turned up at a dinner party and was arrested as an escaped lunatic. It got into the papers here and the police are busy. Jf you know anything about it, better lie low.” “Thank you, my disereet friend,” Mr. Jernyngham commented. “I will take vour advice. My stout friend’s remarks must have been well worth hearing. My only regret is that I couldn’t stay to see the finish.” gy A RAINY DAY. THIS is my dream, to have you on a day Of beating rain and sullen clouds of gloom Here with me, in the old, familiar room, Watching the logs beneath the flames’ swift play Burst into strange conceits of bud and bloom. The things we know about us here and there, The books we love, half read, on floor and knee, The stein the Dutchman brought from oversea Standing invitingly beside your chair, The while we quote and talk and—disagree ; Rebuild the castles that we reared in Spain, Reread the poet that our childhood knew, With eyes that meet when some quaint thought rings true. Oh, friend, for some such day of cheer and rain, Books, and the dear companionship of you ! PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG COMMIG Theodosia Pickering Garrison. ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED NOOK