The Argosy, June 1904 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

THE WIDOW AND THE AGENT. 575 and rain rattled the window, and the solitary gas-jet swayed and flickered in the draft from the loose casement. ie finally dozed off in his chair and dreamed that he was again sitting be- side Mrs. Fisby in her warm parlor, and that a mammoth diamond sparkled on the white hand he held in lis own. A sub-conscious uneasiness began to dis- turb his dream as the hand was with- drawn from his clasp and pointed at a pink object on the floor. Ite awoke with a start, and made a dive for his overcoat, which hung dry- ing on the back of a chair. Yes » there in the pocket was the pink note, still unread. lt gave off a faint, familar perfume, which thrilled the little agent's olfac- tories, and he sniffed it blissfully as he opened the envelope: WEDNESDAY, 5 P.M. Mr. B. F. Songs, Agent for Carr & Little, Sant L write this standing on a chair. I can- not at this instant form any definite idea ot how long it will continue to float, but it is my earnest wish that it will continue to do so till I get this written. {am ealm now and shall try to remain so, though it was not without a strange fecling of alarm that I saw my best roomer float out the front door clinging to a twenty-eight dollar sofa. I do not now have any hopes that he will ever bring it back. Even as I write these few lines a pillow voes floating by me—it cost me five dol- lars. I did not try to grasp it, but if an umbrella comes mv way [ shall try to get that. Will you kindly tell me why you had the shingles and boarding taken off the roof? Rafters are real‘ useful in their place, but will not keep out the rain. You ought to see my carpets. The colors were not fast, and it looks as if your kalso- miners had been here and upset their pails all over the place. The next storm that oecurs, if I live through this—whieh JT hope I will—-I shall move into the park and take it straight. It will at least be a whole lot cleaner than this mess. T shall expect vour firm to pay for the earpets. Still floating, vours respectfully, Mrs. Evcene Amos Fissy. P. 8.—Do not hurry yourself on my ac- eount. There is nothing left to spoil. The agent dropped the letter, and sat for a moment staring blankly at the wall. He had committed an inexcusable blunder, and the situation came over him with full force, making him turn alternately hot and cold. The carpen- ters had struck when that job of repair- ing the roof was half finished; the place could not be seen from the street, and he had entirely forgotten it. He was responsible for the disaster which had resulted both to Mrs. Fisby’s property and his own rosy hopes. The burlesque picttre which the un- fortunate lady had drawn of her plight would have greatly amused him had it not been for his own culpability in the matter; as it was, he took the whole let- ter seriously, and yisions of Mrs. Pisby, floating helplessly upon the surface of a weltering flood with nothing but the cane seat of a chair between herself and drowning, spurred him on_ to action. Desperately he seized his wet shoes from the radiator and drew them on, their soles sizzling with heat. Twenty minutes found him at the scene of de- vastation. The front door of Mrs. Fisby’s resi- dence stood open, and a sluggish yellow river flowed gently out across. the porch and down the steps. He entered and explored the lower rooms of the house, but found no signs of life in any part of it. The hall and parlor floors were under water; water dripped and_ trickled through the banisters from the hall above, and gusts of wind caine swirling down the stairs, putting out the agent’s matches as fast as he could “light them. With much groping and stumbling in the dark he found his way up two flights to the attie. Here, under a sound place in the roof, stood Mrs. Fisby, with skirts well reefed, holding a kerosene lamp. The rain pelted all about her. The dull night sky loomed black above the rafters. ‘Well, this is a great note! ” shouted Mrs. Fishy as the agent halted blink- ingly in the doorway. “ Why didn’t you wait a little longer about coming, and PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG GonniGiaoo ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED CO