Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 580 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

* . te -t oe >< a ad ane ‘ regan — — - , oe s A” mun } ~ ~ ra . ty , * » 1 - Be — ; Shadowing a Shadow. quiry about the woman who had been run over | me to express what I feel on this sad occasion, in the street, As we have many times remarked, flesh is truly Sve bad come to, had given her name, and it | grass,” was not Mrs, Milburn. ‘**Oh! my poor cat! my poor McAllester!” Where could that lady be? Mrs. Snipes continued to lament, as she wrung He went to Police Headquarters to find out | her hands. ‘* Who would have thought that whether anything bad been learned regarding | his death would be soterrible and sudden? I the missing woman, aud was told there had not. | shall never know happiness more. He was my There was nothing more he could do in the | only companion.” matter then, so once more he went to the hotel, ‘** Do not go on so, Missus Snipes, please don’t,” Another note awaited him, Woggs begged in fond tones; ‘‘| feel so bad This time it was from Mrs, Milburn herself, | when you cry. Let me take the place of Mc- and it explained the mystery. She had become | Allester by your side, and bere by his dead body lost after leaving the drug-.tore, and could not | I vow that I will devote my life to your happi- find her way back to the house, She knew the | ness. Missus Snipes, take me into your heart number, but had forgotten the street—as it | and affection, and let me be your McAllester!” curiously happened. She wandered on and on, “Oh, you do not know what you ask, Mister hoping to find it with out having to askany one, | Woggs, You could not: fill the place that is but at last realized that she was utterly bewil- | made vacant by this untimely death. McAl- dered and sought direction, lister did not smoke.” As she did not know the street, no one could Woggs’s head dropped. Now the argument direct her, of course; and the lady was in a | wasallagainst him. Which did he love most, dilemma. Worst of all, as she found when she | his pipe or Mrs. Snipes? wanted some change for fare, she had lost her ot will not smoke in the house,” be promised. pocketbook. There was littlein it, but it was all she had taken with her from the house, She knew the name of the hotel where she had been, and had inquired the way there, Board- ing acar, it was then that she discovered her loss, She got ont again immediately, walked to the hotel explained her case-and was given a room, and then she sent the note to Kinworth in which she explained it all. As the note stated that she had been given a room, and as the hour was now very late, Kin- worth retired, being about fagged out. Next morning he went to the hotel, found the lady all right, and took her to the boarding-house where her friend was found to be almost crazed with anxiety concerning her, ** But the smell of that old pipe is allus about ou, Mr. Woggs, and it makes me think of that alf-sister of mine and her snuff. I can’t abear the smell, and no use totry. It really makes me sick. Ob! McAllester, McAllester! You did not smoke, and I loved you more than tongue can tell,” She took the dead cat up in ber arms, and fondling it in a way that made Woggs’s blood run cold, He bated cats worse than he hated snakes. ‘* But, you will soon be finding another cat,” he argued, ‘‘and you know that I can’t abear them,” ‘*T must have a companion of some kind,” was her tearful response, ‘‘and one that does not smoke.” ‘*Andif I give up smoking—” The thought of parting with his pipe made him feel so lonesome in anticipation that he could not finish the sentence. CHAPTER XXXV. A MORNING OF STARTLING EVENTS, ** GOOD-MORNING to you, Missus ag oa ** And good-morning to you, Mister Woggs.” *“*{ hope that you are well this morning, Missus Snipes. But then I can see that you are, ‘You are as fresh and rosy as a little maid, upon my word you are.” ‘*T am quite well, I thank you, Mister Wogge, and I hope that you are the same yourself, But I can see that you are. Youare as bright and | break off the habit. [ will do the very best I cheery as a lad of fifty.” can, You are worth the sacrifice, great as it is, | Pericles Woggs and Dorinda Snipes, and their | Give me one week.” ‘Give up smoking, Mr. Woggs,” she said, as she raised her tearful face to bis and took hold of his hand; ‘‘ give up smoking, and you shall be my McAllester for life. I promise it.” Woggs gulped down the lump that was in his throat, pressed her hand fondly, and made an- swer: ‘“*Missus Snipes, give me one week to try to every-day greeting. _ ‘Take it, Mister Woggs, and may you nobly It was on the morning following the events | succeed. Once you give up smoking, then our recorded in the previous chapter, and the two | dreams of happiness may be realized, You old persons had just prepared for the business of | shall be my McAllester forever.” the day. “Thank you, Missus Snipes, thank you. I “Well, and how was business with you yes- | willdo my best, And now T tat get bask to terday, Missus Snipes?” Woggs kindly in-/ business and my morning paper.” quired, With other fond pressures of hands they part- *“‘It was tol’able to fair, yesterday, I thank | ed, and the old man tottered away, while the And how | old lady tenderly wrapped McAllester up in her apron and put bim tearfully out of sight. Woggs’s heart was sad and heavy. you, Mister Woggs; tol’able to fair. was it with you ‘*] am happy to say that it was fair to good, It was Mesa ssus Snipes; fair to good. be- | his hour to smoke, and he longed for his pipe. eve the trade in Jews-ha is lookin’ up, | But now he must wean himself if he would win Missus Snipes, Ido indeed. I had a call for ove | the fair widow to be his bride. It was a terri- yesterday.’ ble ordeal, but he realized that this appetite of ‘*Ah! that is good. I am glad to hear | the flesh must be overcome, that. Peanuts was good yesterday, too, Mister Woegs. ‘‘Giad to hear it. Oh! there is hope for this country yet, if we don’t let the furreners get too strong a footin’, It is the furreners that has played the merry Ned with this land of the free ee home of the brave, Missus Snipes.” ‘*T know it, Mister Woggs; I realize it more and more every day. There is too many fur- reoers here for the good of the country.” ‘You never spoke a truer bane in your life, Missus Snipes; never in your life, e must sbut out the furren element, or we must perish.” ‘‘You are positively right, Mister Woggs, as you allus are, There must bea great “trie bs or— Ob! oh, my heart and soul! Oh! Me- Allester, McAllester !” An awful wail from a cat had been heard, and Mrs, Snipes sprung to her feet, clasping her hands and uttering the exclamation quoted. Her eyes were Open to their widest, and there was a look of horror in them, Woggs was frightened almost out of his wits, and followed the direc- tion of her terrified per. There, in the middle of the street, lay poor McAllester, dead. The aged feline had got in the way of a heavy truck that was thundering along, had not been quick enough to escape, and the wheel of the pk had passed over neck, killing him in- stantly. ‘Oh! my poor cat, my poor McAllester!” Mrs. Snipes wailed. ‘‘He is dead, he is dead; and woe is me. Woggs hobbled out into the street and picked up the body. In his heart the old man was secretly glad, but he took care not to let it be known. Now, rhaps, the object of his devotion would take iin. pipe and all, There would he a vacant He put bis pipe and “‘ bakky” away out of sight, and took up his paper. He read for a lit- tle while, but he grew uneasv. He was not right. He wanted tosmoke. He did not enjoy his paper as usual, Something was altogether wrong. Mrs, Snipes watched him slyly with interest. An hour passed, and by that time Woggs was almost crazy to smoke. His hands trembled, he could not fix his mind upon anything, and ‘edi completely miserable as he well could At the end of another hour he felt that the world was a dismal failure. What to do he dia not know, He would try some strong coffee. - Now Woggs had a tiny stove in his little stall, and it was his habit to make for himself a cup of hot coffee at noon each day. He built his fire, and putonthe pan, Into the pan be put the necessary water and coffee, and took up his paper once more while he waited for the bever- age to draw, While he waited, a customer came along ‘who called for something that the old man had to reach high up on a shelf over the stove to get. As he reached he slipped, and came near getting a fall. He caught himself, however, and did no further damage than almost to spill his coffee. No further damage? He did not notice that his old pipe had dropped into the coffee-pan! _ By and by the coffee was ready, and adding a little condensed milk and some sugar to the cup he had poured out; he raised it to his lips. He had taken two or three good swallows, when he suddenly stopped and grew pale, What was the matter with it? He grew white, and made a bolt for the curb. He was deathly sick, and proceeded to surrender an account that would have done credit to a first ocean voyage. Mrs, Snipes presently saw him, and ran over a in her pean ape snort at bat gyn ‘ to pion. ree ‘* Missus said, sorrowfully, as he “* My dear Mister Woggs,” she cried in alarm laid the dead cat down before her, “‘ words fail | ‘* whatever is the matter?’ : ae > ws ~~ P —_ _- 4 é a alias ' - * oe . - d = ** Oh!” groaned Woggs, ‘‘I—C'm— Uuuggh!— I’m zozick, Missus Snipes! I—Cm— Uuuggh! !” No need to tell that he was sick, Mrs. Snipes held his head for bim for a few minutes until he felt slightly better, when she led. him back to his place and ran over to her own establishment aud brought bim a lemon. When he bad somewhat recovered, she in- quired: ‘*What was it made you so sick, Mister Woggs?” | “Ob, it was the coffee,” Woggs groaned; | ‘*sometbing was in the coffee. I was wild for | asmoke, and I thought I would try some coffee instead. Smell of it, Missus Snipes.” Dorinda put ber nose tw the cup, and the smell almost caused her to lose her breakfast. She drew back in haste, and gasped: “That stinking pipe!” ‘* Wh—what?’ cried Woggs. “That stinking pipe,” she repeated. ‘* Your pipe is in your coffee.” Woggs came near doing the sea-sick act,again. He looked in the pan, and sure enough there lay the old soldier. e turned away from the sight with a gasp. - ‘* Take it away,” he requested. ‘‘I can’t look at it again,” Mrs. Snipes took pan, cup, pipe and all and threw them into a convenient ash-barrel. The desire to smoke was gone, Woggs hated the thought of it. He vowed that he never wanted to see the pipe and ‘*‘ bakky ” more. When he had eat the lemon he felt better, and was soon himself again. He took up his paper with new interest, and was soon deep in its con- tents, with nothing to trouble him. An bour passed, Woggs was still reading, and suddenly he gave a start, wiped his glasses and looked closer, Could he believe that be actually saw it—the name of Dorinda Snipes in print? Yes, there it was, in big letters, and he read the little item over and over again, When he had read it over at least half a dozen times, then he looked up, saw that no customer was at hand, and hurried over to the opposite corner. Mrs. Snipes was making a shroud for McAl- lester. **Missus Snipes, Missus Snipes!” tha excited old man exclaimed, *‘ here issometbing that wilh be sure to interest you.” ** What is it, Mister Woggs?”’ Dorinda asked, eagerly. ‘* It issomething that personally concerns you, Missus Snipes,” ‘** Personally concerns me, Mister Woggs!” ‘Yes; just pay attention and I will read it.” Adjusting his glasses and folding the paper to suit him, the old man read: ‘“*IMPORTANT NOTICE! ‘Tf this should meet the eye of Dorinda ng | who was at one time housekeeper for Reuben Whit- | ford, she will learu of something to her advantage by , sending her present address to Mr. Armstrong, —— Hotel, New York. Any person knowing whether Dor- inda Snipes is living or dead, please communicate. CHAPTER XXXVI. ; / A WOMAN CAN KEEP A SECRET. As Mr, Woggs ended, Mrs. Snipes was looking at him with eyes and mouth wide open with wonder. McAllester, with his shroud half on, had beem dropped to the ground. ‘* Wonder of wonders!” the old lady excleim- ed: “‘can that mean me ?” | “Did you ever keep house fora Mr. Whit- ford?’ Woggs asked. | ‘** Yes; but—” ‘‘Then it must mean you and nobody else,” ‘* Excuse me,” another voice at that moment broke in, ‘‘ but are you the Dorinda Snipes who once kept house for Reuben Whitford?” | The two old persons looked quickly up, and | | Saw a young man standing near them, It was Prentiss Kinworth, the detective! A word of explanation is all that is needed. The detective was on his way to the bank to keep bis appointment with Mr. Biackwall. He was passing the stand just in time to hear Woggs begin to read, and catching the name, stopped to listen. ‘“* Yes, her is me, sir,” Mrs. Snipes owned, “Well, madam,” Kinworth informed, ‘I am the person who put that notice in the paper. I have been trying to find you.” “‘ And now you have found me, sir,” rejoined Mrs, Snipes, “* how is it to my advantage? Site had recovered from the first shock of her surprise, and could now hold her own. “It will he of advantage to you inthis way,” the detective went on toexplain. “I will you liberally for some information which you no doubt can furnish,” ‘‘ Then it is information you are after, is it?” vig ** Yes. if is information I am after.” ‘** And what do yon want toknow?? **Can you spare the time for a little conver- sation now?” Kinworth asked. ‘‘If not, then I will call at your home, if you will tell me where it is.” **T can talk here as well as anywhere, and may be better.” Mrs. Snipes answered. “Go right ahead, sir.” : sy GOomicndoo > — z ; » , , — ty »* . aa A. i. > ’ a“ ~* ¢ ; s « ~, . F ag" as .. | q q j { 4 4 ee > » -29 _— 3