Show coper by joseph bollea As a hansom cab stopped at the gate way in a suburban town not tar from new ork a trolley car came to a halt b ord the same hou e from 1 the ban cab sedately stepped a till giac faced young man hi v as carefully even elaborately dressed in a formal style A carnation bloome 1 in the lapel of his coat giving the laa touch to a masterpiece walk to the house R turn in an hour he said to the driver who drove away As the oung man turned toward the gate ay he met an other oung man who had jumped baisi ly from the trolley car ere it fully stopped the second young faan s coat was a sack w orn with a careless air his soft felt bat would have been the better tor a brushing espe bally now when placed alongside of the first yo ing man s shin ng silk well how are QU carsona said he of the tall hat and an interpreter of the subtler tones of human speech would have said he meant confound you how are you respond d the trolley passenger and the hypo reader of tones would have de dared his real meaning to be oh the devil take the luck and the two young men stood stock detill for a moment or two in the ardent sun shin of the spring after noon staring ruefully blankly one at the other look here digby said carson with the stock broker s energy let s talk this thing over tor a minute it we both go in what s the use no tun in that tor either of us am I 1 cor reef you certainly are old chap but perhaps it would be tun for for miss carrollton oh no doubt it would but I 1 for one am rather tired of furnishing miss carrollton that kind of tun and I 1 am tor another in fact went on carson intently eying the other man I 1 ran out to day to settle up my share in the fun one way or the other the other man started and replied with a livelier air than he had hither to shown we appear to be getting confoundedly confidential and ex placatory plan atory but all right let it go at that I 1 came out with precisely the same object in old mai bald carson laying his hand on the other s sleeve honest injun now what do you think of your chances tell me what you think of yours carty and ill be in better shape to give you an answer well digby I 1 know this much or believe it the chances lie between us two no others in sight I 1 am inclined to agree with you said digby and to go a step farther has well the lead at any rate guess you re right about that too assented carson with a sudden gleam in his eyes digby turned to his rival look here old chap toss you to see who goes first man who wins why he why he pops the question without any more fuss right off the bat and settles the thing carson stared and then a smile broke out over his handsome face sure I 1 say you have more sporting blood than I 1 gave you credit tor oh I 1 have a little when I 1 arouse t said digby with an air of mod esty he drew a 50 cent coin from his pocket let s toss this best two of three wins suddenly he paused and looked around but look here carty we may be under observation from the house rather ridiculous to be seen acting like a pair of newsboys play ing pitch and toss here show you a wrinkle we 11 spin the coin on this stone bench here and call what face falls upward good enough for me dig you spin I 1 trust in dame fortune let her go beg your pardon carty said dig by gravely but as it is my coin I 1 d much prefer that you spin first looks better don t you know how scrupulous dig but all right here she twirls what do you cryb I 1 cry tails said digby the sil ver coin turned like a bubble in the sunshine and fell with a musical tinkle you win digby cried car son a flush mounting into his cheeks now you twist her digby did so take a turn at tails just for luck said carson and the coin turned tails up last time dig said carson set ang the coin a whirling once again oh I 1 stick to tails said digby never like to hedge you know and the coin turned date up all right digby good by and bad luck to you said carson wheeling around with a smile playing oddly abo it his lips when his broad back was turned digby solemnly marched upon the house meanwhile a pair of blue eyes had been watching the young men from a window and a pair of red lips had been dimpling into smiles and a fair brow wrinkling into p sizzled little frowns harry and dick and to gether ran the musings in the nut brown head and to day when I 1 thought them far away what does it meana her heart helped by sun dry recollections of things said by both young men and of glances given by both soon whispered a reason for their appearance excitedly ringing the bell tor her maid she flew to her toilet table dick carson marched rapidly and gloomily to a corner saloon tor a bracer As he entered the place he heard a man say seea I 1 leav a it to mike here it I 1 aint right heh mikea you take a silver coin and twirl it like that on its edge and nine times out of ten it will fall tails up sure I 1 ve spun it a dozen times here A hand tell upon his shoulder car son s hand excuse me he said but I 1 am more than interested here barkeeper a drink tor this gentleman what is the reason for this behavior on the part of the coina why you see mixed ale far mike on one side of the coin there is this here bead with more weight in it than is on the other side when you twirl it why she falls heads down seea I 1 certainly do where is your tele phoned cried dick carson to the bar I 1 beeper and he made a dash tor the machine the telephone bell rang in the car collton house just as daisy carrollton ran downstairs and she went to the instrument just about that moment digby was waiting in the reception loom hellod Is this the carrollton hou ea it is wl richard carson I 1 thought you were coming up the drive I 1 was in too much 0 a hurry said HELLO IS THIS THE carrollton HOUSE carson s voice daisy answer me this question the most serious thing I 1 ever said in my life answer me quick will you marry me deara there was a pause of half a minute then came the answer yes dick said daisy hurrah bawled carson s voice making miss daisy s ears tingle again when harry digby gets to the house just tell him that tails dont win after all will you darling 7 why of course cried daisy here is mr digby now mr digby stood in the hall listening H m said he it seems a case of tails carson wins heads or tails I 1 lose sorry miss carrollton but I 1 must be returning to town immell abely |