Show JACKS CK IS LOVE LOTE AFFAIR WONDER I 1 said as I 1 was looking out of the window of jack trevora Tr overs lodgings why that girls Is rushing up I 1 the street without her hat ah he said isaid coming to the window 1 I thought it must be she ashes aching catching tc hing the monkey I 1 expect she ahe r mases asses me now sometimes you gee which way it went did you no I 1 said Is she addicted to bt hunting ing monkeys only the monkey he replied 1 I II used sed to do it once dear ae ax m me e I 1 said its fashionable yau must ment in the neighborhood than no he answered mournfully 1 I as engaged en d to that girl once and that beai of a monkey broke the engagement were you I 1 asked cut out by the monkey then A man he said must be very ver very young to make a remark like that who is she I 1 inquired ob abes miss mias tremaine he sald said ni ill tell you the story it if you like it will be a warning to you never to get neared to a girl who keeps a monkey at present I 1 said there Is no girl 0 of ine ort o in my minds eye but its better to be prepared tor for all emergencies Fen cies I 1 got engaged to miss trem tremaine aine he eaid caid about three years ago I 1 met her at the tennis club and dances and around the places generally here but I 1 had never nete seen much of her st at home and I 1 arfi v unaware even of the existence As soon as we were engaged I 1 was as introduced to jacko he was a small monkey of ordinary appearance pe arance and was not at first sight eight prepossessing but in the Trem tremaine adne household he was a family fetich its curious to notice the dominant influence in different families sometimes its the baby sometimes the butler sometimes a first husbands memory and sometimes the dally daily paper but in this case jacko reigned supreme captain tremaine who was dead had bad bought the beast and it was concerned in a touching deathbed scene or something of the kind at any rate mrs tramaine regarded it as a sacred relic of the dear deceased and lavished all her love and affection on it I 1 well remember the first night I 1 saw jacko and discovered the habit that eventually wrecked an engagement it was a stilling stifling evening and I 1 suggested to maud the desirability of opening a window oh no she said we never can have the windows open in the evening jacko would get out my first hint of ackes habits was enlarged by mrs Tre Trema maines jnes frequent and objectionable intrusions to inquire as to the beasts whereabouts A man in the first rapture of an engagement naturally dislikes the in rushes of someone else in pursuit of a monkey the next morning the nuisance increased A servant came round they live a few doors from here to tell me that jacko had juat escaped and would I 1 help to catch him hima I 1 found him bout lunch time after a long and exciting chase As seemed obvious I 1 caught him by the tail and the brute bit me and went on for another half hour mrs tremaine exIa explained ined reproachfully that jacko always bit people who touched his tail for some months jacko continued to be a nuisance at home and abroad when he escaped which he managed to lo do about once a week I 1 was expected to secure him this generally happened in the morning when the win doab were open and the tradesmen were calling and at first on these theise occasions I 1 did not reach my ch chambers ambers till the afternoon afterward I 1 became quite an adept at catching him lils his plan of campaign was to wait until his pursuer was quite close and then jump about twenty yards I 1 bought a large butterfly net with a long handle and he never got the hang of that when hen I 1 had discovered this invention I 1 was aa comparatively happy but I 1 waited with dread for the time when jacko should escape atter after dark and I 1 should tw be compelled to hunt for the brute through the watches of the night on the peri pen of losing the regard of the tre tremaine alne family jackie nomadic habits were I 1 may p explain attributed to a desire to find his bis dead master at last laet the event that I 1 dreaded occurred one cold winters evening jacko disappeared while the cook was interview ing g her favorite policeman at the back floor and got well away the cook revived a months notice on the spot and d awag I 1 was at once put on the track of the animal anfims L mrs bim tremaine was much annoyed 1110 because I 1 wished to put my boora bis on before starting and even maud seemed only anxious tor for the monkeys health after tramping through three or tour four miles of streets 1 experienced what at first I 1 regarded unexpected good luck lock the brute c came ara et tearing earing round a corner comer and in a second he was in the buder butterfly fly net I 1 aa was just PrO preparing paring to return elated that the run had been so mercifully cut short when a crowd also came around the corner headed by an angry and breathless italian I 1 soon discovered the connection of events the italian could not speak much chah but I 1 gathered gat ered that he claimed jacko as WS his monkey akey his big monkey the crowd who had become excited in the h chase and who imagined that tha I 1 w w Lt temPting to cheat a poor ignorant tO elgner out af his hb only solace in gl a strange ange land dam demanded ded thata should aboul d aye S the ap vi rf 4 I 1 la ta ft trustworthy italian rose before my eyes and I 1 distinctly declined elined de to reth jacko in the course arse of conversation with the crowd 0 I 1 lost my tem temper and a a con w ald aid erable ts portion ot of my clothes es and ana by bv the 6 time that a policeman foreman arrived I 1 suppose nn my appearance did justify him in conveying jako jacko the italian and MO me to the police station there I 1 spent pent a most miserable night my utmost entreaties entreat Jes failed to seethe induce the police to send to mrs tremayne Trem alne to ball me out I 1 think their malevolence was prompted by the policeman who had been so eo rudely interrupted in his tryst with the COOK in the morning we appeared before his Is worship the th italian and I 1 were charged with creating a disturbance and assaults and breaches of the peace and that kind of thing and as ae far as I 1 remember the police threw a charge of drunk against me his worship asked to see eee the monkey and when they brought him in lo 10 and behold there were two backos after some explanation the magistrate dismissed the charge against us with a caution on the ground of excusable mistake and indeed it was most excusable apparently the italian had really lost his monkey and whether it was his monkey or jacko that he had been pursuing when I 1 encountered it I 1 do not know to this day at all events the police had captured the other monkey during the night and had shut the two up together there they sat two ugly grinning indistinguishable gui creatures both guilty according to the evidence of aggravated assaults on the police when we were released from the dock the magistrate asked us to remove the monkeys the italian and I 1 stared at each other blankly he knew no more than I 1 which was his property of course it was useless to consult the police about their identity As the magistrate pointed out there Is no presumption either in law or in fact As s to the ownership of two stray monkeys I 1 appealed to him to decide the question himself and he pointed out that it was the duty of the pollee police to restore property to its owners he said that he was not solomon but only a police magistrate and that he doubted whether even the house of lords could throw much light on the subject the matter he thought was eminently one to be settled out of court at first I 1 tried to solve the difficulty by buying out the italians claim to either of the monkeys with the idea of sorting them afterward but he also it appeared had a romantic attachment tach ment for his carissimo monkey and he declined my overtures with fervent appeals to most of the saints on the register the whole thing he seemed to think was vac a base attempt on the part pan oi of a krutal foreign government to trample on the rights of an italian citizen and to consign his monkey to the dungeons of the zoo then I 1 offered him his choice of the two and this might have saved all trouble if mrs tremaine had not arrived at that moment to inquire fo jacko and had not learned the whole affair from a communicative inspector neither jacko nor the alleged jacko showed the faintest signs of recognition indeed they almost at once devoted themselves to a sanguinary fi fight in which mrs tremaine intervened with considerable injury to herself then she turned to me and I 1 could see from her manner that she considered me responsible for the whole difficulty J I 1 al IN THE BUTTERFLY NET for a quarter of an hour I 1 had a really lively time mrs tremaine hectored vectored hec the italian and the italian objurgated mrs tremaine neither of them understood der stood a word the other said and I 1 had to act as interpreter and buffer eventually I 1 made the best terms that I 1 could the italian agreed for a consideration to allow us to keep bo both th monkeys for a week during which we might discover diB cover their identity mrs tremaine quite readily agreed to the proposal tor for she was confident that no MO monkey akey but jacko could possess posse backos virtues I 1 was more doubtful believing that the virtues were few enough to be common to many monkeys and so it turned out both monkeys made themselves quite at home blome overate operate thesa selves equally stole as aa cleverly and what was most moet remarkable searched with identical persistence si for the deceased captain tremaine twice that week I 1 had to catch two monkeys and when they were both is ip the butterfly net they nearly killed mch each other mrs Trem tremaine tremayne alne used to look at them by the hour and sob and eau call jacko softly they both answered to the name if there was any food about and at other times preferred to be the other monkey at the end of the week the organ punctually un actually and a P appeared heartrending grinder hS scene followed no de cighon had been come to till the morn mora ing sg of hit his arrival and then mrs MM tre T mato maine mane and BIU mad d differ differed pd as to which real jacko the question bad the was thoua it maderer little to be bedded S that we I 1 suggested which we kep L the of the togs UP should so ann them and led the nt otla bat at way oat of the th difficulty and suitable j to the occasion the ite organ grinder went on his way contentedly and aad I 1 hoped the affair was at an end but I 1 was very much mistaken no sooner had he gone than mrs tremaine and maud became convinced alike that they had given up the real jacke jack they thet said they were now certain of it poor dear jacko was sitting on a barrel organ in a cold street and engaged in the degrading occupation of collecting coppers cappers and monkeys were liable to consumption and what would dear papa think if he were alive 1 I stood this for about ten days and then I 1 went to the italian again hav ing obtained his address in case of further complications his affections were apparently now extended to both monkeys for he consented to an exchange for further consideration surely I 1 thought to myself maud and her mother will be content now but no the thing began all over again the former jacko was their darling and given him up when gotten him safe and it was by my advice and it was all my fault twice more I 1 exchanged those monkeys monkey 6 and at lasts last even my patience failed we quarreled and we parted and ive never spoken to her since why I 1 say never get engaged to a girl who keeps a monkey |