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Show SAVED HIS BOARD. Grand Promoter Surprised by His Landlady. SHE FAILS TO BE CAJOLED. tA Major Crofool'o Offer of a Position nt n Fabulous Salary Gpurncd Back J Duos Demandod He Tries a" Trick, it v and Che Wrecks His Office vp p By M. QUAD. $"' J Copyright, 1010. by Associated JJtcmry bj Press. 1 T iST AJOIl CItOKOOT. pnuul pro- $ lrlu lnotc'r mu rtful Uoi!gcr. JL JL uim wnlkliiff tlio Hour t.r li!s , olllco. Ilu wns iiprturbctl. Hfe It vrns imt a (juration of buying u Jmffl fitoninslilp cotnimny or n biuinim plan- ''14 ' tntlun, but of mixing tbc cash for his f noonday lunch. I'll ' Tlicn Providence suddenly appeared. jl Tbe door opened, and u woman walk- ! 1 cd In. Stio was a large, portly female. J1j and tin; tloor trembled a little under 1 i her steady tread. I'or half a minute I the major failed to recognise her. m Then her face, form and double chin ""ft carried him bach to other days, nnd he 1 swallowed the lump lit bin throat and turned pale as she cried out: "So 1 b.ivc found you at last, you m lying, deceitful man!'' a " Her voice broke the sj)cll and nrous- B ol him to action. A bland sinllo spread over his face, and he extended his hand and said: B "Well, well, but this Is certainly a L surprise and n pleaRurc. My dear ol 1 lar.dlady. but how do you do how do you do!" S "Oh, you remember me. do you?" she sarcastically queried. m "Itemember you? Could 1 forget the m dear old soul with whom I roomed I i fMmi 1 mi I usft I lli SL CAIiliUI) A LlAU lO III8 l'AO II and boarded for weeks and months H and who was like a mother to me all the time I was In her house? Never, on my life! My dear Mrn. SImpklns. It wasn't an hour ago that I was grieving over your lamented death." "Humph: Who said I was dead?" "I was so told by one of your former for-mer boarders. He told me the other day that you had had a stroke of apo- plexy and had been dead almost two mouths. The very hour he gave me the news 1 was on my way to your i house with a check In my pocket. ! There was a balance of 91S due you when I left. Dear me. but what a fiurprlse this Is aud how heartily glad ii. 1 nm that you are still on earth and looking as young and handsomo as ' j over. You remember I used to call you the duchess?" M "Yes. 1 remember lots of things," she grimly replied. "I remember how ft you sneaked out of my house, and I I am here for my money. Don't try to flatter me and don't do any more I lying." I Flattery Fails. "My dear, dear woman, It pains me to hear you talk that way. We were M the greatest friends. I recall him- dredK of acts of kindness on your part. aud I only wjsh I owed you 1,000 In place of the iuslgnlticaut sum named Why do you speak of me In such B harsh terms? If my debt to you la B unpaid It Is because I heard that you B had died and left no hoira. Only yes-B yes-B terday while I was perfecting the ar-B ar-B tides of incorporation of the G. A. II. (B It. company I thought of you and I B wishod that you were with us." I k "Soft soap, major!" replied Mrs. I S SImpklns as sho clicked her teeth. "1 ft B Imve come for that money, aud I don't B 'A. stlr a stt'i) tin 1 KCt lt-" B SB "Just n minute, dear Just a minute. H hi Is a paltry $18 more to you than $250,- Wk Wm 000? No, of course not The G. A. II. xl I1, con,l'ay Is the Great American I Hnlr Kestorlng company. It Is limit- 1 I cd. with a cash capital Of $3,000,000." I I "Never heard of lt and don't want to. It I wunt my $18." I "Its object, my dear. Is to rcstoro I ', hair to ImiUI he-.ds. You mn dur.!it It can be done, but I sltall dUpel t:.:me doubts. It la a simple but powerful B dlBcq-erj'. tltitiQjf the luat tlitr.. m niouths I ltmvu ooertl on JIjOOO IioW I ' nCiu?fin(f ih'iio lnsthncc ,frts iriTilled to produce n luxuriant growth of new hair." "You will need n barrel of the stuff in about three minutes If you don't come down with my cash!" gently remarked re-marked Mrs. Slmpkhis. "It Is estimated, my dear woman." ho went on, with the same blnnd smile on his face, "thnt the population of the world numbers about 200.000.000 bald heads froni day to day. Our restorer re-storer Is put up In quart bottles. Every Ev-ery bald head will buy. and the sales will to n8 Ienst 000,000,000 bottloa n year. It -takes three bottles to do tho buslnoas." , Mrs. SImpklns held up a warning finger, fin-ger, but the niiijoi' continued: "The clear profit Is $1.7") per bottle. You' can figure from this the gross. The diamond mines of G'olcondu were a peanut compared to the G. A. II. It. Ah. my der hindjady. your ship has come In nt last." . Ordcrad to Hr.lt. "Rio'p right there, you deceiver!" "You had every confident e in my integrity in-tegrity when 1 wish hard up. You saw how It was. and you never presented n bill. You used to send me little lunches of cold chicken and Jam to my room on the sly. and In a thousand ways you made It homo to me. Yes, you did. and now" "And now there will bo something doing," sho finished In u menacing way. "Yes, my dear, thero will be. 1 propose pro-pose to make you secretary of the company com-pany nt a salary of $200,000 a year, nnd If you do not wear sables nnd diamonds dia-monds lt will be your own fault. Months ago you cast your bread upon the wnters. It tlo.ated nbout a long time, but lt struck Major C'rofoot ut last. I est (Mid my hand and offer you my congratulations. You lost $1S end gained $200,000!" Mrs. SImpklns cast her eyes around the room lit search of some deadly weapon. "Come to your Inlnirs Monday morning. morn-ing. You enn have nn advance of $"iO.C0O If you wish to buy a brown stone front and furniture. Go home nnd tell your boarders to skate. Never-.noro Never-.noro the boarding house for you. You thought Major Crofoot an lngrate, a shirk, u deadbeat. but you see how you misjudged him, though I shall not ask you to apologise." "Are you going to pay me that $1P.. you old soft soaper aud deadbeat?" "That $1S!" gasped the major as h? glanced furtively at the door. VHejiA' ens. woman, but you don't want me to believe that you hnvoito's your wits! In return forjthie" $1S I offer you a gigantic fortune, and yet you hesitate. As secretary your duties will bo very light very light. All you'll have to do Is to see that every bottle Is tightly corked before It goes out. Woman, can't you be made to understand" Mrs. SImpklns Monaccs. Mrs. SImpklns rose up and dropped the cape off her shoulders, and with a resigned look the major retreated a step and said: "Very well, lady. Some one has made you believe HI of me, and 1 shall sny no more at this time. You shall haie your money." "No check, major. It wouldn't be worth sawdust!" "You shall have your money and In gold. I will go upstairs to the treasurer treas-urer of the G. A. II. IJ. and get lt. and In gold nt that. It will pain me to part with you thus, but you will have It so. Sit down back In a moment." "If you try any tricks" The grand promoter left the oillce. and Mrs. SImpklns waited. The minutes min-utes passed, but she held on. She had hunted the major for weeks, and she would take no chances now. Hours followed the minutes, but she was still there. It was only nt the end of four long hours and when nn office boy poked his head In the door nnd wills-aorcd wills-aorcd "Sold aualn!" that she acted. bTKTupfict tno' 'store, tlpTwd orcr1 tho desk, laid the office safo on Its back nnd tore down tho cnlcndnr. Then flho walked out aud downstairs. From a doorway on the other sldo of the street Mnjor Crofoot -watched her go. Ills vigil had boon a long one, nnd his legs were tired. Ho ascended tho stairs and viewed tho wreck of tho office of-fice nnd smiled. lie had saved $18, and he estimated tlic damage at only 15 cents, lie was far ahead of tho gniiMh. |
