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Show j"" ' With CuTinP h i V s Help" j I " I UNTER JOHNSTON tjrpZff was In love with Car- fl Hi ro1' tiio,o,,lil' 80, jJL I 1 but the practical jok- IV ing Instinct Is like 2 jffjll f conscience and .t y taste for olives hard "TS ' forget when once BpJeSSLwj acquired. A brilliant line came to Johnston John-ston the morning of I la sweetheart's birthday, and he immediately im-mediately set about giving It to that portion of the world in which he was most interested. - Carrol's birthday gifts irom her Particular circle were all that heart L ould desire, and she wated W ith happy anticipation for her finance's offering At I o'clock a messenger boy np-ipeared np-ipeared with a long, slender package I for .Miss Merriheld. She opened it I with eagerness and found a single ' uiagnificleut American beauty, wrap-! wrap-! ped carefully In waxed paper and I sparkling as if with the dew of June Within five minutes another messenger mes-senger with another long, slender package raug the bell, and this also vlelded up a rose. When, with the regularity of clockwork, five uniformed uni-formed imps had como and gone in twenty-five minutes, all with similar votive oherings, the girl comprehend-led- Johnston of the fertile- mind had hit upon the plan of sending her twenty-three roses, one for each year 1 of her life, but the gift was to be de- livered on the installment plan 1 The ingenious idea was pleasing for a time. With the tenth rose the ! Merriflold family was holding joyous I council over the ever-increasing pile ot boxos iu th'. library, and Carrol I was restless. When the fifteenth bona j fide messenger had com., and pom' -I not counting four small curiosity - seekers, w ho smiled expansively. murmured BOmetlilng about "do wrong number" and retreated Carrol was I thoroughly angry. When. on the J heels of the twenty-third accredited flower bearer Johnston appeared, a particularly desirable brooch in his pocket and a sense of duty well done In his heart she was composed, but tho anger, though not visible, was present and controlled With true masculine density Johnston John-ston noticed nothing out of the ordinary ordi-nary With his sweetheart. She thanked him gaily and with the proper degree of warmth for brooch and roses. ) "Mr. Practical Joker must have B I lesson," Miss Merrlfleld declared to herself, alter nib departure, aa ahe nibbled, with lips as red as the petals themselves, at the eighteenth rose. ' didn't nntid ho much his other tricks, but this tim he has gone too far." "He'd only laugh if he knew old Mrs. FTOudo sat In her window and counted those messengers. With the extra ones mixed In little wretches! there were thirty-one of them "She knows today's my birthday and saw through Hunter's scheme as quickly as I did. And shell never believe but what I'm thirty-one! So, Mr Hunter Johnston, beware of an old maids vengeance,'' and she waved the rose theatrically in air. On the morning of his own birthday, birth-day, five days later, when his man brought up the mail, Johnston's o e v ;is Immediately taken by one long white envelope, it was certalnl peculiar pe-culiar in ajjfearance, for ku uamo and address were formed of letters clipped from newspapers and pasted upon it. The envelope contained the ' following missive, similarly constructed: construct-ed: Ho you care to see your sweetheart ' eloping with another man? Be at the I Twenty-third street ferry Thursday j afternoon at 4." At ten minutes of the hour John-Bton's John-Bton's heart gave a painful throb, for Carrol, rosy from the searching w ind, entered the ferry building. A tall, athletic young man. with the air of the outlander about him--he w as well dressed and evidently well bred, but not a New Yorker followed her In. He was carrying two heavy suitcases. Johnston confionted them 'May I ask what this means. Carrol?" he j asked, quietly I The p.irl halted and Seemed to ahjuik from klm. The athletic Btranf sr stepped forward: "And may 1 inquire in-quire how it concerns you''" He did not raise his voice and the attention of none of the jostling scores was attracted at-tracted to the group. Johnston tgnored him. "Did I deserve de-serve this, Carrol?'' he went on. "If you d ask, I'd release you. When I got this letter " The girl had determined to punish him thoroughly, but at the sisht of his weary, troubled face she relented "Do you kuow." she interrupted blithely, "I'm proud of that letter? I avoided telling a lie in it, even a white one. although I came pretty-close pretty-close to fibbing, didn't I? But 1 blistered my hand cutting out those letters Wasn't It a real sweet little birthday gift?" Doubt and dawning comprehension struggled in Johnston's eyes. But, why why " bp began. I "Why why?" mocked his seet- R-tvO I heart, her head lilted saucily, a rogu- ffJCp , ish smile on ber face. "Just to show iffi; I that two can play at practical joking Hp? as well as one. Thirty-one messenger boys, sir! You should hare a whole mouth of anonymous letters." Hvrj "But this gentleman," he waved his hand toward the athletic stranger Jffijjj who appeared to be enjoying the con- K versatlon overmuch. 'Bs'nj ' My cousin. Phil Hudson of Oma- Wta ha, Mr. Johnson. He came last night, BBa but could only stay with us a few Wfl&f hours." Kllij "You were the victim of a base con- spiracy, Mr. Johnston." laughed Hjw HudHon as they shook hands. "1 beg li pardon.'' flftfjl "Oh, nothing of consequence," re- sponded Johnston; "I Just said Kj 'btung!'" H |