Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, September 30, 1913, Page 6

TIGRE X, W e AR RS TTIANNPRERONT . WAS TEO OF A KiD By BRYANT C. ROGERS. Miss Gracie Hollands was twenty- Wwo years old. Miss Gracie was stenographer and typist for the firm of K. & K., and was so smart that she earned $14 per week. She was receiving $10 when it was | discovered that some employe was ©arrying goods out of the store. The detectiva from headquarters spent a week and did not get a clew. “Here is where 1 get a raise to $12,” s2i@ Miss Gracie to herself; and she shoved back from her machine mnd wandered about for an hour ani then said to K. & K.: “Your assistant bookkeeper Bust gone out to lunch.” "He ;0es every day at this hour, was the calm reply. “And the missing goods go with him.” “What! You can’t mean it!" “Come with me! I know where he Poeds at this hour.” She led K. & K. to a quick-lunch room three miles away, and they walked in upon the assitant just as te had ordered his usual spring chick- an “Has the firm failed?" he asked as te looked from one to the other. ‘No, but you have!” replied the smart girl with a little giggle of tri- armph. “Hand over quietly and you may not get over 25 years in the tg!” The voung man, who was the sole support of a widowed mother and six fatherless sisters, and who firmly be- #leved ilint the moving picture shows were filling the jails to overflowing, smiled a gladsome smile and began %o hand over bolts of silk, yards and dozene of real pearl buttons, until he had deposited enough on the table to stock a department store in the Bronx “George, what tempted you?' asked | grocery clerk who had a room in the the senior member of K. & K. “I wanted to sell the stuff and buy | landlady herself. Bibles for the heathen.” q real duties, but she imbibed the idea hag Degan to look at all men and women | |as suspicious characters. ~ | & young man tried to flirt with her | 312 per “Thanks” “And during vour spare time you can watch others.” She did. and :he brought the por- ter, the janitor and two elevator men to justice. They were in a conspiracy to rob the store of thirty shirtwaists per week. Then Miss Gracle was raised to $14 per week, and the senfor partner said to her: “Such smartness | never saw be- fore. gnd K. & K. are sure proud of you. but vou needn't do any more watching for a time. It is only a i strain on your brain, but you might | 'catch me trying to beat the other K. or vice versa.” Miss Gracie Hollands stuck to her ,that she was a born detective. She; Even when on the street her detective intuition was so strong that she almost laid a | hand on his shoulder as she hissed at him: “You are a safe blower, and I know | it, and you make vour hike or I'll run you in!” | He was a minister's son and a | salesman in a large jewelry house, | and had just organized a Bible class, | but he made his “hike” just the same. When Miss Gracie began her pro- fessional career she went to board with Mammy Jones. It was a hall bedroom and a starvation table, but as the salary went up things improv- ed. When it reached $10 per week Miss Gracie took the best front room, and became the star boarder. She did not leave when the salary became | $14. Strangers came and went. It sud- denly occurred to the stenographer that she was most favorably situated to continue her detective work and she went right at it. She suspected the two actors out of engagements; she suspected the old maid who had her hall bedroom; she suspected a house, and she almost suspected the One evening, when an old-clothes When the thief had been tucked 'man called to sec if she had any sec- | wway in a nice little cell in prison ond-hand garments to sell, the word N & firm voice. “Am [ noi here? { “villain" stood out so plainly on his | it @ part of my profession Migs (iracie woe told by the firm: For your smartness you now get forehend fhat — he girl "id a hand on | bomb explosion. {was 75 cents. NG TELEGRAM, LAK ibution has overtaken you at last “Vhat ish d “Your ¢r > was asked she don't 0 Oth r po! were put throuch wces, but nene of them frightened into confessing murder or The day must come, however, and it did come. It came three days after a little incident on the street. A bare-headed young man with a pencil behind his ear, and who seemed to be a clerk In a store, ac- costed Miss Gracie at a corner and | asked if she could give him a $10 bill for five twos. It was her salary day 'and she was carrying home her $14. Why not oblige the clerk? The $10 was passed over for the twos, and it seemed to the girl that she was be- : ginning to be of some importance as a capitalist. The cobbler took fifty cents for re- | pairing a pair of shoes; a lunch at a restaurant was 35 cents; a bit of cheap jewelry that happened to please In each case one of the two-dollar bills was handed out. The other two went into her board money, and Mammy Jones passed them along to the grocer and butcher. And then there was the arrival of the strange man. He took a back room upstairs without board. He was well dressed, but he had a sly look. In looks and talk he was not the aver- age roomer for that quarter—he was above them. He had plenty of noney, and paid a week in advance, besides assuring Mammy that he didn't play on a flute or an accordion, and he was given the room. It was two days before the detectress caught sight of him, and then she said to the land- lady: “Your Mr. Bennett is a crook!" “My stars!"” “He's a confidence man or a wire- tapper!” “Get the police at once!” “And from the way he drags his i right leg 1 should say that he was acquainted with the ball and chain!” “Then he'll rob and murder us!” “No, he won't!" replied Miss Gracie, Isn't toy s down crooks?" “But the police “Not a word to them not a hint! | When I have 2ot this man in my tc OUR FALL LINE | Of Hart Schaffner and Marx Clothing has just Also Bonar Hats, Kneeland Shoes and the Arrow Brand arrived. Shirts Our Ties this Fall in Velvet will surprisc you, as they are the grandest that have ever been in South Florida. Come in and look over our Boys’ Clothingalso l Gutfitter The Hart Schallner & Marx Clolmngl | grabbed the crook I'll communicate with police h quarters. I'll shadow him and hay a line cn him within three days. Yo must not say or do anything to fright en the bird away " The stranger sc and in. He asked no questions of anybody, and if he gave any of the people in the house more than a pass- ing glance it was the stenographer. EBach evening for three successive evenings she found him in her hall when she came up from her dinner. She had taken the precaution to lock her door, and had no doubt that he had tried it. “Ah, ha, but I'll set a snare for the bird!"” she exclaimed to herself. It didn't take two minutes to invent the snare. When she went down to dinner the next evening she left her door un- locked. When the meal was half over she rose from the table and tip-toed upstairs. Mr. Bennett wasn't visible, | but she passed along and opeaed her door with a bang. Mr Bennett was on his knees before her open trunk! Three yells into the hall of “Help!” “Murder!” “Police!” and then she The room filled with boarders in a moment, but Mr. Bennett didn't scem very much em- barrassed about it. “l caught him going through trunk! explained Miss Gracie. “Yes,” he calmly replied “Then you are a sneakthief, and we'll hold you until the police come!"” said one of the valiant actors. “Not quite a sneakthief,” smiled Mr. Bennett. *“This badge will show you that 1 belong to the government se- cret service.” “He's a crook, | back Miss Gracie “1 was in my line of duty looking after counterfeit money or plates!"” “(Counterfeit money!" gasped all in the room. “Just so. It's up to you, Miss Hol- my tell you!"™ shot Concrete Estimates Cheertully Furnished on Paving and all Kinds of Artificial Stone Work 307 West Mailn Strect - J. N, DAVEE F. J. HOFFNAN LRl el jetgviavl el el el el Sol el T ] Lakeland Pav'ag&Construction Co. § érrlficlal Stone, Brick and Builcding Material € 2 Phone 348-Black § J. P. NEWBECKER ¢ PR St SR Lt ] lands, to do some explaining.” “Why doesn’t somebody telephone?” she demanded. “Because no ore wants to see you { locked up!” replied Mr. Bennett, “Will you kindly tell me where you got those five two-dollar bills you handed out the other day?" “Why—why “Every one of them was a counter feit! I came here looking for a plant! ]l did not want to ask for a warrant for you, Miss Hollands, until sure of my case.” The next haltf hour explanatior a che life. The were nd. and on the other it | was tearfully admitted that Mr. Ben- nett was not a crook The next day he had the good luck to capture the n he wanted, and lit was only na that he should come around (o the house to make his report "hen he called in to K Miss Gre with some the chee | calling wit al It wa ‘(h:\( he give up as as full of wt is full of W ie's forgivene other excus a the habit o d t nd then & K. She aiso when Mammy med: that she give up K promised that and | Jores heard of he excla | “Whoever heard of it f ban (Copyrigh the likes! t ot Isn how some girls hus- Pres. Sec.& Tres. Supt, & Gen. Man. V. Pres & Asst Man .; | DRQECEDLLST LTI 2GON WROHE i ing i ouc of i’h not called in | ‘finp EL AND, FLA., SEPT. 30, 1913. f LTI IS I S Think of a gir such a trivial t | parasol! Polly ment with young Puil Fuller and was | he rode up in his big touring car to B | take her out he was surpriscd to learn i turned away, he distinetly saw a pink | beside a blue serge suit of unmis- takably good cut, ! “Want to take a ride?”’ In bitter- ness of soul Phil hailed pretty Kath- ryn Stevens just as he turned out of Moore's driveway. “Delighted!” laughed the girl and climbed in beside him. She had al- ways cherished a secret fondness for Phil. “How about the Country club?” he asked briefly. “Just the place,” she agreed. Her real name was Kathryn, but she was frequently dubbed “Kat" by unappre- ciative ones to whom her social meth- ods were not pleasant. | “I'm just crazy about motoring. 1 |am simply too happy for words,” she said. ‘ Phil hoped that she was telling the i truth, that she was too happy for | words, for he wanted to meditate. He 'was already beginning to wonder if he had allowed his suspicion of the reality of Polly's illness to show when { he talked to her mother on the porch. ‘ Inside his pocket and seeming to press hard on his Leart was a flashing soli- Itarie that he had expected, and per- haps not without reason, to slip on Polly’s left hand that very afternoon. He gripped the wheel and steered the car so violently to one side that he nearly precipitated his passenger in a ditch by the road. “For mercy’'s sake, Phil, what are you trying to do? You fairly took my breath away.” “Don't worry,” ly, “nothing cot enough in re He repented | 1 do that. You have ‘e to last a mnnthf'i antly after taking a | her flushed “Forget it!" Didn't | mean a thing. tonest to goodness, | girl."” i before the club house, she was laugh- | merrily, & s jokes. 1 It scemed to Phil that everybody | The two were stopped was ther emed o slink outy pany times as they made their way ! on the gallery over- looking the river. For the first time | in his life, people ircitated him. While he ordered everything on the menu as a sort of apology for his previous lack of courtesy, Kathryn took out her gold vanity case and holding a di- ! minutive mirror bhefore her, proceeded | | to put on as much complexion as the wind had blown off on the way to the club. Phil frowned. Polly never did those distressingly vulgar things that pretty girls seem to think they are priviliged to do everywhere in the world—even at prayer. “Why don't you eat something? Aren't you hungry? I you don't take some of these delicious things you have ordered, I'll think that you are grieving over Polly Moore,” announc- ed his merciless guest., “Why —why should 1 be over her?” he stammered. “She was desperately ill this morn- ing. They had two doctors with lxer.{ Appendicitis I think they £ { “1 have an appointment at six,” he sald, opening his watch. *“Are you ready to go back to town?"” On the way out to the machine, he heard people everywhere asking about Polly. She was so utterly dear! He ex- ceeded the speed limit and hurried | Kathryn home. Then he went in search of the nearest florist shop. The little old German who sold flowers there thought that his customer must be crazy. i “I want pink roses, dozens and doz- ens of them,” he ordered, “and I want | them as quickly as you can get them ; together, please.” His heart throbbed violently at sight of a clesed pink parasol by the side of a swing on the Moore's lawn. There was the same inhabited blue serge suit beside a white frock, but to his relicf he saw that the girl was | not Polly. Then he remembered !'about an expected visitor, “May I see Polly for just a minute, Mrs. Moore?” he begzed at the door. “Why, yes, Phil. She is in my sit- ting room. She gave us quite a scare this morning but she is better now.” Polly was very pale where she sat propped up by a window. She wore a lacy pink negligee and as Phil look- ed at her, a sudden lump of terrible | proportions swelled up in his throat and prevented immediate speech. “It's good of you to come to see me,” Phil. Are all these lovely roses mine? My, how extravagant you are!” “I thought that you were just pre- tending when 1 came for you this afternoon, Polly, and your mother ! said that you were ill. I saw a pink | parasol beside a zood broad back so I Kathryn Stevens to the club.” “Well, T hope that you had a nice time,” was the cool re nse.” “Nic t have a nice orld without vou Polly. Ohb, if anything to you!” to a litile tabl grieving you. 1 had hay “ {and touch out her hand i his htly. “Couldn’t you love me—just a little bit, girl? Youre ali I want in the world. Will you ty me, Polly?” | His voice was husky, his eyes plead- e “Yes, Phil, I s ing! | that she was too ill to go. Yet as he || Ay parasol over the shoulder of a white %, frock move slowly across the lawn | ) ) i | OO0 R he retorted, savage-! . sidewise glance at the girl and seeing ! mmm—=— | So she smited and as they drove up i t too merrily, over K& e AR SRS L Ul B 5 3 5 1 Y A Few Fancy Goods 25¢ 35¢ 35¢ 20c 35¢ 15¢ 30c¢ 25c¢ 30c¢ 25c T B L Kippered Herring Plum Pudding Boned Chicken Diil Pickles perdozen iteinz Mince Meat Applc Butter Sliced Pineapple Imported Sardines o Mushrooms Cod Roe Lyles Golden Syrup 25¢ Crab Meat 25¢ W.P.PILLANS “Florlda Avenue Grocer” “Pure Food Store” Phone 93 15 and 3 25 IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUILDING, £LE MARSHALL & SANDEKS The OId Reliable Contractors Who have been building honses in Lakeland for years, and who neyer “"FELL DOWN" or failed to give satisfact. g All classes of buiidings contracted for. The v .6 residences built by this firm are evidgnces of their a:1iity {¢ wake good, MARSHALL & SANDEKS FPhone 228 Blue [ £ele] S N GHE MARK T For Tin, Sheet Iren, Copper, Zinc or auy kind of Roofing Work, call the LAKELAND SHIET METAL WORKS Smith-Hardin Building Phone 279 Ask for J. P. CARTIN We can fix that leaky roof. Our Motto is: Modest Prices and All Work Guaranteed. IF YOU KNOW The selection will be the best The variety unmatched The quality unsurpassed The price the lowest All these you find at our store Just trade with us This settles the question of living Best Butter, per pound. - Rugar, 17 pounds . . Cottolene, 10 pound pails. . Cottolene, 4-pound pails. . . 4 pounds Snowdrift Lard. $nowdrift, 10-pound pails. . 2 cans family size Cream . 8 cans baby size Cream 1.2 barrel best Flour 12 ponnds best Flour Octagon Soap, 6 for . .. Ground Coffee, per pound . .. § gellons Kerosere = ~\E_6. TWEEDELL