Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, December 19, 1913, Page 9

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& SOMLLL1SE0E504SPMRDEI 0 RISTIAS BOXES ORANGE, GRAPEFRUIT, AND TANGERINEY fi—_ R & pow and avoid the rush, We the best and most attractive ..-can mix them for you YES CLTRUS FRUIT CO. gland, 3o Florida D@ GHOBOEL en You Think of Gifs ber that we are headquarters for artistic, useful sual‘articles, such as arelideal for presents. Toys Dolis China Vases Pictures Statuary Baskets Stationery Desk;Fittings Alligator Goods ¢ Lakeland Book Store § i o Bui'd-rs and Contractors. e —————— re large manufacturers of building materials, having ond Gi -« nd best equipped plants in the Sonth, employing over 200 mex catering for seventeen years to wholesale trade, We NOW Wal of Florida. We know local requirements and we ara ip ¢ W ave money for our customers. hall be pleased to work through local channels of discripucior ch connection is not found, we invite correspondence {rom loes s for our mutual advantage and profit. hg manufacturers upon & wholesale scale, conditions of price and quality . manufacture Cypress products, veneere | line of milling. In fact, anything that may be required Iv tB tion of & house. we are in a positics ! d products, mouldingy, ko end your plans for estimaty invite you to come to our plant or 8 and you will Do glad Yo! bs a clear idea of your requirements of us. / den Cypress Door Co. Palatka" Fla. HAVE IT The most Sanitary Grocery Store in the city. Clean and bright, No roaches Nc rats but few flies. All fruits fmd vege® tabl,es screened. All meal, grits, sugar. rice, etc., in new sanitary rat, roach and fly proof bins, ~ Comé: inspect. trade: . B. DICKSON IF YOU ARE IN MHE MARKLT For Tin. Sheet Iron, ECopper. Zinc or any kind of Roofing Work, call the AKELAND SHEET METAL WORKS 212 South Florida Ave. & Ask for J. P. CARTIN We can fix that leaky roof. O Modest Prices and All Work Guaranteed. WWQMWW Bl \/ 776 / Benford & Steitz a nouncem2at of Direct Interest . I R PR Juliet Wilbor Tl HRISTMAS Eve was always @& busy night for Mr. Thomas Patter- son. He had in- variably done the biggest business of the year at that time, except for three succes: sive Christmases spent under the conservative reg: ime of the peni- tentiary. Mr. Pattersun =) was frankly, and on the whole successfully, a burglar. He did not take from the poor; he had never found that worth while. His victims were always those who could afford to lose—and to have. It cannot be claimed that he belonged to the chivalric type tbat abandons loot in order to save the baby, or touched by feminine gentleness, re- turns gems by mail the next day. Nor was he the burly ruffian for whom the timid look nightly under the bed. A little black grease, and he might have passed for a plumber’s assistant. It was not ignorance of the hours | kept by the rich that started him out as early as ten o'clock that evening. Tom read the society columns to good purpose; he knew that if the Kitt- ridges were giving a Christmas Eve ball, among those present would as- suredly be Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Whit- timore and their daughter, Miss Evan- geline Whittimore, who would proba- bly be charming in rose chiffon and pearls. This meant that the Whitti- more house would be empty of the Whittimores that evening. A careful inquiry into the ways of the Whitt- more servants suggested that most of them would be off the moment the carriage had left the door. 1t looked such a pleasant opening that Tom de- cided not to take a confederate with him, but softly let himeelf in by a window in a shadowed angle, selected earlier in the day. He found himself in a dining-room, dark except for the light in the hall beyond. Riches glimmered dimly on the sideboard, but Tom geldom both- ered with plate. (Crossing the room with the noiseless agility of a cat, he paused by the door. The silence was absolute; not even the ticking of a clock could be heard. After three minutes his head drew back with somewhat the movement of a turtle's, his jaws came together, and he deliberately ccuffed one foot along the polirhed floor, producing dull, indefinite. ¢ yund that might mean anything. Again the tense listening: then, with a Lusi like quietness wholly free from elinking, he crossed the hail and went sV iftly up the great, dim stai The Whiitimore (hristmas presents, still lurking in drawers and desks, of- fered an unusual- ly wide selection, and Tom browsed peacefully among them for half an hour. Then, add- ing to his pocket collection Miss Evangeline's jew- el case and two hundred dollars from Mr. Whitti- more's desk, he slipped down the stairs again and made the mistake of pausing in the dimly lighted drawingroom to see if he had overlooked any- thing important. It was just the faintest little mouse like click, but it meant a latch-key in the front door, not twenty feet away, and Tom had to act on the instant. The only refuge was a heavy plush curtain suggesting a conce aled door, and he darted behind its folds. The door was locked on the other side. The frout door had opened now, and any change of position was impossi- ble. Tom blessed his leanness, find- ing that by standing straight in the parrow space he made no perceptible bulge in the plush. With his pocket knife he deftly slit a peephole in time to see a young woman come Wwith quick, cautious steps into the room. Obviously this was Miss Evangeline She was panting a little, her hands pressed nervously together, her teeth working at the lower lip. She began to pace up and down, very softly, with tense excitement in every line. Sud- denly she paused, listening, her eyes directed straight at the plush hanging. Tom, nerved for a feminine shriek, poised himself in readiness to set out at the first note; but she turned and went swiftly to the front door. An in- stant later she came back with a young man. «well?” sald the newcomer quickly. She drew away from the arm he had t about her. “Oh, 1 don’t know! I don’t kmow!” She laid jmploring hands on his arm. «But do you think father is tyranni- cal? That it's silly to wait three years, when we're sure now? That | we have @ right to do it, it we're will- ing to be poor and—and all that?” I can't tell what I think. I want worthy—" “Don’t!” She ran to him, and he took her into his arms. “Now I will run and get on another dress; you wait here,” she sald. “And, dear, I am going to bring my jewels. They are truly mine, and if we are “I hate to have you take them,” he protested. Tom also hated to have her take them. The case was at that moment in his right-hand pocket, together with geveral other trifles from her dressing table. “Ill be back in five minutes,” she was saying, drawing away reluctant hands. When she had gone as far as the door, Tom took charge of the situation. He threw back the curtain, lifting & cautioning hand at her faint scream. “If you want to keep this quiet from the servants, no row, please,” he sald with dignity. “I'm sorry, young feller, but I'm a detective employed by the lady’s papa to stop this very thing— gee? 1 have to do my dooty.” The young man stared helplessly, Miss Evangeline clutching at his coat. “But—but—" he stammered. X “You see, the old gentleman got | & wind of it and asked me to step i around,” Tom explained. “He don’t The young man’s color had changed from dismayed white to angry red. “I will not,” he said clearly. “If he does that sort of thing—" “Exactly,” oed Evangeline ech- % proudly. “We will wait till my fath- er comes home, and have it out with him. Detec- tive, indeed!” They sat down on the couch and glared at Tom. It made him uneasy. | “Lookee here,” | 3 he began confl- 3 dentlally, “you seem like a pretty nice § young couple, and I ain’t one to spoll | ¥ sport. If you want to skin out just as you are now, inside of sixty seconds, 1 don’t know but I might—look the other way, see?” “We don’t wish anything of the kind,” said Miss Evangeline haughtily. The young man merely stared; he was evidently preparing speeches for her father. Tom edged toward the door. “Well, I dunno as I need to wait, then. Family rows is for the family only, I say. I done my job, and—" “Hold up!” commanded the young man. “I wish you to stay. Here!” Thtee swift steps had taken Tom to the front door. He clutched it open— and nearly landed in the arms of Miss Evangeline's mother and father. Their portly presence left no loophole. “Thought I'd save you finding your key, sir,” he said. “I done my job —but the young folks is pretty mad.” “When it comes to shadowing us with a detective, sir,” the young man threw diction. “I'm hanged stand for it!” he burst out. “Detective? Are you crazy?” he ex- claimed. 1 Tom fell back a step toward the| dining-room. “Oh, if you want to go back on me, sir, I ain’t nothing to say. But I stopped this here elopement and I've earned my pay. I'll call for it to- morrow.” He achieved another step. Mr. Whittimore seemed short of breath. “Elopement? Detective? Good God, Vangy, I never hired a detective in my life. It's some infernal blun- der!"” “Well, here he is,” sald Miss Hvan- geline coldly. “If you will let us get married, we'll overlook it. Other wise—" She drew herself up, and Tom achieved another step. The old gen- tleman’s temper began to show signs of wear. “Marry any one you pleagse! But for mercy’s sake don't say I—" A scuffle and a crash interrupted. A whirling heap on the floor resolved itself into Tom Patterson on his back, with Miss Evangeline’s lover kneeling on his chest, a hand at his throat. “Sorry to make a row,” apologized the young man breathlessly, “but 1 caught on just in time. He's a sneak thief!” “You seem to be a—a fairly up-and- coming young fellow,” stammered Mr. | Whittimore. i “Look a here, Mr. Whittimore,” | broke in Tom peaceably, “you don't | want all this in the papers.” «All what, you scoundrel?” “Elopement in the Four Hundred— Miss Evangeline Whittimore, daughter of—see? Now you got the swag, you got the girl; what more d’you want? Outside a police court, I ain’t likely to talk. You think about it.” His captors did think about it, with dismayed faces. The two women on the stairs exchanged horrified glances. Mr. Whittimore pinched his ghin, scowled, sighed, then nodded heavily. Slowly and reluctantly, the last pocket emptied, the young man arose from Tom's chest. Two minutes later Mr. Thomas Pat- terson, hurrying through the dark, smiled to himself as he ingerted care- ful fingers into a remote crevasse of his structure, where the contribution trom Mr. Whittimore's desk still lurked in a compact wad. “They didn’t know I had that,” he reflected, “but 1 guess T'll keep it for hush money. Two hundred dollars i8 more’'n that young dude earns in an evening, anyhow!” (Copyright, Frank A. Munsey Cod it 11 want any fuss. MW@M@«S»@-«m»(suz’rsusnsus«sws:t&<s»(:»(s»«3"z»«s«'zus»xs»rsns»sufi-«x-@ —— Mann Prices began imposingly; then temper over- | All Work Guaranteed First Class in Every Respect. AGoodFinancier is continually looking for a place to mak % and save monev. Better see The Lakeland Feed and Supply Co. For ali Kinds of Hign Ciass Feed, Grain & Hay, Flour and Fertilizer 3 e e et et The big Feed Store on Railroad and East Rose St., East of Light and Water Plant Phone Us No. 275 we Deliver the Goods W C OWENS. Mgr Terms strictly Cash T® YOU ARE THINKING OF BUILDING. SEE MARSHALL & SANDERS The OId Reliable Contractors Who have been building houses in Lakeland for years, srd xto never "FELL DOWN" cr failed to give satisfaction, All classes of buildings contracied for. The many fine residences built by {bis firm are evidgnces of their abilityto make good. MARSHALL & SANDERS Phone 228 Blue HEEIIEIRIIIIR R EE FEREEE FOLON SRR —vosm————————T UNDEN GIENADA HOTEL, PINE STREET A Place . your Order Now and Avaid the Rush Estimates Will Be Furnished on Short Notice. Office Phone 257 Residence Phone 274 Red Delays breed losses—don’t procras- tinate in the opening of your account for not alone are you losing money through the interest it isn’t earning but you also lose money through those little expenditures that would not be made if the woney were de- posited here. 4 per cent interest is earned on funds deposited here—an examina- tion of our last statement and the character officers of this institution will convince you of the safety of money deposited with us. e B e ! -~

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