20 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



January 



had one she might enter into collusion 

 with his daughter. He never let Evan- 

 geline out of his sight except at night, 

 and then he locked the door and slept 

 with the key under his pillovs'. What 

 does my cousin Jack Dimly do? Does he 

 give up in despair? By no means. My 

 cousin Jack Dimly inherited from his 

 ancestor.s — my ancestors, too — at least 

 one of their good qalities — he had grit. 

 He never went into anything except 

 with vim and determination, whether 

 in love or in sports or" — 



"In debt," ventured Mr. Possiter, 

 shuffling his cards nervously. 



"Ogglesby, how could you?" said his 

 wife reproachfully. "WhatI Have I re- 

 voked? Dear, dear! There, lieutenant. 

 Just put this heart on that trick and give 

 tne back my spade. Now it's all right, 

 and you needn't score three. As I have 

 said already, my cousin, Jack Dimly, 

 did not know the meaning of the word 

 surrender — not he. For a time nothing 

 was seen of him, and to Mr. Pyn every- 

 thing seemed to be going splendidly. 

 Nothing was heard of the detested 

 young man, and the old gentleman had 

 almost decided that his own determina- 

 tion had won the day, when a slight in- 

 cident aroused his sleeping suspicion. 

 While poking about the kitchen one day 

 he happened to open a small door, and 

 before him, on the dumb waiter, lay a 

 box of candy. Of course he called Evan- 

 geline, and of course she denied all 

 knowledge of it and suggested that it 

 belonged to some other family on the 

 eame shaft. He whistled down the tube. 

 Yes, thank you, Mr. Dockboy, you may 

 deal for ma The janitor, my genius, 

 answered. It was a mistake. The box 

 was intended for the family two flooro 

 below, so down it went. But that bojc 

 of caiidy became a weight on Mr. Pyn'o 

 Suind. He po:;der"d over the incident 

 and tried to nuike himself believe that 

 the kitchen elevator was quite the usual 

 way to deliver such parcels, but he could 

 Dot. He became sr.spirious. A dozca 

 times a day he would throw down his 

 pipe, dart from his chair to the kitchen 

 and throw open the dumb waiter door. 

 He found uothiug. What, a^:e trumps? 

 Diamonds? Thauk youl 



"Now, one night some weeks later, 

 ©Id Mr. Pyn, sleepless and ill at ease, 

 lay in bed, thinking over this incident, 

 when a gentle rattle in the elevator 



shaft sounded m his ears, it was simpiy 

 habit that led him to it, for, as luck 

 would have it, he darted from his room 

 and groped his way to the kitchen. He 

 was none too soon. The light was burn- 

 ing, the door of the shaft was wide open, 

 the cable was running down, and above 

 the rattle and clatter there came a soft 

 scream. Old Mr. Pyn was a strong man, 

 a determined man. Like a flash he 

 jumped to the shaft, leaned in, seized 

 the cable and held on to it with a mad- 

 man's fury. Oh, is it my play? 



"The car of course stopped short in 

 its downward career. Then there was a 

 vigorous tug from below — a scream. Mr. 

 Pyn clinciied his teeth, braced himself 

 aud held it as firm as a rock. As I have 

 said before, my cousin .Tuck Dimly is a 

 man of pluck, but he is small and not 

 strong. So his efforts to drag down the 

 car — for you have surmised, of course, 

 that he was at the bottom of the shaft 

 — and its precious burden proved una- 

 vailing against the strength and deter- 

 mination of old Mr. Pyn, who never 

 slept a wink unless he had just swung 

 the Ind-an clubs through several miles 

 of circles. Tug as my cousin might, the 

 car did not budge below the third floor. 

 On the other hand, all the power of old 

 Mr. Pyn's muscles availed nothing 

 against the combined weight of the car 

 and my cousin Jack Dimly. Grind his 

 teeth, pull aud struggle though he did, 

 he could not draw the precious burden 

 an inch nearer him. Did he let go? No. 

 That was not" — 



"My dear, " interrupted Mr. Possiter, 

 laying down his cards and pushing his 

 chair back from the table, "you never 

 told me before that your cousin Jack" — 



"Ogglesby," cried my pretty oppo- 

 nent, "I do wish you would watch your 

 end of the game. I led that ace. Did he 

 give — Don't stop playing, lieutenant. 

 I have such a lovely handl" 



Swash, too, had laid down his cards. 



"That reminds me of the time" — 



My wife from the corner interrupted 

 him with, "Now, lieutenant, do let me 

 hear first who won — that poor, dear Mr. 

 Dimly or that horrid" — 



"There, you've spoiled such a splen- 

 did hand!" cried Mrs. Ogglesby Pos- 

 siter, tossing her cards on the table. 

 "Just as I get seven trumps you all stop 

 playing. We were sure of three points, 

 and if" — 



