The Other Mr Smith.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 1 September 1904, Page 7

The Other Mr Smith.

SHORT STORY.

■ppfche window of a house in Locust Street ' HL stood a Sjjjmk .The house was one of ■hose of architecture bat adorn that thoroughfare ; one that for pears had been content with its red brick Irani trimmed with marble, its heavy Wooden shutters, and its short, demure Bight of white marble steps. But because its neighbour across the way had been" refurbished, this one was not to be outdone. So its new steps were of stone and placed sidewise, and the number above the door was of figures of curious shape and set awry; the door itself was of gridiron style, aud the big wooden shutters were banished. So much for the house. The girl in the window was young. She was tall and rather slender; her hair was golden—her detractors, if she had any, would have called it red—and very curly; her eyes were of the nondescript hue usually called hazel, and she was distinctly pretty. Her name was Barbara Leigh. It was half-past nine in the morning- and time for the postman to appear. 1 There he is at last!' exclaimed Barbara.

' Probably he will bring you nothing but an advertisement or two and a letter that you will not want to answer,' remarked her sister Margaret from the depths of an easv chair.

' They will at least be more interesting than the newspaper that you are so deep in,' retorted Batbara, raising the window to receive the budget of mail matter. 'One, two, three for you, Meg, that you don't deserve, two for 'The Misses,' one for mamma, and one for me from Jack. That is good. I hop2 it is to say that he will be home soon. Let us see the invitations first. Nothing but tea-cards-odious teas. Now for Jack.'

Suence tell upon.the room for an instant. Theiiirom Barbara, ' Thai, provoking navy !' Barbara?' exclaimed her mother.

' Yes, t that more than provoking navy ! Mamma, how could you be the daughter of a naval officer, marry a naval officer, and then allow your son to walk deliberately into the same snare ?'

' Barbara, what do you mean ? Has anything happened to Jack? Has someone been promoted over him ? My dear, do explain yourself.' i ' No; something far worse than that. Jack will have to stay in Pittsburg.' Barbara looked ready to cry, Mrs. Leigh and Margaret dropped their letters, and consternation reigned.

'Do read the letter,' said Meg, which Barbara did forthwith.

' Pittsburg, Nov. 11

•My deab Baebara, — * I am booked to stay here the rest of the winter. A shame, isn't it? The place is not so bad, but I want to see you all. Tell the Mater I will try and get leave for Christmas, but it is doubtful. In the meantime I want some of my traps. Will you please pack my small Chinese trunk with some of them ?—especially the Japanese lady with real hair. Put in any new books you may have. ' A bright idea has just struck me. Ned Smith is coming through from Washington, Thursday. You might meet him in the Broad Street Station that night and give him the key and check and he can bring the trunk on his ticket. I will write him t£f-"*eel you at the Pullman car ticketofficeT Be there at half-past nine; his train gets in about that time. Geoffrey can take you down. Give my love to all. lam awfully sorry that I cant see you for so fUong. • Your affectionate brother, • Jack. ' P.S. You can't fail to recognise SmithHe has light hair and a bottle nose.'

1 Isn't it too provoking I' sighed Barbara. 1 1 did hope v Jack would be here for the dancing-class, Monday night, and—oh, dear, for everything! And when is this man to appear? Thursday night, and this is Wednesday. Geoff will have to take me down there instead of to the symphony concert. Meg, you can have my ticket. But who wants to go and meet a man named Smith? H it were spelt with a •y' it would be better.

' His name is the least .of it,' said Meg. * How are you to know him ?' • Jack describes him.' She consulted the letter, ■' Light hair and a bottle nose.' By the way, what is a • bottle nose' ?' No one seemed to know. •I am sure I never saw one,' said her mother, with a distressed air. ' Jack does pick up such strange expressions.' • I have often heard of tnem,' said Meg. ' I suppose it means shaped like a bottle.' ■ Well, you are bright,' said Barbara, derisively ; 'of course it means that; but the question is, what kind of a bottle ?—a wine or a medicine, or a ginger-ale bottle? Oh, why did Jack not tell us what kind of a bottle to expect ?' ' And then in what way can a nose resemble a bottle ?' continued Meg, musingly. • Is it broad at the top, ending in a narrow neck, as if made to receive" a cork, or vice VERSA?' 4 We shall never know~until we have seen that man.' ' But, my dear,' said their mother, anxiously, ■ you cannot possibly recognise him, and it is not at all safe to intrust a trunk

with all those valuable foreign things to a t man with a queer nose whom no one will know. Jack is simply crazy.' Notwithstanding their doubts, Barbara departed to follow her brothers instructions, carefully enveloping the Japanase figura with * real hair' and other choice bits in all the soft table covers and silken scarves that she could find. Later in the day she went to Whack's and bought a big box of Jack's favourite dainties to gladden his heart, for he was as fond of sweets as any girl, and she also put into the trunk a new photograph of herself. her brother came in that night, Barbara's first question was, — ' Geoff, what is a bottle nose ?' ' A red one,' promptly returned Geoffrey. 1 Oh, Geoff, don't you know better than that ? We must find out before to-morrow night.' And she produces the letter. Before half-past nine Thursday night Barbara had asked that question of at least a dozen persons. Their replies had beeu as varied as their own noses, and she was not much wiser. 1 Time to start, Barbara,' called Geoffrey.

'ln one minute,' she returned. • No, not a second. You will lose your man.'

Barbara frantically rammed a hai pin into her head, caught her dress in the closet door, dropped her glove, aud then remembered that she had not written a word to Jack, as she had fully intended to do. '• Geoff is always hours ahead of time,' she thought, and. seizing a pencil, she began to scribble on a scrap of paper, •Come, Barbara!' was again heard from the foot of the stairs. She thrust the note and the key of the trunk into an envelope, scrawled on the outside, ' Jack; kindness of Mr Smith,' and fled. They reached the station breathless, but in plenty of time, and took their stand near tho Pullman office. •I never was so conscious before tha

people are blessed with noses,'.said Barbara, after a few minutes during which the crowd surged past them and up the stairs. That member is the only one tnat I am sure my fellow beings possess. I see nothing else coming towards me but animated noses; their eyes, their arms, their legs, are nowhere. Geo3, I wish you had not spent quite so much of your life studying tunnels and bridges. If you had only devoted a httle of it to noses, you might have been of some use now.'

'Too bad,' returned Geoff, who was a civil engineer.

Many people stopped to buy seats or berths in the cars for New York, Washington, or Harrisburg, and now came one for Pittsburg, but he had a long gray beard. After a few minutes, another for the same place,—black hair. Another.

'His nose is certainly odd,' whispered Geoffrey, ' and he has light hair.' 'My dear boy, where are your eyes ? His ncse is as straight as a Greek god's.' While they were discussing it the man hurried on up the stairs. It was long after half-past nine, and the western train left at nine-fifty. About three minutes before that time a young man arrived at the window. He had light hair, a brown moustache, and a nose that was certainly peculiar.

1 There he is,' whispered Barbara, clutching Geoffrey's arm iuher excitement.

' Give me a berth in the sleeping-car for Pittsburg, and be quick about it please. I have not a moment to lose,' said the man with the nose.

The clerk hastily pulled out a ticket, wrote a number on it, and gave it to, him, and he hurried away from the window. Before Geoffrey realised what she was doing, Barbara ran after the man. She overtook him on the stairs.

' I beg your pardon,' she began, breathlessly, but are you Mr Smith ?' 'lam,' replied he, turning and gazing down in astonishment at this very pretty girl in a large hat, who, with flushed cheeks and bright eyes, was smiling at him from a lower step.

' Then please give this to Jack. Don't let me detain you.' And, thrusting the note into his hand, she turned and disappeared in the crowd. At this moment an official at the top of the stairs shouted, ' All aboard for Pittsburg, Harrisburg, and the West!' ' .

'Mr Smith' paused for an instant, glanced at the clock, and saw that he had but one minute and a half in which to make his train. With one bound he was up the stairs, out the heavy swinging doors, and through the gate just as it was being closed. The bell rang, and the train had already begun to move when Sidney Carrol Smith swung himself onto the rear platform of the last car.

Geoffrey Leigh, meantime, had hurried after Barbara, but was too late.

'You silly child,' he said, when he reached her, ' that was not the man.'

' Oh, it was, Geoffrey ! He had light hair, his nose was the very image of a bottle, and his name was Smith.'

' There may be forty thousand Smiths in

the station at this moment. The name counts for nothing. And as for his nose,' added Geoffrey, in disgusted tones, ' it was no more like a bottle than mine is.'

' Oh, Geoff! It had a bump on the bridge and was really very odd. And if you are not to know a man by his name, what are you to go by, I should like to know 2 Besides all that, his umbrella had a carved Chinese handle, just like Jack's. Then he

looked like a naval officer. I have not come of a race of them for nothing': I know one when I see him.' and Barbara drew herself up with a superior air. ' He may be an admiral,' said Geoffrey, ' but I have my doubts. I don't believe Jack will ever see his trunk. You have given it to some sharper, Barbara. And then if it had been Jack's friend Smith, he would have been on the lookout for us, for Jack probably warned him what to expect. Did this man appear to understand you?' ' No-o, I can't say he did ; but he was in such a hurry, and then I didn't give him much time. I simply said, • Are you Mr Smith?' and when he said 'Yes,' I gave him the package and ran back to you. I was awfully frightened the moment I left you, alone in that crowd, but I am glad I did ran after him, for I know he is the man.'

Barbara spoke with much assurance. Nothing would have induced her to own up to any doubt, but inwardly she began to wonder if she had done a wise thing. Sidney Smith fonnd his seat in the Pullman car, and threw down his luggage. •If that girl had kept me one instant longer,' he said to himself, ' I should have lost my train. By the way, what was it she gave me? Very queer proceeding. She was awfully pretty, and she certainly was a lady. I don't understand it.' He turned poor Barbara's little packag e this way and that as he pondered. ' ' Jack, kindness of Mr. Smith.' I certainly am Mr. Smith, but who is Jack ? I mean to open it. Nothing else to be done, of course.' And he broke the envelope. Inside he found a curious key, a bit of brass marked 'P. R. R., No. 243,' and a note. Without any hesitation whatever, he unfolded the letter and read: ' My Dearest Jack.'— ' How could you have given me such a task as to find Mr. Smith at the Broad Street Station? If you only could have described more than his nose ! t . Barbara.' ' Thisjbeats a detective story all hollow. The only way to find out an owner to this mysterious key and check is to find a man who is 'jdearest Jack 'to a Barbara. That is an odql name, —Barbara. You don't often hear it. \ An uncommonly pretty girl, too. I shall hkve to keep the trunk—for I suppose these things .belong to a trunk of some kind—until I find the owner. It will be an awful bore. By the way, what is this she says about my nose ? Though it is not my nose, buji some other fellow's : 'lf you only could haWe described more than his nose'!' And he stroked his own meditatively. "It had once been straight, but an accident when a boy had broken it and left its mark upon the bridge. ' Barbara must have been looking for a broken-nosed man, and found —me ! Funny the other fellows name was to be Smith, too.' Just here the porter interrupted his meditations, so he dropped the key and check into his pocket with those of his own luggage, and before long was asleep. When he reached Pittsburg next morning he found a friend awaiting him with a telegram from his home in Maryland. His father was very ill and he must go to him at once. He had just time to hand his checks to his friend, asking him to look . after his baggage, and step into a train that was about to start for the South. Iu a rno- ! mant he had begun to retrace his way over ; the road by which he had just come. (To be concluded next week.)