AN ABSENT-MINDED TRAVELLER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1272, 30 October 1911, Page 5

AN ABSENT-MINDED TRAVELLER.

DRAMA AT THE WHARF SIDE. Most people, and most classes of peoP' c u. h ?- v ; e their little joke. Tho lawyers w Wellington are having theirs just now. lliey are having it partly at their own partly at fto expense of a few other Weill ngtonians, ajid partly at the expense of one whose memory broods in the shadows of a brilliant past. Ho of the luminous and scintillating past was about to leave for England. But he hadn t paid tho plumber. He was aboard the vessel which was to take him away. Ho was on the deck talking with il S Z ' l imc ' a distinguished member of the Bench. In a little while the floating conveyance would bo moving from this cold, unsympathetic habitation. But, oh, that plumber! Down the wharf, up the gangway, and along tho deck strutted imperiously the familiar figure of Welil ''? °? s , bailiff. A gentio hint by the tactful bailiff was interpreted as a cornmaiut, ihreo paces to one side-quick ma rch! Ihe departing luminary was made the recipient of a suitably inscribed request that he should not sever his connection with tire country—or the plumber; he was served with a writ of tni l !i, OI V m. 11 sin ! pl ? En Slish, ho was told that the overlooked plumber's bill fi.nfti tt pa, | l .; 11 H<w , M the mighty \ i !i w? Ilttlc rockc<l the bailiff ! And the bothersome matter was adjusted f i . S V,, , to 'ho amount of tho p umber s bill. Tho bailiff left, and tho plumbers customer resumed his talk . his wife and tho Judge. But 'tis an unkind world when it turns perverse. Ine renewed conversation was yet joung when further annoyance arrived. ITij departing one had been residing'in a house owned by a gentleman not unknown m law circles. There hud been a little strategic manoeuvring by inr tho S LI ? n r Utl th -° tel "" lt: concm; - inj the taking of an mvenforv of (lie Wl l 11 dwelling, and the tenant had held possession till a rather into moment. However, on the tenant's exit tlio house agent had made a lightning in«ntory. summoned a call, and ha ten" 1 to the wharf. H, s sluWcn nl)Dcaranco ™ deck caused a flutter■ in the waistcoat of the departing one. His demands cau?"d a flutter m the atmosphere. Tho diiturbanro rapidly grew to respectable proportions and entertaining However, even tins couldn't nrocced with! out interruption, for there arrived the clerk of a leading firm of lawyers. Th s man, too. was a man of disorienting demands The battle raged on. The v?rbal conflict swept tho deck awhile, and then the departing one's cabin became the scene of hostilities, lime sped, but tlm battle still raged on—and the vessel started out for Merne England. Presently a hn»<* agent and law clerk reappeared on deck. Must they be carlied away. The final scene was a digiiifiw .land agent and an acrobatic law clerk sliding down a rope, one end of which was tied .to an ooean liner and the other end to Wellington whaTf.