The Little Brown Jug at Kildare

op where, as in many other book-shops throughout the United States, he kept a standing order for any

y by correspondence, had just procured for him, through the dispersion of a Georgia planter's valuable library, that exceedingly r

his wardrobe presentable; yet he preferred to travel unattended. He was, by nature, somewhat secretive, and his adventurous spirit rebelled at the thought of being followed about by a hired retainer. His very wealth was, in a way, a nuisance, for wherever he went the newspapers chronicled his movemen

his fault, and if he had known how to squeeze the whisky from the Ardmore millions he would have been glad to do so. His own affairs were managed by the Bronx Loan and Trust Compa

adiness at a certain hour, at a certain table, carefully chosen beforehand; for Ardmore was

His two brothers and another sister, the Duchess of Ballywinkle, kept the family name in display type a great deal of the time, and their performances had practically driven Thomas Ardmore from New York. He felt keenly his shame in being brother-in-law to a dissolute duke, and the threatened marriage of one of his brothers to a chorus girl had added, h

e that your sister, the Duchess of Bal

ith you, I do not like the duke; in fact, strictly between ourselves, I disliked him from the first," and Ardmore sh

ou and your brother-in-law, but can't the Palladium have your own e

d and turned his

painful to me, extremely painful. And yet, so much h

hat we want is to print

shoulder again to be sure he was not overheard-"the fact is-" and he paused,

ore," encourag

ou, but don't print this. Let

urse, if y

ce in your discretion; but, if this will

n me absolutely

hat this is sub rosa-now we do understan

on began to bead the reporter's forehead in

ng but the deepest chagrin over the matter causes me to tell you what I have neve

ciate al

w bills I had just got at the bank. His Grace borrowed the money to pay a cabman-it was the very day before he married my sister. Now let me ask you this: Can an American c

of getting material for a sensational article and scented the poss

Samuel Ardmore, is going to marry the c

to say, nobody in our family is musical. I think a chorus girl would be a real

ernoon that your cousin, Wingate Si

o. What's Sid

ss the Atlantic in a balloon. Can you tell

looning if you could make it a couple of miles more to the dead men's chests. And now,

aying where you are

decided yet; but I shall probably take the Sam

ests in Arkansas, I b

dle of the Arkansaw Traveler. When I find it I'm going to giv

tractive young fellow, alert and good humored, and Ardmore liked him, as, in

I don't offer that as a bribe; my family affairs are of interest to nobody but hostlers and kitchen maids. Wire me at Ardsley when you're ready, throw away your lead-pencil, then come on a

ve much time for vacations," replied the r

ou a couple of weeks, wire

man laughe

eally believe you m

all settled; make it

the Duke of Ballywinkle. Another voice in the neighborhood kindly remarked that Ardmore was the only decent member of the family, and that he was not the one whose wife had just left him, nor yet the one who was going to marry the chorus girl whose father kept a delicat

yet he can't find any

at he was indeed a pitiable object. He waved away his plate and called for coffee, and at that moment a middle-a

and thought I'd look yo

llings. Have you dined? Sorry

fly the administration of the Ardmore estate, and Ardmore knew him very well. He was afraid that Billings had traced him to Atlanta for one of those business

I don't understand it, I don't understand it," and the secretary seemed to

. I'm following a slight c

tal capacity, stared at the young man vacantly. Then it

at Ardsley rece

only a few

n your governor

ankly. "Why, Mr. Billings, don't

of one who deals with extreme stupidity. "I mean the governor of North Caroli

ss your soul, I don't know t

people sometimes do know go

more, Mr. Billings. Wha

e's opaqueness taxed his patience. And yet Tommy Ardmore had given him less trouble than any other member of the Ardmore family. The others

that last time. I often wish, Mr. Billings, that the Mohawks had scalped my great-grandfather before the

alty of belonging to one of the wealthiest famil

t so terribly proud of it.

Billings dropped his voice so that no one but

ng I ever heard of a governor doi

on an important matter of business this afternoon, but he's cleared out and nobody knows what's

ans with him?" asked Ardm

asked Billi

the da

I could find her father I'd give him a piece of

he one I'm looking for, anyh

t really taken in what Ardmore said, but who assu

life was devoted to the multiplication of the Ardmore millions. Ardmore's tone

n told me you were going to marry Daisy Wate

ave to excuse me now, for I'm taking the Sambo Flyer. I'd like to fin

e of hours before I reached town. His daughter ei

he remains behind to

ardedly around the room. "That's she, alone over there in the corner-the girl with

and he scrutinized her closely as she drew near and passed. She was a little girl, and her light fluffy hair swept out from under a small blue

er where her father had gone," remarked Billings grimly as the g

waste of words. The secretary of the Bronx Loan and Trust Company announced his intention of remaining another day in Atlanta in the hope of finding Governor Dangerfield, and he was so absorbed in his own affairs that he did not heed, if indeed he heard, Ardmore's promise to keep an eye out f

at the door. In his pocket was his passage to New Orleans and a state-room ti

irl. The manager came out personally to show her to her carriage, and having shu

you, Mr. Ardmore?" asked

ok at the tall buildings," whereat the manager

urrying toward the Tar Heel Express. He bought a ticket to Raleigh, and secured the

himself equal to an emergency that required quick thought and swift action. He had not only found the girl with the playful eye, but he had learned her identity without, as it were, turning over his hand. Not even Grisw

threw off her jacket and hat; then she summoned the porter, gave him her tickets, bade him a smiling good night and the door closed upon he

ctually winked at him it had been out of mere playfulness, and he would never in the world refer to it when they met. Billings had applied the term peppery to her, and he felt that he should always hate Billings for this; Billings was only a financial automaton anyhow, who bought at the lowest and sold at the highest, and bored one very often with strangely-worded papers which one was never expected to understand. He did not know why Billings was so anxious to find Miss Dangerfield's father, but as between a man of Billings' purely commercial instincts and the governor of a great state like North Carolina Ardmore resolved to stand by the Dangerfields to the end of the chapter. He was proud to remember his estate at Ardsley, which was in Governor D

the last car, and he found a camp-stool and crouched down upon it in a corner of the vestibule and stared out into the dark. The hum and click of the rails soothed him and he yielded himself to pleasant reveries. Griswold was well on his way back to Virginia, he remembered-"

he was pitched from the camp-stool into a corner of the entry.

man in a blue silk wrapper who sat up all ni

ce is thi

go from South C'lina into N'oth C'l

tly; th

alled the fact that he was not far from his own ample acres which lay off somewhere to westward. He had occasionally taken this route from the north in going to Ard

o go back to bed as soon as the train started. Just then a dark

the con

s not, before Ardmore could r

you can get aboard up fo

n?" asked the man, whom Ardmore now

or's asleep, but I'm his private

im-it's confidential. Sure, a

uch hat, handed up to Ardmore a jug-a plai

n vanished as mysteriously as he had appeared, leaving Ardmore holding

beneath him, when another figure appeared below in the track-that of a bareheaded, tousled boy thi

he gov'nor

y, and his vanity was touched by the readiness with which the boy accepted him in his new r?le. His costume, vaguely discernible in the vestibule light, evidently struck the lad

ma says hyeh's yer

ur worthy father, yet I beg to present my com

ng his berth, and he now tossed a silver dollar to the boy, who c

in started. The wheels were beginning to grind reluctantly when a cry down the track arrested his attention.

n't on they! Gi

n, picked up the first jug that came to hand,

ut upon Ardmore, who held the remaining j

e, porter. It's a little gi

lly pleased with his adventures, and slept