Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 106: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

896 “Abner still resting?” Or, “ How much is Seth Doolittle giving for fairy stories to- "day, Lucy?” To such sisterly questions Lucy would reply in the spirited manner of her sex. “ Anyway,” she would observe, “ Abner ain’t selling old women no twenty-five-cent coffee for fifty cents. There’s fairy stories and fairy stories, Salviny.” Abner, too, came in for his share of at- tention, though it was good natured enough. ‘““Well, Abner,” Seth Doolittle remarked casually, “‘ apparently you’re going into the restaurant business instead of the hotel business. They do say that Lucy Wil- mer’s the best waitress Sam Taug has.” ‘She certainly is,” replied Abner stout- ly, “and she’s a mighty capable girl all around, Seth. Fact is, I reckon she’s got more real gumption than Salviny has, though she don’t act so jack-in-the-boxy all the time, and she don’t set so much store by the dollar and all its relations and friends. And I ain’t aiming to go into the restaurant business, Seth, though I reckon Lucy’s going to be a great help to me one way or another. “JT ain’t making no mistake, Seth, no more than Ned Trumbell did when he mar- ried Matildy Jenks. Ned wan't exactly what you’d call fast—courted Matildy for upward of three years and never got up his courage to pop the question. Nacher- ly, Matildy begun to get nervous, and she done everything normal to encourage Ned, and that’s saying a good deal, because a girl can bring a powerful lot of influence to bear in a case of that kind. But nothing seemed to loosen Ned’s tongue on the sub- ject of matrimony. So she put her wits to work—she was a pretty cute girl—and be- gun to train the family parrot. “Well, one evening Ned called and talked politics and crops and such stuff as usual until almost nine o’clock; and then Matildy went out of the room, leaving him alone with the parrot. Well, just as the clock stopped striking nine, that bird leaned over toward Ned and he says, confidential like, ‘ Ned, dear, Matildy’s willing!’ and Ned he seen a great light, and he popped the question when Matildy came back, in- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. nocent as a tadpole. And he never regret- ted it, because Matildy kept right on stim- ulating him in one way or another when he slowed down, and all in all Ned’s getting along fine. Reckon Lucy ’ll be a good deal like that, Seth.” Thus matters stood until one evening Lucy unexpectedly discovered Mr. William Samson, traveling salesman for the Welt- over Hardware Corporation, seated at one of the tables at which she waited at sup- per. ‘““ Ah, there, little girl,” observed Mr. Samson with easy familiarity, ‘‘ how’s Lucy? Prettier than ever, I swear.” ‘Same old jollier, ain’t you, Mr. Sam- son?” replied Lucy agreeably; for he was a regular if not very frequent guest at Taug’s Hotel. ‘“ But what brings you back to Windham so soon? You was here only two weeks ago. Seth Doolittle ain’t all out of hoes and eggbeaters already, is he?” “Huh! No chance! Why,” went on Mr. Samson gallantly, ““‘ what would I come back for but to see you, Lucy?” “G’wan! How’s the missis and the kids?” Mr. Samson grinned. “ All right. Well, seriously, Lucy you’ll be surprised when I tell you what I did come back for so soon. I came a hundred miles out of my way just to see Abner Hitchcock.” Lucy was keenly interested. “Is that so? What do you want to see Abner for?” “To hear some more of his stories,” replied Mr. Samson, with a chuckle. “Why Lucy, that man would make the finest traveling salesman in the world if he had any head for business. I did twenty per cent better business this last trip on Ab- ner’s stories.” “* Why—how do you mean?” “Told ’em to my customers. Put ’em in good humor. Abner’s got a good line— new. Of course,” added Mr. modestly, ‘‘I know just when to tell ’em and maybe I dress some of ’em up a little. But I'll give Abner most of the credit.” This intelligence so stunned Lucy that all she could say was: ‘‘ Blueberryraspberryapplelemonercustard pie?” ““ Blueberry.” Soe com Hats CGO O) Samson .