to be dawning upon him. It was the emancipation
from slavery. He went into the drug store, into the hardware store, into
the hotels and all the other stores--he talked and laughed as he had
never done before.

It was 3 a.m. the following morning when he found himself searching for
the door-knob in the vicinity of the front window. Having gained an
entrance, he was accosted by his wife, who exclaimed: "Harry, you
drunk?"

"Well, y'see, it was the pioneer shupper," said Harry, and he tumbled
into bed.

This was Harry's first ruse. His next move was an affinity. He would
cease to pose as a piece of household furniture--a dumb waiter sort of
thing.

At that time there was a vision waiting table at the "Best" who had most
of the fellows on a string. Harry threw his grappling irons around her
and took her in tow. This went on for some time without suspicion being
aroused on the part of the "invalid," but the wireless telegraphy of
gossip whispered the truth to her one day when she was wondering what
demon had taken possession of her protector. She dropped her artificial
gown in an instant and rushed up Railway Avenue like a militant
suffragette. Just about the local emporium Harry was sailing along under
a fair and favorable wind, hand in hand with his new dream, when he saw
his legal prerogative approaching near the "Next Best" hotel. He
dislodged his grappling-hooks in an instant, stepped slightly in
advance, and feigned that he had been running along on his own steam.
But she saw him and defined his movements. They met like two express
engines in collision, and what followed had better be left buried
underneath the sidewalk of the local emporium. There were dead and dying
left on the field, and they reached home later by two rival routes of
railway.

The stringency endured some days, which time she huffed and he read
Charles Darwin. At the end of that period the ice broke, as it always
does; the clouds rolled away, and the sun began to shine, and they began
to negotiate for peace. They had a long sitting of parliament, and it
was moved and seconded, and unanimously carried, that each give the
other a reprieve. It meant the amalgamation of two hearts that became so
intertwined with roots that nothing earthly could pull them asunder. It
was the founding of one of the happiest homes in Ashcroft. He left his
affinity--she left her bed. They became active working partners. Long
years after he told her of his ruse. She la