interest, and most faithfully estimates the character and acts of Redruth’s betrothed according to the feminine view. The apple shall be bestowed upon him who is awarded the decision. If you are all agreed, we shall be pleased to hear the first story from Mr. Dinwiddie.”
The last sentence captured the windmill man. He was not one to linger in the dumps.
“That’s a first-rate scheme, Judge,” he said, heartily. “Be a regular short-story vaudeville, won’t it? I used to be correspondent for a paper in Springfield, and when there wasn’t any news I faked it. Guess I can do my turn all right.”
“I think the idea is charming,” said the lady passenger, brightly. “It will be almost like a game.”
Judge Menefee stepped forward and placed the apple in her hand impressively.
“In olden days,” he said, orotundly, “Paris awarded the golden apple to the most beautiful.”
“I was at the Exposition,” remarked the windmill man, now cheerful again, “but I never heard of it. And I was on the Midway, too, all the time I wasn’t at the machinery exhibit.”
“But now,” continued the Judge, “the fruit shall translate to us the mystery and wisdom of the feminine heart. Take the apple, Miss Garland. Hear our modest tales of romance, and then award the prize as you may deem it just.”
The lady passenger smiled sweetly. The apple lay
