Page:The Black Cat v01no07 (1896-04).pdf/44

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42
How Small the World.

Memorandum. (Ages only approximate.) William A. Curtis, fifty, lawyer, widower, New York; Wm. B. Slater, twenty-six, physician, bachelor, Iowa; Wm. Thorndike, thirty, merchant,

?, Charleston, S. C.; Wm. Martin, forty, teamster, married, Boston; Wm. Berkeley Vandewater (our Van's father); Wm. (generally called Billy) Posey, (colored), seventy-five, janitor, Boston; Wm. Winthrop Adams, my three-months'-old nephew, still unmarried, Boston.

I don't recall any other Williams whom I have met within the last two years.

III.

The telegram of the Rev. Arthur Selbourne to Mr. Robert Fairfax, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.

Innasittie, Col., August 2, 1892.

Probably uses it instead of a fork.

A. Selbourne.

Collect .

IV.

The letter of Miss Polly Forsythe to Mrs. Arthur Selbourne, Innasittie, Col.

Peide's Crossing, July 24 , 1892.

My dearest Lucie:—I have the most delightful and most disgusting things to tell you. First to the first. Of course you know all about poor Nannie Simms's trouble and about her husband's death a month ago, at St. Luke's Hospital. Perhaps you do not know, however, the only gleam of comfort in the whole sad affair—that she has a very comfortable fortune. Old Mr. Dupuy left her thirty thousand dollars, and when poor Jack died it was found that his life was insured for ten thousand dollars. It is so fortunate, for she is all alone in the world, and not a bit strong. Of course she's perfectly heartbroken, but she's just as brave and sweet as you might know she would be. She says she can never be sufficiently thankful for this year they've had to gether. You know at one time there was talk of postponing the marriage for a year, and when Jack was taken ill he reminded her of that. She sent for me immediately, and Carrie was quite