will remain permanently unattached."

There was a little resentment in her voice, for which I could see no
reason, and therefore protested that, under all circumstances, it was
scarcely fair to blame me for the lady's unappropriated state.

"Under other conditions," said I, "I assure you that I should not
permit such an anomaly to exist--if I could help it."

The incident was then declared closed.

During this absence of Jim's, which, I think, was the real cause of
Alice's displeasure, the _Herald_ Addition sale went forward, with all
the "yellow" features which the minds of Giddings and Tolliver could
invent. It began with flaring advertisements in both papers. Then, on a
certain day, the sale was declared open, and every bill-board and fence
bore posters puffing it. A great screen was built on a vacant lot on
Main Street, and across the street was placed, every night, the biggest
magic lantern procurable, from which pictures of all sorts were
projected on the screen, interlarded with which were statements of the
_Herald_ Addition sales for the day, and quotations showing the advance
in prices since yesterday. And at all times the coming auction was cried
abroad, until the interest grew to something wonderful. Every farmer and
country merchant within a hundred miles of the city was talking of it.
Tolliver was in his highest feather. On the day of the auction he
secured excursion rates on all of the railroads, and made it a holiday.
Porter's great military band, then touring the country, was secured for
the afternoon and evening. Thousands of people came in on the excursions
and it seemed like a carnival. Out at the piece of land platted as the
_Herald_ Addition, whither people were conveyed in street-cars and
carriages during the long afternoon the great band played about the
stands erected for the auctioneer, who went from stand to stand, crying
off the lots, the precise location of the particular parcel at any
moment under the hammer being indicated by the display of a flag, held
high by two strong fellows, who lowered the banner and walked to another
site in obedience to signals wigwagged by the enthusiastic Captain. The
throng bid excitedly, and the clerks who made out the papers worked
desperately to keep up with the demands for deeds. It was clear that the
sale was a success. As the sun sank, handbills were scattered informing
the crowd that in the evening Tolliver & Company, as a slight evidence
of their ap