ughts, so----"

"But you needn't squeeze my hand so hard, Tommy, while you pronounce
your eulogy; it isn't an auctioneer's gavel."

"It's a very pretty hand, though," Tommy said with a smile, "a very
pretty hand."

"Are you an impartial judge, Tommy?"

"Well, I can't say I have much experience in regard to the hands of the
fair sex, but I'm willing to bet there are none like yours in the wide
world."

"And you have travelled so much of it."

"Not lately, perhaps, but I once spent four hours in Montreal, 330
miles away; think of it! and half a day in Hamilton--that's all of
forty miles off--and Toronto never looked so sweet to me as it did when
I got back to it. Good old Toronto; it's been kind to me. It has
given me the dearest of all women, and a good business, and--and----"
he kissed her hand and a few minutes later departed.

At a down town corner he ran into William, who was studying with great
interest the baseball bulletins displayed outside of a newspaper
office. William was one of a pretty large crowd that was doing the
same thing. News bulletins seemingly had little attraction for the
majority of them. As Tommy neared him, William remarked to a man in
the crowd, "Gee! wouldn't that jar you?"

"I don't see why: that's a very important piece of news. It isn't
every day the city council decides to spend so much----"

"City council my neck," broke in William, rudely, "what's that got to
do with the score?"

"Score! what score?"

"Oh, gee! I thought I was talking to a baseball fan."

"You thought wrong, young man," retorted the man, sharply. "I've no
patience with such frivolous things."

And then William caught sight of Tommy. "Say," he called out, "what do
you think of that score?"

Tommy, himself an enthusiast, studied it carefully. "Jersey City two,
Toronto one," he said aloud, "and down we go to second place, William."

"Yes; and Jersey City putting us there! Say, that team of ours is
certainly on the pork."

"Oh, they're not doing so badly; we're only a few points down."

"Only? What's the use? Every time they lick the good ones they fall
down when they stack up against the tail-enders; it's rotten."

"Cheer up, William, cheer up! The team will soon be home for another
long series, and then they'll soar."

"Yes," said William, gloomily, "to the bottom."

"You seem to be downhearted; what's the matter?"

"Mister Whimple lost a case to-day."

"Well, lots of lawyers do t