“I'm glad to have you,” said Eliph'. “I wanted to give you one, but I didn't want you to think I meant it in the way I meant what I sent to Miss Sally. I was afraid you might, or that Miss Sally might. But I don't mean it that way.”
“I know you don't,” said Mrs. Smith heartily. “And if Miss Sally is jealous I will tell her she is quite mistaken. But if you will let a woman that has had a little experience advise you, do not be too hasty. Do not try to hurry matters too much. It would spoil everything if you pressed for an answer too soon and received an unfavorable one. And I'm afraid it would be an unfavorable one if you put it to the test now.”
Eliph's countenance fell. It said plainly enough that he understood her to mean that the Colonel and Skinner were more apt to be favorably received.
“I'm afraid so,” said Mrs. Smith regretfully. “You know they are older acquaintances, and Miss Sally is not one of those who think new friends are best.”
“I was coming again to-night,” said Eliph'. “Perhaps I'd better not say anything to-night. Perhaps I had better wait until to-morrow.”
“Wait until next month, or next year,” advised Mrs. Smith. “There is no hurry. Something may turn up.”
CHAPTER XIV. Something Turns Up
Something turned up the very next day. It turned all Kilo upside down as nothing had for years, and created such a demand for the TIMES that J. T. Jones had to print an extra edition of sixty copies, and he would have printed ten more if his press had not broken down.
Across two columns—the TIMES never used over one column headlines except for the elections—blazed the work “GRAFT,” and beneath, in but a size or two smaller, stared the “sub-head” “OFFICIAL OF KILO CORRUPTED. CITIZENS' PARTY ROTTEN TO THE CORE. PROMINENT CITIZEN IMPLICATED.” Beneath this followed the moral of it, “The City, as Predicted in These Columns, Suffers for Departing from The Beneficent Rule of the Republican Party.”