Vanwigglevandoozen is now the hero of the day, and great things are
expected of him.
But I have my doubts.
It is too much to expect one brain to think up another idea as good as
that.
* * * * * *
Yesterday afternoon at 2:30 a loud shriek emanated from the "Bungalooza
Villa," followed almost immediately by its publisher, Mrs.
Shinevonboodle.
Both the shriek and its author came out as far as the gate and
attracted the ears of a policeman.
"My diamonds have been stolen!" exclaimed Mrs. Shinevonboodle,
excitedly.
"For publication purposes or for pawning?" inquired the policeman.
"Must I tell you the details without first being introduced to you?"
said Mrs. Shinevonboodle, angrily.
"Not unless you don't care to meet me," answered the policeman.
"Mercy!" said Mrs. Shinevonboodle, "must I cross the social chasm to
get those presents back?"
"What kind of diamonds are missing?" inquired the policeman. "Are they
sparklers or shines?"
"What is the difference?" asked Mrs. Shinevonboodle, haughtily.
"The difference is about $95 a carat," whispered the policeman.
"The best that money can buy is none too good for me," said Mrs.
Shinevonboodle, with proud scorn.
"Yes, I noticed that by your hair and complexion," replied the
policeman, politely.
"Will you find the missing diamonds, or must I shriek again?" inquired
Mrs. Shinevonboodle.
"Is your photographer present?" demanded the policeman.
"Do you suspect him?" gasped Mrs. Shinevonboodle, with a shudder.
"The photographer generally takes things," answered the policeman.
"Otherwise, how could the pictures get in the newspapers?"
"Heaven forgive me for this oversight, but my photographer neglected to
take the jewels before I lost them," said Mrs. Shinevonboodle, with
bitter tears in her lamps.
The policeman turned away to conceal his emotion and to take a pull at
his two-for cigar.
"What, oh! what is to be done?" wailed the helpless woman.
"Nothing," responded the policeman, after a miserable pause. "Without
pictures of the jewels to put in the newspapers the sensation will be
weak and will wobble at the knees."
Mrs. Shinevonboodle leaned against the fence and groaned inwardly.
"It is too bad," muttered the policeman, as he bit into the two-for
cigar and walked silently away.
Mrs. Shinevonboodle sat down in her most expensive flower bed and wept
bitterly.
Just then the policeman came running back.
"Perhaps you remember the jewels well enough to get a photograph from
memory?" he suggested.
A smile chased itself over the face of Mrs. Shinevonboodle, and she
picked herself up from the geraniums.
"I remember them perfectly," she whispered, "because when my husband
got the bill for them he had four different styles of fits in four
minutes. Three of these fits were entirely new and original with him,
so I remember the jewels perfectly."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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