Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-19
" F'0TREa DEAR CHaRMER. 4"

! was L. a quandary, as L think you
viii admit when | have stated my case,
and Ii was exceedingly provoking to be
conscious that [ was looked upon by all
nay acqusintances as the luckiest man
IN town, while bore in my bosom the
Inward conviction that [ was the most
involved and bothered being in exist
eace. Up to month back, L suppose I
might, with some show OF reasonable
ness, have been called lucky, for Miss
Clara Alden. the recognized belle of the
season, smiled upon me, and the cur
rent impression prevailed that, If 1
would go il, I'd win.
Wen, I did go in. That's the mis-
chief of it. went in just far enough to
commit myself to the contest, but, be-
fore / had sighted the winning post,
something happened to give me pause
We were at the skating-rink one night.
large party Of rs, Miss Alden being Of
the number. Her special escort was a
young foreigner, who was being good
deal ioRized III society Just then. and
Clara seemed to take marked interest
III him. It did not concern me in the
least 90 observe this, for since / had
fancied myself to be In love with Clara
Alden had had reason to congratulate
myself upOn the assurance that I was
lot Of jealous temperament. [ in
tended pretty soon TO tender to Miss
Alden d good-sized heart and q good
sized hand aud fairly good-si fort
une, and ! sincerely hoped she would
accept them. Until then. ana indeed
after then, always within the limits OF
good taste, she was free 10 receive the
attentions Of any man or woman whose
society gave her pleasure. I think Miss
Alden and / understood each other per-
feClY. We we're very Old friends. and
the SUITABILITY OF an alliance between us
hai been frequently suggested to each
ever since We could remember. Twas
quite coDtented with this condition of
affairs, and even supposed myself to be
very happy.
Well, this hight at the rinl, I had seen
Clara skate off with her Englishman,
and with II inperturbed spirit [ was
STUNNING around the rink alone when,
just behind me, [ heard a little scream
and q little scramble and somebody fell.
The next instant, as [ turned, met a
pair of jmploring and beautiful eyes,
and an inplor;ng and beautiful voice
cried out:
"Oh, won't You please pick me up 90
eagerly clasped the little hands and
drew the PROSTATE young lady to her
feet. [ was Just i'll time, for half q
dozen other men had hurried to the
spot, among whom she recognized an
acquaintance. She made her bow to me
and said her So thank you very prettily,
and thea she accepted the proffered
hand Of her friend and glided away from
me. And Go you know did not like it
felt distinctly vexed, for you see she
was bewitchingly lovely and the glimpse
L had Of her was merely tantalizing.
[ met her after that many times, al
ways with the same man whom [ was
rather provoked to recognize as q
stranger. / now found myself always
watching for that one little figure and
following it through all the labarynthine
mazes Of the surging crowd upon
the rink. ! forgot to speak to my ac-
quaintances as they passed, and. al
though there were half a score OF young
ladies' who had Il right to expect me to
join them and convoy them around the
rink, | skated on alone, Ia utter disre-
gard of every social and moral obligation
to that effect. Every now and then I
CHANGED upon Miss Alden, but felt too
preOccupied to join, or even to observe
her especially, when suddenly something
occurred that invested her with lively
interest. She had been stopping to
speak to some friends who sat without
the railing looking on, and as she and
her escort were about starting out
again she suddenly came face to face
with my little beauty. There was a
CLEAN of recognition on both faces, and
then Miss Alden exclaimed:
Why, Daisy, where have you
dropped from? Who would have
thought Of seeing You, of all people,
here ?"
There was rather warm greeting be-
tween the two before Daisy explained ::
&C ] have come for the winter and have
been wanting to look you up, but only
arrived yesterday. I am so glad to have
met you here"
After that heard no more, for the
two friends joined hands and skated off
together. I hung about them little
way off, pretending to be talking to
4AOA WIZ WCIO 1DOut,
and when thought my presence would
not prove an unpleasant interruption ]
skated toward Clara and greeted her
cordially, asking her where she had
been this long time. She saw through
me N a moment and showed me that
she did by disregarding my question
entirely and presenting nae at once tc
her friend, Miss Lyle. I had seen q
good many masculine eyes regarding
Miss Lyle with interest during the even.
ing, and 1 now perceived the owner Of
one pair OF these approaching Miss AL
den with what 1 OWNED to be the same
intention that had brought me hither g
moment before so while he was stop
ping TO shake hands with Clara Offered
my hands to Miss Lyle and we glided of
together. A few adroit questions on my
part elected the fact that Miss Lyle an6
Miss Alden had been schoolmates, who
had not met for some years, and fur
thermore discovered that Miss Lyle was
stopping In town with relatives who
happened to be old acquaintance O
mine. So, after we parted that night
Miss Lyle and I met often, and we were
together so much at the rink that people
had begun to remark il.
And this brings me to the period O
the quandary with which started out