The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-04-12

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was certainly remarkable. He thought
he should go to see her again. Indeed,
it would be necessary, as he had moi re-
stored her ring to her! He did not fully
explain to himself why he had not done
so, but he was vaguely conscious that it
was because the suggestions were I'M
pleasant to him. He disliked to remem-
Der that Miss Bradshaw was a ''college
widow" He wondered what kind of q
fellow that Homer Fem was; a scamp,
at all events. Was she heart-broken!
She certainly did not seem so. The
lack of bangs and the fondness for ICON.
versations'' which Eliot Greenough had
adduced in evidence, might mean some
thing else. Abner Sykes was dimly
aware that he vastly preferred they
should mean something else.
He became spasmodically devoted D
Miss Alice Bradshaw. There were in.
tervals in which, in the calm light OF
reason, he regarded her Is a monstrosity.
Their names began to be coupled TO-
gether, in the feminine diversion of So
ciety. Abner Sykes never heard it, but
Miss Bradshaw did. Feminine society
discovered that, in spite of her thorough.
ly self-possessed, society air, she looked
conscious when Mr.. Sykes entered a
room. Nor did she ever care to say
much about him. And feminine society.
the world over, knows how to put two
and two together.
Mr.. Abuer Sykes suddenly awoke as
from a dream to find the summer vaca-
ton close at hand. He had planned the
year before to take a flying trip abroad
in this vacation, and he resolved to con.
guer the weak-minded desire he felt to
linger in the vicinity of the college and
carry ont that plan. Perhaps he might
as we'll go away without bidding good
by to Miss Bradshaw, except in a brief
note
During n of his periods of devotion
he had gone with her to a woman-suf,
frage meeting, and listened to most
monstrous sentiments, every n of
which his fair companion laughingly de-
clared that she fully Endorsed And she
had done it in such a charming manner
that he had discovered a certain amount
of reason in the arguments which he
would not before have believed was
there!
But that was only in moods when he
had given himself up to Miss Bradshaw's
dominion. When we had not seen her for
several days he withdrew his neck from
the yoke, and became his old self again.
And it was in n OF the latter conditions
of mind that he suddenly awoke to a full
realization of his danger, and resolved to
fly from his enslaver without the formal
ity of leave -taking. which would be so
very likely to degenerate into sentimen-
tality.
Ii she had been strong-minded only,
that might not have been uncomfortable,
but a girl who had had several hirtations
and then been engaged and Tilted! No
body could be less like the ideal wife
with whom Mr.. Abner Sykes had in
tended, at a suitable time, to endow
himself.
He danced with her on class-day-she
looking seraphic in a pale lavender gown
he summed himself in her smile all the
evening long at the Presidents recep-
ton, and then returned t. his rooms and
packed his trunk, maintaining with stern
fortitude his resolve to take his leave of
her in a brief note. When he returned,
in the autumn, he might be cured of his
folly; if he were not, perhaps he had
better not come back.
He had written the note, sitting upon
his trunk, while the carriage waited
below to convey him to the station, when
a new thought flashed into his mind-the
ring! He had made a hundred resolves
to restore that ring, and he had never
done it. To. carry it away with him
would really be larceny, and to send it
to Miss Bradshaw in the letter, it seemed
to him, would be scarcely correct, to say
nothing of the difficulties of explaining
why he had not returnedi it before. That
would be a somewhat awkward matter
to explain, at the best, and he did not
quite see how he was going to get through
it, but it seemed to him that it was his
duty as a gentleman to return the ring
and make the explanation in person.
He was not one to shrink from danger
when duty called! And with the greatest
a~lacrity he ran down and dismissed the
carriage, and Immediately made his
preparations for a parting call upon Miss
Alice Bradshaw.
After connecting many subterfuges he
had at last decided not to tell her when
or how he had come into possession Of
the ring. That plan had its difficulties,
but not so much danger as was involved
in telling the truth. Let what would
come he would not betray his weakness.
As he told her. somewhat abruptly,
that he had come to say good-by, he
watched her face. 1t was not imagina.
tion-there was the faintest possible
tremor of her dropping eyelids, a faint
shade of color faded from her cheek
Against that Mr.. Abner Sykes was moi
prepared to steel himself.
He had planned to give her the ring,
with a polite but very cold and somewhat
sarcastic little speech-for what right
had u young woman who had beer
through such experiences to be about ir
society. beguiling honest men?
What he did do was to seize both hel
hands in his and say, i~mpetuously:
II can't leave you unless you tell mt
that l may come back-unless you viii
promise to be my wife!"
She smiled up brightly at him through
a mist of tears that yelled her eyes.
"But--but l shock you So! You dom
approve of me at ALL" she said.
Il approve of you altogether" affirm
ed MI. Abner Sykes. II am ready u
espouse the aus of woman suffrage
for YOU sake"
And the young lady could not but &C
knowledge herself convinced.
He did not tell her how much harde
it was to forgive her for having been an
other man promised wife than for he
Objectionable opinions, but in the mids
of his felicity he did suffer a pang at tina
thought, and he wondered that she ha'
I never alluded to it, nor seemed to thin
of it. He hesitated about giving her tn
ring, its suggestion Jared so painful
} upon the happiness of the hour; but
would bring about an explanation, an,
7 that would be better than TO have
spectre continually rising between them
} But he almost wished it in the depth
} of the sea as he took it from his poke
. and put it, without a word, into he
hand.
..Where in the world did you get it
Amy Burrilrs ring!'' she exclaimed
: ..She lost it last winter, just before sh
went abroad; she thought it was whe
: she WAS WALKING with me on the avenue