The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-04-21
BUBBLES PROPOSAL.

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 .At this time two years ago our Square club was ilourish.ng now am the onlv member. Budeli. Marby. smi,hers and myself had formed ourselves into i l,ri- Nage bachelors club. for the purposes of whis; and other intellectual occupations. and I very good t!me We contriyed ,o have together. We hadn', many rules and bylaws for oUr cub We were sworn bachelors. aud each of Us had to alle1e reason ~hy @e did not intend to we'd bu, VIC had so tar teCosni1cd the possibility of ! change Tn our sentiments lS - solemniy hlni our>ctNc, Ia inform the zlub a; once. | Ne shoaid ever me,.i- Late halslHs our pleasures and doubling our expenses. smlthers sad he hadn't tune ;o many: was leo poor and Matby. mho sis regarded Is our roman ue member. gave us lndeana,ely te un- defs.and that :" olighted affections stood between him and the hymeneal altar. Budeli al iirs, laughed q, the idea Of l,- slgu,ng reason. and he wished to al- legc as hls. that he hadn't met Mrs. Badcll ye;. Ina, was unanimously re jected b, the rest ef the club wheveupon he insisted upon our accepting. as an al- formative. that he was afraid of ladies. Me were wiling to stretch a pom, Tn favor oi Budell, who was one of the lol- hes; possible fellows at Il bachelor sup per. and s" WIG received this second req san. Fas ihe rest, we nobly resolved no, t'1 i.ha;io-wiihSiand the temptation "ur maxim was that every lady was charming. ~o long as one
  weN Ill ready 10 go into society. and even sustain the reputation oi being dancing men. We used to relate to each other. over ouf sehba,c pipes. won derigl stories of narrow escapes from gutleiul women. every season but fl these were as ccpendcn, upon the ntr- rdtof fancy for their important details as my contributions to the conversation. the cst4pes were somewhat more than nal5bread,a. Baaeli w.ts especially a h. Norle m soc.etj lie aas one of those rare phenomenA. young banis,e,s with some practice, and he had. besides. comfortable allowance from his father. Like the res: of the club. 1 had. at iir,t. taken | as Il Inke that he Was afraid of ladies. but gradually came io see thu, there ~as some tta;h in t. Se long ,s Badeli Vas 'n 4 large company d ballroom, CT place Like tha; he ~as quite Il ease. and q, bold ss 4 lion bu; Il by any chance he happened ,o iall |, temporary captive ta 4 solitary damsei's bow and spear. he was almos, over. whe.med with nefVoa mess. and his usual powers oi conversation deserted him 1 once met hun |, the Royal academy. es- cortlns young u 1y. and looking as un- easy as | he had q worse conscience than kns Herod and have seen him trem- bic at the mere passing mention ot the conser, atory by his partner at dance. However. in the Square club he was the most enthusiastic member, and horror and indignation filled our souls when we realized the direful fact that Budell was m love. a:d doing his bcs, ;o be mar ried.
 Had Ne been women, VIC nigh, proba- bly, have seen the symptoms of the ad- vanclng maiady: but We were only obiuse and short-sighted men. Now. as look back those months, recall incidents that might have been warnings. The gradual decrease of Budell's hilarity at the club. and the gradual increase of his excur- sions, could hardly. indeed. have been portents. for Budcli always did go more into the society than the rest of us. The first allusion he made 10 me about the lady who was atterward to play Beatrice to his Benedict. was at concert-or rather Tn the cloak-room. after concert. " That's wha, cali a pretty girl he whispered 10 me: = that dark-eyed girl over there. in the warm, iieecy brown shawl. None of your fiimsy white opera cloaks-" The girl was pretty. in fresh, piquant sort of way. and even a sworn bachelor might have been excused for being pleased 4; receiving such . frank smile as she greeted Budeli with. Again, not many days after, he remarked 10 me. 1tyohos siss totkts: Met rather an in ,eresiing girl las, night; quite agr cs with me on the subject of namesn l may be excused for neglecting this hint, Budell. l think. would have found mol lusc interesting" if il had only agreed with him that there was nothing more objectionable than to have onc's name murdered. He was nenously anxious that his name should be pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, and afterwards found that he had been intro duced (for the second time) 10 this in- teresting girl" as Doodle "-- Just as