St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-19

single man of you asks me a question FL
stop. There now" and with defiant little
laugh he sat himself in a large easy chair,
waits until all around him are settled down.
accepts one of the numerous cigarets o Tered
him from one, a match from another, lights
it, blows two long diverging columns OF
smoke from his nose, and begins. Rex Is
a capital stoly-teIler. but | can't catch his
style. If you only could have heard him
but you didn't. so I'll do the best can.
you know, boys when l left you in
June went down to the Branch for rest,
and, after spending week there. l of
course was worse than when left town.
One morning, when was feeling so miser-
able that | couldn't even smoke, | received
letter from old Smith the lawyer-you
know old Smith. of Jordan 81 Smith.
| (Cries of yes. yes; go on. etc. Well. he
lives at Caldwell, in Jersey. few miles
| from Orange. He wanted me to come up
and have good time, enjoy the country
air and ride his hOrSeS-and. by the way, |
nearly forgot to tell you that | was about
half engaged to his daughter-so You may
guess didn't lose any time getting my
traps packed and leaving Of course Alice
that's her name" (Cry from some one
on the outskirts: Whose name?" Frown
on Rex's face why, NJ SIS Smiths name,
OF course" Grown relaXeS.)
''Well, l was only there two or three days
when | met the lady you saw i the cart
this morning. Sudden interest in the
crOwd.) l was riding one day. when l
heard furious clatter behind me- and look
ing back l saw horse tearing madly down
the road at full speed and a handsome girl,
with firmly-set teeth. clinging to the reinS
with both hands and not a $ gn of fear on
| har I Ilx, in,
ping her brute. she dSmounted and thanked
me prettily. and in the course of our con-
versation she told me her name was
| (Breathess silence in the crowd. Rex
slowly and carefully brushes otf minute
particle of ash which had fallen on his
sleeve)-May BasSett. (Sigh of relief from
the crowd
well, boys, [, of course, saw her home;
she was stopping at hotel just outside the
village, and l found that she knew Alice
well. Things went on smoothly for some
time saw May very often and warm
friendship sprang up between US. and if |
hadn't been as good as engaged to Alice
| might have-bosh! what am l talk
ing about? l met young South
erner, Grant Ralston by name, up there one
day. He was stopping at Mays hotel
The two were frequently seen together
until he became acquainted with Alice,
and then he always deserted May. Well,
! things went on this way for over month.
and | noticed that both Alice and May
were changing toward me. May was not
| the girl she was when first met her. She
| seemed to avoid me, and once | caught her
crying in dark corner of the porch, after
every one else was in bed. Of course. l
| knew she must be in love with Ralston.
| no hur nv RI
| her. so | said that l would drop hint to
him, and she started up and forbade me,
with frightened little sOb-and. of course,
as a man always does when he mingles in
such affairs, was making complete ass
of myself. By Joye'-lOOking at his
watch-''11 o'clock! l Uust hurry; 1 have
an engagement down town. Where was
let me SEQ, yes-well. to cut it Short
| Alice came to ME crying one
night and asked me to release her.
that she thought she liked me
well enough, but that she loved RalstOn,
and-and-so we parted. l thought it
pretty hard that May should be crying her
eyes out for him, and that Alice too should
be willing to give me up for him, and by the
| Lord Harry it's well for him didn't meet
| him that night. Of course. there was no
use in my staying there any longer, SO l
| packed my things and came back to the
city, and here am ready for work again.
d-and-RalstOn malries Alice next
month" And glancing again at his watch
Rex prepares to leave. Jack Morris couldn't
stand it any longer. so he blurts out:
Yes, but Rex, Miss Bassett, May-you
know-what is she. anyway?"
Rex takes another cigaret from the
table, lights it, inhales a deep puff, crit-
cally examines the end to see that it is
evenly lit, blows long straight column of
smoke from the bottom Of his lungs and
says as he moves towards the door:
80, she's-she's-my wife"