Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1886-01-22
A "SHADOWY" ROMANCE.
Why Arthur Wyllis Called His
Wife's Name Mabel"


house burned down, obliging him to
transfer his belongings elsewhere. He
found new quarters in street which
had once been fashionable, but had now
declined to "eminently respectable,
being mostly given over to lodging
houses. Altogether the retirement of
the place, with its large, handsome
buildings pleased Wyllis very well. He
was refined and imaginative young
fellow, not, indeed, averse to society,
but still capable, at times, of preferring
quiet evening and good book to the
nose and excitement of "the madding
crowd" as exemplified by his associ-
ates. His business kept him down
town all day, so that, except on Sum
days, he was not familiar with any but
the nocturnal aspect of the street.
Every feature of that he knew by heart,
from the first glimmer of the gas lamp
on the corner to the color of the cur
tains at the different windows. In one
OF these windows he became particu-
larly interested, partly because it was
directly opposite his own, and partly be-
cause, at the hour of his return, there
was almost always the shadow of Il
head outlined on the white curtain.
After his fashion, Wyllis began to
speculate about the owner of this head.
On the Sunday following his removal he
looked over curiously to see what he
could discern by daylight. Some one
was certainly in the window, but so dis
guised by the. lace draperies that he
aOtllI nn1u nnreniya a trupnra1 fa,,,tninn IN
outline. Later, when the church bells
We're ringing, he saw very pretty girl
leave the house, but, devoutly as he
his unknown UiS-a-ris. For all he could
tell this sweet divinity might live upon
the third or fourth floor, perhaps at the
back, wherc-horrible thought!-she
tiirted with some fellow similarly placed;
while the Lady of the Shadow was per-
haps some venerable dame. In the
midst of this uncertainty chance, in the
shape of fire alarm, came to his
assistance
When the bells began to sound Wyllis,
wondering if he Were going to be burned
out again, leaned out to see, if possible,
where the fire was. Then he glanced
across the way, and saw his neighbor
engaged in the same attempt. Before
the window was closed and curtained
again, Wyllis had ascertained that she
was the same pretty girl he had seen
leave the house.
His mind was now at rest, and his
speculations began to take a more def
mite form. Undoubtedly his beautiful
neighbor was musical, and the nightly
shadow was seated at the piano for the
regular drill. Upon this basis he built
fine castle-in-the-air. In fact, he con-
structed an entire romance, of which
this unknown pretty girl was the hero
inc, whom he worshiped under the
name of Mabel. Her whole history
was-in imagination-as familiar to
him as his own, and he would often
muse upon the circumstances which left
her lovely waif upon the tide of city
life. He kept all this jcalously from
the knowledge of his companions, who,
he felt would break the charm, even if
they did not go farther and try to estab-
lish an ordinary, commonplace flirta-
tion with the sacred Shadow.
Here energetic youth will ask: Why
did not Arthur Wyllis, living as he did
opposite his divinity, follow up his ad-
vantage and contrive an acquaintance,
as he easily might have doneP The
answer is: Precisely because he was
Arthur Wyllis. Retiring TO fault, he
was good deal of a dreamer by nature,
and he was quite capable of romancing
about girl for weeks until she sudden
ly disappeared from his horizon, leav-
ing him with his awakened sensibilities
thrown back upon himself. How long
in the present case he might have gone
on in this fantastic way il Is impossible
to tell, for one day, several weeks later,
something happened which startled him
out of his natural world. ThiF YVES the
robbery and attempted murder of a
lady occupying the second-floor apart
ment in boarding-house not many
squares distant. The man had as
cended by means of porch,
and entered through window
communicating with a balcony. II
was dusk of winter night, at an hour
when the inmates We're presumably at
their evening meal, and the burglar no
doubt expected to find the rooms empty.
As 1t happened, however, the lady who
occupied the first which he entered was
indisposed. and was lying half asleep on
a lounge. The gas was turned down very
low, and as she was in an alcovc out OF
the range of the window. the burglar
did not suspect her pesence until he was
fairly in the room. When he did, he
probably thought he would not have his
labor for his pains At any rate the
lady, in her subsequent account Of the
affair. said that something made her
open her eyes to see man standing by
her toilet-table. with his hands on her
gold watch; that she sprang forward
with a scream and caught at the watch
which had been the gift OF dead friend
that the burglar tried TO make his
escape, and, whom she still clung TO him
In a0r ondeayor 70 gel possession OF the