Wichita eagle., 1888-09-16

cavca up with you.
We'll. III tell YOU" said Fred, as
surning his confidential manner "But
mind, it's secret. l spent last summer
at the Isle of Wight. on the Long Island
coast. There | met the loveliest girl
| Fred here threw his eyes and kiss to the
ceiling. .She was stopping with some
people-the Rutledges-who had cot
tage there. We'll. Laura-her name is
Laura-Laura Window is an orphan.
don't know that that has anything to do
with the story, but then she is. Well, l
met her, and then met her once or twice
moro. and then it seems to me some way
as if didn't meet anybody but her We
used to play lawn tennis and battle and
drive together, and the result was that
got well-you know
"Never mind that; skip IT," said 1.
"You proposed and were rejected, sup
poser"
mo; accepted" said Fred, growing red
under the influence of some tender remin-
iscence.
'And yet people scof at miracles" I
rurnured viciously.
But when | came to talk to Hrs. Rut-
ledge" continued Fred, noticing my gibe,
i pOG Id IOD, dllO 10 ILLS tIlhC- Ao1iO tiSAOA
me whether it was acting like gentle
man TO engage q young girls affections
Just because knew she had large fort
une. BY Jove, it just knocked me out.
You know have about three Thousand q
year, | saw this girl living with the
Rutledges; | knew she was an orphan,
and | thought, if l thought about it at
all, that in marrying her I was doing
~ ON
blessed if the old woman did not row me
for fortune hunter. She said: Three
thousand year is nothing. l could not
live on it myself CHATS fact.) Then
she went on to denounce fortune hunters
in general and my impudence in particu-
lar. She told me, among other things in
the course Of her harangue, that | couldn't
earn my salt She's wrong there, though,
old fellow" laughed Fred. 81 think l
could do that. don't use great deal
"Of course l was very much cut up
about the whole thing" he went on.
Laura stuck to me like brick, though
Fred has a mack of mixing his meta
phors), and said she didn't care what Mrs.
Rutledge said. She's deucedly fond Of
me, you INDEPENDENTLY caressing
his mustache. ''But | was not going to
have that old cat saying that I had mar
ried Miss Window for her money and
couldn't support her. Would your"
Not if Icould help myself" admitted.
But | don't see quite how she could be
muzzled." Fred looked at me for mo-
ment obviously and went on:
Gone day it occurred to Laura-I saw
her sometimes" -
"Ohl You saw her sometimes?" I put in.
Eyes, of course There was a lane
back of the Cedarhurst track that she
liked to drive through. l used to meet
here there. AS Twas saying when you in
terrupted me" with severe glance in
my direction, 'it occurred to Laura that I
might try and make some money just TO
show that | was good for something. She,
OF course, never doubted my ability, but
she wanted me to convince other people of
1t. Funny had not thought of it my
self, was it not?' queried Fred pensively.
There seemed to me to be no reply to
this. So merely bowed my head in as
sent.
Yes, exactly" continued Raeburne
with q reproachful look on his face, as If
he had rather hoped to be contradicted.
$50 then we talked over all the different
sorts of business, Laura and I, and Laura
concluded-she is very clever, you must
know-that as it took eight or ten years
to get footing in any other business,
and as we could not afford to wait that
long, | must start out and be an author
in earnest. That, she said, was the only
trade where fame and fortune were OBJ
tanned at once. You know have dabbled
in verse more or less. | have written some
really lovely stanzas about Laura. but of
course she would not allow them to be
published. So all this fall | have been
trying all / knew to get something Of
mine accepted. And that's the reason I've
got to have something accepted" con-
cluded Fred emphatically, adding anx-
iously, "Do you think have chance?"
Now, what should one say to fellow
like that?
Fred, said l, after considering mo-
ment, you have my best wishes, old fell
low. But why don't you and the gill
marry now and then go on to fame and for
tune hand in hand! 1t sometimes takes a
year or two for writer in Gotham to
make his mark"
Sarcasm is simply thrown away on
Fred.
That is just what Laura says" he re-
joined cheerfully, $50 we have decided
that whenever nay first story is accepted
we will get married at once"
THAT is a very sensible determine
tionP' cried l. Success to The Carnival
Of Crimep"
l seized the package out of Fred's
hand and waved it enthusiastically around
my head, Offering up silent prayer the
while that some editor might, in mo-
ment of temporary mental eclipse. be in
duced to accept it.
Just at this moment I saw Raeburne
suddenly rise from his chair and stare
open mouthed at the screen behind me
with eyes that stuck out like hat pegs. 1
turned in my chair and saw o sight that
brought mo to my feet instanter. Over