Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-02-14

triumph, although it was 90 carefully
subdued as to resemble disgust
'.And I've had . patient, q pretty
one, too" he answered, endeavorine
to assert his equality; '.but let's get
to business. How did your advertise
ment pan out?'
"Oh, got seventeen answers, and
every blessed one of them seemed to
think that she filled the bill exactly.
Sixteen of them couldn't spell. and
their letters were horribly written
not the society scrawl, but labored
attempt that showed that tho writer
would do we'll If she could"
deserve credit for it." murmured
the other; "most Of the girls try to
see what an undecipherable scratch
they can put on paper"
''It can't be worse than Your pre-
scriptions would be if you ever have
occasion to write any," retorted the
lawyer; "but keep still now. or else
tell your story first"
"For heavens sake, 60 on!' i'm
plored DR.. Raymond.
Il divided these sixteen into squads
of four, and selected three p. m. on
four consecutive days as the time of
meeting; that corner across the street
as the place. Each was to carry a
white handkerchief as signal"
"YOu wrote to four to come at
once?" inquired Raymond, with inter-
est tempered by incredulity.
"Of course. You should have seen
each glare at the other three as she
noted the sign which was to distin-
guish her from all others. kept dis
creetly in the background up here,
and saw it all, myself invisible.
But about the seventeenth"
"Well, her letter was different; and
as she seemed to be jolly widow. I
thought I'd have little fun under
the rose You know that Alice is so
confoundedly jealous, the mischief's to
pay if l look at another woman; so
this was a temptation. She said she
was twenty-seven, that her income
was sufficient to maintain her, but she
desired the companionship and pro-
lection of q husband. She had been
the belle of her native town in Ken
lucky before her marriage and subse-
quent removal; she had had some
thoughts of studying for the operate
stage, but had shrunk from the ordeal
of public appearances; then she had
dabbled in art, but she was not salts
fed with the achievements which her
friends so warmly commended. l
thought there must be hitch some
where, that such a woman should an
swer an advertisement. But / wrote
to her and made an appointment,
which both of us kept She was
sumner. and no mistake just lots of
style, and as pretty as a picture;
while her manners were wonderfully
fascinating"
II wonder what Miss Dennison
would have thought of her?" thought
fully remarked DR.. Raymond.
"Oh. keep still. and let me get
through, will you? She was pretty
well gone on me from the first That
isn't vanity"
sounds like it might be-" COM
mented Raymond, critically.
"Wait till you hear it all. She was
awfully soft, and when we could not
meet she insisted that l should write to
her. OF course l couldn't see her
every day, but she seemed to be salts
fed with letter when told her it was
to come. But she wasn't
very easy to please with the letters.
She reprOached me for my coldness
l didn't want to pile it
on too thick. but l got deeper into it
than 1 had any notion of when 1 be-
gan. Finally, one day, I wrote her
one that was pretty warm, and the
next day she was here"
Had you told her who you were?"
inquired Raymond. with some surprise,
and a keener interest than the case
seemed to warrant.
what do you take me for, any
how? I'm not quite a fool, or at least
thought then that wasn't. l called
myself Mr.. Edwards, and told her
was book-keeper; don't know how
she found out the truth, but here she
came. anyhow"
1T is singular how ones concealed
IDENTITY can be discovered in a big city
ike this, isn't it?" remarked the ply
'ician, philosophically.
Every. But, then, suppose she
followed me stealthily from some of
our meetings, and made inquiry of
'one one that spoke to me. Well, she
came, she saw, and may as well con-
less that she conquered. She insisted
upon interviewing me in the inner Of
ice, although / assured her that we
would not be interrupted here. l
showed her in there; she stood mo-
ment with her hand upon the knob, as