Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1890-12-14

wondered, receive reptile as ruthful as
that which this lucky 8lowgas priv
legged to receive?) he lalnte, with evi.
dent sincerity, that + osn record
could not be reDreserd equally
blank.
There's no use" hSigbd, lin de-
nying that for a good my ears | was
very much in love withY cusin Sybil.
Only suppose it woulae tue to say
that | wasn't really iuovewith her,
but with some imagina beng whom |
pictured to myself in Mplae. can't
be thankful enough ttf myeyeS were
opened before | met ydDor,thy."
"She is great deal lder and better
than you chose TO pw," declared
Dorothy, who could prd TO be gen.
erouS.
"Well-perhaps. Dyes; | dare say
she is. But | stupidltook her for a
sample of women in neral, and not
so very long ago / hsquite made up
my mind that | wou have nothing
mere TO do with womtfOr the rest of
my life. That was Il it was that |
allowed myself to be Pgged into that
idiotic conspiracy of hise's. BY the
way, must tell you ait the conspir-
acy. 1t was one evelg last spring,
just before | met you. the first time.
Three of us were ding with Guise at
his club, and he was hing forth upon
the folly of marrying love. He said
a man in love was worst possible
judge of the womane loved, and /
think we all agreed W him more or
less"
do You still agree tn him?" Doro-
thy inquired.
mo; because | am der and wiser
now than | was theithe experience
that | had at the timeeemed TO lend
support to his view. ell, there was Il
good deal of talk, to wei didn't lis
ten very particularly uil | heard Guisc
proposing to start a elet society of
bachelors for purpoSesof mutual pro-
lection. Every man no oined it was
to give his honor as agetleman that
he wouldn't offer marageto any lady
in the course of the suig year with
out having previous onSulted his
colleagues. And he pS tiagree TO be
bound by their deciSh; tat is to say,
if they disapproved 0 he or thought
he wouldn't be happywih her he was
TO abstain from speaking { writing to
her for six months.
OF course | treated ne hole scheme
as joke, but | had npancular objec-
ton to taking the reqire, pledge, be-
cause was perfect crtain that
shouldn't want TO proossto anybody
before the year was OF. dare say the
other two men may haze Id the same
conviction about thmSVeS; for, IA
far as remember, weloIof us raised
any difficulties. 1t usrshowS how
little one can forese, IL future and
how careful one ought,o sabout com
hitting ones self"
ut does indeed" agneDorothy. Il
suppose that is why IortiuiSe felt il
so necessary TO protect gu. And &c
think that, in spite of al hprecautionS,
he should have failed"
Percy drew long brea. Yes" he
said, Il have had better .k than | de-
served. and better luck TN expected
last July. can tel you. G course is
soon as ! made up inyiind that
couldn't let you leave LION without
telling you how loved d | had to
summon a meeting Of th3abominable
society, and then moSeitraOrdinary
thing happened, for wheige met it ap-
peared, if you'll believe le, that two
out of the other three meberS were in
my own predicament. WI, one might
have thought that asall ,e wanted oil
each other was TO be IL zone il would
| have been easy TO cone B an under
standing, but unluckil itlid not prove
so. The two others ippned to have
fallen in love with t. ame lady, sc
that naturally they "a mt, and | my
self was obliged to Ue against one Of
them. and the result va hat they were
both condemned TO 'Xl. After tina
they retaliated upom, and Guise tri
umphed all along thein. Wasn't it ;
disastrous coincidence
Very" answered obthy, who die
not seem to be as mch surprised b!
this narrowing tale asihe narrator haC
anticipated. But WI did you invite
opposition by voting ajnSt Mr.. Schnei
dcr-or was it againSt(r. Moreton?'
And pray what mas you think tina
Schneider and Moretl were the TIVE
men in question:"
"Oh, Lady Belvoir I'd me that lon:
ago. You forget that by both had Il
take leave of her, and tmake some sor
of lame excuse for cult & her aequaint
ance until after an interval of si'
months.
$50 you have know the truth al
along"
Not exactly: but Idly Belvoir wa
clever enough to CUES what the trutl
must be, and kind enugh to let m
hear her coniectures She though
they might interest me you see.'
well, really, that 'as both cleve
and kind of Sybil." acclaimed Perc.
gratefully. "Kind one, mean"
And when he impaired the news o
his engagement that evening to hi
cousin he did not forgt to thank he
for the important par which she hat
taken in bringing abMt that happ
event.
"You certainly do owe me som
thanks" Lady Belvoir SAID; but eve
if hadn't been glad todoyou servic
| should have felt it m bo1nden duty t
Illustrate the designs of that wrctc
Guise. 1t is all very fine for him to tai
about the protection of bachelors /
general, but if that was his object, VIII
didn't he try to make IA few more re
cruts? The fact is that his plot wa
aimed simply and solelyagainst me, an
before | have done with him. | wi
make him very sorry that he ever al
tackled me-"
dorothy gave me a hint that yo
meant to punish him TO- his sins, r.
marked Percy, smiling. shut what ca
you do with such a har6ened reprobate
DO you-do you really think of marry
ing him, Sybil?"
''There is an innocent sincerity abou
your epigrams which make me trul
thankful that / am net in Dorothy
Shoes " said Lady Belyoir TRANQUILITY