The morning call., 1891-08-29
THE WRONG ONE.

eXCele0L, so edIueSlt 81 uuluIbuuhtoiS Sou-
stituted physieally-if he loves, must suffer.
Inevitable enchainment of cause and effect"
Truth to tell. Ludovick was not precisely
handsome. Six feet one in his stockings. a
sixth part of that length seemed to be mo
nopolized by his neck. Long, thin, osseous,
his loose, low collars exposed every inch of
it. His lank arms were enormously lengthy
His sSllow, narrow ingenious face was
lighted by two pale, protuberant optics,
eternally surprised. He wore his hair hang
ing about his ears and it seemed always
just to have emerged from bath.
On the other hand, Ludovick had som e
talent In those top-f1oor studios in which
he pegged away in those days no more SIN
cere, careful work was accomplished than
that which issued from under Ludovick's
painstaking brgsh.
A provident fellow, too. with a decent
eye TO the main chance. We called him a
Philstine, but when our pockets had reached
absolute depletion we were pretty sure to be
able to extract something from the little
round metal purse he carried upon his per-
son-"iike good old lady," as Flagg said
and then we pard0ned him, etfusiyely, all
his sins.
May you marry solitary spinSter roll
Ing in Riches" was Reed Flagg's solemn
The solitary splnSter rolling in riches had
come to be standing joke. And here, mi
TaculOusly, such person had actually taken
form and substancel Ludovick was in
love; Ludoyick had the entree to a comfort
able nest of a household none of US would
have disdained-truly Ludovick was lucky
PROVIDED, of course, things turned out
we'll Reed Flagg doubted IT.. And for
the reasons have enumerated in his own
words. -. - 49,:
H.. IL
Misses Y efVeYn.- They were cousins; they
lived together, and both were OF an age
which might: be called uncertain, though
both we'll preserved. One was younger
than the other, and Reed Flagg, who had
seen her once, assured me that she was TO
mantle.
The meeting had come about in this wise:
8. = We had all.thTee gone into the Berkshire.
Hills Tor little quiet Sketching. LudoYick
had left town first. Flagg had followed. l
had arrived last, but a few days before.
Upon Flagg's appearance upon the scene
be had found Ludovick grown absorbed,
newly careful of his hair and collars, and
prone to absences which, lasting through
the day, resulted in no tangible proofs of
pctOra! Industry, all OF which things gave
Flagg cause for suspicion. He opened his
eyes, looked about him, made inquiries
What Reed f1agg wishes to find out he
generally does find out. He struck the trail
In a very few days and then charged Ludo-
WICK with his secrecles. LudovIck bluShed,
stammeTed and finally admitted that Yes,
be did go to the house of two ladies from
Maine who had taken a cottage on the out
skirts of the village for the summer. They
were very delightful and he had made their
acquaintance by happening to be of a little
service 10 them"
How? or what service ?"
At that LudOVlck blushed the more. Well,
ne had only chased COW out of their path
one day as ne was passing with his painting
traps, but tile ladies seemed grateful. and
one of them, who was passionately inter-
ested in art and sketr he'd very nicely her
self, had shown desire to Inspect more
closely the canvas that had fallen in the
dust OF the road during Ludovick's tussle
VITA the COW. who seemed really to have
been an abnormally yiciOus Specimen of her
kind. The lady was very accessible, Ludo-
WICK said-reterring, presumably, to the
younger Miss Nerveyn. They had gotten
INTO conversation about painting. and it
had all ended in lis being invited to call at
their cottage
For two spinsters from Maine con-
slider that not half budW exclaimed Reed
Fiagg.
Luiovick's visits soon became continuous.
Now, | was quite determined to get a
glimpse OF these ladies'" said Reed Flagg to
NE. How did / know but that the other
one might suit ME? It's bea5tly selfish of
Ludovlck to want to keep his good fortune
all ~ AtiISfll. II ) uOS-lu-t tue-u -ulhl6ery. a
man can't marry two wives outside Of Utah.
Aud Spinsters with money, of a social turn
OF mind and with all interest in art are not
lying around loosely for needy painters to
to pick up. l began TO hover around
the cottage Of the ladies' EerYeyn, since
LudOvick showed n signs of a desire to
present one OF them. And the very first
evening was rewarded for my trouble. 1t
was one OF ths warm, full-moon nights we
have been having for the past week. AS
passed dlScreeuy along the path by the cot
tage grounds | saw a lady leaning. with her
back partly turned, against the piazza rail-
ing. She was looking at the moon with her
bead gently raised. | could not distinguish
her features very clearly, but her figure was
slight and graceful and youthful in outline.
Said l to myself, She's romantic. That
gazing at the moon; that passionate love OF
art-all point 10 it,. Ah, my poor
LudOvick! pity you. If she's romantic l
fear you Will make but little headway'
Well, what do you think of my
perspcacity? The day before yesterday
Herman passed through here. You re-
member Herman? He asked about Lu-
dOvick, and told him Of the court he was
paying TO certain Miss Veryeyn of Maine
AT that Herman laughed out. Did he know
her? L asked. swell, | should think So
knew her in Europe years ago. Rum old
GIRL Plenty OF money. an excellent crea-
ture, an enthusiast about art. Romantic,
my dear fellow, 10 the most laughable pitch
Has never married. because no Romeo eyer
threw sllken Ladder up to her balcony and
nmbly cllmed up thereon, swearing to win
her or death: II bandit, pirate, could be
Tesurrected for her benefit and would rush
in upon her in the dead of the night, boote d
to the thighs, q sOmbreTo over his eyes and
twenty pistols in his belt, she would fly with
him and pour the treasures laboIiously
amassed in dry goods by defunct Papa Yer
yeyn gleefuliy at his feet. Yes she's a great
pharaptarp Nou nf bar ,,l
she were an antique. At distance she
looks quite gay On, yes. / dare she's
well preserved. Those delfg htfully, jolly
emotional women always are, said he. To
resume all, he observed that IL Ludovick
had committed any doughty deeds, or, in
default of that, we're an artistic roue, with
the emotional artistic temperament of
Rubens, a Raphael, he might stand some
chance with this romantic spinster, but as
II was-he agreed with me that our friends
prospects ale poor"
ltreally seemed that these two malicious
spirits had diagnosed the case Alright. Our
friend Ludoyick. as | have said once before,
was wretched. l began to pity him. The
more that he rather attached himself to me,
excluding Reed Flagg whose Mephstophe-
Ian humor must hSVe bitten In his thin,
state like caustic On'a wound.
Asa proof Of his tacitly confidential atti-
tude he told me that Miss Verveyn had de-
clded to accept certain invitation to large
picnic gotten up by some of the hotel peO-
pie FOR the morrow, and that he was intend
ing to join the party as a consequence.
Would l 60 also?
l answered with alacrity In the affirma-
tive.
They bad chosen shady slope backed by
fragrant wood for the picnic site 1t was
an animated party, with abundance of
pretty girls under picturesque straw hats
and red parasOls. But for once, was in-
sensible to the attraction usually to be
found in such society. Ludovick's piteous
mien moved NE to compassion. / was
heartily sorry for the poor devil. l was
convinced his suit was not progressing and
put mysel in his place, measuring his an
gulsh by what knew would be my own if
| should be condemned to that Tanfalus-
Ike pain of having an agreeable spinster
and round fortune within my very grasp
and yet just eluding 1t.
AS LudUvck took me by the arm to con-
Duct me toward figure sitting under a
Japanese parasol little apart said to my
heart in a warm access of brotherly love.
III | can help our friend Ludovick Iii
do it,"
His nala nnn I'm adl lp a. e., oaa-,a3