Los Angeles herald., 1892-06-12


The paOs was hssrd thing to settle.
The story must hare some element to
lend colOr to it. Love Of course was
barred ont, and frieudship znnsf take it's
place; hut how. and what incidents to
make use Of in order 10 portray il hap
ply, was an extremely knotty and diff
cult question. Ono thing we hxed d'upon.
There must be noble sacrifice ON the
mart of one or both Of our characters.
But of what nature and circumstances it
should be we could not determine.
ssDo you think" inquired tentative
", ssthat such q friendship could rise SUI
perior even to love?' NM 4
~ don't know" hesitated Miss Merry.
"You see, can't speak from expert
ence, and novelists always set love on a
pedestal above the other. emotions"
sTruel But this other story of ours
must not be formed on the theories Of
other writers. We must originate it en-
tirely." hd
II don't see how. Neither of us is
in love or has ever been to my knowl-
edge" q hele
"Nor to mine, returned hastily, per-
haps because on this point q shadow Of
doubt had crept over me.
But ON due reflection / determined
that had answered with perfect frank
ness. No, i was not in love with Elsie
Harwood by any means. admired her
very much, itwas true, and / fancied that
she rather liked me. | had seen good
deal of her in the mountains during the
past summer, and once or twice the idea
had entered my head that she was much
nicer that most girls and that l liked to
be with her. That was all Why,
had not seen her a dozen times since she
returned to the town.
Having thus disposed of the trifing
doubt which assailed my conscience, l
turned to Katharine, who had been busy
planning meanwhile.
"There is only one way to do it," she
cried. aa 1z
"And that?"
zone of us must fall in love-"
Iconfess the idea staggered me at first,
and it was with difficulty that ! recov-
cred breath enough to ask:
(which OF usr' KS
"Well," said Katharine thoughtfully,
ssI think you better. The consequences
are so much less apt to be dangerous for
a man." ss,,.s.. 81
"Here, / don't know about that. Sup
pose were really to fall in love and get
marriedY
ssJust SO. What of it? You must get
married some time" s5s$
ssBut marriage is thing fellow don't
want to jump into out of hand, in the
manner you suggest"
"You goosel You need not fall head
over ears in love; q mild case of imagi-
nary love will answer the purpose"
Suppose it should cause our friend
ship to break upT" 4 "a '.,.sss..
ssOh, consistency, thou art a jewel.
Then how about our theory Of platonic
affection?" said Katharine, with q
twinkle in her blue eyes. ae4X
"True enoughi' ! replied. "rIl try
It. I'll fall in love with Miss Harwood
immediately"
"Oh, no. not with her, surely. She il
| 60 insipid and foolish"
Now l did not think Miss Harwood in.
sipid or foolish at all, and Katharine's
criticism nettled me somewhat, 30 that
l answered rather stifiy that ! supposed
fellow might choose for himself whom
he was to fall in love with. s
Certainly" said Katharine, "you are
| free to fall in love with wooden Indian
| if you wish" a
Whereupon we walked in silence for
some time, while the plot of our story
made very little progress.
Insipid and foolish indeed! I tried to
recall any instance of these qualities to
Miss Harwood, but could not. ! only
remembered that she had very large
eyes and very pretty mouth, with the
whitest of teeth. She was rather petite
and clinging sort of girl. At least
| that was my mannish definition of 9
woman who drew forth the chivalric in
/ stincts of man. thought Of the long
drives we had had together during thl
summer and how much had enjoyed
talking to her. Although she seldom
said much she seemed to grasp my ideas
| looking up to me the while with her biz
eyes in confding and trustful manner
"Oh, no." thought, ''she is anything
but insipid." Whereupon Katharine
who must have guessed my thoughts
said: M =
"When you have finished thinking o
Elsie perhaps you will condescend to re
turn to our story"
| "Of course, my dear Katharine, yo'
really must pardon the absentminded
ness of one who is SO deeply in love-"
| We both laughed at this, and tn
laugh made things little better be
tween u.s. We agreed that our plo
must form itself naturally, and the chic
incident must be the falling in love o
the hero with another girl. AS for th
sacrifice we had determined must pla
an important part in the story, we coul
not very well determine what it shoul
be. N" s
| Miss Merry suggested that the her
should give up his sweetheart SO as t
prolong his friendship with his platoni
| friend. / reminded her that she ha
Just expressed the idea that love or mai
riage would not interfere with such
friendship.
| "But then his wife would probably b
| Jealous" said Katharine. 'sThe chance
are ten to one that she would be an Is
norant, empty headed little fool"
] This reply of Katharine's angered mi
/ scarcely knew why. felt in her d
.-- A. q 3 -