The Portland daily press., 1892-05-14

O p1tbtOUlG lLlOl1AoAAtP LII q S144s IL ally
thing will.
'I'vs been thinking of title for our
story" she cried. ''What shall we call it?''
"You must name it" said, that is
part Of your share of the labor
Every well, then, let us call it Two
Friends"
"That's capital idea. Now for the
plot"
The plot was hard thing to settle.
The story must have some element to
lend color to it. Love of course was
barred out, and friendship must take its
place; but how, and what incidents to
make use of in order to portray it hap
PLY, was an extremely knotty and diff
cult question. One thing we fixed upon.
There must be a noble sacrifice on the
part OF one or both Of our characters.
But of what nature and circumstances it
should be we could not determine.
"Do you think" inquired tentative
ly, shat such friendship could rise su-
perior even to lover
81 don't know" hesitated Miss Merry.
"You see, can't speak from expert
ence, and noyelists always set love on a
pedestal above the other emotions"
"True! But this other story of ours
must not be formed on the theories of
other writers. We must originate it en-
tirely."
81 don't see how. Neither of us is
in love or has ever been to my knowl-
edge"
''Nor to mine" returned hastily, per-
haps because on this point shadow of
a doubt had crept over me.
But on due redectioa | determined
that had answered with perfect frank
ness. No, was not in love with Elsie
HARDWOOD by any means. l admired her
very much, it was true, and fancied that
she rather liked me. had seen a 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 I liked to
be with her. That was all. Why,
had not seen her dozen times since she
returned to the town.
Having thus disposed of the triaing
doubt which assailed my conscience, I
turned to Katharine, who had been busy
planning meanwhile.
"There is only one way to do it," she
cried.
''And that?"
"One Of us must fall in love-
Iconfess the idea staggered me at first,
and it was with difficulty that I recov-
cred breath enough to ask:
(Which of usY'
SWELL" said Katharine thoughtfully,
81 think you better. The consequences
are so much less apt to be dangerous for
a man"
'sHere, don't know about that. Sup
pose were really to fall in love and get
married.
"Just SO. What of it? You must get
married some time
"But MARRIAGES. thing fellow don't
want to jump into out of hand, in the
manner you suggest"
'You goose! You need not fall head
over ears in love; mild case of imagi-
nary love will answer the purpose"
Suppose it should cause our friend
ship to break up?'
"Oh, consistency, thou art a jewel.
Then how about our theory of platonic
Affection said Katharine, with
twinkle in her blue eyes.
tTrue enough!'' l replied. '.I1l try
it. I'll fall in love with Miss Harwood
Immediately"
sob, no, not with her, surely. She is
so insipid and foolish"
Now did not think Miss Harwood in
sipid or foolish at all, and Katharine's
criticism nettled me somewhat, SO that
l answered rather stifiy that supposed
fellow might choose for himself whom
he was to fall in love with.
Certainly" said Katharine, .syou are
free to fall in love with wooden Indian
il you wish.
Whereupon we walked in silence for
some time, while the plot of our story
made very little progress.
nsipid and foolish indeed! I tried to
recall any instance of these qualities to
Miss HARDWOOD, but could not. 7 only
remembered that she had very large
eyes and very pretty mouth, with the
whitest of teeth. She was rather petite
and a clinging sort of a girl. At least
that was my mannish definition of a
woman who drew forth the chivalric in
stincts of man. thought of the long
drives we had had together during the
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 big
eyes in confding and trustful manner.
ooh, no." thought, ''she is anything
but insipid" Whereupon Katharine,
who must have guessed my thoughts,
said:
"When you have finished thinking of
Elsie perhaps you will condescend to re-
turn to our story"
"Of course, my dear Katharine, you
really must pardon the absentminded-
ness of one who is so deeply in love"
We both laughed at this, and the
laugh made things a little better be-
tween us. We agreed that our plot
must form itself naturally, and the chief
incident must be the falling in love of
the hero with another girl. AS for the