Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-12-11

as man may to a woman travelling
alone. The hours flew by, and Mr..
livingstone felt more and more that his
lines had been cast in pleasant places.
Thus time went on.
1.-TWO days more and then New
York." said Mr.. livingstone. sit has
been two days already-four in all.
Two days doesn't seem long as meas
ure of time, does it?"
mo" answered Miss Redding, ''be-
cause two days are not long"
"But don't look at it In quite that
way" urged her companion. "Take
two DAYS of fourteen hours each and
you get twenty-eight hours. Now sup
pose l had been calling on you, say
twice week, an hour and q half a
visit. How many weeks would 1t take
to use up those twenty-eight hours?
Three hours week-three into TWEEN
ty-eight-over nine weeks, you see.
About three months. 1 have known
you three months If you will only con-
sent to count 1t that way"
81 never considered it in that light"
said Miss Reading, cautiously.
"But then, when 1t amounts up to
four days-six months" Mr.. livingstone
went on, ''then-"
1t was hota very usual style Of con-
versation for two days acquaintance
ship, but then, as Miss Redding reflect
ed, nothing about it had been usual,
which was perhaps what made it so en-
ioyable. Only she wished Mr.. King
stone would stop talking about her fam
lily and that Christmas festival. The
Joke was losing its zest with repetition.
1t was now the morning OF Christmas
Eve. Tomorrow would be Christmas
Day. Then would come Christmas
night, when New York would be reach
ed and she would be acting her new
part in The Christmas-Tree.
The part OF Patsy Carick must then
be thrown aside. 1t had been pleasant
acting, and to limited audience not
difficult to please. Miss Redding
thought Of making her last speech In IL
with regret. She wondered II her au-
dience would ever flAd her out, and how
she would manage sto make her escape
If she saw him at the terminus. That
she was going to escape she was de-
termined-the more so that she could
no longer disguise from herself the
growing warmtd in the manner and
words OF this impeSuous Westerner.
"It is Impossible" said Miss Redding
to herself, when this idea first occurred
to her-"im possible! The man has only
known me two days"
But by nightfall on Christmas Eve
there could have been no doubts linger-
ing In the mind of even less sophisti-
Gated maiden. Those half sentences
and eloquent pauses could have but one
meaning, preposterous as 1t appeared.
Miss Redding knew she had only to
open her lips and confess her fraud to
put an end to 1t all. Yet she felt
strangely reluctant to do so. 1t was
very pleasant while it lasted. She pre-
ferred enjoying it to the full and then
disappearing mysteriously at the jour-
ney's end-to be wondered over, looked
for, perhaps even mourned for a while,
and then to be, OF course, forgotten.
What are you signing about?" asked
Mr.. livingstone. ut is wicked to sigh
on Christmas Eve. What are we going
to do for Christmas Day? We are in
for part of it, any way"
'Do?" said Miss Redding, rousing
with laugh at her own expense.
"Why, what can we do? We can't send
one another Christmas boxes on rail-
way. You must wait until you reach
home for your feasting and gifts.
have nothing to offer you, unless Istoler
might answer"
"There's one thing no one IS ever
without" said Mr.. livingstone, g and 1t
is given uc-rudgingly, too. Suppose
you offer me somc advice"
SCI have never yet refused that, re-
piled Miss Redding, bat Mp. livingstone
did not Immediately continue,
"What would you do" he said at last,
'if one OF your friends wrote asking
your congratulations in a us'stAg u
which you thought he had 'Dehaved
abominabIy?"
1T would depend on what he had
done"
Mr.. livingstone hesitated again. swell,
the way of it is this. He has engaged
himself to girl whom he met In mid
ocean. She was crossing in the care OF
a friend-a friend who neglected her
shamelessly. He fell in love with her
and addressed her then and there,
where she hadn't q chance to find out
anything about him."
"Or he about her." suggested Miss
Redding.
"Oh, girls are always all right" re-
piled Mr.. livingstone, inditferently.
''But he might have been a mere adj
venturer."
Eyes; he might or she might" ..
"Of course, he might have been all
right" added Mr.. livingstone, hastily,
land as it happened be was. But it
wasn't fair to the girl. He should have
waited until he got to the other side
and put himself in communication with
her relatives there. He could have
found out who they were from her
easily enough"
"Unless she hadn't any"
"Well, her guardian, then"
"Perhaps she had no guardian either"
But she must have had some one,
you know. Girls don't go bobbing about
the world with no anchorage, like q
floating cork"
NO." said Miss Redding, slowly; 81
suppose not"
II was soon after this that she be-
came silent and then preoccupied, and
then, saying that she was tired, she
went to her berth.
"a floating cork" said Miss Redding
TO her plllow-"a floating cork !"
She lay staring up at the cofin-like