Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-05-25
Iy, ''JnaT such friendship could rise su-
raa,.iOr aroy, fr, lova,o,

1Ou see, Call speak ITOn expert
ence, and novelists 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
doubt had crept over me.
But on due. reflection | determined
that l had answered with perfect frank
ness. No, was not in love with Elsie
Harwood by any means. l 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 trifling
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.
Sand that?"
"One of us must fall in love-"
Iconfess the idea staggered me at first,
and it was with difficulty that recov-
erea bref Gh enough to ask:
Which Of usY'
"Nell" said Katharine thoughtfully,
81 think you better. The consequences
are so much less apt to be dangerous for
man."
"Here, l don't know about that. Sup
pose l were really to fall in love and get
married."
"Just so. What of it? You must get
married some time"
'sBut marriage is 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"
ssSuppose it should cause our friend
ship to break up?'
"Oh, consistency, thou art jewel.
Then how about our theory of platonic
affection? said Katharine, with a
twinkle in her blue eyes.
'True enoughv' replied. 'Tll try
it. I'll fall in love with Miss Harwood
Immediately"
"Oh, no, not with her, surely. She is
so insipid and foolish"
Now l did not think Miss Harwood in
sipid or foolish at all, and Katharine's
criticism nettled me somewhat, so that
1 answered rather stiffly that supposed
fellow might choose for himself whom
he was to fall in love with.
Certainly" said Katharine, ''you are
free to fall in love with wooden Indian
if you WISH"
Whereupon we walked in silence for
some time, while the plot of our story
made very little progress.
Insipid and foolish indeed! tried to
recall any instance of these qualities to
Miss Harwood, but could not. | only
remembered that she had very large
eyes and a very pretty llouth, with the
whitest of teeth. She was rather petite
and clinging sort of girl. At least
that was my mannish definition of a
woman who drew forth the chivalric in
stincts of a man. thought of the long
drives we had had together during the
summer and how much l had enjoyed
talking to her. Although she seldom
said much she seemed to graspmy ideas,
looking up to me the while with her big
eyes in confding and trustful manner.
"Oh, 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 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
sacrifice we had determined must play
an important part in the story, we could
not very well determine what it should
be.
bI' IS Merry suggested that the hero
should give up his sweetheart so as to
prolor his friendship with his platonic
frienu. l reminded her that she had
just expressed the idea that love or mar
riage would not interfere with such a
friendship.
''But then his wife would probably be
Jealous" said Katharine. ''The chances
are ten to one that she would be an ig-
norant, empty headed little fool"
This reply of Katharine's angered me,
I scarcely knew why. l felt in her de-
scription of our hero's imaginary miss
tress she had certain person in mind,
and that person Miss Harwood. 1t was
the first time I had ever known Katha-
rine to be spiteful or anything else re-
sembling it, and it annoyed me particr-
larly, as I knew that Miss Harwood was
not at all g fool, although she was not
what one would call an intellectual girl.
We walked in silence for some time,
and finally gave utterance to the opin-
ion that I did not think a man would
give up his mistress under the circum-
stances.
eff there is such thing as friend
ship such as we have in mind, it must
survive all barriers. 1t must be far
above any such petty considerations as
jealousy"
81 am sure no one said anything about
jealousy" Katharine said rather pettish-
ly. "rm afraid that you fatter your
SELF" go
"Oh, no! I don't mean anything like
that" I answered hastily. "But here
we are at your door and we have made
very little progress. When shall We
have our next seance?'
"Can you come tomorrow EVENING"
"Yes, and we will begin the story
then"
But the next evening came and the
story was not begun. Icalled and found
Williams, a man never cared for, talk
ing to Katharine. Williams was deter
mined to stay as long as I, and as our
story was, of course, not mentioned, l
Id 10 1oo1,a xrr;xho,,% onofboy.