Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-08-04

y
bright or cheerful In conversation, hav-
| ing been close enough odeath on several
occasions to make him rather serious.
Jarvis Murray had begun life as . naval
cadet. He had been shipwrecked once
and had two desperate fights with pirates.
He got that cut over the nose in one Of
them. Then ne resigned from the navy
to accept the command of q merchant yes
sell A collision, fire, and five days on raft
finished his career there, though he was
honorably acquitted from all blame. He
decided that dry land would suit him
thereafter. He secured position with
an electric company, and was now In q
fair way to become a millionaire. But
he was not an attractive man. He knew
1t, too, and as rule steer6d clear of the
fair sex. But Mrs. Chasby Soden sue
ceeded in setting him after Florence, and
he opened UP campaign that for vari-
ETY. and movement has seldom been
equaled in the history of love.
1t began with some mastery inactiv-
ity. The first thing that Jarvis Murray
did was nothing, and he did it well.
He was introduced to Florence, looked
at her critically, and then walked away.
That made Florence angry and filed her
with deep determination to make
him notice her-and to his sorrow, of
| course.
Jarvis watched her. He saw her de-
liberately draw young Forrest Burney into
a proposal and then treat him with a
measureless contempt that sent the young
fellow away heartbroken. II Jarvis had
not been let into the secret of Florence's
lack of faith in men he would have
called her heartless. As it was, he under
stood that her heart was exceedingly
active and was feeding on its own fires.
He decided that Mrs. Soden's plan of
campaign was a wise one.
The next day Jarvis Murray treated
Florence Craven with deliberate indiffer-
ence all day. He took the trouble to
keep within sound of her voice and sight
of her eyes, so as to let her see that he
was indifferent. She tried several times
to draw him into conversation, but he
answered in monosyllables and then
turned to speak to another girl. That
night one OF the full dress hops took
place. Right in the middle of it Jarvis
Murray shouldered his way through the
crowd of moths around Florence and
/
said:
| "The next is our waltz, believe"
| You can't put the assurance of his
manner on paper.
II think not" she said.
"You are mistaken, " he replied, lifting
her dance card. The dance was not
taken.
He calmly wrote his name and showed
it to her.
"You see, it is my dance"
At that moment the music began,
and before Florence could recover her
breath he had her floating over the
floor.
'Mr. Murray" she said angrily, ''your
impudence"-
'My whats" he asked, looking intently
into her eyes.
He knew how to look hard. He had
once looked a mutiny out of counte-
nance.
"Your impudence," she began again,
but he interrupted her.
"a man would dare anything for you, I"
he said. Her face flushed and her eyes
sparkled. Jarvis Murray waltzed like a
feather-weight angel. He did not say
another word to her till the end of the
dance. Then he said:
"Have you another dance left2"
She had. She had been saving it for a
purpose; mot this purpose, but she
thought now she would let the other
one go. Do you know what Jarvis did
He put his name down for that dance
and went upstairs to bed. She did not
see him until the next day. She was
weak enough to take him to task for not
appearing to claim his dance. He told
her he was sorry she had missed him, and
assured her it should never occur again.
That made her so angry she
would not speak to him again.
Then Jarvis Murray turned his
attention to making himself agreeable
to the ladies. He knew how to do it,
too. He had two dozen ideas in as many
seconds, and every one of his ideas was
!, fruitful in pleasure to the women. All
but Florence, of course. She wouldn't
speak to him, so she was left out of his
plans. She sat around the hotel all
afternoon with three or four tall, hand
some men, who made love to her to the
best of their ability, while the other girls
went out sailing with Murray and had a
glorious time. Somehow or other her
favorite sport palled on her that after
noon, and, of course, she blamed it all on
Murray. He met her face to face in the
corridor as she was going to her room to
dress for dinner. She was going to pass
him in dignified silence, but he stopped
and held out his hand.
won't you forgive me2' he said,
looking hard after her.
When he looked like that you would
have thought that his soul was leaking
out of his eyes.
"Since you are so humble" she said,
81 will; but think you were very rude. F"
$50 do l." he said, touching his lips
to the end of her fingers with a manner
almost reverential.
He passed on, leaving her fustered
and. elated. The man had acted as if he
thought her female deity. After that
he went on all the evening making things
pleasant for all the other girls and leav-
ing her out. 1t was enough to exasper-
ate saint. Florence was not a saint,
and when she retired to her room for the
night she was about as thoroughly vexed
a woman as ever lived. She actually
broke down and had good ld-fashioned
cry.
"I'll fix him." she said. 'I'll not
allow him to treat me in that style.
The first attempt he makes at impu-
dence tomorrow ends our acquaint-
ance."
But on the morrow he was not impu-
dent. That was because he had care
fully observed her face when she left the
drawing room the previous night. No,