The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-09-28

her something in that Ene-and yet,
good heavens! 1 am not doing it on
that account l love her desperately
down to the ground.
Dick she said to me yesterday,
looking straight at me with her won
derful blue eyes-''Dick, why do you
ask me-now?'>
Better late than never" answered.
She began: Five, six years ago
you and stopped
! II know. l was a fool, Lucille. ]
never once thought of it. though. You
see. the idea was foreign to me. !
never intended to marry"
| ''And now?''
with your kind assistance, I do in
tend to-
"Why?'
Her question almost bowled me over
l gazed at the carpet, wondering how I
| could best put it to her. Presently
looked up. and as our eyes met l
blurted out: Because I love you, Of
course
did not mean to say that just then;
the truth is, that the idea of 'repara-
ton" had got sole possession of my
brain, and how to express it grav-
eled me.
Lucille laughed lightly. ''That, Dick,
| is second thought, and not a bad
one for man who is offering himself
as a husband. Still, want your first :"
81 was thinking that, love apart, you
have moral claim upon me.''
A great wave of color rose and fell,
leaving her beautiful face pale as
marble. "A claim-really? A moral
claim? Why moral? Why not ma
terial? When l turn huckster, Dick, I
will traffic only for gold"
/ saw what she meant. Loves gifts,
being no impoverishment of love, en-
tail no Indebtedness upon the recipient.
Love is paid for its gift in the giving.
This, thought, was counsel OF per-
fection and better suited to angels and
and angelic loves than to men and
women in an earthly, highly conven-
tional and British society
''And that is why you wish to marry
me?" she added.
felt that 1 was on thin ice. "No.
darling, it is not love you. There's
no harm in that, hope?"
mo, not bit. 1t is very good rea-
son. Genuine. Dicl1?'
"Quite, on my honor
1.-THE honor of an English general
more of an English gentlemm-more
still, of well-tried friend-that is good
enough for me. Here's my hand on it,
Dick"
That was only yesterday; it seems
twenty years ago. Poor Robethon-he
knew little. l do not think l was to
blame. 1 acted Loyalty enough by him.
1t was like this, you see. Robethon
and 1 were pretty close friends. I
spent much OF my time at my clubs,
and at one or other of them was al
ways coming across Robethon. The
taste for chess was mutual, and was
the ground of orr first acquaintance.
We were about the same age, heading
fast for fifty; he was short and stout,
l was long and lean. l had been all
over the world, while he had never been
outside of England; sometimes / fan
cied he had never been outside of Lon
don. If he had he was careful to con-
ceal the fact. Wewere both bachelors:
his chambers We're close to ST. James
street, mine to Piccadilly; we never vis-
tied each other, though. He was part
ner in a well-know firm of bankers,
but had not entered their place of busi-
ness for twenty years. He had read
world beyond me and was gentle,
sympathetic, clean-souled gentleman.
l wish l could say as much truthfully
of myself; no false modesty should keep
me from writing it down. Still Robethon
cared for me and l am deuced sure l
cared for him. His reticence was charac-
teristic of the man; it was like suit of
steel armor covering him from head to
foot. Sometimes think it was, funda-
mentally, shyness-not of the ordinary
kind, of which there was not trace
about him, but deep, spiritual shyness.
On the other hand, it might have been
due to an austere selectness of spirit,
a sensitive, delicate pride of soul The
clubmen held him in great esteem, in a
manner were proud of him, considered
him an authority on disputed points of
honor and the like and accepted his
Judgment with docility and reverence.
One day met lady on Pail Mall,
tail, fair. straight as a dart, and with
a face that fell on me like vision.
turned and watched her. and while so
doing she suddenly halted, turned
round and came toward me. l stood
still. In passing she gave me momen-
tary glance. Ha, she was very lovely!
4 month or six weeks later there
was reception at certain foreign
embassy and happened to be present
1t was not my kind of thing at all. but
l chanced to be an old acquaintance of
the ambassador in question There
was big crowd and dancing was in
full swing. Passing by the ballroom.
stood for n moment to watch the
dancers The first thing saw was the
lady of Pail Mall. gloriously arrayed,
Waiting with a German.
WHO is she?' I asked of a man l
knew.
(which one? Oh. that divine sym
phouy OF color there, Ell? That is Mrs.
Trenehard."
.'And who is Mrs Trenchard?"
He shook his head She is a widow;
that's all know. She is in the swim;
wonder you haven't met her before
have. half dozen times; but live up
to my principles. OF which the first is:
Thou shalt not do-anything in this
widow-line."
/ left him grinning. / could have
kicked him without any remcrse- From
another man ] CLEANED that Trenchard