St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-08
CAMERON'S LOVE STORY.

papers of mine the other evening |
came across the following note. scrubbed
hastily on half-sheet of paper. II was
dated nearly fifteen years back; the ink
was faded and turned brown. Why l
had kept the thing at all cannot
imagine:
Dear Courtney" (the note ran)-"I
guess I've won, cd boy. Awtully sorry
Tor you and the others, of course; but
I'm In such good spirits l can't think of
that. Blanche spoke to me tonight in
such way that there can be no mistake
about 1t. She's thousand times 100
good for poor wretch like me. but |
can try and be worthy of her. l will
try, by Jove! Pm going to read UP and
improve my mind. Couldn't help send
Ing you line. Pm a lucky dog. Eli?
Yours, stHAROID CAMERON.
1t is strange how an old letter, even
such scrap as the above, will revive
the past. AS l looked at the boyish
handwriting the face of Harold Cam
eroD rose up before my minds eye. 1
fancled l could hear his language and
fresh, young voice. He was only twenty
at the time this letter was written. We
were all-ahem!-much younger than
we are now. Ughl Confound the let
ter! Why had l turned it up in this
way? Burn all your letters my
friends. burn all your letters. Don't
run the risk of recalling memories
which, ten to one, are sad ones.
All the young fellows in our particu-
lar set were more or less III love with
Blanche WhitwOrth Some were par
ticularly in love. [ think l may, with
out fear Of contradiction, assert that
Cameron, George Coverley and l myself
belonged to this latter class. Which of
that old circle, l wonder, would care
now to dispute the point? Has not Aft
Turner. that roaring young blade, So
bered down aud gone into the church,
kept in subsection by wife who rules
the parish? Has not Grantley emigrated
and made fortune in sheep in Aus
tralia? CarStOne, poor fellow, the joviaI,
the kindly, lies buried on an African
battlefield. The rest of them-are they
not respectable married men with TAM
ilies-men i'll the city, lawyers, stock
brokers, what not?
L remember quite we'll the night when
we first saw Blanche Whitworth. 1t
was at dance at the Simpsons when
that bright lunlnary appeared on our
horizon. At this moment, looking
calmly back upon events, | cannot for
the life of me say what it was in the
girl that made the attraction. She was
pretty, admit, but not at all surpaSS-
ingly beautiful; her conversation was
far from brilliant; indeed. [ never heard
her say anything worth remembering;
and yet there was always little court
round her, and all the men were dying
to dance with her-ay, ready to die for
smile.
The other girls disliked her, as was
natural. "Whatever people can see in
Kiss WhitwOrth | cannot imagine" was
their usual remark. Ed
Both Coverly and danced with Miss
Blanche on that first night-Cameron
had not yet appeared upon the scene.
After that we followed ner about sedu-
louSly. Whenever we found she was to
be anywhere within radius of some
miles, we always determined to be
there, too, or perish in the attempt. If
we did not obtain invitations in the
usual way, we bothered people for them
in the most shameless manner.
1t was quite friendly rivalry be
tween us, for George and were far too
good friends to quarrel. We used to
talk to one another quite openly about
our chances of success, and agreed that
whichever the lady should choose was
60 bear his triumph humbly and his
friend his own hard lot with meeknesS.
That one of US two must eventually Sc
cure the prize we do not seem to have
doubted. think may assert without
vanity that we were preferred above the
crowd
There is nothing like telling the
truth, and had better say at once that
am afraid the girl was flirt: that is
putting the case mildly. She had
charming way of making her partner
for the time being believe that he was
the one selected mortal from all the
world with whom alone she liked to
dance. That may sound trivial, put
thus boldly; but it is true.
AT that time l was a briefless bar
riSter, and occupied chambers i'll Blank
court along with my friend CoverIey,
who had the rooms adjoining. Many
pipe did we smoke together in those
brave days of old on our return from
some of the festivities have alluded to,
while the chimes of the church clock
outside struck far into the morning.
1t was not great while after we had
first known Miss Witworth when young
Harold Cameron came up to town. like
myself, with an ultimate view to the
wOOlsack. Mr.. Cameron was to read
for the bar: and he was committed, in a
sense, to my charge as one who could
give him advice on his studies. He was
often in at our chambers, and both
George and l grew to like the young
fellow as we got to know him. We re-
garded HIM, l know, as UNNECESSARILY
our Junior both in years and experience.
He was nearly of age-Some i've years
hnr hn
George, in turn, being a year or two
older than | was.
Our new visitor was a light-haired,
blue-eyed youth, with the most infec-
tious laugh in the world. His good
humOr was always quite irreSiitable to
me: indeed, there were few people he
met with whom the young fellow did
not make friends. We speedily intro
duced him to our circle, where he became
very popular.
l have wondered since then that. when
Cameron one day Informed us that he
had, in common with George and me.
received an invitation to an evening at
the WhItworths', no suspicion of what
must inevitably follow crossed our
minds.
We went. Cameron was led captive.
Mrs. Whitworth was verv nice old
lady, but dreadfully deaf. Her deaf
ness was the one topic upon which she
ever talked. To every fresh acquaint-
ance she impaired information on this
head in series of stereotyped remarks
which never varied. In the course of
my experience heard the conversation
so frequently that l can distinctly re-
member it after all this lapse of time.
To call it conversation is, indeed, mis-
leading. The old lady was far too deaf
to hear any word that was spoken to
her; the remarks were consequently all
on her side, delivered with such
strident tone and distinctness of enun-
citation that they were always audible
across large room. The performance
was known among irreverent youth as
tkAIrS w hit1rnrth;S Rnnit aIinIa :,