The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-02-27
A LOVE AFFAIR.


is rather pretty, and her name is Edith.
She has dark hair, and her eyes arc blue,
and sho dresses we'll. She has been
graduated from seminary of good re-
pute, and her disposition is amiable to a
degree which more than a year ago
brought all the young men of the neigh
borhood Mt her feet. / think she won q
tennis championship in singles some
where last year, but I am not certain
about that. What can recall among
her most pronounced accomplishments
l will put down here later on. met
her SO long time ago that 1 have for
gotten the circumstances Of our meet
ing, but I guess they were of the ordi-
nary sort. live two doors from her
house, and drop in to see her and Mrs.
Burke at least once week. Even her
marriage, which hurt me so much at
the time, did not separate us for very
long, and l think have lived to forget
my first rash determination never to
look upon her face again. 1 called the
night of tho wedding, and have been
calling regularly ever since. 1 am be-
ginning to believe that it was good
thing, after all, that she didn't marry
me.
What l want to tell-and it won t
take long to tell it in my dry fashion
is the story of old Brownies courtship.
l make my living by keeping the cash
accounts Of Il big Market street whole
sale house, and Browne is the man
whose desk is next to mine in the count
ing room. Our salary is about tho same,
and although he is two years younger
than L am, l being 81 now, we both
have held the same positions for 90
years. Browne weighs more than 900
pounds, and l weigh trife less.
Mrs. Burke, who is Edith's mother.
came to me this summer and had quite
long talk with mo about her personal
affairs. She said that her late husband S
estate was pretty much cntangled and
that to keep her present establishment
on Arch street going she would have to
rent some of the handsome rooms in the
house to boaIdcrs. OF course she didn t
want to do that, and of course depre-
Gated the plan, but i'll the end it turned
out that we both had to give in.
Old Browne rented the second story
front room the day after l told him
about it. He had been living away up
town, and he was glad to get little
nearer to the Office, besides enjoying all
the social prestige which geographical
conditions could give him. Ho moved
into the rooms with dozen trunks and
wealth Of bric-a-brac, which, to my
mind, did not become his age Mrs.
Burke was glad to accept the reference
70 ,.1, t,,,
smiled upon him when she gavo him his
night key.
l thought a good deal Of Edith. and
every night or two we played cards in
her mothers rooms. She and | played
partners against young Bob Smith and
Mrs Burke. We were pretty evenly
matched, too, for Bob played a stiff
game of whist, and well, you may
remember that | was one of the Pcnte-
cost clubs prize team last fall Edith
and l won most of the games though,
for Bob was too Internally lazy ever to
do anything well. And then he never
seemed to mind it if he lost.
The presence of old Browne ANNOYED
me great deal, and don't mind say
ing so. About Il week after he took his
rooms there | found him occupying my
seat ut the whist table when | called.
He was fumbling the cards in his awk-
ward fashion. and Edith was laughing
at him. Bob was engaged in giving an
imitation of me telling war story, and
even Mrs. Burke was approving the ri
diculous proceedings. ! cOughcd, and
that stopped the game, but | was I'M
comfortable all the evening. But Bob
had the good sense TO apologize, but old
Browne simply Uttered for an hour over
what he seemed to consider good Joke
on Inc.
After that all my affairs seemed to
go wrong, and began to seriously con
slider whether j shouldn't rent every
room i'll Mrs. Bnrke's house myself. l
was actually contemplating this propo-
sition one night in my own apartments,
smoking my last bowl of tobacco the
while, when the colorcd girl who waits
on the door said that man had called
to see me. | have few callers, and
thought it might he Mr.. Phipps, the
managing partner of my house, whom
had invited to come to sec me more than
Il month ago
With this idea III mind told the girl
10 delay the man below stairs for Il mo-
ment while slipped into other clothes.
Then the door opened. and old Browne
came an.hlIas i'll. was Disguised on
the instant. ;ui ! managed to conceal
my real ieci!nl5 and invited him to be
seated. lie lon,:oG all around him to
see if WIS alone, set his hat ON the
floor and tEe.i accented my invitation