The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1894-04-27
A WOMAN'S YES.
An Incident In the Love Affairs of
Miss Iragg.

Miss Louise Bragg's social colleagues
were Iond OF say ing of her io
other and Ia strangers that she WAS IA
wonderfully clever young woman.
This ~ as meant III no quail ned sense; il
carried with IT no contingencies; the
distinction WAS positive. The fact of
h'r ci. .V"rHesS stool prominently apart,
and WAS il Notable iI..Ll III the general
assets OF her social set 1t became one
of ihe CHIEF facts concerning her later
esting personality, and frequently over
shldoWed less striking ones when she
WAS being conyersationally considered
She WAS of the slender. wIlIowy type;
tall as most men. and graceful after an
unconscious, unStudied fashion. Her
face hal straight. angular lines, and
was not essentially pretty When she
smiled it revealed many surprising
curves and subtle charms of expression
Hondrous power lay ia her brown
eyes. power undcr complete subjection
Of her Will Her hair WAS OF the
bright yellow tint OF uycr-ripe wheat,
Lhe lint that somehow suggests arli-
iiciality-
Miss Bragg's love experiences had
been numerous: but she had managed
with her cieveruess 10 give them va
riety. Every man she had ever known
well had attempted 10 make love to her.
She thought. ii very amusing. and her
women friends agreed with her in Ibis
view when she toll them of her ex-
periences. emitting names. She was
not without cunoc ience in the matter,
however. and eontented herself with
believing that al of her admirers would
get OYER their weakness without per
mauent hurt
A brief note from one of these ad-
mirers received one morning j.ist as she
was going out pro Ince-i marked effect
Hpon Miss Bragg h,hc gave mp her in
tcnllJn To go out and sat down L, read
Il second and ii third time the very brief
and conventional eIi:tle. 1t was a
very concise note from MIR Philip New
mann, asking her to walk with him in
the Il ternOOu.
These walks. it must be explained,
fo-med one of Miss Bragg's character
istic social institutions. Besides being
clever she was peculiar. She went
walking with young men much oftener
than she went driving or TO the theat5r
with them. Mr.. Phil Newman had
been one of the first young men to en-
joy the pleasure of these walks, and
the sight of him promenading with Miss
Bragg had inspired countless other
young men to aspire to the same priv
ilege But for three years, although
she had walked often. Newman had
not been her companion She had seen
him occasionally at balls parties, the
theater and elsewhere, but had had lit
tie communication with MIN. The day
before receiving his note she had passed
him on the street and he had bowed in
a distantly polite manner.
After reading tbs note the thlrd time
and vainly trying TO comprehend its
meaning she took from the cabinet, in
which she kept all her letters, u letter
in the same handwriting. and. putting
the two together, studied them. Though
totally different in tone and apparent
meaning she believed them to be of
practically the same import. The first,
written by Newman just after their
last walk together three years before,
was timid. half fearful proposal of
marriage. 1t had a tremulous note OF
fear in it-fear that she would refuse
The last-just four lines-asked her to
walk. nothing more Yet, Miss Bragg's
logic gave the two the same meaning.
Well" said Miss Bragg, as she
finished her note of acceptance, The
answers the same to both letters
yes Before il was a qualified, OBJ
scure 'yes'-be didn't recognize in its
disguise This tiIDe-I don't like ttis-
Eli make it plain for him"
She tore up what she had written,
and penned in scrawling. careless char
acters: "Yes-Louise Bragg. ! like that
better" she said. She read Newmann's
note again, half smiling. Il wonder if
al. -, 1, lint Of
New mann's feelings is as compliment
airy To me the first" she specuiated
lies a man of moods. phases and pc
riods. Its hard to make out the mean
ing Of this last. 1t sounds like last
appeal. He is human paradox.
OF all her love affairs, this was the
most interesting to Miss bragg. This
was due to its novel history and to
other reasons Newman was a So
ciety man of a not remarkable mental
caliber He measured up to the aver
age of his set He was rather tall and
handsome, with face typically south
ern- What particular quality of his
that drew her toward him. Miss Bragg
herself could not say-but she was con-
scious of liking him. Their walks, as
has been said, were frequent, and their
talks, while confidential, had never
touched upon matrimonial topics
He reserved the mention of this sub
ject for the letter that has been re-
ferred to. Miss Bragg was q bit dis
appointed at having SO important
question treated after the manner of a
business negotiation. 1t seemed lit
tie cowardly to write. Her reply was
churacteristically worded. To few
men in the world il would have meant
no" but To the generality of men
'.yes''-a woman's yes
4 call the next day would have ac-
corded with Miss Bragg's idea of what
the behavior of a young man in New
mann's place should have been. but he
did not call the next day, the next
week. the next month or the next year.
Indeed. three whole years passed and
he neither wrote or spoke to her upon
the subject After a short time she re-
pented of having replied as she had
done. Her letter now seemed SO hasty.
SO ill-considered. If she had waited
month to reply 1t would have been diff
ferent, she felt Still she could not
understand Newmann's conduct, and it
was far from her TO ask him for an ex-
planation.
Nj iss Bragg dressed with great care,
and calmly self possessed. she sat