The Portland daily press., 1894-10-06


hold out my hand all day?''
Ho choked
II take your hand, but I'm dashed if
LII take your lunch!'
Yes, you shall, % she said. ats rude
10 contradict lady. We'll have it all
alone here you and / and Mrs. Ross,
my companion, and I'll tell you beau.
| tilul story about myself for the gratifca-
| olon OF the good, inquisitive public. In 70.
turn you shall tell me what put it into
| your head to come to Brighton"
he ate her lunch and drank her cham.
| payne, and before the meal was over. she
! knew all about him and the bun episode.
| Plucky, she thought, and she admir-
| ed courage in man, witty, proud, well
| BRED
ono looked kindly at him and smiled
with moisture in her eyes. Emotional
TO the core Cynthia Charrington and in
nnltely susceptible to the realism of life, a
woman OF Moods-spelled with capital,
according to latter day prophets.
hope you'll succeed with The Mirror.
I'm sure you will, she said, when he took
leave OF her at last. You must come and
SEQ me at Palace Mansions and tell me
what you have DONE But in case YOU
don = get the post or there is any delay''-
DICK broke into gentle perspiration.
Was she going to offer to lend him money?
She read the terror in his eyes and re-
Trained. But that evening the postman
delivered at Dick IS lodgings an anonymous
envelope containing 95 note. He knew
that she had sent it as well as if she had
told him SO and returned it to her prompt
~, with a little note of thanks
She called him names and made several
vague and bitter illusions during the fol-
lowing day to false pride and ridiculous
obstinacy and thought more about him
than she would have done if she had met
him in the ordinary way and he had been
dangling at her skirts for score of after
moons.
Dick filled the vacancy on The Mayfair
Mirror and a chair in Cynthia Charming
tons drawing room on many Sunday after
moons.
II owe my luck to you," he said to her
on the occasion Of his first visit to her
handsome fiat N shall never forget your
kindness %
One day she went to the piano of her
own accord and sang to him for half an
hour Previously he had only heard her in
public, and it seemed to him that her elo-
rious voice had mover sounded SO well as
it did now in the privacy of her home.
The mans pulses throbbed and his head
swan. He would have liked to throw his
arms around her. When she stopped. he
took up his hat
What, are you going already" she ex-
claimed in surprise.
He muttered some excuse about ssWork
to do and left her with his brain on fire.
He had suddenly realized a fact that
frightened him.
On his way home he bought a photo
graph of her and hung it up in his sitting
room He had scarcely done so when he
tore it down again, with wrath in his eyes.
: ssI'm a fool--an asst Because woman
behaves like an angel to me forget that
I'm apoor devil of a journalist and she's
Cynthia Charrington.
He made a bonfire Of it in the empty
CRATE and watched it crackle and curl in
the tongues of fame, with fierce delight
in his own agony. Then he went out, on |
a wet night, and bought another to take |
its place. The little incident was typical |
of his frame Of mind
For whole fortnight he never went |
near her. Then flesh and blood could bear |
1t no longer, and he tranped to Kensing- |
ooA Ouo Iouiittdy dlUcFuOOn.
What have you been doing with your |
self?s' she demanded. II have missed |
you"
1T is very good of you to say So . he
said gloomily.
II won't go near her for a month. .
said poor, proud Dick to himself as he
walked home q must accustom myself
to doing without her.
A Il |
nerves, of cold detection, of feverish desire.
Then he had shock. She was ILL., She
had been i'll for several days, and her I'M
derstudy had taken her place in the opera.
There was something wrong with her
throat, reported The Comet in the most
noWery and grandiloquent of journalism
She would never sing again. Her glorious
career was cut short in the bloom of her
youth. The nightingale would be dumb
forever. Then Tho Comet, waxing sapient,
painted realistic" picture of her proba-
BILE future.
Dicks face went white He called
nansom and drove to Palace Mansions
Is it true that your throats bad?n he
asked her. I've just read it in The
Comet.''
Quite true, . she said.
L
"Cynthia you're woman all alone. If
you would let mo take care of you! I
wouldn't have asked before, but now that
your prospects havo changed SO disastrous
VI Hang It'll What shall say to you? / |
hardly know. When fellows poor and
40 better than other fellows, he hasn't
much to offer to a woman. 1t Just
amounts to this, dear. I'm earning de-
'ent salary thanks to you-and / could
make things smooth for you. Cynthia,
'onid you, would you
She held out her hands to him with a
'harming gesture Of surrender IF you
want me- Dick'--
My darling, you are SO good to me!'
But think you are laboring under q
mistake, she said demurely. '.There is
lothing seriously wrong with my voice.
we only had bad cold 2
Then The Comets information was
ncorrect?" he gnsped
"Quite so.'
"And-and you do not need me at ALP"
need you very much,p she said.
That is why I worked that paragraph.
.ou see, knew if 1 didn't do something
hat your horrid pride would snoi1 orr |