The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1895-04-17
A GENTLEMAN.

He saw her coming along the street,
and he paused, hoping she would care
to stop and speak to him. She always
bowed and smiled, or said a word or
two. and he lived on the memory of it
until he met her again. That, usually,
soon happened, for in little town of
| 500 inhabitants the said Inhabitants are
| liable to meet often.
She was a sweet girl, a pretty girl,
every one thought, but these mild terms
did not half express Ernest Wilson'S
| opinion of Ruth Adams. She was a
perfect woman in the highest and pur-
est sense of the word, and to a man
who looked upon all women as being
far superior to men, this meant a great
deal That was what he thought Of
her. She did not think of him at all,
except when she happened to see him,
and then he reminded her of his brother
Will.
Ruth was engaged to Will. She had
been for two years. He had been by
far the handsomest man in town, and
she was the prettiest girl, and he had
been proud of her. That was before he
went to the city. Now he thought
there were girls galore better looking
than Ruth, but he said nothing of the
kind to her, for it was pleasant to have
some one to make love to when he was
obliged to 60 to the country sometimes,
for Papa Wilson had full pocketbook,
and Will had not.
So. in the soft light of an afternoon
sun, Ernest Wilson stood and waited
for Ruth to pass, and. watching her as
she approached him, thought with lit
tie WEAKNESS of the injustice of fate.
Not that he imagined for a moment
that he deserved such a woman as did
his handsome brother, who was "geu-
tleman," only he would have loved Ruth
tenderly, been very thoughtful of her,
very kind to her, if she could have cared
for him-and Will was so careless.
Ruth did not pass this time; she
paused and looked up into his good,
idly:
ernest, have you heard from VIII
lately?"
No." he said, kindly. There was a
letter in his pocket from Will, received
few moments before, speaking of
hard times and asking for the loan of a
few dollars. mo, not lately; he is
busy, you know, Ruth; you must not
think anything of not hearing from
him-he does not like to write
Are you going homer" he asked. "I
will walk with you, Ruth. Are you
worrying about it? If you are. then
don't"
Il will tell you honestly that 1 am.
You are one of the people, Ernest, that
no one would ever think of deceiving.
| am unhappy and l am annoyed. 1t
is not pleasant for a girl of spirit to
hear the things people are beginning to
say. AT the same time. I know it is
only carelessness on Wills part. He
has given me his word. There is no
one who could say otherwise than that
Will is gentleman. and gentleman
keeps his word"
eff he does not" he said, and in his
voice there was that she had never heard
before, "in case like this Iwould scorn
him, if he were thousand times my
brother!"
q would not have him keep his prom
ise to me against his WILL" she said,
proudly. Never that. If he has
changed toward me, then he owes it to
himself and me To-"
"To be man-not gentleman" he
said, savagely.
ITO be both," she said. But her lip
quivered. They were at the gate by
this time, and he opened it and waited
for her to pass. Instead, she stood and
looked at him.
Ernest" she said, "tell me just what
you think"
"What think is this-that no man,
and make no exceptions whatever,
lxy N oh
of winning you if he were in his right
senses. If man is not in his right
senses he is deserving of our pity, not
our blame. wish you good evening""
And he left her looking after him like
one bewildered.
1t may have been letter she wrote
to Will that night, or it may have been
one that Ernest wrote, refusing the
loan, but for some reason Will came
home few days later. He had learned
new way to carry his cane, and his
bows were more profound than ever,
but his accomplishments seemed to have
small effect upon his father and brother.
AS for Ruth-well, it may have been
that she had grown tired of giving adj
miration, love and everything, and re-
ceiving in return a kind of Indifferent
attention. When a woman begins to
draw comparisons between her sweet
heart and other men, things are not as
they should be, for love knows no COM
parisons. She did think, and often, of
the way Ernest had spoken to her, and
of the manner in which Will talked, as
if she were the one favored in their love
affairs.
And yet to her Ernest was nothing in
the world but Willis brother. When
Ernest thought of it seriously, he has
never been anything to any one but
Willis brother. He had been so unas-
suming, and cared so little for appear
ances, and Will had cared so much.
Ernest was an excellent business man;
he did the thinking, Will did the talk
ing; Will used all of his ideas as if they
were his own and transacted business
for his father in an easy, off-hand way,
forgetting to mention that Ernest had
spent hours of thought and study be-
fore the line of action had been decided
tlpon, lt had been the aan1A vVhen theY