The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-09-14
A ROMANCE OF II DAY.

Mff 5N off this engage
IN ment and perhaps
~ ruin both of our
lives"
George, it makes me very unhappy;
but ] never. never Ear marry a man
who rides q Duster."
land so you will let q wheel come
between us. That shall never be,
Ethel; for ooner will l give up all my
hopes of inheriting my uncle's estate.
which / have valued for your sake only.
Yes, / will give It up"
"And hat must not be, George. If
you displease him You not only throw
TO the winds a large fortune, but you
are left penniless- Then what would
we live on? No; there is no alterna-
tive. Ali is over between u.s."
Ethel, think. Here is old Uncle
Reuben. with one foot in the grave, a
devotee Of the Buster wheel, and !
must ride a Buster. He says that no
nephew of his shall risk his life and
limb on a Whizzer. And you-you
will not ride with me unless / use a
Whizzer."
Ethel Wheeler was silent, At length
she replied: George, 1 will never
marry a man who rides anything but
a Whizzer. No person of sense would
ride any other machine. And as to
that foolish old Mr.. Tires. he has no
right to insist that you ride a horrid
Buster. Come, George, try and"
Van Spoke shook his head and gazed
out over the sunlit sound. There was
silence, save for the humming of the
bees in the vines that shaded the broad
veranda.
He arose to his feet, and looking
earnestly at the fair girl who was re-
clining among the cushions of the
great chair, he said, slowly: Ethel
Wheeling, you have let a machine, a
mere machine, come between us. For
tune has decreed that l must ride a
buster. All bonds between us are
broken. May you forget it; but
IL"
He turned away and strobe rapidly
toward the end of the veranda, where
he had left his bicycle.
The girl buried her face among the
cushions and groaned: 81 will never,
never use any wheel but a Whizzer."
For a moment she wept; then she re
covered herself and would have called
after him but he was far out of hear
ing, spinning down the driveway out
of the park.
As Van Spoke pedaled rapidly along
the smooth road that skirted the
sound, his heart seemed to him to be
resting almost on the saddle of his
wheel, SO heavy was it His, he felt,
was a hard fate, for he loved Ethel
Wheeling with his whole soul, and
now it was all over between them.
years at least. He was confident hat
it would be a long time before she re-
covered from the effects of their sep
aration.
Then his uncle could not last much
longer. If she would only wait for
him
He heard a pling-pling and looked
up. Coming swiftly toward him was
another wheel. the rider of which
had his chin almost resting on the
handle bar as he forced his machine
along. Van Spoke caught sight of his
face as he passed and was so unstrung
that his wheel wiggled violently and
then threw him headlong on the grassy
bank at the roadside.
Charley Spockett," he groaned,
@'and oD a ~brand-new Whizzer. Oh,
Ethel! Ethel! heartless woman!"
He rose to his knees and gazed down
the road just in time to see his rival
swing round q turn into the lane that
led to Wheeling's place. Aching in
every joint, in heart. and in mind,
cursing himself and ~Sprockett and his
venerable uncle, he clambered once
more onto his machine and rode away |
toward home.
YEARLY he worked up the hill Oh the
brow of which stood the Tires house.
A groom was just leading away his
uncle's bicycle as he reached the door
way. He threw himself from his ma
chine, turned it oyer to the man and
went in search of his patron. He
found him seated in a cool corner of
the porch putting vigorously and fan
ming himself.
Reuben Tires was a handsome old