The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-07-04
LOVE OR MONEY.

Poor old Charlie Seton left the regi-
ment when we were stationed at Delhi and
went down to Bombay en- route for home.
He was our senior captain and the best
soldier in the regiment. He was also our
best bachelor for did not count for much,
. being only doctor and small and plain |
and getting on for 40.
Whatever you do don't get married."
we all adjured as we babe him farewell |
Then came the rumor, a week later, that |
he was still at Bombay, then the tele |
gram to me to go down and serve him
best man.
L went down by the mail train and
found awaiting me on the platform Charlie
Seton, who looked very quiet and 50
astonishingly happy that felt sort of
Juggling sensation in the throat. Extreme
happiness is always alarming.
Miss George, to whom WAS duly pre-
sented, was not in the first flush of her
youth. She girl of perhaps 81 and
good looking. But there was no possible
doubt of Sefton's chance of happiness.
This woman had the right feeling for him.
L was old enough to feel embarrass-
ment in making an excuse TO leave them
alone together. l had clothes fit for
even the quietest wedding, and telling
them took my leave
Miss George, it appeared, was travelling
In Indiss with friends who it struck me,
were not on very intimate footing. They
We're all staying at hotel from which tho
wedding was to be unobtrusively celebrat-
| ed. The couple had only been engaged Il
week. 1t is the only of love at first
! sight-sincere, permanent, convincing
| which have encountered.
! My simple duties were duly performed.
| Charlie Seton and Eleanor George We're
! declared to be man and wife. l saw the
! ceremony. 1 heard the declaration. ap-
pended to the entry in the register my
name which looks more at homo on n
death certificate. 1 was deadly sober, as
| folks are at weddings.
| ''She is giving up a lot of money to
| marry me-" said Seton after the cere-
mony, when he and happened to be alone
| for few minutes.
And you are giving up career, " re-
| f1ected, mindful of many young men mar
| ried.
But there are some marriages whci,
| strike one at once as inevitable. The only
| question is why the people concerned have
not met sooner. This union was of such
description.
The bride and bridegroom went away
from the church with that distressingly
happy look which makes one feel uncom-
Portable They were to sail for home tho
next day.
4 journeyed slowly back to Delhi by
of their boat from the outer pier. AS I
stepped out of the carriage in the early
morning and noted the mist rising from
the Jumna two quartermasters of the
Peninsular and Oriental steamer Rumana
tipped up a plank and precipitated the
dead body of Charlie Seton into the sill
very waters of the Arabian sea. He died
one day out from Bombay-of cholera.
The thing left a shadow over US which
lasted all that hot weather.
In due time we forgot Charlie Seton
The surest proof of the existence of mer-
ciful God is surely the facility with which
| we are permitted to forget.
| Years afterward the whole story was
suddenly recalled to me at garden party
in a quiet country village near Beccles in
| Suffolk. I was taken, to this entertain
ment-chiefy remarkable for the number
| of clergy present-as the friend of one of
the guests. The house was long low
building of, was informed, the Queen
Anne period. The host was a genial old
chatterbox of an admiral who concerned
, himself with his own affairs in his retire
ment and refrained from writing to the
| newspapers, which pastime Is special
weakness of superannuated admirals. He
was immensely proud of his home and
seized on me, the only stranger present. to
observe it's beauties. From the lawn I
followed the direction indicated by his
shaky finger, but instead of noting the
carving of a gable committed the indiscre-
ton of looking into an open window on
the first floor.
Then the tragedy of Charlie Seton came
back to my mind, for saw tho woman
who had married him pinning on her hat
before glass. She did not see me.
1 was still with my host when we met
Mrs. Seton face to face.
"Ah,'' said the old gentleman with
| genuine delight, ''here is my nieceP'
Going forward, held out my hand.
''How do you do, Mrs Sefton2"
She looked at me quickly, without g
glimmer of the eyelids
''You are mistaken" she said I" I am
Miss George"
And with perfect good breeding she
looked toward her uncle, inviting an in
| PRODUCTION. This the old gentleman &C
complished with all the ceremony of his
day, mentioning the lady's name as Mis-:
George. 1t was not Il sister. l was moi
mistaken. This was tho woman whom
knew to have been IA wife for the space o.
! 4S hours. There was the evidence of III
internal trouble beneath the eyes, which
remembered and now saw developed as tn,
intervening years would have developed it
We spoke for few minutes on indiffer
ent topics.
1.-The doctor is q great traveller, I" the OLE
gentleman said. "He knows India, m.
dear"
YES, - added, II know India"
"Ah," answered the most intrepid WON
an have met, "indeedP'
Then my host hurried me off to examine
. a carved mantelpiece of which have NJ
recollection at this time 1 do not think
D even saw it.
b How funny said the admiral conf
:. dentially when we were alone "that yol
4 should have mistaken Eleanor for som
one else, especially n married woman. Yol
know, there is little romance about herr
u "Indeed?'
Eyes, my brother left her 800, 600 Oh
condition that she married n certain mai
u or remained single. Should she MARI
some one else she forfeits the money. Sh
enjoys her life and her wealth immensely
' She travels great deal and has hous
in town. think she will remain single
; The man has married some one else, yo
know. Interesting, eh?''
. Very" answered.
always try to mind my own business
National Observer
. Opposed.
!, Jones Brown--Why do you go into soc