Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-05-16
LOVE OR MONEY.


soldier In the regiment Hc wns also our
best bachelor, for did not count for much,
being only doctor and small and plain
and getting ON for 40.
"Whateyer you do don't got married."
we all adjurcd a. wo bade him farewell.
Then came the rumor, week later, TINT
he was still at Bombay. then tho tele-
gram to mo TO 60 down and serve him ~
best man.
! went down by tho mail train and
found awaiting mc on the platform Charlie
Seton, who looked 30 very quiet and 90
astonishingly happy that felt . sort OF
tugging sensation In tho throat. Extreme
happiness Is always alarming
Miss George, to whom was duly pre-
sented, was not In tho first flush Of her
youth. She was 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.
/ was old enough to feel no embarrass-
ment In making an excuse to leave them
alone together. had no clothes 1T for
even tho quioest wedding, and telling
them so took my leave.
Miss George, 1t appeared, was travelling
in India with friends who It struck me,
were not on very intimate footing. They
were all staying at n hotel from which the
wedding was to be unobtrusivcly celebrat-
cd. The couple had only been engaged
week. 1t Is the only case OF love Mt first
sight-sincere, permanent, convincing
which have encountered
My simple duties were duly performed.
Charlie Seton and Eleanor George were
declared to be man and wife. / saw the
ceremony. heard tho declaration. ap-
pended to the entry i'm the register my
name which looks moro Mt homo on
death certificate. 1 was deadly sober, rs
folks are mt weddings.
"She Is giving up lot OF money to
marry me-" said Seton after the cere-
mony, when he and 1 happened to be alone
for few minutes.
"And you are giving up n career" re-
flected, mindful Of many young men mar
ried.
But there arc some marriages which
strike one at once as inevitable The only
question Is why tho people concerned have
not met sooner. This union was of such a
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 the
next day.
journeyed slowly back to Delhi by
stopping night train, after seeing the last
of their boat from the outer pier. AS
stepped out of tho carriage in the early
morning and noted tho mist rising from
the Jumna two quartermasters Of the
PeninsulaF and Oriental steamer Rumana
tipped up 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 tho facility with which
we are permitted to forget.
Years afterward tho whole story was
suddenly recalled to me at a garden party
in quiet country village near Beccles, In
Suffolk. / was taken to this entertain
ment-chieHy 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 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 a special
weakness of superannuated a. lmirals. He
was immensely proud Of his homo and
seized on me, the only stranger present, to
observe it's beauties. From the lawn /
followed the direction indicated by his
shaky finger, but instead of noting the
carving Of gable committed the indiscre-
tion of looking into an open window on
the first floor.
Then the tragedy of Charlie Seton came
back to my mind, for 1 saw the woman
who had married him pinning on her hat
before glass. She did not sec me.
was still with my host when we met
Mrs. Seton face to face.
"Ah," said tho old gentleman, with
genuine delight "here is my niecep'
Going forward, held out my hand
"How do you do, Mrs. Seftonp"
She looked at mo quickly, without q
glimmer Of the eyelids.
"You are mistaken" she said. "I am
Miss George
And with perfect good breeding she
looked toward her uncle, inviting an in
PRODUCTION. This the old gentleman ac-
complished with all the ceremony of his
day, mentioning the lady's name as Miss
George. 1t was not sister. was not
mistaken. This was the woman whom I
knew to have been wife for the space of
48 hours. There was the evidence of an
internal trouble beneath the eyes, which I
remembered and now saw developed as tho
intervening years would have developed it.
We spoke for a few minutes on indiffer-
ent topics
1.-THE doctor Is q great traveller, the old
gentleman said. HE knows India my
dear"
"Yes," added, II know India"
"Ah, answered tho most intrepid wom-
an have met, "indeedp
Then my host hurried me of to examine
carved mantelpieco OF which have no
recollection Mt this time. do not think 1
even saw It.
"How funny" said tho admiral conf
dentially when we wero alone, "that you
should have mistaken Eleanor for some
ono else, especially n married woman. You
know, there Is a little romance about heri'
"Indeed?"