Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-02-19
WON BY WHISTLING,

giving a musical lat home"
An hour or SO later, the crowd" hav-
Ing dispersed, Birdy Jackson, Hartley
and were idly discussing the events of
the affair in the smoking-room- Jack
son and l Were stopping over night
with our host, being old chums of his,
and living some distance out Of town.
mo idea you could give such q rip
pling performance. Birdy," remarked
Hartley "and when your wife Joined In
j was perfectly astonished."
Jackson laughed softly.
mo, she doesn't do 1t at all badly"
he admitted. you know, Dick, there's
a bit Of romance attached to that Wills
tie OF hers; in fact, 1t was the means of
bringing our matrimonial desires to
an abrupt point at an extremely critf
cal point in our courtship."
Hartley gave me a gentle kick.
Then your union had spice Of 70
nance about it 2" he said.
Rather. Unique in the annals Of
ioye-making, l should say. But folks
are so cOnfounded incredulous nova
days. I've never attempted to tell the
yarn but once and then l swore I'd
never do 1t again"
But he had to on this occasion, and
Soon began to interest us as follows:
First of all. you must know, Mr..
King g'-addressing me-"Im called
Birdy on account of having practiced
from earliest infancy a cheap form of
musical recreation. Though cuffed as
a boy. reprimanded for warbling in
slack business hours and soundly exc
Grated by the neighbors, l nevertheless
perseyored.
a year ago last summe- l came in
for a sum of money, which rendered
me It practically wealthy and independ
ent man. ana to celebrate my good for
tune threw up my business berth aud
went into Yorkshire to spend a few
weeks with "A professional bachelor
friend and to idle generally.
while there l was introduced to =
Colonel Alton and his daughter Evelyn.
aged 30, who lived At The Chase and
were intimate friends of my chum.
Nice girl she was; plenty of go with
out being the least fast In less than
q fortnight | WAS over head and ears in
love with her. The subsequent after
moons at The Chase were too hot for
tennis. Colonel Alton spent them snooz-
ing in his study; Eyelyn's elderly COM
panion and her fathers housekeeper-
for Mrs. Alton had been dead some
years-nodded in the shade of her ia
yorite elm. and my friend had invaria-
bly, to leave for an important case be-
fore the tea came out. Very nice Of
him. thought.
Thus thrown together, Evelyn and
moHouoliZed the arbor, and | used 10
amuse her by trilling selections from
the operas, latest airs lcomIc and seri-
ousl, and she would occasionally to.n
IN as kind of Gllip 10 my perform
ances. Though a woman in every To-
spect, she could whistle. In most of the
well-known tunes up to date or pathct-
ically aged, she eXcelled, owing to tlls
fact that during the winter months pr
some years past she had always otli-
ciated at the piano for the village pop
ular concerts. when the vocal and in
strumcntal items were naturally of an
amusing and light order-at times
scarcely high class, perhaps.
Then came the time when the colo
mel had to be approached. The old man
gave me a prompt and curt refusal
He had other views for his child. I
tried remonstrance. then dogged per-
sistency, but with no avail. Evelyn
stood out like n brick. This burst of in
dependence resulted in her inmt diate
banishment to regions unknown to me.
under the surveillance of n relative of
mature age and experience. and all
communication between US strenuous
ly denied and forestalled. All chances
of elopement, even, were reduced to
nil.
"A few days later l left my friends
for BOurnemOuth, there to recruit my
shattered health and hopes, and think
things over quietly. l was crushed
for the time being. AS / alighted from
my cab at the entrance to the North
Cliff. where | had taken rooms, an ell
derly lady came down the steps. Her
face seemed somewhat familiar to me,
though l could not at the time recall to
mind when and where had seen It be-