The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1896-01-03
CHAPTER II.

O1lAL l. LII LIZ
Five years rolled ON, and Phil Gilman
prospered. He wasn't quite viceroy,
to be sure, but he was deputy collector.
Not man in the Deccan got on better
than he did. His excellency was pleased
more than once in that short time to
promote Mr.. Philip Gilman to success
sive posts in successively dreary up
country districts Phil saved and scrap
ed, and all for Aggie. At the end of five
years, with his own little income and
his rising pay, he began to feel himself
in position to think about marrying.
He would send home for Aggie now
and ask her to come out to him. He
could redeem that long standing pledge
and make himself and her happy.
Five years had rolled on, but they
had rolled OH Gas observant souls may
often note to be the case) by one day at
time, through 12 months of each year,
with long, slow regularity. Now, all
those months Phil Gilman had written
by every mail to Aggie, and by every
mail he had heard in return from Aggie
again. At first he had sat down to write
each time with ardent affection. He had
torn open Aggie's letters, when they
came, with eager expectancy. But as
months passed by and he never saw Ag-
gle this first flush of young love began
to die away imperceptibly, until at last,
almost without knowing it himself, he
sat down so many times week to write
his budget as a pure matter OF duty.
Sometimes it rather worried him to
have to find something fresh to say to
Aggie; he wrote, not so much because
he wanted to write, as because he knew
Aggie would be disappointed not to get
letter. And so she would have been,
indeed; she would have cried very bit
terly that Phil should have neglected
her. Phil was always so punctual; what
could be the meaning of this delay?
Was it possible that Phil, her dear Phil,
was forgetting her?
There's vast deal Of difference, how
ever, between al and 26. For those five
long years Phil had saved every penny
Che said penny quite naturally now, an
mas having grown only too common and
unclean to him), and at the end Of that
time, when he began to think to him
loved Aggie-why, strange sort of
discovery broke suddenly over him.
Great heavens What was this? Was
he overjoyed at the prospeeti Bid ne
hail with effusion the advent of that
long wished for, that much desired, day?
Was he half mad with delight, half
wild with expectancy? If the truth
must be to1d-oh, dear me, not a bit of
it! 1t occurred to him all at once that
for the last two years or thereabout he
had been saving and writing not for
pure pure leye, tHt by mere force Of
habit. The original fame had died
down, the original impulse had worn
itself out, and now, in their place,
strange, critical doubts and fears OBJ
trpded ali nnawares their unwelcomee
faces.
Did he really love Aggie quite as
we'll as he used to do? Did Aggie really
love him quite as we'll as she once said
she did? Had they two changed much
in those five years of absence? Would
Aggie's fluffy hair be quite as entranc-
ing and as errant as ever? Would Ag
gie's simplicity be as engaging as of
old? Or, again, let him see; she was 10
then; would there be any simplicity
left at all at 80, he wondered. Looking
at the matter philosophically (and In
dian civil servants are ex officio philoso-
phers--it's part of the examination),
he saw for himself they were both tiys
years older, and five years might have
made a deal of difference to both Of
them. Each might have developed. and
each might now take a fresh view of
the situation and Of the other. 0biec-
lively Aggie might be somebody else;
subjectively, he himself might think
quite diversely of her. Now, when q
man begins 70 talk of object and sub.
ject in these matters at all, yon may be
perfectly sure the fine flush of loves
young dream is pretty well over with
him. We certainly don't philosophize
in the first full rapture. Phil Gilman
realized all at once that loves young
dream was we'll over with himself; he
was aware that the idea of Aggie's ar
rival In India awakened within him,
not transport, nor even calm joy, but q
certain languid curiosity as to what she
would look like and how he would feel
to her.
Nevertheless, mind you, Phil Gilman
was man of honor. He stuck to his
guns. He hadn't the slightest idea Of
going back upon his word or even of
letting poor Aggie herself doubt the
depth of his affection for her. Perhaps
this was wrong--who knows2 Perhaps
the wisest thing, after all, for man to
do in such a case is just TO make cleaN
breast of it, rather than involve him
self and the girl he once loved in mar
riage that may prove unhappy for both
of them. But at any rate Phil Gilman
didn't think SO, and somehow, do you
know, feel as if any man of honor in
Phil Gilman's place would have acted
just as he did. There's something 80
horribly cold blooded in telling girl
who has waited five years for you that
you really don't know whether you love
her any longer or not that only very
brutal man, 1 fancy, could ever consent to
do it. It may be wise to act like that;
no doubt, but there are qualities, after
all, more to be priced than wisdom.
wouldn't give 'twopence myself, dear
friends, for young man so wise as all
that eomes tq;
So, after brief mental struggle, Phil
wrote to Aggie as impassioned letter
as he could easily pump out-best epis-
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