The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-21
WON BY WRESTLING.

Hartley, or, rather his wife, had been
giving musical cat home" and a per-
formance of sifllours had proved the hit of
tho evenings Entertainment.
An hour or SO later, tho "orowd" hay
ing dispersed, Birdy jackson. Hartley and
1 wcre idly discussing the events Of the af-
fnir la tho smoking room. Jackson and
were stopping overnight with our host,
being old cliums Of his and living some
distance out of town.
''No idon you could give us such a
ripping performance, Birdy," remarked
Hartley, land when your vito joined In
was perfectly astoundcd."
jackson laughed softly.
ono, she DOESN'T do 1t at all badly" ho
admitted. You know, Dick, there's q
bit Of romance attached to that whistle of
hers. In fact, it was tho means of bring
ing our matrimonial desires to M abrupt
point Mt an extremely critical period in our
courtship.'
Hartley gave mo a gontle kick
t'Then your union had spice of ro-
nance about it?'' he said.
Rather! Unique in the annals of love-
making, should say. But folks are SO
mover attempted to tell tho yarn but once,
and then I swore I'd never do it again"
But he had to on this occasion and soon
began to interest us as follows:
First Of all, you must know, Mr..
King" addressing me, I'm called Birdy
on account of having practiced from earli
est infancy cheap form of musical rcorea-
ton. Though cuffed as boy, severely
rcprimandcd for warbling in slack bust
ness hours and soundly exeorated by the
ncighbors, I nevertheless persevcred.
A year this last summer camo in for
sum Of money which rendered mo q
practically wealthy and independent man,
and to celebrate my good fortune threw
up my business berth and went into York
shire to spend fow weeks with a profes-
sional bachelor friend and to idle generally
''While there was introduced to Colo
mel Alton and his daughter Evelyn, aged
%, who lived ut The Chase, and were in
innate friends of my chum. Nice girl she
was. Plenty of go, without being the
least fast In less than u fortnight was
over head and ears in love with her. The
subsequent afternoons at The Chase were
too hot for tennis. Colonel Alton spent
them snoozing in his study; Evelyn's
elderly companion and her fathers house
keeper-for Mrs. Alton had been dead
some yoars-nodded in the shade Of her
favorito elm, and my friend had invariably
tea came out. Very nice Of him, L
thought.
THUS thrown together, Evelyn and 1
monopolizcd tho arbor, and 1 used to
amuse her by thrilling selections from tho
operas, latest airs Comic and serious) and
she would occasionally join in as kind
of FLIP to my performances. Though
woman in every respect, she could whistle.
In most of tho we'll known tunes, up to
date or pathetically aged, she excellod,
owing to the fact that during tho winter
months for some years past she had always
officiatcd ut the piano for the village pop
ular concerts, when the vocal and instru-
mental items were naturally of an anus
Ing and light order-at times scarcely high
class, perhaps.
''Then came the time when the colonel
had to be approached. Tho old man gave
me prompt and curt refusal. He had
other views for his child. I tried rcmon-
STRANGE. then doggcd persistcncy, but with
no avail. Evelyn stood out like brick.
This burst of Independence resulted in her
Immediate banishmcnt to regions I'M
known to me, under the surveillance of q
relative of mature age and experience, and
oil communication between us strenuously
denied and forestalled. All chances Of
elopomcnt even were reduced to nil
"a few days later left my friend s for
Bournomouth, there to recruit my shatter-
I'D health and hopes and think things over
quietly was crushed for the timo being.
AS alightud from my cab at the entrance
to the North Cliff, where 1 had taken
rooms, an elderly lady came down tho
steps. Her face seemed somewhat famil-
lar to me, though could not at the time
recall to mind when and where had seen
1t before. When she started as she saw
mo and somewhat hurricdly re-cntcred tho
hotel, was further mystifed. A thought
struck mo ms l was signing my name in
the hotel register Of visitors sometime lat
or. Two pages bnck I found an entry,
Miss Alton and Miss e. Alton I tum-
bled to 1t in o second then. The elderly
lady had encountered was undoubtedly
Colonel Atoms sister, who had been stay
ing Mt Tho Chase and loft two days after
my arrival in tho village, and before 1
know anything Of Evelyn had onco pass
cd her walking with tho colonel and she
must have recognized INC again.
II remarked OIL tho entry to the clerk in q
casual way and ho volunteered tho infor-
nation that Miss Alton had hut q few mo-
ments previously given notice of her in
tontion to vncato thoir apartments tho
next morning. Tho news staggered me.
Then Miss Alton certainly did not know
all and had decided on flight rs tho only
safe remedy under tho circumstances.
Not n glimpse could catch of Evelyn.
After dinner from search on tho pier 1
returned to tho North Cliff and sat discon-
solntely smoking out in tho balcony of my
room in tho growing dusk. Almost un-
consciously l;:pscd into melody and ap-
propriately commenced to warblo softly,
Alice, Whore Art Thons' \ slight move
ment Oh the balcony above mine and ono
window to tho loft caused mo to glance up
A figure In white mot my gaze, with one
of it's hands. as II demanding silence,