Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-12-12
A ST RPRISE.

Mr.. and Mrs. Bert Lester had fiat on
tho North SIDE.
They We're ard are the kind of young
married people calculated 10 restore Il
feeling of confidence as 10 ma,rimony.
Many bachelor after spending an
evening ut the Lester flat and rioting in
the simple delights of Dutch lunch
would remark 10 some other bachelor
as they Were walking homeward, Say,
if knew where there was another Mrs
Bert Lester, I'd be married man in
| less than six months
The Lc>ters had dozen or more men
| friends mostly Of the hotel kind but
joe Barnet held the record for constant
attendance. When there was any sort
of social gathering at the Lester flat. Joe
was neither absent nor tardy. lie and
Bert Lester had been good friends long
before there was any Lester flat. Mrs.
Lester believed that ice was an lawful
| ~ nice fellow" She had laid certain
! plans for his future
Louise Rhodes had been preached 10
Joe Barnet for year.
Her picture was on tho Lester mantel.
and her name went back and forth be-
tween the Testers.
'Oh, .Ioc, must have Louise come
up 10 visit me, Mrs. Lester would say
when she had dragged Joe up to the
photograph fer the hundredth time.
You'll like her immensely. She's as
clever as she can be, and pretty. Joe.
her father has plenty CT money too.
Think of that"
II don't see why that should interest
me, Joe would reply with an inditfer-
ence which was wholly assumed.
We'll, if / was man there would
not be many girls like Louise Rhodes
running around single. y
lyon couldn't marry more than ono
of them
"You' re very bright tonight, aren't
you? Wait till you SEQ her. / know you
will fall in love with her, and then it
will serve yen right if she refuses TO
look at you at all. =
Mrs. Bert Lester and tho much talked
of Louise Rhodes had been classmates
III girls seminary ii Ohio After
graduating Kate Townsend returned To
Chicago and promptly accepted Bert
Lester. Louise resumed Il country town
existence at Flayius, Ind, where her
father owned n grain elevator, Il bank.
general storc and hub and spoke fac
tory. His country possessions were
marked ty white farmhouses and huge
rod barns Alrs. Lester once visited
Louise at FaviuS. and when she re-
turred home she tGld fanciful stories of
the Rhodes possessions.
Last spring while Mrs. Lester was
writing 10 LouiS,, CCaxing hcr to como
10 Chicago on visit, Joe Barnet did
very unusual ting. He wrote u letter
to Miss L1uise Rhodes Of Ilavius, Ind,
young woman whom he had never
seen.
Mark tie cunning of the scoundrel!
This Is the WA the letter ran:
''Of coarse yol dare not overlook MY
vast presumption III thus addressing
you. Ore f:.st you must consider. how
ever. AN with the LISTERS so much Of
the time that | am. to all intents ana
purp SC ;, Il iacmh of the household,
anu this may ontitle me To the privilege
of Joining IN the invitations You may
remember that May Will mark tho
third anniversary Of their marriage. l
am arranging 10 give little dinner i'll
their homer, hut want TO make il sur
prise TO them As you are Mrs. Testers
most intimate friend, it would be almost
a calamity if YOU were not present ut
the dinner. You will understand, Of
course, that | could not have forwarded
this information through the agency of
Mrs Lester Don't tell her that | have
written To you. l do not want her to
learn Of the dinner. and there aro other
reasons.
The letter clcsed with final plea fer
pardon, and Joe mailed it, III the con-
sciousncss that he had done very
clever thing. He believed that any
young woman, no matter how strict her
| .eminary training had heen would have
10 answer that kind of letter lie was
not mistaken The reply came three
lays later, and il was III bald aud
peaked handwriting, in which both ink
and space Were lavishly wasted. The
letter called him Mr.. Barnet" and said
among other things:
Under these extraordinary circum-
stances | suppose / am justified i'll writ
ing 10 you--a stranger No, not "a stran-
ger. either, for | have heard 30 much
about you through ka,e) that | suppose
| can already claim Il half way ac-
qralntance. Alas, 10 say il! cannot
come 10 Chicago for your little dinner.
which Will doubtless In lovely We are
in the throcs OF preparation for w,d-
ding here (my cousin), and until she IS
/ safely away on her wedding tour shall
| be- deliriously busy. It's tao bad. Per-
haps next month | shall be in Chicago,
and YOU may be sure will be prepared
/ to feign proper surprise and omharrasS-
mant when Kate presents you. | would
not for woI Ids let her know | had writ
I ten this letter.
Say, she's all right. This is what
Joe Barnet told himself ~ he read her
/ letter and grinned like IA voaly boy over
| his first love note.
Joe studied the letter again and con
cludcd that the young woman had not
been seriously offended. So he wrote
another letter, setting forth some OF the
June attractions in Chicago and hoping,
rather more fervently than III the first
letter, that she would accept the Lester
! invitation. He received an answer cx-
pressing rcgr, that no absolute promise
could be n.;t.e and incidentally sug-
gcstins that tine writer would bc pleased
TO learn some of :hc particulars III re-
gard 10 the little dinner ~ honor Of Mr..
and Mrs. Lester Joe construed this as
an open consent to keep up the corre-
spondence, and in one short month
thereafter his letters hogan, My Dear
Miss Rhodes, and she addressed him
as My Dear Mr.. Barnet. this being
tho set and accented form. although not