The Penn's Grove record., 1896-02-14
WON BY WRESTLING

Hartley, or rather, his wife, mao oeen
kiyinx q musical "at home"
An hour or SO later, the crowd hav-
ing dispersed, Birdy jackson, Hartley
and / were idly discussing the events oil
the affair In the smoking-room. Jack
son and 1 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
ping performance, Birdy," remarked
Hartley "and when your wife Joined In
j was perfectly astonished."
Jackson laughed softly.
mo, she doesn't do it at all badly"
he admitted. you know, Dick, there's
a bit of romance attached to that whs-
tie of hers; in fact, 1t was the means of
bringing our matrimonial desires to
an abrupt point at an extremely critt
cal point in our c%ourtship."
Hartley gave me a gentle kick.
"Then your union had a spice Of 70
nance about itF he said.
"Ratherl Unique in the annals of
love-making, l should say. But folks
are so COMPOUNDED i~ncredulous nova
days, I've never attempted to tell the
yarn but once and then ! 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"-addressing me-"Tm called
Birdy on account Of having practiced
from earliest infancy a cheap form of
musical recreation. Though cuffed as
a boy, reprimanded for warbhng in
slack business hours and soundly exc
Grated by the neighbors, l nevertheless
~persevered.
"A year ago last summer l came In
for a sum of money, which rendered
me a practically wealthy and independ-
ent man. and to celebrate my good for
tune / threw up my business berth and
went into Yorkshire to spend a few
weeks with a professional bachelor
friend and to idle generally.
while there l was introduced to a
Colonel Alton and his daughter Evelyn.
aged %, 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
a 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; Evelyn'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 cast be-
fore the tea came out Very nice Of
him, l thought.
''Thus thrown together, Evelyn and
4 monopolized the arbor, and l used 10
amuse her by thrilling selections from
the operas, latest airs comic and seri-
ous), ard she would occasionally Join
IL as a kind Of FLIP to my perform
ances. Though a woman In every re-
spect, she could whistle. In most of the
welI-known tunes up TO date or pathct-
ically aged, she excelled, owing to the
fact that during the winter months pr
some years past she had always OIL
ciated at the piano for the village pop
ular concerts, when the vocal and in
strumental items were naturally of an
amusing and light order-at times
scarcely high class. perhaps.
.'Then came the time when the colo
nel 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 logged per-
sistency. but with no avail. Evelyn
stood out like a brick. This burst of in
dependence resulted In her Immediate
Punishment to regions unknown to me,
under the surveillance of a 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 I 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 l alighted from
my cab at the entrance to the North
Cliff, where l had taken rooms, an ell
derby lady came down the steps. Hor
face seemed somewhat familiar to me,
though I could not at the time recall 10
mind uhnn and wharo I Ind aaon IL no.