Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-02-29
WON BY WRESTLING,

Hartley or, rather, his wife, had been
giving a musical lat home" and a per.
formance of sifileurs had proved the hit Of
the evenings entertainment.
An hour or so later, tho ''crowd" hay
ing dispersed, Birdy jackson, Hartley and
l were idly discussing the events Of tho af
fair in the smoking ROOM Jackson and
were stopping overnight with our host,
| being old chums of his and living some
distance out of town.
NO idea you could give us such a
| ripping performance, Birdy," remarked
Hartley, land when your vito joined in
| was perfectly astountled."
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 whistle of
hers. In fact, 1t was the means of bring
| ing our matrimonial desires to an abrupt
| point at an extremely critical period in our
courtship,"
| Hartley gave me a gontle kick.
"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
| confoundedly incredulous nowadays I've
never attempted to tell the yarn but once,
and then 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 infancya cheap form Of musical recrea-
| ton. Though cuffed as a boy severely
| reprimanded for warbling in slack bust
| ness hours and soundly execrated ~ the
| neighbors, / nevertheless perseyered. :,
IA year this last summer l came incf for
sum of money which rendered mh .
practically wealthy and independent maiSe
and to celebrate my good fortune threw
up my business berth and went into York:
| shire to spend a few weeks with q profes-
sional bachelor friend and to idle generally.
While there | was introduced to Colo
| mel Alton and his daughter Evelyn, aged
%, who lived at Tho Chase, and were in
innate friends of my chum. Nice girl she
| was. Plenty Of go, without being the
| least fast In less than 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 years-nodded in the shade of her
favorite elm and my friend had Invariably
to leave for an important case before the
tea came out Very nice of him, l
thought.
''Thus thrown together Evelyn and
monopolized the arbor, and l used to
amuse ncr by trilling selections from the
operas, latest airs comic and serious), and
she would occasionally join in as kind
of FLIP TO my performances. Though n
woman in every respect, she could whistle
In most of the we'll known tunes up to
date or pathetically aged, she cxcelled
owing to the fact that during the winter
months for some years past she had always
ofliciated at the piano for the village pop
uiar 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. The old man gave
me a prompt and curt refusal. He had
other views for his child. l tried remon-
STRANGE. then logged persistency, but with
no avail. Evelyn stood out like "a brick
This burst of Independence resulted in her
immediate Punishment TO regions IN
known to me, under the surveillance OF a
relative of mature age and experience, and
all communication between us strenuously
denied and forestalled. All chances of
elOpement even were reduced to nil.
"A few days later left my friends for
Bournemouth there to recruit my shatter-
ed health and hopes and think things over
quietly. | was crushed for the time being
AS alighted from my cab at the entrance
to the North Cliff, where 1 had taken
rooms, an elderly lady came down the
steps. Her face seemed somewhat famil-
| lar to me, though | could not al the time
recall to mind when and where l had seen
it before. When she started as she saw
ne and somewhat hurriedly re-enterod the
hotel, was further mystiied. A thought
struck mo as l was signing my name in
the hotel register of visitors sometime lat
er. Two pages back l found an entry,
Miss Alton and Miss K. Alton l tum-
bled to it in a second then. The elderly
lady had encountered was undoubtedly
Colonel Atoms sister, who had been stay
ing at The Chase and left two days after
my arrival in the village, and before l
knew anything of Evelyn l had once pass
ed her walking with the colonel and she
must have recognized me again.
Il remarked on the entry to the clerk in a
casual way and he volunteered the infor-
nation that Miss Alton had but few mo-
ments previously given notice Of her in
tention to vacate their apartments the
next morning. The news staggered me-
Then Miss Alton certainly did not know
all and had decided Oh flight as the only
safe remedy under the circumstances.
Not a glimpse could catch of Evelyn
After dinner from search on the pier I
returned to the North Cliff and sat discon-
solately smoking out in the balcony of my
room i'll the growing dusk. Almost I'M
consciously lapsed into melody and ap-
propriately commenced to MARBLE softly,
Alice, Where Art Thou?' A slight move
ment on the balcony above mine and one
window to the left caused me to glance up.
A figure in white met my gaze, with one
of its hands, as if demanding silence,
pointing warningiy to the window behind
her. Yes, it was Evelyn, but her attend
ant dragon of an aunt was evidently close
at hand. Verbal communication, as well