Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-08-06
Bob ACtOI'S Love Chase.

Fannie was the smartest and
best tempered waitress in the
Morning Star QIlck Lunch res
taurant. Her pure white and pref.
tily hmned face, her delicate pink
cheeks. her brisk carriage and her
breezy tongue did u nch to swell
the receipts Of the establishment.
The proprietor knew this full well
and Fannie was the object OF much
Difference On his part.
The Little Irish Beauty as she
came to be called by the imagl
native youths whose daily IatiOUs
consisted either of 'cOrned beef and
- or 'uOlk and from Mon
day to Saturday, had marked more
than one heart for her own. b t
the very facility of her cOnqueSis
seemed To make her indifferent and
that is why Bob Acton got dyspep-
sis. From the hist be had been
struck with her fresh face and
dainty demeanOr. She was so IN
like all the other mattresses; and,
to do him justice, Bob d d not bear
much Of a moral resem blance TO
the other men who sued for a smile
from the 'Llttle Irish Beauty
Bob never could look any wo-
man straight in the eyes as gallant
men eau, without crImsoning from
ear to ear. When be dared to cast
a glance of vOtiye tenderness to.
ward Fannie, he did 1t at a mo.
mtnt Of positive security from any
return, even If she should be so
magnanlmOus, which he did not
expect.
Finally, one fortunate day, he
spilled bis coffee over the table
cloth and Faunle rushed to his
rescue. Bob was completely upset
by bis clumsiness and his evident
poignant regret awOke sympathy
IN Flnnle's heart, which she ex
pressed in ber own sweet English,
just properly tempered with an
aristocratic Dublin brOgue.
The leap had been taken and
quUe gracefully. Henceforward
conversation was matter of course,
but a course that was sweet and
uncommonplace.
Bob had noticed of late that
Fannie was growing thinner. Her
cheeks were more brilliant, but
fevenshly so, and she seemed not
quite as sparkling as of old.
When he asked heroine day qui g
anxiOusly whether she was not a
little i'll, she replied quickly that
she had never felt better. Some
how even Bob's guilelessness could
not swallow this and he began to
CESS at the cause of her change.
Bob was an eminently practical
business man and held a fairly
paying position as salesman in a
foreign chinaware house. Never the
less ia the course Of some traYel-
ing be had managed 10 deyOur a
certain quantity Of novels. which,
strange to say, be began to recall
at this particular period. He en-
deayored to remember what de
scfiptiOn the herolnes received
from their ere ttOrs at the mo
ment of their first real love. OIe
book, which was fresher than al
che others in his memory, pictured
the girl as becoming, pale, Ill and
aud distraught looking
At the time of reading, Bob haC
not looked up the meaning of dds
traught,' which word never in any
connection had come to bis &C
quaintaDce in the china business
When he went home that night h'
pulled down his dusty Webste
and on one of Its yellow leaves
found the Specification of the word
'Pale, i'll, dlstrsught,' muse'
Bob. L wonder if she ls IN any o
of them. She's not pale, bat to-
flushed, and that's almost as bad
She certainly did seem to be il
to-day but, pshaw, that don
prove anything. She may hav
trouble at home. / know nothin
about her or folk 5. There are
thousand and one possible reasons
iPm a fool aud I'm going to bed.'
The next morning the head Q
bis firm asked Bob to step into tn