Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1897-12-09

call them), to the months rest In due
time he found himself settled in the
best parlor of an old-time farmstead
The household consisted of the farmer
stout and jovial, his wife, shrewd
quick, good-natured little body, and
their daughter, quiet girl with beau,
tiful liquid eyes.
One afternoon in the second week Il
was brought suddenly to young Will
sons mind that these great brown
eyes betrayed a peculiar CLEAN when
they rested on his own august person
The girl had an extremely retiring dis
position, of which it was difficult to
form definite views, but he determined
to mark her henceforth more closely.
When, later, she entered the parlor
he CHANGED to be doing on sofa by
the window, with the strong afternoon
sun on his face. She bent forward to
lower the blind. Her hands lowered
over his hair, her white blouse rustled
against him, and when she stepped
away, though no word had been spok-
en-, two red spots burned on her usu-
ally pallid cheeks.
"By Jove! that girl is certainly gone
on me-" he said when alone; and he
prided himself on his discovery with
the pride of man who did that kind
of thing for living-though it is prob
able any ordinary fool would have
made it days before.
1t must be understood that Andrew
Wilson was thoroughly honorable
man; Irritation, mild or otherwise,
was not in his way. He had always
been too engrossed in writing his
spicy, social tales to pay much atten-
| ton to mere flesh and blood. Besides,
he was very shy fellow, and scarcely
knew how to conduct concrete affair
of this sort-except on paper.
Yet he vas far from being displeas-
ed; and in the next few days, while
keeping his own actions down to the
severely commonplace, managed to abb
sorb good many mental impressions;
the dropping of her eyes, her speech
| disdainful, anxious, moody in it's va
riety-the lingering touch of her hands,
and so forth, all stored as future
copy" for the good of Andrew Will
son and his generation.
Then the idea of some immediate
sketches done from life entered his
head; he called them "Maudie and T.;
they were piquant little snapshots of
various fictitious pleasantries, firta-
tions and general carryings-on be-
tween that very charming, witty, and
imaginary young lady, Maudie, and
himself. At this period he certainly
opened out little with the brown
eyed girl; yet there passed absolutely
nothing, in deed or speech, to which
Exeter Hall Meeting might not have
listened unstirred.
Still, innocent as the relation was, it
supplied the foundation of his fin de
steele "Maudie" yarns, but written up
hundredfold with all the cunning of
the old dramatic style. And undoubt-
eddy there was good work in "Maudie +"
After the real girl and himself had
been for an evening stroll he used to
sit down and "do" ''Maudie" sketch
right away, so that lively young lady
had actually ground layer of human
nature in her, which no doubt was the
cause of the favor she excited
Andrew Wilson's stay was lengthen-
ed out considerably. He had wished
before leaving to close his "Maudie''
things with farewell sketch, his fic-
titious Maudie was not a marrying per-
son, and it would be unsatisfactory to
leave the man still futtering after
her.
But here he found himself at a
standstill; separation, even in story,
| has something inevitably mournful
about it, and mournfulness had not
hitherto characterized the series. All
one morning he gnawed his pen in
vain; the fantastic airiness he wished
| for would not be enticed from bis ink
pot.
Then he decided to wait and see how
the living she and himself parted; not
| that he expected anything-the affair
had not been serious enough thank
goodness; nevertheless, he might pick
up a wrinkle or two as before
Even his last benevolent intention
/ was frustrated. Positively stupid! l
think she might have disguised, or at
least attempted to disguise, her COM
plete Indifference" grumbled Andrew
to himself in the train afterward. with
out knowing why he was irritated.
These feelings possessed him until
next day he saw recorded the death of
the girl with the brown eyes; she had
drowned herself in the old mill pool be-
side which they had SO often sat.
Andrew Wilson was not used to this
sort of thing; he did not understand it,
and that was why two years ago he
went for short time with scared
expression on his face. Also, he drop
ped his favorite menage trois themes
for while.