The Somerset reporter., 1897-07-29
JOHNSON'S ROMANCE.

with the very small remnant of fortune
which remained after one Of his friends
had swindled him.
johnson was exactly the person to be
swindled His trustful generous heart
made him an easy prey.
Il don't like leaving my native
land, " he said to me day or so before
his departure, but the fact is can no
longer afford to lave in England so
must avail myself of the inexpen sive
continental style of existence. am
bound for Paris, which, after all. will
not be going very far away.
Johnson had been living abroad for
more than a year when | decided that
it was about time was looking him up.
He was not good at correspondence,
neither was |.
We exchanged occasional letters
which seemed to be full of nothing, so
| wanted to see with my own eyes how
he was bearing his changed fortunes.
1t was in the small 'entresol" of one
of the tall houses of the old Latin quar-
ter of the capital that found my friend
established.
He declared that he was very jolly,
but did not believe him. 1t was only
sort of logged determination to look
on the sunny side of things in general
that made him say So
How could man no longer in his
first youth be Jolly in stuffy little
lodging where his head almost touched
a. hnr L.
We're sent in by traiteur?"
johnson was just the fellow who
ought to be the head of an affluent Brit
ish household, with sons and daughters
growing up around him. Or he should
have been wealthy bachelor uncle, alb
solutely adored by large contingent of
nephews and nieces Solitude did not
seem the proper setting for him.
However, he took for his motto,
"Whateyer is, is best, trotted me about
Paris with an air of part ownership
which was infinitely comic-in fact, did
his level best to make my fortnig hts
stay pleasant one.
He would have insisted on giving me
up his bed and migrating to an unlet
utbO Oh VHo hlbl hool5 Du0 Nouio hOp
hear of it.
Twas obliged to pretend that l should
certainly suffocate in the small closet
he dignified by the title of "chambre
coucher, 3" and that had engaged quar-
tiers at one of the nearest hotels on my
way from the railway station and before
found him out.
nf
during good many years, it was only
when my stay in Paris drew very near
its close that johnson one evening be-
came confidential.
| am not very likely to forget that
evening, either, for | had come out ra-
ther sick and decidedly shuddering from
visiting the morgue.
Declaring it to be one of the sights
of the city, which strong nerved man
ought to see once in his life, had pre-
vailed on johnson to accompany me.
A group of excited women and a man
or two were standing by the entrance.
They told US that the body of a girl--a
young and pretty girl-had been carried
in not long before. She had been found
no doubt.
'I-think-I'll take your arm-my
dear fellow, stammered Johnson as we
came out from this CHASTITY spectacle.
Then l felt sorry had urged him
against his will. for his face was as
white as chalk and his manner was that
of man walking in dream.
tfIt ranindod mn - ha cold aftar 1ua
had walked some little way, and he
seemed better, of girl who was
drowned good many years ago. Per
haps I'll tell you about it by and by"
did not question him. The little ro-
nance of his life came out quite natu-
rally as we sat together in the stuffy
"entresol, waiting for dinner.
Il am such thorough fogy now, "
remarked Johnson from the depths of
the big Voltaire chair into which had
forced him, that l dare say, Frank,
you could hardly imagine me young
and fairly good looking"
"You forget" l answered, THAT
we were both tolerably young when
we first made acquaintance And, in
my OpihiOi, you arc Boou AoOhihB hOW'
ooh, yes, to you, perhaps. But could
you imagine me man with whom a
girl-pretty and much sought after
would fall in lover Yet so it was, and
think | shall feel better if / tell you
about it this evening
Tell me by all means, " I said ~
never knew before you were a man with
a story"
He smiled rather sadly.
"Who has not a story? Only we do
not happen to know it. l DOM suppose
that we who have failed in life as re-
CARDS happiness are in the minority.
Well, l, too, had my dreams of a wife
and home. At first they were vague
and shadowlike They only began to
take fSrm when knew Alice Temple.
have called her pretty, but l think it
was the intelligence expressed in her
eyes that one noticed most, or perhaps
the swift smile that came to her lips
when she spoke, 1"
waited silently. Presently johnson
went on with his story:
1--WE were engaged. There was moth
fng TO wait for | could afford to
MARRY and Alice had little money,
not much, and | was glad of it. l should
not have wished to be one of those at
whom the world points as a man who,
by marrying. has done we'll for him
self -