Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-10-21
His First Love
BY A. BLAIR LEES.

BY A. BLAIR LEES.
They were sitting in Bryce'S luxuri-
GUS chambers-a party of men whom
business or pleasure had kept in town
during the festive season, or who had
mol had sufficient inducements offered
them to quit 1t. Bryce was laying
down the law concerning The Flirting
Woman in his own dogmatic way
"A woman who fiirts," he announced,
In tone of absolute finality, "a wo-
man who deliberately plays with a
mans heart for her own amusement Is
capable of anything-anything! from
pocket-picking to murder"
The men seated around the table ex-
changed covert smiles. 1t was joke
OF old standing amongst them that
Bryce had been Tilted by his first and
only love-hence this particular bee in
his bonnet, his confirmed bachelor
hood and unchivalrous attitude to-
ward the fairer half of creation. Cor
don, slim young barrister, took up
the cudgels on behalf Of the sex.
Granted" he said, with an engag-
ing drawl, that woman has no more
right to tamper with a mans heart
than with his banking account, but
you would never get the dear creature
to understand the principle of the
thing Scores of women, who would
not stoop to wrong you of halfpenny,
would break your heart without COM
junction, out of sheer fun and kitten
ISL. perversity"
Bryce shot glance at the speaker
his dark eyes flashing with the vindic-
tive bitterness that the subject always
reused in him.
Il say" he reiterated, with harsh
emphasis, that a deliberate flirt Is
carable of anything"
''Yaas, dear fellow" drawled Gordon,
swcctly, I'VE all heard you. Only-you
can't prove it,"
"Cart?"
.'Nc. You assume, what is mani
testify unfair, that woman who is
guilty Of one trifling weakness is ca
pable of all-is, in fact, utterly unprin-
cirleG. You can't make it good. How
would you stand yourself, judged by
the same slap-dash rule? And they
do say, don't they, that flirting girls
make the best wives?"
Would you care to run the risk?"
asked his host with grim laugh.
Gordon shrugged his shoulders. "In
ny humble opinion" he said, lightly,
the risk is inevitable-the results a
halter of degree"
a general laugh followed this pre-
OCious statement.
what do you say, Ives?" demanded
Bryce Of silent, keen-eyed man. You
ire acquainted with the Indian variety
u the tribe-you ought to know
little about the subject"
Ives shook his head. I'm no judge"
he said, diffidently. II have been up
rouLtry too long, and Irritation is
lost art in the remote stations-men
san't very well fiirt with each other.
Nv principal experience of our fair ex-
ports was during the Mutiny, and that
Is not exactly an honest test, you will
hgree."
why not?" sneered Bryce.
Ives looked at him little curiously
before replying. You men who sit at
humc at ease" he remarked, quietly,
"rarely seem to grasp the intense grue-
someness Of fighting. Filtration never
STANDS that fiery ordeal. Love, real
love, the genuine article, thrives and
blossoms under the strangest condi-
lions and in the grimmest scenes-its
counterfeits wither at the first breath
OF & hostile cannon. Did you ever pic
ture your ideal flirt-the woman with
no good in her-in a beleaguered fort,
among the unspeakable horrors of
siegc-where the enemy's shells keep
crashing through the walls in quite un-
expected places, and the groans of
wounded men are the Least alarming
sounds? / thought not. could tell
YOU a story Of flirt knew" he went
on, twirling the stem of his glass
rornd and round between his fingers.
''It may interest you. / don't think
Il Will bore you. Did any of you know
Jack Reeves?"
A subdued murmur of assent passed
round. Jack Reeves was dead. Ives
eyes were on his glass, and he did not
see the dark, painful flush that crept
slowly over his hosts face, nor the
ashen pallor that succeeded it.
You know how he died, of course?"
"We heard" said one of the men,
with a slight effort, that he and his
wife wcrc killed at the taking Of some
out. os-the-way fort by the rebels. 1t
was most deplorable affair"
''Is was. was in it."
'fcu" exclaimed Gordon. "It was
reported that every one Of the de-
fen.le-s was killed"
4 dare say. It was not always easy
20 make out accurate reports Just then
survivors had disorderly knack Of
turning up, wounded and half-starved,
after the dispatches had been sent
home. l ought to have been killed. no
doubt, but / was knocked over In the
thick of the last struggle, and fairly.
buried beneath pile of rebel corpses.
That saved me, l believe. The relief
party We had been waiting for arrived
ON the scene half an hour too late.
They routed the mutineers, and paid
the last tribute of respect to their dead
friends. and the men who meant to
bxry mt brought me round again In