Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-08-10

eyes. the WOOte eNBIeSoloA H~---- 49,
OF somewhat listless sadness l Iouhd
myself specializing as to what she Was,
where she lived, and why she ilVeo, az
I soon decided that she did, IN semi
solitude with her morose father took
their relationship for granted-whlo
scarcely ever, while they were With
my ken. addressed word to ner.
Night after night / went to Vauxhall,
drawn-thCugh / would not then have
admitted it-by a pair Of clear gray
ewes. There the iil-ass0rted couple al
WAYS. sat. scarcely ever speaking to one
another. she listening abstractedly 10
the music he mostly reading a news
paper. AS the last item on the pro-
gramme was begun they invariably
rose to depart.
One night confess it with certain
feeling of shame followed them with
the object OF finding where they lived.
Down the Rue de Ia Loi and the Rue
Royal they went as far as the Palace
St. Gudule and there, in crowd close
to the cathedral. / lost sight or them
although 1 apCStrOphized myself as
BANKED fool for doing so. lea penni-
less playwright liked the name,
though still among the great unplayed!
Suppose 1 met them, suppose my in
fatuation for a pathetic pale face, with
searching gray eyes should develop in
TO real passionate love for the living,
puIsive personality to which they be-,
longed: what could / dol whose
worldly possessions consisted of about
$40 sterling, a few Enacted plays and
some unDUbliShcd StOrleS9
Thus / reasoned with myself, but
reason has little TO do in governing a
mans actions in these matters; and
besides. I argued, probably l shall be
promptly disiHusioned as soon as
have spoken to Miss Gray Eyes.
The very next evening my oppor-
tuniey occurred; nor was l slow to seize
il. L reached Vauxhall early and took
my. place close by the table where the
unknown ones were in the habit OF sit
ting. Presently tha man arrived alone.
MY heart sank within me-she was not
cOming-aud then rebOunded, for there
should be no difficulty in tackling the
man when by himself. pretended 10
be earnestly reading a paper, but out
of the tail of my eye observed the new
conner take his accustomed seat. me
band struck IN a lively tune, and was
wondering how / should introduce my
self when a voice at my shoulder SAID:
Sir, when you have done with your
paper may I glance at it for a moment?'
/ started AT being thus suddenly adj
dressed. looked up and found the bent
figure Of the father Of Miss Gray Ewes
sanding by me. Here was luck! /
automatically offered the paper at once,
and before the evening was over
had some talk with Mr. Mortimer; and
fairly accurately did I gauge his char
acter as that of a man prefraturely aged
and deeply bitten with the gambling
mania. So far as / would permit him
his whole talk was of stocks and shares.
of odds and chances. When he rose to
go 1 preferred my arm. He glanced
suSDiCiOusly at me and took It, Be
fore we reached his home l ventured
timOrOusly enough TO ask after his usu-
al companion, and to express a hope
that she was not ill., No; she had
stayed i'm on account Of a headache.
was not slow IN pressing my adj
vantage. The next evening / boldly APP
preached the Mortimers, and, grudging-
ly. the old man introduced me. Now,
said | 70 myself. now for disillUsiOu-
meut. What self-deceiyers we are, for
I neither wanted nor expected to be
disillusiOned.
And I vas not Night after night l
talked t6NGraCe-I had heard her father
call her so. and t6enceforward she was
Grace to me. and the more we talked
he more We found we had many tastes
in common. I became daily more &c
voted to his girl Of whose existence 1
knew nothing a short month ago. On,
if 1 only should secure the first prize in
the lottery. or if only my comedy were
TO be produced at the Thespian, then I
might dare-what might / not dare?
One morning / went TO the Botanic
garden. for Grace had said the evening
I before that she often spent an hour
there at noon. A couple of small chill
/ dren came playing near where l sat.
They began chattering to one another
i'm French as they gathered up stones
from the path and arranged them on
the garden seat. l tried talking to the
youngsters and they promptly began
transferring the pebbles from the seat
TO my knees. laughing merrily the while.
l was so taken up with them that
did not notice anyone approaching and
was startled at hearing a sweet, famil-
lar voice say:
Mr.. Drummond, what are those
children dOing?'
/ rose at once, to the disturbance Of
their playthings. Good morning,
. Miss Mortimer; this is an unexpected
pleasure"
She blushed at my remark. seeing, I
suppose, with feminine sharpness. that
/ was merely there on the chance Of
meeting her The two little children
I evidently decided that l was an unsat-
isfactOry cOmrade. and returned TO their
garden seat as a more stable foundation
for their buildings. When addressing
my companion they called her "Mees
Mariner and I suppose that l looked
surprised for she said:
Ell was about to tell you. Mr.. Drum
\ mOnd. that my name is not Mortimer.
Mr.. Mortimer is my stepfather. These
are my young pupils, she added
whom I bring out here every morning
as a recOmpense for having made them
try TO twist their little tongues into
speaking our language"
During this morning and some subse-
Quent ones-for tt Is curious how often we
happened TO meet in the same place.
learned much OF ms charmer's history.
Her step-father was a retired officer whose
means had an been swallowed up in no.
tcriouS bank failure of few years earlier.
IN THE