The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-07
AN EPISODE.
From, Today.


| ness of things, disturbed the even
course Of the affair. The young man
had possessed a mercantile cousin and
| the cousin, having gone, two or three
Gays before, to land where mercan-
| tile possessions are rigidly excluded
had left the whole of his property to
the young man. His reasons for this
| unexpected act Of generosity were
| probably that he had never met the
young man. which, in view of the old
gentleman's temper, was an advan-
| tage, and also that the latter cultivat-
ed martial aspirations underneath his
mercantile SOUL even to the extent of
being at one time captain Of volun-
teers, and regarded the young man
with favor, as being the only military
specimen Of the family.
therefore, when the young man rose
from his brief sleep on the following
morning, he found solicitors letter
informing him Of his good fortune. At
first, the information appeared too good
to be true, but the additional informa-
ton that he was at liberty to draw
on the firm for any reasona BILE amount
put the truth beyond question. The
fact that he was rich, portentously
rich. at first filled him with an insane
desire to shout. AS silent relief to
his mental tension, he took his slippers
off, and threw them at the door Then
he put them on again, and lit a pipe.
All his life the young man had been
in straitened circumstances. He had
never had enough pocket money at
school, or a satisfactory allowance
since. Now he felt that he possessed
no single desire which he could not sat
isfy. Visions of infinite possibilities
rose before him. He even looked at his
pipe with contempt.
"And now" he said to himself, tri-
umphantly, II shall be able to marry
Kitty"
Oddly enough, the young woman had
not stood in the forefront of the pos
sibil1t1es. He noticed the fact with
something of start Romance was
! not at its strongest in his mind that
! morning, because the kind person who
provided the dance had also provided
a pale pink champagne, which punish
ed even the most abstemious with the
after horrors of excess. p
Yes" he insisted to himself, 81
shall marry Kitty. Not much fear of
being poor now"
i to the. more inanimate possibilities
| Should he stay in the service or not?
On the whole, he thought he would for
while, but he would be inclined to
exchange into a cavalry regiment A
few racehorses? Yes He had lust
begun to contemplate himself leading
IN the Derby winner, when he again
returned to the young woman
Yes he said to himself, "of course.
that's the best part of it, As a mat
ter of fact it was not at all the best
part of it. Marriage, in a way, means
the end of youth, and the young man
was just entering on a new world
which he had never known before 1t
is impossible TO be satisfactorily young
on limited income. The rosy dreams
that came trooping before his eyes
were not domestic. To be adequately
| domestic, you must be little tired Of
other things-not necessarily vicious
things but you must know the sun
shine to appreciate the shade. Half
against his will, the dream pictures
told him this. He wanted, though he
would not admit 1t to himself, to en-
joy his own sweet will without any
clog.
These things were hidden as vet
from anything but the young mans
subconscousness. AS he finished
dressing slowly, he decided to go at
once after breakfast and tell the young
woman of his happiness. The thought
ought to have suggested a triumpEal
procession, but only presented itself as
logical and obvious proceeding. Also,
if his feelings had been what he mag
lined them to be, he would have bap-
bled out his good fortune to the other
late corners at breakfast. He believ-
ed that it was romantic to reserve
the news for the young woman, but
the belief was artificial
He found the young woman sitting
in the sunshine on the lawn. She was
looking, too, preposterously healthy
and happy, considering the circum-
stances. He was able to explain quite
intelligibly what had happened, ard
the young woman listened and watch
ed him quietly. In some ways he was
a very transparent young man, and
she q of
ton.
80, now" he concluded, "of course.
we can be married just as soon as ever
we like"
Married. You want to marry me-"
she said dreamily, as though he had
suggested a new idea, which, as a
matter of fact, was the case.
why, what's the matter, Kitty?
Aren't you glad?" he asked.
I'm very glad that you'll be rich?'
she answered, with a smile. What are
you going to do?"
he answered.
"A good time, generally-generally,"
she repeated, slowly.
What Is the matter, Kitty?" he in
CURED, in a puzzled way. Il don't I'M
derstand."
I'm not sure that do yet" she
said.
Surely, after last night"-he burst
out.
Last night" she said, IT refused
you because you were poor. And last
night was years ago to you"
You surely don't think I'm such
cad as to let that make any differ
ence. OF course, know you were right
last night
mo, know you're not cad, Jack
You happen to be a gentleman. That's
what compllcates things so,' she said
IT don't understand you at ALL" he
said.
you're very, very young, Jack" she
answered. He did look very young
that morning, in his new aspect of
possible husband.
I'm no younger than I was last
night" he urged.
eff said yes"-she went on, quietly.
eff you said yes? Don't you care
for me still" he asked.
wait a moment" she answered. IF
I said yes we should be married soon.
Then we should settle down to a quiet,
hundrum. unexciting life. Do you real
ize that? Next year, you wouldn't want
to dance with me all the evening"
Then. do you mean you don't care
for me?' he asked.
mo, don't care for YOU" she said.
deliberately. She had watched his eyes