The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-02

I too, had learnt the horror Of his name.
/ Fanny's voice fell to whisper when she
| said Shocks. Miss Winchelsea would not
| give him any answer when at last in the
| Borghese she could have minute with him,
| but she promised him a note.
! She handed him that note in the little book
! OF poetry he had lent her, the little book
that had first drawn them together Her
refusal was ambiguous. abusive. She could
| no more tell him why she rejected him than
she could have told cripple of his hump.
He, too. must feel something of the I'M
| speakable quality of his name Indeed he.
had avoided dozen chances of telling it,
| she could not reveal reasons why the
| thing he spoke of was impossible" She ad-
dressed the note with shiver e K.
| Shocks
Things were worse than she had dreaded;
| he asked her to explain How could she
| explain? Those last two days in Rome were
| dreadful. She was haunted by his air of
| astonished perplexity. She knew she had
| given him intimate hopes, she had not the
| courage to examine her mind thoroughly for
| the extent of her encouragement. She knew
| he must think her the most changeable of
beings Now that she was IN full retreat,
| possible correspondence. But in that matter
! he did thing that seemed to her at once
delicate and romantic He made go
| between Of Fanny. Fanny could not keep
| the secret and came and told her that night
under a transparent pretext of advice. Mr.
Shocks" said Fanny, wants to write to
me. Fancy 1 had no idea. But should l
let him?" They talked it over long and
v.
to keep the veil over her heart. She was
already repenting his disregarded fhints
Why should she not hear of him sometimes
painful though his name must be to her?
Miss Winchelsea decided it might be per-
mitted and Fanny kissed her good night
with unusual emotion: After she had gone
Miss Winchelsea sat for long time at the
window of her little room. 1t was moon
light and down the street a man sang
tenderness. She sat very still. She
breathed word very softly to herself and
the. word was .Snooks." Then she got up
with a profound sigh and went to bed. The
next morning he said to her meaningly, II
shall hear of you through your friend"
Mr.. Shocks saw them off from Rome with
that pathetic interrogative perplexity still
on his face. and if it had not been for Helen
he would have retained Miss Winchelsea's
paedic keepsake. On their way back to
England Miss Winchelsea on six separate
occasions made Fanny promise to write to
seemed, would be quite near Mr.! Shocks.
Her new Scholastic was always going to
new ,schools-would be only five miles from
Steely Bank, and it was in the SteeIy Bank
Polytechnic and one or two first-clasS
schools that Mr.. Shocks did his teaching.
He might even see her at times. They could
not talk much Of him-she and Fanny al
ways spoke of "him,' never of Mr.. SHOCKS
because Helen was apt to say unsympa-
thetic things about him. Her nature had
coarsened very much, Miss Winchelsea per-
ceived since the old training college days;
she had become hard and cynical. She
| finement for weakness, as people of her
stamp are apt to do, and when she heard
his name was Shocks she said she had ex-
pected something of the sort. Miss Win
chelsea was careful to spare her own feel
ings after that, but Fanny was less circum
Spect.
The girls parted in London and Miss Win
chelsea returned, with a new. interest in life.
to the Girls High School, In which she had
been an increasingly. valuable assistant for
the last three years. Her new interest in
life was Fanny as a correspondent, and to
give her lead she wrote her a lengthy de-
scriptive letter within fo1 might of her re-
turn. Fanny answered. and very disappoint-
ingly Fanny, indeed had no literary gift,
but it was new to Miss Winchelsea to find
herself deploring the want of gifts In
friend. That letter was even criticised aloud
in the safe solitude of Miss Winchelsea's
study and her criticism r spoken with great
just the things Miss Winchelseas letter had
been full Of particulars of the school. And
of Mr.. Shocks only this much; Il have had
a letter from Mr.. Shocks, and he has been
over to see me on two Saturday afternoons
running. He talked abouz Rome and you
we both talked about you. Your ears must
have burnt. my DEAR
Miss Winchelsea repressed a desire to de-
mand more explicit Information, and wrote
the sweetest long letter again. Tell me. all
about yourself. dear That journey has
quite refreshed our ancient friendship and
l do want to keep in touch with you.'
About Mr.. Shocks she simply wrote on the
fifth page that she glad Fanny had
seen him, and that if he should ask after
kindly" (underlined) And Fanny replied
most obtusely in the key of that. ancient
friendship reminding Miss Winchelsea of
days at the training college and saying not
word about Mr.. Shocks.
For nearly a week Miss Winchelsea was
so angry at the failure of Fanny as a go
between that she could not write to her.
And then she wrote less effusively, and in
M letter WAS un
eXpectedly satisfactory.
I have seen Mr.. Snooks," she wrote, and,
having once named him, she kept on about
him; it was all Snooks-Snoohs this and
Shocks that He was to give public lee
ture, said Fanny, among other things. Yet
Miss Winchelsea, after the first glow of
satisfaction, still found this letter a little
unsatisfactory. Fanny did not report Mr.
chelsea, nor as looking little white and
worn, as he ought to have been doing. And
ond letter from Fanny on the same theme,
quite a gushing letter, and covering six
sheets with her loose feminine hand
odd little thing that Miss Winchelsea only
noticed as she reread 1T the third time
Fanny's natural femininity had prevailed
of the training college; she was one or
those she-creatures born to make all her
ms and ms and us and RS and e's alike
and to leave her o's and as open and her Is
indicted. So that it was only after an
elaborate comparison of word with word
that Miss Winchelsea felt assured; Mr.
Shocks was not really MIR. Shocks" at all!
In Fanny's first letter of gush he was Mr..
"Snooks," in her second the spelling was
changed to Mr.. "Senoks." Miss Winchel-
seas hand positively trembled as she turned
the sheet over-it meant so much for her.
For it had already begun to seem to her
that even the name of Mrs. Shocks might
be avoided at too great a price, and sudden
l-v-this possibility! She turned over the six
sheets, all dapped with that critical name
and everywhere the first letter had the
form of an e! For time she walked the
room with hand pressed upon her heart
She spent whole day bordering this
change, weighing a letter of inquiry that
should at once be discreet and effectual,
weighing, too, what action she should take
after the answer came. She was resolved
that if this altered spelling was anything
more than a quaint fancy of FannyS she
would write forthwith to Mr.. Shocks. she
had now reached a. stage when the minor
refinements of behavior disappear. Her ex-
cuSe remained unnvented, but she had the
subject of her letter clear in her mind, even
to the hint that circumstances in my life
have changed very greatly since we talked
together" But she never gave that mint:
There came third letter from that fitful
correspondent Fanny The first line pro-
claimed her ''tne happiest girl alive.
Miss Winchelsea crushed the letter In her
hand-the rest unread-and sat with her
face suddenly very STILL She had received
it Just before morning school, and had
opened it when the junior mathematicians
were we'll under way. Presently she re-
sumed reading. with an appearance of great
calm But after the first sheet she went
On roo DING tho third without discovering the