The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-03-25
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

lMuEUUUUuu&Mltuulis
Three men sat at dessert In q notably
comfortable dining room Ia Harley
ftrcS,. They had been close friends al
college. and. though they were all near.
ms forty, the ftiendshlp was cordial
ntlil Hubert Dcnlson. the sucressful
artist, had made an awful matrimonial
mistake that had resulted In a cause
ceiebre and freedom. Stanley Hessel.
TING, the rising lbarriSter, had been bad.
~ Tilted IN early youth, and had very
reasonably concluded that he had had
enough OF women for the rest OF his
days. AS TO Frank Sebastian, first O;
living surgeons, according 60 his many
friends. who proclaimed the fact loudly,
and his few enemles,s who allowed It
with reservations. he was a bachelor.
He told meddling outsiders ne was not
aInafrying man, but he had admitted
70 this speclal coneiaye That the true
reasons was that he had never sueceed-
Cd In falling III love. He was handsome
--tali, active. with keen blue eyes, and
q trim beard just touched with sray;i
Int he was much quietefs than usual on
this afoggys 18th OF February.
hats the matter. Frank?.' asked
Dcnison. filling his glass, With tho sat
iafactory certainty that the post was
Thoroughly good. Are we to drink the
Health OF Valentino, Las on so many
anniversaries made memorable by this
divine s5S?'"' q, yS stl,s.
I; No. ',ssaid Frnnk Sebastian. shortly;
flor Valentino Is dead" s'l1l3
Denison put down his tpll glass with
an amazed exclamation.
,Plumbed the mystery after fourteen
yea.sl Impossible!. said Hesseltine,
whose legal mind disllked mysteries,
and who had always been especially
anxious to get to the bottom OF tho
case. ~! iis.t
tI5expect you both remember ynlcn-
tines day fourteen years ago.. began
Sebastian, with certain hesitation
s'Hesseltine was hrIefess then, and was
sitting to Sou Denison, for Alci-
blades. ~ ,s.ii
before he grew: fat parenthesisel
y the artist, with a laugh.
'tHow I tore into the studio with bank
notes for 9400 cracking In my pockets
money sent anonymously, money that
lot me go to Germany and make my,
fortune by three years study under
old Won. Gleich From Valentine. so
shet you may work and attain.'H
And, by love, you've done both, old
man. said the friends simultaneously.
Yes. I have found out a few things,
helped a few unfortunates. But for
valentine u must have drudged away
in9aome. out-of-the-way hole In the
country. / was no; good till i had leisure
TO work and think without bothering
about the bread and cheese"
Eherchez la femme was always my
+ advice, only you never took it" said
Denison. Z, 4
s.sYou were right, for. It was a wonlan;.
! and now she Is dead. and \ can never,
Z nyen thank her for letting me rise to
y The very height OF my ambition"
They say onlr women do those Quix-
otic things. But to hold her tongue for
I fourteen years-that's the bit OF the
: story I cam credit
First story I've heard with woman
ID itswho didn't want a quid pro quo,
Yon are Two misogynists. You've al
SO got a right to. be. So perhaps I won't
read you this, as, somehow, / half In
tended, :. y 9s
Denlson had loved his wife well, de-
spite her utter heartlessness, and he
retofned:
Read It Let US have something sem
t!mental, something prettily tender and
sideal. Just to put away the flavor OF,
London. I'm not sham cEnic tonight.
Y IT looks like a very human document"
Sebastian moved his chair out OF the
radius of the red shaded candies, and
with a deepening shadow on his grave
v face began to read:
y The Nicarage. Cherrington-on-Ta-n
--Deari Sir: By request of my deceased.
s sister send you the inclosed. She had
9 been for many years companion 10 Lady
Ida Fitzroy, and died at her house from
the effects of influenza.
rs " Yours faithfully, ri
y HENRY BRADENHAAf.''
~ The inclosurc was in a delicate neat
writing, upon several yellowed sheets
Y ofppaper, and Sebastian's firm hand
Z shook a little as he held up the first OF
them. It had no formal introduction
and Sebastian began 10 read abruptly,
thus: "a q. q - ~.
.,tThis will not reach you tin i am
: oSdu.-S 3eFu2tpS HtSeT, IL you SNOulQ 5Cle
D first So I may say that 1 love you with
njywhoie soul, and have followed every.
footstep In your career--the career of
Which j have been SO proud, because I
/ helped to make Il. dare say you will
be disappointed to hear that ''Valen-
IL tine was no one interesting. Just a
Z plain, homeiy Eiri. to whom you have
Y forgotten you were Kind once;
-, Do you remember, fourteen years
ago, a certain Mary Bradenhans at, the
hotel at Newquay. companion n to a
harsh old aun., who was handsome and
clever, and hard on her niece because,
2 she was neither? She was middle
q ged. and yet all the men liked to talk
4 TO Miss Sinclair. because she had seen
Everything and beer everywhere. She
wns the last woman In the world TO have
been accredited with romance, but We
IS all have one--even t. Hers had erded