Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-08-06
"Great God, Hal! What's the m,

The devil she IS!
Yes" he went on in a quiet, monoto
nous way some men have when they are
badly hurt and that is more horrible tt
listen to than groans Il asked her tC
marry me tonight, and she refused; gay,
me a lot of brother and sister rot. Nv,
feared it all the time, but | am knocked
silly all tho same. hly Godl Jack, you
don't know how / love that girl, and to
night she vas so sweet l lost my head. !
didn't intend to tell her for awhile, but il
makes no difference. 1t would have beer
the same thing, soon or late. viii suits
her best. I don't blame her.
$50 she's a"cepted WHIP
"Oh, no." ne went on YEARLY; mot
| yet, but she will. Who else is there?"
eyes; who else?" l echoed.
"God knows I hope they'll be happy
But, Jack, l can't stay here now. l CAM
here tonight partly to tell you about the
end of my love story, but mostly to gel
you to take charge of my affairs. vii.
and / talked this over some time ago ant
| agreed that whichever Of us won Mary
would buy the others half in the old place
| SO you can fix it up with him."
l argued with him that it would be bet
ter to wait awhile and not act hastily
that maybe Miss Kent would change hei
mind, but my heart was not in my voice,
l know, and Henry shook his head.
"No; it's no use to talk that way. The
things settled, and l am not going to stay
here to be gloated over by these id old
women in Breesboro."
l pointed out to him that unless he told
them they couldn't know anything about
it, but he was the worst hurt man l ever
saw, and nothing would do but that he
should leave town Oh the early train next
morning. He staid all night with me and
told me he would send his address as soon
as he was settled somewhere.
Sometimes it is difficult to apply genera
maxims to particular cases. There were
periods in hat last conversation with
Henry Leicester when l was tempted tc
look at Mary Kent through the eyes OF
Breesboro gossips.
I was a good deal surprised that Will did
not come to Breesboro the next morning,
for l supposed Henry had told him of his
intended departure. I afterward learned
that he had come straight from Kent's to
my office that night. In the afternoon
my door was flung violently open, and
Will, very much flushed, rushed in. See
ing that I was engaged with a client, he
leaned against the wall and savagely
switched the leg of his boot with his rid.
Ing whip. No sooner had the other man
gone when Leicester burst out:
"This is a hi of a worldp'
I silently subscribed to his criticism and
awaited further developments.
eyes, it u.s." he insisted, as though l
had denied his first assertion. "And this
place is the hottest part of it. Jack Alcott,
l want you to let your other business 60
to the devil or where it will and help me
straighten out my affairs. Pm going to
leave this id country today. Hal
Leicester Qt was one of Wills PECULIAR
ties that he always spoke of his brother as
"Hal Leicester, never as "Hal" alone)
sis going to buy my half of the farm.
We've fixed it up. Oh" in response to a
query Of mine as to the cause of his action,
"it's that little f1irt over at Judge Kent's.
She has fooled me to the top of my bent.
Hal Leicester had better look out that she
doesn't fool him. l always thought you
were a fool, Alcott, that you didn't fall in
love with her, but you've got more sense
than both of us put together"
I modestly deprecated such extravaganza
f1attery and told him about Henry's going
Will guessed it at once.
"She's worse than I thought. Poor old
Hal Leicesterl' he exclaimed.
The way he blamed everything on the
girl revived my weakening faith in the
ability of men to take care of themselves.
"Look here, Will, I'll be hanged if I see
where the crime Miss Kent has committed
comes in."
"You don't, eh? Well, we'll leave my
self out of the question, but don't you see
the harm in flirting with poor old Hal
Leicester and breaking his hearth"
"Oh, I'm something of a skeptic about
the brittleness Of hearts. Besides If she
had accepted you and broken Halls heart
that way I don't believe you would be so
internally sharp in your criticisms"
"a girl has NJ right to encourage a man
If she doesn't care for him. returned
Leicester oracularly if not relevantly.
"What do you mean by encouraging a
man9"
"Oh-er-d-n it, making him think
she cares for him; treating him white,
smiling and blushing when he comes
round. Thunder, Jack! You know what
I mean we'll enough"
I did know what he meant, and l
couldn't hold Mary Kent guiltless, but
that theory was demanding support.
"Do you expect a girl to turn her back
on all the men because they haven sense
enough to put a true valuation IN her
smiles? Would you have her tell a man
she can't marry him before he asks herr
You know we'll, Will, that nothing but a
positive refusal could have made you be-
lieve you hadn't a through ticket to Miss
Kent's affections. Why, any old maid in
Breesboro could have told you how your
affair was coming out"
"I'm id If you're very civil, Jack,
and I don't agree with you. Still love is
proverbially blind, and there is something
in what you say. But she was to blame
as well as we. However, it's over now,
and I'm going to follow Hal Leicester"
/ did my best to show him the folly of
selling the place and all that, but the up
shot of it was that he went, and l was the
richer in pocket and the poorer in friends
as the result Of the ''carryings On" with
the Leicester boys. They settled in Ne
braska, and when / last heard were doing
we'll.
And Mary Kent9
Well, you see, I married her, which may
account for several things.-Peterson.
A Skiagraph.
"Wonderful thing" said the shoe clerk