Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-02-11
ular, and In his presence, is not so
agreeable il he occupies the position

Maria lorrlnptOn went on WIN N'"'7
ness that would have astounded me
had / not known her,
eyes" | said, stupidity, asked you
frequently"
81 like you both very much, she
said, fixing her eyes on Brooks, who
was still fumbling his stick among the
leaves.
1t hardly seemed fair that she should
look 40 kindly on my rival, so / called
her eyes back to me by asking, Cant
you choose between us?"
"No," she replied after moment
Of thoughtful silence, 1--WE tried very
hard to, but cant. A plan of choos-
ing was suggested to me by your un-
expected coming"
"We are both to go away and stay
away" growled Brooks.
lone may come back"
"T?" Brooks started eagerly tow
ard her. She raised her hand in
warning.
II don't know which," she said.
''There is an old saying about mar
riage being lottery. l propose to
increase the chances. II You two con-
sent shall carry out at once the
scheme that have got up after long
and careful thinking"
''Are we to toss a penny?" asked.
'No. This afternoon | shall write
two notes, one an acceptance, the other
a refusal. They will be put in plain
envelopes, mixed up, directed and
mailed. The one of you who receives
the refusal shall
Commit suicide"
Brooks gloomy countenanc gave
credence to suspicion that in event of
his receiving the wrong note he would
resort to self-destruction. The girl.
however, speedily crushed all hopes of
such escape from suffering.
'You shall notw she cried. eff
you do l shall never speak to either
of you again"
There was long silence, and then
Maria looked from one to the other of
MS and said, earnestly: "You'll agree
to my plan, won't you?'
''There is nothing else that We can
do" said I.
Nothing" repeated Brooks.
In fact the scheme rather appealed
to me, for of late things had not been
going so smoothly as / could have de-
sired. 1t had seemed at times as
though Brooks was drawing away
from me in the race. Now chance
had been offered. Once for all the
question would be settled. Then, my
luck was usually good. The plan was
not 80 agreeable to my rival. Doubt
less he felt that he had the advantage
of me and in entering into such game
was gambling to obtain what was al
ready almost his own. He had no
other course hut to assent, though,
and he did it with rather bad grace.
1T seems hard" he said TO Maria,
''but you will il, and / obey"
at is agreed, them" said she.
Brooks and bowed The three Of
us walked back to the house.
l was up early next morning ut my
rooms in town. / had calculated
everything to nicely. The postman
would reach the house at 2. 10 o'clock.
The train for Elmwood left at
o'clock. Provided the contents Of
the note that L expected we're satisfac-
tory, l would just have time to break
fast and reach the ferry. Should the
note prove to be the wrong one, GER
tainly would not need any breakfast
and much less tn catch train. | had
been awake at dawn; excitement had
driven sleep from my eyes, and the
dragging hours gave me more than
ample opportunity to figure out my
chances. | revolved over and over
again in my mind the history of my
acquaintance with Maria Tori gton.
l reviewed my own life and picked
ont incidents in il in which luck had
played part, and found such "a bal
ance in my favor that | was almost
convinced that it was useless for me
to worry over the outcome of the game
of chance / was playing. Having
brought myself to state Of compare
tive confidence, / began to pack a
couple of bags full of clothes, for / had
made up my mind to make long stay
at the Torrington house while | was
about it. As stuffed my golf things
into portmanteau l pictured Maria
and myself plodding over the links to-
gether. As / folded up my riding
clothes thought of the gallops we
were to have, and l broke into song,
and as / sang forgot all about the
note that was then on its way to me
and worked away as cheeriy as though
il were but the matter of an hour till
I was spec ling to her. But a loud
knock at the door called me back to
realities, and when the hallboy held
toward me square envelope addressed
in small, angular hand, l realized
that, perhaps, after all my Joy had
been premature. Decidedly prema-