The Portland daily press., 1899-02-17
THE MEPHISTO CAP.

let me sec Madeline Kearney. Oh,
you tell me, sister. I'm too tired to guess.
I bat railroad has shaken me all to pieces
in the last hundred miles -
We'll, thep, if you're too tired to exert
your mind, Edna Barson'
"Oh, and she marries''-
bob Bristol, of all men. Old enough
to be her father, isn't hep
Cortell had been away five years In the
west and had just made a long journey in
order to spend two or three weeks at home
with his mother and sister. He had come
back, II seemed to him, much moro than
five years older than he was when he left
There was upon him now the steadying
pressure of largo responsibilities, for he
was very near to being the head of a large
business enterprise. All that he saw
even the faces of his mother and sister-
reminded him of what he had been when
his eyes last fell upon those scenes and
those faces, and he found himself rs he
stretched at full length on the lounge
wondering how he could ever have been
50 frivolous and so joyously careless of
consequences in everything as he had been
in the days that now seemed to him to be-
long to the dim distance of history.
$50 women can forget sometimes you
SEE, IT'S FlsttT Ntts tOllllnuiHk httlks
Bob's thoughts were wandering back to
the past. Presently he exclaimed some
what suddenly: by lingo, Clare, / be-
iieys have something. Let me see. When
do Won sly Edna is to be married? May"
Middle OF May. believe. E"
And this il the middle of April. BY
lingo, l wonder whether ought to take
it. 10 her OF send itf'
That's your second by jingo' in one
minute. Send what? Wedding prosentF"
"EhY Yes, of course, | must send
Wedding present | knew Bristol quite
well He's an older man than am, isn't
heY"
That evening Calvin Cortell unpacked
big leather trunk in the privacy Of his
own room. He took out tin box that
looked as if it had been designed originally
to hold cash lie unlocked that box and
took out ckage after package OF carefully
tied up papers-reeeipts, Cancelled notea,
memoranda of many kinds. Under all
these was a leather cased daguerrotype of
his mother Last of all, under the case,
in some Tissue paper, were u pair OF very
much faded kid gloves
Cortell took out tho tissue paper pnck-
age, replaced the daguerrotypo, the various
bundles Of memoranda, Cancelled receipts
and Other business documents, locked the
tin box and "a, down to think.
He laid the faded gloves on the little
writing table before him. drew up chair,
rested his elbows on the table and sup
ported his head on his two hands. As tho
faint odor Of the disinterred gloves came
TO his nostrils smile, half OF amusement,
half of tenderness played over his face
But the question is, how the deuce am
7 i oil !, off
some minutes Of this breeding.
The smile on his face grew more and
more tender Presently he sighed, and
then he spoke again to himself; - That has
nothing to do with now, old man. That
was long ago. You've got it TO do"
Edna Barson certainly had been little
discsnoerted when the news came TO her
that her sweetheart OF five years before had
suddenly made his appearance In the town
Just at the time when her engagement to
Bristol had been made public She was
not vividly conscious of any feeling for
Calvin Cortell that could have been CON
strued as disloyalfy to her finance, but she
knew only too we'll how recklessly tongues
will wag in small town, where each
man s-or woman Robustness Is the bust
ness Of all and considering many things,
Cortell's sudden appearance just then,
after continuous absence of five years,
might very pisusibly be made to bear a
significance that would disturb the smooth
current Of her engagement. There had
been rumors that Mrs. and Miss CorteH
would, some time or other, go west to
make their home with Calvin, but no one
had expected to see him back In his for
mer home.
Edna sat before the fire two days after
Calvin Corteil's arrival, and was Inedi-
tating over these things when Cortell
himself entered She was looking for
visit not from him, but from Bob Bristol
Nevertheless she found little or no diff
Guilty in meeting him with conversational
care
At first, that is Her old friend or
sweetheart lost but little time in coming
10 the particular business OF his call, and IL
certainly startled her little when he said,
II am very glad l found you alone"
"Glad?" she said "Oh, yes. 1t is nice
to be able to have little chat Tell me
about your life out there."
Il can tell you about that at some other
time, " said Cortell. Just at present
have to discharge duty. Oh, yes. Ii
like it If were in Bristolis place.
Like whats" said the girl.
"This"-and he took tissue paper
package from his pocket.
Edna opened the package, wondering
When she saw the old gloves lying there
with the marks of wear of many years ago
upon them, but also marked with the
folds of many other-later--years of care
full keeping, a whole procession of mem
cries passed before her mind She was ST.
lent for some moments.
What ought l to do with themf" she
asked. Il don't know. Tell me-"
Not the least doubt of it the w hole affair
was excessively silly. 1t was thoroughly
in keeping with the rest that now this
young woman on the eve of marriage with
another mana marriage into which no
one had forced her-should be looking
with look Of pitiful appeal in her eyes