Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-09

my bride would not look at me, nor my sis
ter talk. Miss Thompson did both and to
spare Heavens, how she scourged me with
her merry speeches! And to think, Flo,
you naughty GIRL. she cried, turning a
Vengerui glare on my poor sister. who
writhed beneath her just attack, that you
passed MIN Off upon us as gay bachelor
What II had lost my heart?' And she
siared at me while 1 wondered to think
sne dared to claim to own such an organ
,,i,, uont suppose we were more than ten
minutes making that drive, yet 1 seemed
20 grow old and gray before it ended
iieipiess TO retaliate on Miss THOMPSON
my my manhood seemed to desert me- and /
SAT huddled up upon the seat like some
poor relation out for an airing
=, At last We were at home once more.
some one, only the coachman 1 think
Grove ,, on with Miss Thompson. and after
more confusion, 1 was standing before NV
orother-in-law, who had been telephoned
Tor In great haste: with Flo showing
symptoms of mysteries on a sofa at hand,
ana my poor bride doubtless weeping her
Pretty eyes out in a chamber above US
whittier she had fed without one word or
backward glance for me. Thus standing
suspected by ALL pitied by none. 1 poured
out my strange tale for perhaps the hun
dredth time.
can see my brother-in-law now as he
sat there, large, lOose-limbed, and prosper
Gus, filed with uneasy embarrassment at
the 1rregularity of being in his own house
during business hours, his eyes roaming IN
ccnJugal anxiety to where his wife lay vet
ever returning to me with friendly light
in their sharp, gray depths. Not a figure to
encourage romantic yarns, and yet l poured
NINE out upon him. and saw him shift and
vince, and heard his muttered by
Georges and his "Oh, come now. old fell
lows without flinching; and then when /
had finished they both sat and gazed at me
with pale faces and frightened eyes, much
as they might have looked had l been
brought home to them spread out on a
shutter.
Never mind. Flo.' were the first words
gasped out by poor William, when 1 had
ended. George. my dear boy, I'll see you
through this and then steps came hurry
ing along the hall, and the door fell open
to admit a servants fiustered face. But
before it had fairly dawned upon us 1t was
showed aside, and in bounded a small,
stopped figure which l recognized the
lawyer l had consulted that morning.
Something exciting he had to tell; his face
showed that; and before l could speak 20
him he and my brother-in-law ran at each
other and fairly exploded with lot of legal
Jargon in which l seemed to figure as both
John Doe and Richard Roe" so in
volved had my affairs become. Then all
three of them-for my sister had mixed
herself up in the confuSion-turned and
looked at me. My sister-for she loved me
with happy tears chasing the shadows from
her eyes; my brother-in-law-for he loved
my sister-with face of profound relief,
and my lawyer-for he loved his gold-with
a countenance uplifted by the vision of a
heavy fee.
Sir" he said sir, allow me to con-
graduate you; you have married an heir
eSS,'' and he grasped me with fingers pur-
pie from the arteries of his fountain pen,
and shook me as though rafting sovereigns
from a sack
by George, old fellow, you lit on your
feet this tiIne,' burst forth William with
explosive laugh. and he gave me blow
upon the back which would have driven
home a railroad spike
oh George and she's so pretty" whis-
pered my sister, with her arms about my
neck Couldn't you-don't you think you
might learn to like her just little?"
The next two weeks of my existence were
a troubled as a sick mans dream, for,
though sccrnfully Indifferent to the
every one else seemed to consider them of
the first Importance, and l led a wretched
life of it in the hands of my lawyer who
worked like a day laborer with his
Brandons uncle and cousin Il hadn't the
courage to even think of her by any other
name) turned violent and insulting, no one
would think of letting me meet them one
at time, and have 1t out with them.
Those who took an interest in the tiresome
details told me that the fantastic will
which had made all the trouble showed up
practically the same as it had been given
to me; and, finally. the matter was settled
somehow on comparatively peaceful
basis. The uncle denied everything, of
course, but finally disgorged enough. l
suppose. to satisfy those who were ham
ding the business Anyway, they ceased
lOFHenllHS me ABOUT IL even Or. A. whose
case had. of course. complicated my trou-
bles, recovered from his niraculously tri-
fling injuries, and | had time to fall hack
on the real source of my sufferIngs.
1t must have been patent to every wo-
man in the house, from my sister down to
the meanest scrubwoman, that l was the
victim of an engrUsSing and despairng pas
sion; and so my sister ignored petty filings,
the cook did violence to her own past rec
ord, the hOusemaid filled my vases with
flowers, and through all this wemanly kind
ness l staiked untamed, disheveled to
ties, solitary as to habit: a lean specter Of
a bridegroom without bride.
1t was apparent to every one that my
bride had no desire for my society, and 1
was made to feel, even by Flo, that it
would be considered a graceful act for me
to take my meals down town whenever the
pretty recluse had been prevailed upon to
promise she would leave her room
You she feels SO queer, you know"
my sister would say with an inscrutable
smile. And l have promised that we will
be alone tonight, and so l would rush off
savagely, take a few wretched morses of
food somewhere, then sneak home again
with the unacknowledged hope OF surpris-
ing them at the table, only to behold van
iShing skirts melting away behind some
closing door. After that L would fling
away TO my room, and commence my daily
task of packing the satchel which l in
variably unpacked before the night was
over.
l fell to absenting myself from the COM
mon haunts of man, taking loLg and dismal
and suicidal. During one Of these rambies,
at a moment when my Self-pity
at the keenest. l came upon group
OF men, of whom was in policeman
garb. He directing the others with
voice and gesture regarding manned and
hating beast that hobbled in their rear.
Take him to the outskirts and shoot him.
he ba wled. He broke plate glass window
today racing with street car" and, with
this death sentence warm upon his lips he
faced about to run full against me, as
darted toward him.
stop them. Stop those mem" 1 called.
and then, before his fingers could come
cropping for my collar. l explained more
calmly: L know the owner Of that horse.
He will gladly pay for any damages that it
has done and agree TO see after 1t more
carefully in the future
l think he thought l was demented; but
the color of my gold was the same as that
of any sane mans So after decent pause
in behalf of his official dignity. he recalled
his vassals, and a moment later. with the
whole crowd jeerng at me. l had started
on my homeward way. leading the wretched
outcast. On through the sloppy road we
went, we two who had made that dark
night race together. He worn and spent in
body, and 1 with my spirit biting the very
dust. Long was the way, but at length we
turned in at the door of a public stable