The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-12

/ ment by asking, with what g1rl2' But
knew Colin Marshman was incapable of so
pitiful a dodge.
With Dolly Melody?" he quietly said.
why, certainly-with Dolly Melody"
But why shouldn't I be seen with her?
L fancy have seen you walking with her.
my wise counselor"
Yes. of course l have walked with her,
now and then. But you seem to be always
fastened on TO her petlcoat tail"
Marshman looked a little grumpy; perhaps
at this unpoetical way of putting the 1ues-
! ton. But I did not mind the more sharp
/ ly could bring the danger IF common talk
to him the better for my pu.
Il have nigh respect for Miss Melody
he began in grave, not to say severe tone.
''of course; so have I-so have all"
Then why shouldn't 1 walk with nsr If
! she is not disinclined?"
We'll I should be disposed to say that
under the conditions the less disinclined she
is the more you ought to be careful about
walking and rowing with her.
But, do tell me-why?"
Talk to Gregory about it, said rather
sharply. II think, Marshman, you are go
| me the wrong way
my dear fellow, am going just the way
| she wishes me TO go. She positively declares
that if Randie Grimes cannot trust her, and
| IL he is jealous Of her and watches her, she
| will not marry him. She has appealed to
| him to trust her and to believe that she has
the interests of both of them at heart. AS
indeed she has, poor dear little girl"
| But why don't she tell him exactly what
! you and she are talking about and so rid
him Of suspicion?'
well, don't you see? Because she says
if he has no faith in her she would rather go
into the sea than marry him! Those are
her own very words. She is one of the
truest-hearted little girls ever knew. And
look here, my boy, 1 can tell you that she
| is by nature perfect lady"
Yes, I am sure she is; but think you
and she are playing very foolish game
You seem to take tremendous interest in
| her."
so do
Take care that you don't fall in love with
her.
MY good fellow. have fallen in love
with her.
ooh! Is that the way? Do you want to
marry her?'
Didn't L tell you that she is engaged to
poor Randie Grimes?'
why poor Randie Grimes, If he is en-
| gagged to such grl?'
well, because 1 think she is not very
fond of him, although she is quite deter
mined to carry out her engagement, if he
does not show himself actually unworthy
and impossible
Meanwhile you are putting him to a sort
| of test?"
rs there anything unfair in that? If he
proves himself really fit to be her lover and
husband, she will marry him right off the
reel. But if he proves himself to be man
with whom size could not possibly live, you
| could not expect her to marry him."
mo; but l don't like the idea of your be-
| ing mixed up in this questionable testing
| process. 1 confess that if were very much
in love with girl nothing could make me
more wild than the notion that some other
| fellow was engaged with my sweetheart in
some plot for testing my devotion as a
lover and my moral fitness to be husband.
Tell me one thing. Does she know that you
| care about her?
"She knows L am her friend
Eyes, yes, am not talking about that
am sure she knows am her friend, too"
''She does not know and does not imagine
that am anything more to her than just
a friend. If it came in your way, you would
do just much DOING
mot certainly in the way of making her
lover jealous in order to see what would
come of it,"
Yes; but it's not that. I entirely agree
with her that if he won't have trust in her
| she ought not to marry him..
WELL l am glad to hear that she has no
idea of your being in love with her"
"Of course she hasn't the remotest idea.
| How could she? You don't imagine that 1
have been making love to her?''
Indeed don't, old chap, seeing that she
| is engaged to another man. I wish, how
ever, you would both take great care. He
| seems to me not unlikely to prove dan
| gerous rival
How dangerous? And why rival?'
You see if he thinks you are making
love to the girl that constitutes him rival
at once. And as to his being dangerous
he may be the sort of man that sticks at
nothing-the man we read about in the
papers who stabs his sweetheart in
burst of jealousy
81 wish you wouldn't talk Of such things"
''Well, must say 1 didn't quite like the
look OF his face to-day when you and Dolly
came ashore and you wouldn't go back to
| the yacht with u.s.
Look here, you skeptic," he said, turning
round to me and catching my arm. IT am
doing all 1 can to help them to get married
1 am planning it all out with her. I am go
ing, in some underhand sort of way, to find
! the money which will enable him to buy
| those COMPOUNDED boats and set them up in
| housekeeping"
MY dear Marshman, I might have known
that you were trying to do some good for
somebody"
But don't you so to breathe a word of
| that to any human being, even to Gregory.
Nobody knows so far but Dolly-and now
| you
felt the highest admiration for Marsh
| man, and 1 believed every word he said.
But my mind misgave me, all the same,
about his course of action. l was by no
means certain that even when, in time,
Randie came to find out that he had bene-
factor, he would be any more grateful to
the man who had served him out Of regard
for his intended wife. read good many
| romances, and 1 thought 1 could imagine
natures with which such a benefaction
might only count as new form Of injury.
The next day, a little to our surprise,
Marshman announced that he was going
for few hours cruise in the ''Saucy Are
thusa," all alone with Randie Grimes.
After a while I thought I understood the
idea and that he meant to have a full ex-