Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-01-19
G0HAT is provokingw

panion, one whom had not seen be-
fore and who must have come In and
occupied the place while had dozed
off,
Yes, I had been ave minutes asleep
and in that brief interval there had hap
pened something which caused me to
exclaim in the way did.
/ When lay back my head In the fast
whirling train, to think o moment, l
held in my hand photograph. 1t was
in a cabinet envelope. and, strange to
say, had not yet looked at 1t.
leaned forward In the seat and tried
to search the aisle past my travelling
companion, then I looked under the
seat, then back Of 1t.
SIT must have fallen out Of the win
dow" said to myself.
At this the young lady murmured:
"Have you lost anythingY'
"Yes," said /, "and, to make the mat
ter more embarrassing, 1t was the pic
ture of young and beautiful girl. the
| finest of her SEX"
You pique my curiosity" said my
companion.
We'll. mine was piqued also" said /,
| "but, owing to my stupid fashion Of
falling asleep In a railroad train, am
afraid 1t will never be gratifed unless
l am fortunate enough to see the orig
iginal some day."
"How interesting" said the pretty
girl beside me.
Seeing that she was In mood to al
low me, chance travelling companion,
to converse with her, said: "It is too
utterly provokingw Here hesitated.
*"TeH me about It," said she.
"Well," said I, 'as you probably live
In the East, and as live In the far
West. and as there is no probability Of
our eyer seeing the people or even of
knowing. as far as you are concerned,
who they are. will tell you about 1t. 1
think ! can do so without impropriety,"
laughed I, specially as 1t is love at
fair, and all the world loves lover"
At this the pretty girl looked intensely
eager, and 1 prepared myself to tell the
story OF the lost photograph"
Il can best begln," laid I, ''by read
ing you letter."
Taking from my pocket a letter In a
mans writing, / read aloud this para
graph:
"She Is beauty, Ned. and no mis-
take. am wild for you to come East
and meet her. She Is a Southern girl,
but comes North now and then to see
her grandmother or aunts, or something
of that SORT. Makes her headquarters
at Boston.
But that is not the best part of 1t,
Ned. | could love her for her pretty
face and for her good qualities. But.
truth to tell, I am loving her just little
also for her money. Think of 1t! A /
cool million. all in her own name! Came
into it last January. She is very gen.
erously inclined. Talks a great deal
about charity and all that. But think
her charitable impulses could be
curbed. At least, shall try it.
MY chances are excellent. Her folks,
strictest Of Bostonians. like me. She Is
not Indifferent; writes to me regularly. |
Accepts the trif1es / send her. And
seems to think there may be somebody i
worth having up here In the North, |
even If she Is a Southern girl.
well, Ned. deserve her. can i
make woman happy, though l am |
afraid that should never have fallen i
SO desperately in love with her II she I
had been poor.
"Good-by. Glad you are coming East
soon. / inclose the picture Of my beau
tiful heiress. Send 1t back to me. I
want you to see how she looks. Yours,
CHARLEY"
"Now, isn't that provoking?' said I.
81 read the letter. took out the photo, !
laid back my head and fell asleep. Now,
when / wake up, find 1t gone"
THAT is really too bad," said the
young lady. II can see how badly It'll
places you. What will your friend-l
what was his name-Charley, sayY I
"Guess he won't worry himself to
DEATH" laughed /, easily; "he can ask
the young lady for another. Lucky dog,
Charley always was"
almost too lucky" murmured the
young lady sweetly; zone would hard
ly expect so much"
"Well, Charley deserves 1t; he de-,
serves all he will get"
"Yes, all he will get" said the young
lady; ''he seems SO frank and -all-that
sort of thing"
After this the conversation branched
out on general topics, and before long
the young lady began to gather up her
bag. II get of at Brookline."
"Allow me-"
And with all grace assisted her Off
the train, sorry to lose so interesting a
travelling companion.
A few days later received this letter
from Charley:
Dear Ned: The helress is stone cold
on me. / went to call on her the first
night of her arrival north, and found
her pleasant, but that was ALL I could
not get Into conversation with her,
she kept putting me off and engaged ..
a running fire of words with some stu
pid young cousins Of hers / could not
get minute with her alone. Come,
Ned, you are Beau Brummel and un-
derstand girls. What Is the matter with
her? What have l done? Send me
back her photograph. find am reallv
In love with her. Yours, r
CHARLEY"
The next day there came this letter by
messenger:
Go with me tonight to call on her.
sent her some flowers this morning
early. Half an hour later 1 saw the
children carrying. them to school-those
stupid little cousins, probably, to give
to the teacher. You must go with me
tonight. Maybe you can tell what Is
the trouble. Yours desperately,
CHARLEY"
That evening, unwillingly, but to
oblige my friend, called for him, and
together we went to make social call
at the home Of his former friend, the
young lady wto had suddenly frowned
upon his suit.
The house, very beautiful one, was
gayly lighted, and from the inside came
sounds of music.
Looks as though they were having a
party" said my friend. "They did not