Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-08-04

Rutland entered the room Unless 1
was much mistaken gleam Of relief
flashed from his steel gray eyes as they
alighted on me. Possibly, since my
aunt and / bear the same names, he
had expected to see her. and Of two
evils" would rather deal with the less
er! Producing the current number of
The Weekly Wag, / cxplained--rather
abruptly, I'm afraid--tbe nature of my
visit.
While he listened his gaze OF polite
attention became stare Of unbounded
amazement, and, instead Of accepting
the proffered paper, he sprang to his
feet with an exasperated gesture.
"Tbis IL a most preposterous request,
young lady! 1t is utterly out Of the
question that any article from my pen
should appear through the medium of
The Weekly Wag"
The sighting emphasis with which
he named the poor little weekly, and
the whitening glance he cast on 1t,
made me tingle with rage and mortif-
cation.
"Then there is nothing more to be
| said, except to apologize for having
troubled you with this 'preposterous
request" l said, rising to my feet.
And making him a stiff little bow.
moved toward the door. He had the
| pollteDess 70 hasten to open 1t for me,
and pnssed out with all the dignity
could summon. AT the same moment
| the hall door was hastily opened, and a
| tear blurred vision of n tall, straight
| figure in cricketing fannels made me
redouble my efforts to repress my In
clination to burst ont crying
Removing his cap the young fellow
| held the door open for me, and keeping
my smarting eyes bent on the ground I
hastily made my exit. Never IL all the
19 years of my life had felt 90 an
noyed aud resentful.
$50 much for my happy thought.
/ reflected briefly, as descended the
deep stairway into the station. Hav-
| ing ascertained that my train was not
due for is minutes, 1 fell to pacing the
platform, where the Haunting posters
of many a prosperous compeer Of the
! luciless little weekly I still grasped
gave a yet keener edge to my disap-
pointment. Turning in my perambu-
lation was surprised to see the fan
mel clad figure Of my tear blurred
vision hurrying toward me.
1.-THE old bigwlg has repented of his
insulting REFUSAL" thought hopefully,
while bowed in response to the young
| fellows doff of cap.
| Excuse me, Miss Harvey, but there
has been some unfortunate mistake,
and I have followed you here in the
hope Of Strengthening matters" he
said, his quick breathing and height
enod color testifying to the hot haste
he had made. 81 am the Rolf Rutland
who scribbles nonsense; my uncle is q
savant, and only writes for the scien-
tific journals"
"a savanti No wonder he was so
annoyed at my request" I exclaimed,
blushing painfully. 'But, really, know.
ing you write humor, he might have
guessed had made some such mis-
take"
"Ah, but he did not know it until ten
minutes ago. have great expecta-
tons in that quarter, and have kept
my frivolous tnlent dead secret from
him." he replied, with a whimsical
smile.
"Theh 1 hope you will have no rea-
son to rue this stupid blunder of mine,S
/ said impulsively.
II should certainly have rued it sad
iy If had never discovered it-which
is rank Hibernicism, I suppose"
Ix121
ease.
"And now, Miss Harvey, with regard
to The Weekly Wag, 1 shall be most
pleased to contribute to its columns"
he said, as eagerly as though he were
struggling aspirant, anxious to see
his effusions in print.
In the midst of my delighted thanks
the train dashed in, and all was con-
fusion. When he had handed me into
carriage he told me that directly the
cricket match was over he should run
into the city and see my father. Then
the train moved on, and as our eyes
met in last glance, / saw look in
his that made my heart dance as it had
never danced before.
About s o'clock there came a tele-
gram from dad, to the effect that Mr..
Rutland would dine with us at Z. In
futter Of delight, / helped aunt to
improve our menu and then fastened
to make my dinner toilet.
When, half an hour later, dad and
Mr.. Rutland entered the drawing room,
1 was surprised to see how much older
and distinguished he looked in evening
dress than in his flannels, and for the
minute felt quite shy. But his genial
frankness of manner soon brought us
sin touch" again, and I have passed
the most charming evening l can re-
member.
Sept 5, 1898, 10:45 p. m.-My we'd
ding eve, and exactly year since the
day made that absurd blunder. And
now, thanks to the spur given 1t by
Rolf's pen, The Weekly Wag Is the
foremost of its class and its editor his
CHEEKY old self again.
"But / shall never forget" he said
to me this morning, that it owes its
success not to the editor, but to the
editors daughterv'- Exchange.
~
II Cricket Versus Baseball.