The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-24
An Eootist Waterloo,

| = I.
wrote for permission TO call on a certain
| aged, he awaited the event which would
mark him victor or vanquished. He
scarcely hoped for the former; he dread
ed the latter He sought to embeliish his
| language with quotations from the poets
and studied the most effective manner in
which to exploit his many captivating
| qualities.
| 1t is, therefore. needless to say that
| when he called on her he talked principal
| Iy about himself He was, however. quite
puzzled at the sudden and energetic inter
| est that Mary seemed to manifest in all
! that he said; but encouraged by IL, he
scared into giddy heights of eloquent
| self-exploitation. He wound up the whole
monologue with a passionate avowal of
his love for Mary and an almost fearful
| entreaty for her heart and hand in re-
turn. Mary was genuinely interested In
Cecil, and, in consequence, he was the
very last person in the world she would
have suspect it. So she tried to simu-
late Indifference by affecting a sort Of
platonic feeling for him. Such regard,
however, did not come up to Dovely's re-
quirements, and when he objected TO be-
ing side-tracked from the main line Of
love to the siding Of sisterly affection and
demanded a direct response TO his appeal
rize. In brief, she asked him to cali up
on her a week later, and if, after mature
consideration, he were OF the same mind,
she might think the matter over serious
". When poor DoVely pulled the bell
handle of the Barclay house on the ap-
pointed night he was so full OF nervous
uncertainty that his knees trembled and
his heart seemed to smite his ribs in the
very terror of doubt.
The door was opened by Mary, who re-
ceived him with such a pleased look and
cordial pressure OF her soft, warm hand
that his conceit, coward that it was, as
soon as it believed all danger to be past
mounted again to the most conspicuous
heights and crOWed more Justify than be-
fore.
Mary expressed great joy at his kind
ness in calling, and archly confessed that
she had suffered not little fear that
something might detain him. These deli
cate compliments caused Cecil considera-
bic chest expansion; and when Mary
humbly begged to be excused for a few
minutes while she attended her mother,
who was Ill, he granted her the brief re-
spite with almost royal graciousness
When she had gone Cecil picked up
magazine and was complacently perus-
ing its prOSy and academic pages when
he was startled by the sound of voices in
the same room with himself. He looked
about quickly, and, seeing no one expe-
rieneed q sensation of fear. As the
sounds proceeded Dovely sat in mute
amazement. For a moment he suspected
that he was going mad. He was super
stitious, but ghosts, according to his way
OF thinking, always manifested them
selves to the eyes rather than the ears,
and with shrouds rather than dialogues
The sound Of the voices at first seemed
like a. faint echo of something he had
heard before. and this circumstance deep
ened his perplexity. The conversation
seemed to be between a man and a wo-
man. The mans tones were imperious;
those of the woman half fattering, half
conciliatory.
You know men are such deceivers"
the voice was saying. You play with a
woman's heart as a child does with a
toy. Then you look for another that is
newer to you, though perhaps not to
some others, and another fellow who
perhaps has thrown aside and bruised the
heart that you pick up, comes along and
picks up the very heart that you have
thrown aside
"Oh, that's the old story with women"
replied the man, you are all wrong; you
don't understand man. Your feminine
minds can't grasp the depth and breadth
of his nature. l have tried often to make
some women soar with me to loftier
realms of thought, but I have never
found one to sympathize with my poetic
or artistic moods
Here soft little sigh, like a zephvr
touching the maple leaves. stole across
the room, and then the imperious tones
resumed:
4 know women. I've seen a good deal
of life Didn't [ live more than a year in
New Yorke''
Lets talk politics, then" said the wo-
man. DO you think Mckinley has any
chance Of being elected?"
mo. he hasn't the slightest chance.
I've figured the whole thing out, and find
that he can't carry state south of the
Canadian border
The perspiration stood out in beads on (
Dovely's forehead as he stared in the
direction Of the voices and clutched the
arms of the chair in which he sat. 1t
seemed like nightmare. The echo was
getting clearer and clearer. He hated
the dreadful sounds, but felt that he must
suffer the ordeal to the end. And memory
told him that the end was yet a long
way off, and the path thereto full Of
thorns of humiliation and shame for
him. But through the nightmare he was I.
sustained by the sweet reflection that he
was not irrecIaimable. and that this
scourging was at worst only a severe
lesson from which he would emerge a .
better man. The imperious tones of the
man and the conciliatOry, even pleading.
tones of the woman went on. With deep .
humiliation he followed the mysterious /
dialogue to the browning point OF his own
shame. He could hear the soft, solicit
Gus tones of the woman leading the man
on TO make fool of himself And he
heard the man following with braggado-
clio and bOmbast right up to the very pit
fall that had been prepared for him The
grandiloquent and preposterOus phrases /
in which q proposal was next couched +
struck him as being so c0micallv con-
ventional that he would have laughed /
aloud had not the humiliating reflection /
Of his own conduct covered MIN instead
with shame. Then he heard a sweet
voice asking him 70 think it over and
then come back in q week. II he were
still Of the same mind. Even then he did
not realize the truth. He wondered il ne
were not asleep and this an awful dream.
The Volume that he had been holding
fell from his knee and startled him. Ne
put his hand 70 his forehead and brush
ed the beads OF perspiration away and
said: Thank God. IL vas a dream"
At that moment Mary entered the
room and smilingly apoloEizcd for keep
ing him waiting. she drew q hassoctc
over 70 him. and. seating herself upon Il
and looking up IN his eyes, SAID: I'm
awfully sorry kept you waiting. Arthur.
I know you must have been 50 lonely.
But there''-she stepped suddenly and
knitted her brow-.-I really believe YOU
have been asleep and dreaming. You look
IL quite.
The poor young man took her hand IN
both Of his own and looked dxedly AZ her.
I don't know whether I've been asIeea
or not bat I certainly mus have bean
q.