Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-09-06

THE EG0|6T.
The Story of a Phonogzaph.

| stand why he made no progress with
Mary Barclay. His position as the
chief dispenser of pills and postage
stamps in the biggest drug sto.e of a
country town had given him an eX-
aggerated idea of his own Importance
He was not particularly bad looking
young man, but was very conceited in
his manner. His broad, high forehead
was surmounted by his carrot colored
hair brushed a la pompadour; his eyes,
! a light blue, were lacking in strength
and expression, and his dress was just
trifie too flashy for the station in life
] he had been called upon to fill To
crown all, he owned a horse and bug
gy-that charmed possession which in
| rural communities so enhances ones
| prestige with the eligible young ladies.
| Cecil, who was not bad fellow at
heart had kept the girls OF Rossville
and their anxious mothers guessing
| for a long time, and the news that he
had been offered a partnership in his
employers store did not lessen femi-
nine interest in him. He used to ride
around the circle of Rossvffle feminin-
ity and select whom he would to go
buggy riding" with him on a Sunday
afternoon. There was one young lady
in the town who resisted Dovely's
wiles, or, rather, those of his horse
and buggy, and the prospect of a part
nership in a partnership, and she it
was whom Cecil, with no other motive
at first than perversity, determined to
win.
One day he decided on a grand attack
upon the fortress of Mary's heart. He
wrote for permission to call on a GER
tain evening, and received it. Thus en-
couraged, he awaited the event which
would mark him victor or vanquished.
He scarcely hoped for the former; he
dreaded the latter. He sought to en-
bellish 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 prin-
cipally about himself He was, how
ever, quite puzzled at the sudden and
energetic interest that Mary seemed
to manifest in all that he said; but,
encouraged by it. 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 en-
treaty for her heart and hand in return.
Mary was genuinely interested in Cecil,
and, in consequence, he was the very
last person in the world she would
have suspect 1t. So she tried to sim
ulate Indifference by affecting a sort of
platonic feeling for him. Such a re-
gard, however, did not come up to
Dovely's requirements, and when he
objected to being side tracked from the
main line of love to the siding of sis
terly affection and demanded a direct
response to his appeal Mary showed an
inclination to temporiZe. In brief, she
asked him to call upon her a week
later, and if, after mature consider
alton, he were of the same mind, she
might think the matter over seriously.
Dovely protested that his present
frame of mind was not the result Of
sudden impulse, but the full blown
flower which she had planted in his
bosom with the first glance of her eyes
long ago. He vowed that the end of
time would find his love unaltered and
unalterable-all Of which he had read
in How to Propose, or Every Man His
Own Lovemaker." Mary, however,
remained firm, and Dovely went back
to his pills and plasters. 1t would be
vain to describe the battles fought be-
tween hope and fear, exultation and
despair, in the young drug clerks brain
during that week. He was sustained
somewhat by his inordinate vanity,
but beneath all lay the suspicion, ever
so faint, perhaps, that Mary had been
laughing at him. When poor Dovely
pulled the bell handle of the Barclay
house on the appointed 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.
'rhe door was opened by Mary, who
received him with such pleased look
and cordial pressure Of her soft, warm
hand that his conceit, coward that 1t
was, as soon as it believed all danger
to be passed, mounted again to the
most conspicuous heights and crowed
more Justify than before. The magic
bf her glance transformed him from
the suppliant to the prince, and he
strutted across the hall to the drawing
room and seated himself in the best
chair, prepared to receive homage from
the girl.
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 delicate compliments caused
Cecil considerable chest expansion, and
when Mary humbly begged to be ex
cused for a few minutes while she at
tended her mother, who was i'll, he
granted her the brief respite with al
most royal graciousness. When she
had gone Cecil picked up a magazine
and was complacently perusing 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, experienced n sensation of fear.
AS the sounds proceeded Dovely sat in
mute amaZement. For a moment he
suspected that he was going mad. He
was superstitiouS, but ghosts, accord
ing to his way of thinking, always
manifested themselves to the eyes
rather than the ears and with shrouds
rat than dialogues. There was
=, 20. ...:r Cutanny in the sounds, too,
G il f. Il 4 from a metal casket.
Doyely Notld have attempted an in.
yestigation, but very fear held him
rooted to the chair. He could not
escape, and he began to feel that he
had been selected by some restless
spirits as the custodian of their conf
dences. The sound of the voices at
first seemed like an echo of something
he had heard before, and this circum-
stance deepened his perpleXity. The
conversation seemed to be between
a man and a woman. The mans tones
were impelfous, those Of the woman
half flattering, half conciliatDry.
You know men are such deceivers,"
the voice was saying You play with
woman's heart as a child does with
a toy. Then you look for another that
is newer to you, though perhaps not to