The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-11-15
Ready? was not going to wait much

Ready? I was not going TO wait much
longer"
"sorryl 1 shall be later than you will
have half mile TO 80 after have
dropped you, and | know the Vennekers
expect me 10 be punctual"
The porter at Blessingham Chambers
had hanson at the doCr. and they got
into it quickly and drove oT-two men
who had lived together for ten years and
knew each other well enough 10 do with
out converse Ion on trivial topics After
a minute or two. however. one OF them
became unusually talkative Saw an old
nance OF yours today, Dick"
"The deuce you didl The vennekers
used 10 know her, didn't they? I don't
suppose they can raise dinner party
! I'm the slack season without asking all
their friends. You'll meet her there to-
| II shall"
"Dick Templar." said bis friend.
ago you worried me with all your ar lamens
| tations over the girl till got sick OF her
| name. Each time you proposed TO her
| you told me what you said and what
she said when she refused you: and now
4 she comes to London as the wife of the
| other fellow, and you slip of 10 tea
| with her. instead OF coming 20 the club
| TO play whist-you know that 10 where
| you were, so don't deny it.-and you sny
! not blessed word about IL. Not even
| to me- May ask what is the difference
terton and your feelings for Mrs.-Alrs.
| Rose ?'---
"o'Brien; husbands captain In an
Irish regiment, He'd need TO be with
such a manner grunted Dick Templar.
"In Africa"
"Phew. Poor devil, And you told me
| nothing about II! What makes the diff
| ference ?-for you are different"
Don't be goatp' answered Dick. "I
| am not different. There was nothing TO
tell, that's all. I've called on her twice.
and she remembers that she liked me.
rather, and-she IL glad 10 see some one
| she knows and can talk to--she quite
forRets how ] loved her. She will never
understand how j love her still-I don't
mind telling you all this, old chsp-elI
! she talks about and thinks about Is her
husband. It's what Pat says ard what
Pat does and what Pat thinks about
| everything and che looks at his photo
| graph all the time II you can't ger her
with her brck 70 H. She's safe enough:
and 80 am l. for that matter. feel just
the same-only. different you know"
Time makes the wound tester. love
| her more than ever. / hate meeting her.
but I'm so fond OF her / can't even hate
| her husband when she talks about him:
| i believe I'd bring him back TO her II ]
could just TO make her happier"
Poor old Dick, What q good chap
you are Here's my, dinner waiting for
so I'm not late"
He got out, and Dick Templar opened
| the little trapdoor in the roof and
T, shouted 10 the cabman to drive fast.
The Vennekers live somewhere north OF
| the Marylebore road, in quiet terrace
| of big houses. There was no carriage at
Gle in the terrace, driving slowly of,
| with the man IN the dickey examining
| the fare that had just been paid him as
If he were dissatisfied with the
Sia ,ss coins. az vf Dick aw wondered es Mrs
! O'Brien had driven alone in the cab in
| front OF him all tho way from Eibury
street. paid his his tars nnS and Jumped o1t oi,, !.
| bundle OF evening papers hut trade was
( slack and he dashed forward. apparently
T, with the forlorn hope that something
| gentleman late for dinner to alirht from
J a hanson cab Dick Templar pushed him
| on one side. ran lp the steps and rang
the bell
The footman who should have opened
the door must have been carrying in soup,
! for no one came for fully minute. Dick
! tapped his foot impatiently on tho white
1 doorstep and scowled at the small boy
! half hidden behind an orange contents
4 bill.
KILLED and Wounded at Battersburg
| Official I,iet." was the most prominent
| Item OF news promised by the bill.
Dick tried In vain to remember what IL
was that had happened some days be-
4 fore at MISUNDERSTANDING the Boers
I had captured convoy or saved their own
\ guns and decanped, and as no one came
I to the door he held out penny to the
/ small boy and rang again.
The "Offfcial List" was plain enough in
| the stop Press te,egrans; Dick had found
| n before the footmrn opened the door.
Yes, SIR" said the man aloud, 10 at
tract the attention OF the gentleman. Dick
! was keeping dinner party Of fully twen-
/ ty people waiting IN the drawing room
while he read the newspaper.
"Offesr killed: Captain q. c. o,Bren;
\ Dublin Fusillers." That was what he had
read; one or two names followed, but hn
| did not see them. Mechanically he fold
/ ed the paper and thrust II deep into the
| pocket Of the overcoat which the root
| man was taking from him as rapidly as
4 he could.
| You are late. and have had no one
/ TO bring me down stairsV' said voice
/ that brought Dick TO himself with start.
| They had resolved TO go in 20 dinner with
| out him and he had been standing in the
hall staring at them in da2ed way, al
most without acknowledging his hosts $
NOD. as they all filed by until Mrs.
| O'Brien came past alone. She slipped her
| arm into his. and hc went In, vaguely
wondering what Il was he had 20 DO, with
the widow of man forty-elght hours
| dead prattling besides him about the heat
| and the flowers twltting him with trivial
titles as TO what might have made him SO
late nprss sn4 1sPs Y e on ma4rea hs Su9eSs to sol
\ dier." she said. that makes me accus-
| toned 20 punctuasity. Pat Is never late
/ for anything.
l III WdS the tiliit size utiAtDntu
| her husband by name that evening, and
| he caught at the idea like a drowning.
| man OF n lfebelt.
! why are all Irishmen christened Pat
rick?" he asked. going at the point i'm "a
roundabout way instinctively
but they arn't"' she exclaimed MY
husband s. name is George. lie was chris
, tened George Carruthers, only Pat suits
| him so much better. You Will say so
! when you sec him"
Dick could sec him in his minds eye.
with couple Of soldiers heaping dry
| sand over him In shallow grave and "A
| firing party returning TO camp after their
| last duty. He even wondered vaguely
! whether they marched back with arms
| reversed. and what arms reversed might
| precisely mean. lie had read OF soldiers
| funerals in newspapers.
You really ought 10 see him." she went