The age-herald., 1901-08-20
CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP co,
KNEW HOW TO LAND HER MAN.
Bright Girl Brought Her Lover to the a'sas Proposing Point.

From the Washington Star E The young woman sharpened a lead pencil with great deliberation, grabbed E4up the book. pumped herself into a froeking chair. plucked her gum from be- ssneath the arm of the chair, and set to srwork with a do-or-die expression.
 If this scheme doesn't york; she mur- gmured. then he's a hopeless case and won't do. that's all" T Then she began skimming through the book and marking passages.
 : Reginald de Whoopville," she read r softly to herself {" had but one fault i indecision of character Brave enough in 1.-the seizing of opportunities, he ever fal- itered at the critical moment. The lack ssof strong determination in his nature ndoubtless proceeded from species of scarelessness but the hesitancy he exhib-
 ited at times when he owed 1t to himself : as well as to her, to display qulck-think- Fing resolution was exceedingly trying to fsGertrude, who found herself thinking of z him a great deal at this time
 : Well" uttered the young woman, sticking the lead of the pencil in her kmouth and marking the passages very Sblackly, that ought to hit him, sure tenoueh"
 ( 'Gertrude,' sine went on reading, < after turning over the pages rapidly, t' had imbihed none of the foolish doc s, trines of the so-called new woman sect. ssshe was sufficiently candid to proclaim Z her belief in marriage as the natural as Swell as the highest aim of woman' X "Um." she continued, as she marked ASthe passage. ''it doesn't make any edd7 q ference whether take any stock in such i stuff or not it won't hurt him any to t9believe that I do." ss
 "Reginald as he rode his prancing s'steed oyer the downs, she continued, \" Permitted the bridle. to fall loosely ,s over the horses neck While he reflected. fwould he say to her the few words that ; would make such mighty change in z their joint existence? Did she really love : him? Had he read the secret of her eyes ! aright?
 1T don't guess there are any secrets in my eyes worth mentioning, mur- : mured the young woman, as she brack- eted the quotation with her pencil, "but If he thinks so, all right.
 ! ".Gertrude, while she loved her quiet horns life. yet found some of the unneces- 2 sary restraints placed upon her py her {. .narrow-minded old aunt very irksome.
 She fell unconsciously into the habit ! of peerlng wistfully into the future and : wondering if she should ever have home :, of her own.
 ' And that's no fanciful creation of C edisordered imagination" whispered the eyoung woman to herself. "I wouldn't | say it out loud, but homes just as dull eas ditch water, and that's all there is sabout 1t.
 ".During all of these months'" she tresumed reading. Reginald De Whoop-
 ville remained. so to speak, upon the >.brink of hesitancy. He would and he Ishim that he loved Gertrude devotedly, iabsolutely--yet he lacked the courage G to sever. with a word. the ties that bound shim to his bachelor existance He re- Affected upon how comfortable he was in . London. His lodgings suited him. His aman was a model of industry and discre- :. .tion. And. while Reginald was by no fmeans a dissipated man, he was fond of
 roaming about, dining here and there at sfout-of-the-way places, and when ,he no- J;ton seized him he enjoyed hastv jaunts rover the continent There was no small
 amount of latent selfshness in bis na-
 t ture. He fully appreciated the responsl-
 bilities of maerimony, and 1t was for this
 very reason that he feared he might not
 provo equal to them. And yet the
 thought came upon him like the rushing
 of many waters-how he loved herr < sI hope he reads this through about four
 times" said. the young woman to her
 self T don't suppose there's a city in
 the world where the young men are so
 loho or spehulng all their pay on them-
 selves as they are in Washington"
 Thus she spent her afternoon.
 She was radiant when he arrived that
 evening, and just before his departure
 she handed him the book with a few little
 appropriate remarks as to how she had i, enjoyed 1t.
 He arrived at the noon luncheon hour
 the next day. and he had the ring along
 with him.
 Well, just maybe that wasn't a hot
 scheme that's all," murmured the beau
 tHul young creature to herself when he
 had gone, and 1t was all arranged for next
 October.