The Wichita daily eagle., 1901-02-10

'Woefuily2- I tnterrogated, raising my
/ eyebrows
Yes. woefaIIy. I see it every day.
New, at first sight the latter remark
4 may not appear TO be more objectionable
! than most Of the remarks which cousin
/ makes, but when Il is mentioned that for
! three weeks Marjory had seen no man
save myself, It viii be generally conceded
/ that I had good cause for resentment.
| Pardon me, I returned. For some
Z time back you have enjoyed the society
| of one Of the most perfect of creatures
! An, Aunt Maria?"
Il was referring 10 myself" 1 said.
! with dignity.
'.You?7 The laugh which she gave
broke upon the air and seemed 10 go
echoing among the distant mountains.
] Ny dear Harry
.'Of course am" I Clipped in, >tout
/ she made a gesture Of dissent NO, no!
4 What 1 meant was that 1 also was re-
! ferring TO YOU
/ It was TO be war to the knife. I could
/ see it in the curl Of her lip. In the
! swing of her arm and IN the poise OF
her dear little head. I sat down on
/ the bank which bordered the road and
pulled my cigarette case out of ny
pocket.
There you are!' she cried triumphant
/ ~. Now tell me-does your idea of the
| perfect man allow of smoking from
morning till night?'
Far from it, I returned. as I lit a
| cigarette. 1T takes into account that
there will be intervals of food"
She sat down beside me.
Let Us argue the point
Impossible" returned. "The perfect
man does not argue"
It was checkmate, and she had the
grace to acknowledge it.
Good"
In the silence which followei it oc-
Cured to me that it might be well to add
to the advantage which I had gained.
I therefore began quietly:
NO one would ever be so rash as to
say that there was such a thing as
perfect woman. In fact"
You are arguing now" she inter-
rupted
'1o-merely stating a fact"
She sighed softly and turned toward m
so that I could see the dreamy look in
her eyes.
And yet some men have said there is
such a thing as perfect woman" she
said in tone Of gentle regret.
I WINGED The inference was that some
one mad said it to her-had said that
she was perfect.
An men are liars" objected. rasniy
Especially when stating facts
We were quiet. There was nothing for
it but to start again.
''As for yourself, she began agrees
sively. while 1 was still considering what
would be the best opening. Il can point
out hundreds of faults. each one worse
than the others"
Each one worse than the others?" I
n nv And 10
of them! Look here, Marjory. I'll give
you that bracelet If you can name
twenty"
Her eyes cleaned. It was a bracelet
among bracelets. and she had long COW
eted it.
she began glibly:
bad temper. Incidence, selfshness, stu
pidity, and-and-there are dozens
more
Hundreds, I corrected. Besides. I
said faults. not virtues"
She gazed at me questioningly.
What greater virtue could you have
than indolence?" asked
She tossed her head angrly.
IF You are to be the judge of what
are faults, give in. A man can't
judge
"A statement which is disproved by our
legislative system. I would be perfectly
one capable Of judging-sometimes.
Explain"
I felt that I had the best Of matters
so far, and was disposed to be magnani-
nous.
"Womanly beauty was in my mind" I
said looking at her steadily.
She gave a sarcastic little laugh.
You, at any rate, are no judge Of
that What about Parmelia Jenkins?'
That was straight hitting. but I en-
deavored to receive the blow calmly
That, I admit, was an error Of judg-
ment."
and Dora Bristoe?"
Apparently she knew more than I had
imagined
IT'S a breach Of decency to refer to
what is past" said, severely. Deal
with the present If you like"
"The PRESENT. I didn't know there was
another. Let me see. You can't mean
Peggy Delamore?"
NO I can't Peggy Delamore is a
charming woman. dear woman. a -
But not a beauty
''she is charming enough to be able
to dispense with beauty" I said watch
ing her closely 50 that 1 might draw
back before I had gone too far.
H0w-how nice" she murmured You
do not think then that the absence Of
beauty in woman IS an imperfection2 p"
Not necessarily; but the pres nee Of I
it is-er-greatly to be desired"
I'm SO sorry" she said.
For WHAT"
That Peggy isn't beautiful You may
find after you have been years together
that
But I won't ever be years with Peg
gy" I interrupted.
"Oh-h, thought from the way you
spoke that vou-cared for her PRAY for
give me. It-it was stupid Of me wasn't
Tier innocence was fairly well assumed.
and very charming. but it did not blind
me
IT was not stupid. because you knew
that 7 didn't care for Peggy"
I've hurt your feelings" she sad
brightly But at the risk az hurting
them still more must ask how 7 could
possibly know whether Won cared for
her or not2 You never told me that vou
6id care. but YOU never told me that yon
didn's"
"a man can love but one woman. Mar
jorv. and
"Oh Dicks''
"one at time. 7 mean" 7 explained. /
hastily
And YOU lovea'
's-o-..
we rose Simultaneously. 7 feeling that
rrient ~ IS weil II he ready ~ He7art
wher she gave re my dismissal
But when we have beer wears toretn- +
er-- she began
lFsrio~r cried. "yviH vou7"
Wf wha7
Be yesrs toress ser-T mean wfl ~
wears torether-N7. r."
ra