Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-03-13


myself and not my money
She was a dear old proud thing who
wrote love stories for magazines, and
had refused to accept a penny from
me when she was threatened with con-
sumption and had been sent away to
Judson small Florida coast place,
to live. She had taken tiny cottage,
| for which she paid no more in a year
/ than | spent for nothing at all in a
week. But she had spare room, and
wrote that she would love to keep me
! for as long as | liked to stay. Her
| name was Mrs. Pendennis and we had
got acquainted through my writing,
! IN care Of her editor, to tell her how
much l liked story Of hers.
! She did me good because she never
fattered, but scolded me instead Of
| being cynical She said it VISA a
| mental dyspepsia" and while l
| lived with her I almost believed it
was.
| | hadn't been in Judson for a week
when one day l came in from a walk
and exclaimed, We'll, it's begun"
dear old friend, looking up from love
| scene which was meant to make the
public shed tears.
THE usual thing said l. "a man
| has come. | am not c0nceited, but
there are signs, and / am sure he IS
one of them"
She knew what meant without ask
| ing, and merely sat still with mild
smile as l related the incident which
| had occurred.
Circumstantial evidence was with
me for men were out Of season in Jud-
son. | had been the only stranger.
! Now, within a week of my advent,
there was another-a male stranger,
| a gentleman to the eye and ear, we'll
dressed lbut not too well dresseG) =,
| staying at a hotel which offered nc in
| ducement at this time of year to his
| kind. | had seen him come o4t OF
| that inn, and instinct told me that
was the inducement. Who the man
was | could not guess, but l was sadly
sure that n emore than guessed who l
was. Somehow my secret had been
| etrayed, and he-no doubt of the army
of impecunious unattached ones-had
stalked me to my lair My hat had
| blown off, he had run after it, picked
| it up and handed it back with bow
and murmured word.
To be sure he had not followed up
| his advantage, but I was certain that
| this was only his c'Ieverness, and that
| he would be more pushing next time.
I was SO hatefaIty experienced in that
kind of thing-G knew all the phases.
Mrs. Pendennis tried to cheer me up,
but | had seen the speck in my gar
nered fruit, and it was a big speck, at
least six feet tall and broad in pro-
portion. One couldn't forget it, es-
pecially IS to a less sophisticated mind
it might have appeared exceedingly
good to look upon.
Next day | met him again. or rather
he met me. But to my surprise, in
stead of taking off his cap and smil-
ing and making the most OF yester-
days acquaintance he glared and
plunged round the first corner. Could
this be a new kind of tactics? | asked
myself Could it be that he wished to
rouse interest by piquing curiosity?
I smiled with scorn at the thought
and determined to show the man at
the first opportunity how futile were
This subtleties. Still, if it were mis- OBJ
J ject to make me think of him, must
confess that to a certain extent he
succeeded, for it was a novelty 90 be
! glared at by man, and the picture Of
| the big brown frowning fellow lin
gered in my mind,
That evening my opportunity game.
My afternoon walks had usually to be
taken alone as Mrs Pendennis' work
ing days were long. | was >strOllfng
by the sea at the sweet hour when the
east is misty silver with the rising of
the moon, the west fading pink with
the setting of the sun. There he was,
presumably lying i'm wait, so | -glared,
and, turning round, marched away.
But something seemed to force me to
glance back-just a fieeting glance
yet long enough to see that the man
was striding off in the opposite direc-
ton So far had he gone already that
| was afraid he must have missed my
! protest.
For an entire week we kept it UP.
There were not many different walks
| to take, so it need not have been sur
prising that we almost Invariably. met.
| But as invariably we turned upon our
/ tracks and-tOften met again. l could
not help wondering who he was and
about him ;Hnd whether a afteraall, he
really was ,Oneoof. them.
After a Whole fortnight Icamo in
| form a walk cone day 90 find Mrs. Pen
dennis nervous land embarrassed
! i've confession 70 make. dear she
said at dinner ""Do. furai2 e me- but
I've LEI out to the Tector's wife-she
called NiHiie YOU were 'outAwh he, rvQ'l
really xre. FIN afraid lshef Judson
gossip and probably
knows 10y this rimeon you mean the
If Ivy h}1alf JJ1t doesn't much mat
man" DT"etF,edme for the purpose We
ter. fP' Ii must have kglown all
i long"
Don't Say We suspect Maq;pt II
don'r suspect
Yen did. Ecep know you ald i'll
you don't now 4 rf4flst be because ,Apu
have fsund out stcR4ething." !
Well. ! told yoF the dear rector, :
wife was jDclined 10 gossip. and her!
husband is an old acquaintance of theI
he * -ha+ hr1 :