Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08
AN AWKWARD MEETING

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I'm Chicago the other day." said we'll
known Washington club man, II happened
to be present during the progress Of about
as remarkable an exhibition Of what may
be called social courage on the part of two
persons, man and q woman, as / ever
saw. tt
AT the home Of a singularly gracious and
quite celebrated Chicago hostess l met an
OLD friend, an Englishman. We were chums
at OXFORD twenty years ago. He was
fine fellow as a boy and I found him an
equally Tine fellow as a man. l hadn
clapped an eye on him in ten years. nor
heard OF him in that time. I had last met
him In Dallas, Tex, in 1892 He was the
proprietor of a huge ranch in the Texas
panhandle, and had become rich man IN
the cattle business. While he was entitled
10 use prefix of nobility to his name, ne
alont ana he was known, and stu Is
known in Texas as elsewhere in this coun-
try. as plain Mister
Il was glad to meet him again. I dis
covered that he was stopping at the same
notei where was registered. He was visit
ing chicago on business and for fun. we
went around good deal together.
About a-week after our first meeting IN
Chicago at the home Of the gracious hostess
1 nave alluded to, she asked us II we
wouldn't take party of young San Fran
CISCO women, visiting her, to an AFTERNOON
concert at the Auditorium. Fogies OF
forty, just wouldn't we, though! We were
delighted to have the chance to carry on
such 1, bevy of delightful young women.
Ihe chaperon Of the girls was black
haired. black-eyed, extremely handsome
woman of thirty-five. Our hostess present
ed us to her when We called with the motor
carriages to pick up the young women on
the AFTERNOON Of the concert.
she was very Winsome ana very aDie
woman, that chaperon. I got on famously
with her. My friend, the Englishman,
didn't seem to make quite so much pro-
gress with her as I did, which caused me
to experience certain unworthy feeling OF
triumph; but | attributed his reticence, not
to say his silence, to the natural shyness OF
the Englishman.
she addressed herself almost entirely to
me. which l considered odd. 1t struck me
as bit peculiar that she didn't endeavor
to coax my friend the Englishman into
conversation by at least rallying him on his
difidence She only occasionally made re-
mark to him. however, and when she did
he answered her with courteous but SEEM
lngiy Intentional brevity. This was on the
way to the concert and during the concerts
intermissions.
I'm Chicago it is the custom to repair to
a restaurant for a sip of tea and wafer
after the afternoon concert, and we fol-
lowed the custom. 1 found myself berom-
ing quite sentimental with reference to the
black-haired chaperon She was miss"
L had caught when presented to her. /
marveled that so lovely and so accom-
plished woman should have remained
miss 1t seemed absurd.
we chartered at great rate, almost at
rate equal to that of the young women
from the coast, the chaperon and 1. While
we were taking the tea the chaperon SEEM
ed to suddenly take 1t into her head to
twit and tease my English friend He
flushed under the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
oon like that sort of thing, even from the
lips or a pretty woman-but he soon recov-
90 ipn1 hi ,,nft ,r,1y ,pf, ND
aplomb and when that happened he virtu-
ally took the floor. He said a good many
clever things In the quiet, dffident way of
the Thoroughbred Englishman, and he
seemed to be willing enough to engage In
match OF wit with the chaperon. Their
repartee. before that tea was finished, was
quite delightful to listen to, and all of us
enjoyed it hugely. The chaperon's eyes be-
gan to snap just the tiniest bit shortly be-
fore We rose to leave the table, and then
there was Just the least bit Of asperity in
one or two Of her merry barbs thrust at
the Englishman. He didn't seem to notice
that, however, and We rode to the home of
the entertainer of the Young California wo-
men and the chaperon in very fine feather.
men we made our departure I con-
fdently expected my English friend to be-
come enthusiastic over the cIeverness, not
TO mention the mature loneliness Of the
chaperon. l was surprised to find him on
the contrary. grumpy and non-talkative.
Delightful lot Of young women, those
I said to him. .-r-
Um he replied.
After a pause said to him:
Did you ever meet finer woman or a
more nimble wit than that Miss -, mem
tioning the chaperon's name.
THE Englishman turned scarlet, as
could see even in the waning afternoon
light that filtered into the carriage.
Yes, he replied, briefly.
THAT seemed most astonishing reply
to me- I couldn't understand it.
You've been a lucky man, them said
after another pause.
Um' he answered and then he turned
to me and said. in the most matter-of-fact
tone imaginable:
Miss -, naming the chaperon, was
my wife for five years. The decree was
granted in San Antonio two years ago.
Here's the hotel
THAT was all. We climbed out Of the
auto and dressed for dinner. He didn't
mention the matter to me again, and 1 GER
tainly did not reopen the subject"