Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-03-21
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
TURNED DOWN.


1uty of Il man to make fool of him
self whenever there was Il woman in
the case, and IL was this guiding prin-
ciple that made me take n hand in an
occurrence in boulevard shop in Par
is. \ lady had lost her purse and
claimed that another lady had picked
it up. The latter was Il young woman
Of twenty-five. fashionably attired and
more than good looking. and / saw at
once that she was English. At first
she stood on her dignity aud contented
herself with denying that she had seen
the purse. Later on. as the loser press
ed the charge. the English lady made
indignant prOteStations and could not
control her tears. 1t was very embar-
RAISING for the manager of the store,
but at length he suggested that the ac-
cuSed submit TO q search. 1t was then
that l stepped forward and declared
the whole thing an outrage and broad
" limited at a suit for damages. l
gave my name and address, shOuldered
the whole matter as if l had a legal
right and pulled the English girl out
of what looked like very bad scrape.
When | left the store in company
with the strange young lady, we rode
away in n carriage and later brought
up ut Il restaurant, and she was pro-
fuse in her thanks for my assistance.
She really was English and was in
Paris with her aunt for the winter.
That she belonged TO the upper class
was plain enough. and when I found
fl,at oh ri n a l-e
me five minutes TO fall in love with
her. That l was old enough to be her
father had no bearing on the case. at
least from my standpoint. l contend
that man of forty-five can see twice
the romance i'm an adventure that Il
callow youth of twenty-five can and
that his love is not like the shifting
sands. Miss Mellicent Harrington was
the name, and, though she was thou
sand times obliged to me and could
never. never forget my kindness. she
could not ask me TO call on her. /
didn't press her for reasons. That
would have been foolish. and, while l
am an ass, am not a bOor. Later on
she would be. oh, so pleased to have
me call, but not just then. l must not
even try to find out her address. |
sent her home in n carriage with my
heart singing n song. | was to meet
her in the Bots next day, and she was
TO tell me more of herself and increase
the number of her thanks. 1t would
have been long twenty-four hours to
me and 1 might not have slept 4 wink
all night but for singular circum-
stance. As l returned To my hotel
my light OvercOat.
The purse contained 500 francs and
exactly answered the description of the
one lost in the store. How on earth
it could have found its way into my
pocket was Il stumper. though | finally
made up my mind that either the man
ager or the woman claiming to have
lost ii placed it there to effect the So
Cial ruin of the dearest girl had ever
met. l was almost minded to return to
the store and take that base manager
by the neck. but l managed to hang
on to myself. Next day l found the
English girl prompt to her appoint
ment, and as we sat on Il rustic bench
beneath the shade of Il chestnut tree
she made everything plain to me. She
was an orphan and rolling in gold.
Her old aunt was her guardian and
wanted to force her to marry a lord
with depleted wallet and n shattered
reputation. The dear Mellicent would
never. never do il, not after having
met me. As soon as she could get her
carload of stocks and bonds and coin
into her own hands she would fly with
me to the uttermost ends of the earth,
and we would live for each other all
the rest Of our days. She didn't say
this in so many words. of course, for
she was coy and shy, but an ass of n
nan can take n hint as well as n kick.
said nothing to her about the lost
and found purse. She had so much
trouble on her mind that 1 did not
want to add to her burdens.
For the next two weeks 1 lived in n
sort of paradise and let the cab drivers
and walters swindle me right and left.
met the dear Mellicent every day and
drove or. wandered with her. and she
gave me to understand that her heart
was mine. She also gave me to under
stand that she was temporarily hard
up for oof. and it was a pleasure for
me to count out notes of the Bank of
France and toss them into her lap and
observe thar there were more waiting
for the asking. Then came an awful
day. She failed to keep an appoint
ment. and after suffering untold misery
got a carriage and drove madly about
to look for her mangled corpse.
didn't find it. but at n police station
where ] called to ask If any one with
golden hair and pearly teeth had been
found dead on the street | met her
She was the same beautiful girl, with
the same tears in her big blue eyes.
She would have precipitated herself
into my arms. but the hard hearted in
spector wouldn't permit it. He read
me the charge against her instead. My
dear Mellicent was an adventures, Il
pickpocket and stool pigeon. She
was the wife of a gambler and black
-leg. All this was told to me in the
most brutal way as my dear love sat