The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-08-20
Laurens Advertiser.
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THE Imp of F ate...

- - Gb. biiO OioopCu hOh wv
pairingly and bowed her head. Her
face was pale. A tear glistened in her
eye, and he noticed it.
"But you love me, Nellie," he SAID
! assionately.
eyes, Ned, L love you"
"Still you refuse to marry meT"
"Why2"
Silence a moment. Then she raised
her head.
"Ned, everyone says you are an ex-
emplarY young man, that you are rich,
cultured and industrious; L know you
are kind and considerate."
"Yes?"
We'll, but-but-you must not
come here any more"
The man looked at her in bewilder.
ment.
"They are all laughing at me-" she
complained, tearfully--" and-and-I
can not stand it,"
And why are they laughing at you,
pray?"
"Do you not know2o
81 know" he said, bitterly, " that L
have no bad habits; that l aim to be
agreeable to every one; that L en-
deayor to avoid enmity; yet L know
that the vast majority of my male ac-
quaintapces cordially hate, me and the
young women of my acquaintance stu.
diously avoid me, but l do not know
tn reason for this" He was excitedly
walking the floor.
Whenever | chance upon a crowd
of young fellows enjoying a social chat
the temperature seems TO cool percep-
tibly directly L join them. One by one
they plead previous engagements and
steal away, until finally L am left alone
staring at a lot of empty chairs. And
1 know that whenever 1 am uninten-
tionally thrown in the company of a
young woman out for a stroll she darts
into the first store, or makes a sudden
call upon some friend in the immedi-
ate vicinity"
He turned and faced the woman.
"Nellle, why is it? IL you know,
for Gods sake tell"
The m tried to crush a rose in
the carpet with the toe of her shoe.
"The trouble with you, Ned, is that
you are possessed of a genius"
GA genius?" proudly. sis it a
Crihue W NC u SeutuSf'
."Not a crime" she replied, digging
her toe into the heart of the blossom,
"but in this case a sad misfortune
Ned you are possessed of the
genius of the inopportune. You
are constantly hearing and seeing
things you should not see or hear.
Fate or destiny or something else
seems to push you h%eadlong into places
from which you should have kept
awHv ut the particular moment you put
ia ycr appearance"
2 Nght suddenly began to dawn
rtou M.
."Oh, that's it, is it7 Well, it's not
my fault, Nellie. L"
"I know you can't help it, but that
fact does not prevent people from being
angry at you or %ridiculing me because
keep you.company."
Her eyes snapped Indignantly,
"They are laughing at you, Ned"
But what have / done?" he de-
handed innocently.
She looked mischievously into his
eyes a moment.
"Well, for one thing" she said, edo
you remember calling. upon Capt.
Sharpe a few weeks ago?"
eyes, L dropped in to give him some
inside information in a business deal
in which he was interested. / did il
through friendship and he has been
cool towards me ever SINCE"
The girls eyes twinkled.
I" What was he dong when you
opened his Office door,"
He Was dyeing his m~ustaohe."
They both laughed.
"And you KNOW said the girl,
"Capt. Sharpe Away has been ex.
ceedlngly proud of his beautiful
mustache. Then there's the case OF
Lawyer Blair. You stepped into his
office to make a friendly cali one day,
l believe. And what did you see?"
Why, he was standing before the
mirror, making gestures in the air and
talking TO himself"
"Rehearsing an impromptu after
dinner speech for which he was to be
suddenly called upon at a banquet that
evening"" laughed the m
And he has never liked me since,''
said Ned. .
"Then there's hat Chicago man
You met at the club. Do you remem-
ber?n
edo you mean that grouty old cuss
who got up and left while j was talk
ing to him2"
"You asked his opinion on the gues-
ton whether a man who has divorced
one wife and married another can hope
to so to heaven"
81 believe / did"
"Well, he has been three times de
vorced and was hen living with his
fourth wife,"
"The dev-the deucel Ididn't know
it.n
"Certainly, you didn't know it, any
more than you know what so suddenly
offended that young lady from Mil
waukeo who was visiting the Misses
Adams"
He raised his eyes to her amused
face.
What was it made her madPn he
asked, a%nxiously.
you meth her at a church ~sociable?o
eyes"
"And she consented to your escort
ing her to the home of her friends?n
Certainly"
"Whs did you find to talk about on
the way2"
Why-er-let's see. Oh, yes L
knew she was a devout church member
and / reasoned thai she would be in
terested In matters of religious impor-