Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-03-27
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
Ole Result of
an Experiment.
lOriginal.l

secretary"
singular" said the mother thought
fully, that, the advertiser, whom l sup
pose 10 be a man. says nothing about
beauty"
Since Miss Hewlett was looking for n
position she answered the advertise
ment and was invited to call, which
she did in the company of her mother.
She found a man of thirty-five. serious,
reticent and apparently in his right
mind.
Il need also" said the advertiser.
Mr.. Dudley Vinton, "a housekeeper. If
Mrs. Hewlett will take up her resi-
dence here with you i'll my apartments,
filling that position, l Will pay each Il
handsome salary. Pardon me for being
so frank, but it is better that 1 should
say i'll advance that love or matrimony
has nothing TO do with my intentions.
At this announcement Louise tossed
her head.
The offer was accepted. and mother
and daughter went to live in Mr.. Vim
toms apartments. From the first he
treated them as quests. though Miss
Hewlett was occasionally called upon
to write Il note or a letter or copy some
papers relating TO property. At the
end of the first month Mr.. Ninton paid
the salaries and said that he would be
glad 10 continue the arrangement in
definitely. Louise pouted. She filled
the terms Of the advertisement.
Another month passed. Mr. Vinton
was absent occasionally, sometimes by
day. sometimes in the evening. Once
gether. What called him where lie
went or whaT he did he never told.
louise was pfqued and delicately hint
ed that some reference To these alb
sences would be at least civil. She did
not like to he treated like Il child or an
entire stranger. Mr.. Vinton failed 20
satisfy her curiosity, whereupon she
tossed her head and declared that it
was high time such Il ridiculous ar
rangement was terminated. Mr.. Vim
ton made no comments upon her action.
Indeed he seemed to be rather pleased
with it. egging her on 10 more of the
same kind. Finally she became angry
and ended the interview in tears. Mr..
.Ninton then left her without the slight
est sign of temper. indeed rather with
the appearance of great satisfaction.
One morning a delicate little miSsive
came for Mr.. VintOn which fell into
LOuise's hands. She took it to him
and watched him while he read it. His
was not to be read. Plac-
ing the note in his pocket. he went TO
his bedroom, and soon after Louise.
who was watching him from n win
dow, saw him go out with suit case.
Just what 1 expected" she said.
THAT note contained an invitation.
He's gone to the country to visit some
girl he's in love with"
VintOn remained away 4 week. When
he returned. Louise asked him when he
intended to be married.
II am not engaged" he replied.
They We're sitting in the library at
the time. and Vinton took up a book
Louise tried in vain to keep her tongue
in her head. Finally she could endure
the silence no longer and asked Il
of inadmissible questions.
Some of them Vinton answered, others
he parted, while others he received in
silence. But not for n moment did lie
manifest any dissatisfaction with her
for attempting to pry into his affairs
Finally he told her that he had been
to see an invalid who had died during
his absence. Louise arose and strobe
silently out of the room. Vinton called
her back.
"If you don't mind he said, 81 am
curious to know what has offended
you
'You have led me to believe what
was not true"
She stood waiting for him to continue
the debate. but as he only said, Thank
you very much" she went out ard
spent the rest of the day in her room
with the door locked.
At the end of the year Vinton invited
mother and daughter into the library
and announced to them that he desired
to terminate their present arrange
ment.
And now" he continued, addressing
Louise, Il will satisfy your curiosity.
A year ago l wished to make = very
match. The lady's char
acteristics described in my advertise
ment. l am a theorist and have
theory about women. 1t is that if Il
man wishes to know what a woman
will do under certain circumstances he
must infer that she will act exactly
contrary TO what he would expect.
desired to test this theory and if it
proved a law l would apply it to the
lady / wished to marry and thus en-
nance my chances of success. During
the past year have applied the test
to you seventy eight times, and you
have fulfilled the conditions sixty-nine
times. You will readily see the advan-
ia 90 Of I'm wing two women of like char
the one to practice upon, |
the other
At this point in the theorists exposi- |
ton Of his methods Louise rose from |
her seat and was sailing majestically |
put of the room when Vinton caught |
her about the waist and held her.
Darling" he said. changing his tone. |
there is one result of the experiment |
ret to be told. The practice piece be-
came the object piece, and the object |