The evening Republican., 1902-07-24
INTERFERENCE.
BY BARRY PAIN.


/ play poker with stranger and an unlim
l tied raise, and may come out all right; yol
| may shoot lions and tigers and the falls Of
| Niagara, and never suffer in your health
You may play with fire and take no harm
But never NEEDLE in the least degree with
anyone e!se's love aft. =. For you will come
out of it with the reputation Of fool, with
fool stamped all over you back and front,
and you will deserve it. A helpless, unen,
durable fool for all time-that is what YOU
will be- Ii you see pure minded, refined
girl on the verge Of marrying coarse, vul-
gar brute, let herr don't stand in the way.
Probably the brute will never forgive you
and its absolutely certain the girl never
will"
you speak with some warmth and bitter
ness. You have some personal experience
in your mind:'
81 have. As you know, | am not mar
rcd man.
I've only got your word for it,"
But at one time | was engaged. 1t was
years and years ago, and was never one Of
those men who are--well, silly about the
girls they are going to marry. But, speak
ing in fair soberness, ! must say that Jes-
sica was really remarkable girl
YES; engaged girls always are.
Her hair was "a
81 know. 1t would be. Pass that"
Don't be an idiot. There was a look in
the girls eyes
Il know it by heart. Skip it,
And her mental powers were equally out
Of the common"
The mental powers of every engaged girl
are quite out Of the common. Just say that
you loved Jessica and Jessca loved you, and
leave the rest to the fertile imagination of
a thoroughly practised journalist"
"Now that just shows where you're too
hasty; for I'm by no means sure that Jessica
did love me. | cant help thinking that if
she had really loved me, things would have
happened differently. Mind, | admit that
was wrong in interfering in any way with
Ernest Budd.'
"And who was Ernest Budd!"
81 think he was the most nauseous beast
ever met in my lfk He was short, thick,
and ugly enough to stop the clocks. He was
also vain sentimentalist. He'talked about
women by the hour He believed himself
a woman killer. To listen to him made
you feel sick and tired. I've heard him
say that the beauty of women was practic-
ally the only thing he lived for-just that
in those words; and the other man to
whom he said it died a week later. Well,
at this time Budd had come to an under
standng-he said it was not actually an
engagement, but was to come to that
with washedout puss from Wimbledon,
called Emily Chatter. | saw the girl, and
was sorry tor her. she was weak and
playful little thing. and there was no harm
in her. | was very happy myself, and
wanted TO save her from Ernest Budd and
infinite sorrow in her after life. knowing
the rapid, miscellaneous and volcanic tenn
permanent of Ernest Budd my task was easy;
! had but 10 introduce him to more attrac-
tive girl than Emily, and introduced him
to .Iessica.'
Seems rough on ,Jessica."
I'D talked it over with her, and shed
agreed to it. She was so happy herself
We were both very happy in those days
that though she had never met Emily she
wanted to save her ,lessica had implicit
trust in my Judgment then.
"But after she had met Budd:"
81 own, she didn't like it. She said l
might at least have told her what an appal-
ling bounder Ernest Budd was. Well, Id
told her what told you, and think that
ought to have been enough As pointed out
to her, within very short time of Budd
meeting her he would throw over Emily
Chatter"
"And you were wrong:'
81 was absolutely rignt. And when En-
lily was saved by our intervention, then,
so | told lessica. she was perfectly free to
drop Budd In fact, | hoped she would.
And Jessca knew how to drop people, too.
She never seemed to say anything in par
ticuar, and they just knew that it was no
good to 90 on and that she had no further
Use for them. She was girl of wonderful
tact. always perfectly polite, but"
"W'cll, as | say. pointed all this out to
her, but she still was rather averse to it.
She said the mans attentions were becom-
ing perfectly insufferable, and that-know-
ing as he did that she was already engaged
he ought to be ashamed Of himself. How
ever, she kept on meeting him, and in
week he broke off his understanding with
Emily Chatter
Here my friend stopped, and selected
cigar with great care. He amputated the
end, lit it, and appeared to let his mind
wander to other subjects.
"WeIl?" | asked. What then? Did
Emily commit suicide:'
Not bit Of it. She must have known
that Ernest Budd was no fit husband for
decent girl. No, she married solicitor, and
is very happy, they tell me-
"But You started this story to show me
the dangers of interference
"Exactly."
apparently everything went right just
precisely as you wished and intended"
"Well, it didn't then"
"What was the matter? Did Iessica lose
her exquisite tact, her ability for letting
people see that she did not require them:
mo, not that, either. She was as good
in that respect as ever she was The trouble
was--put in a few words-that it was me
she chucked, and Ernest Budd whom she
married"
He paused, and added vindictively:
"And I'm glad to say that they're both
beasty unhappy. Black and White.