Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-03-11
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
A Bachelors Courtship
lOriginal.I


lor life. Naturally domestic man. he
longed for Il home TO which he could go
after a hard days work at his Office
and find some one there in whom he
could be interested instead of to n lone
ly apartment where he changed his
dress, and thence TO his club. Some
times he would dine with friends, but
clubmen are not TO be depended upon
for dinner at clubs, as they often dine
out, ana he usually dired alone in the
great dining room at table by Il Win
dow.
Winthrop resolved to end all this. He
was not in love with any one, and he
was no longer in the first flush of
youth. He was thirty-four. He resolv-
ed TO marry for convenience. Casting
about among his acquaintances, he Sc
lected Miss Enderbury, aged thirty
five, and resolved TO make her propo-
sition of marriage. He was wise enough
TO know that bare domestic arrange
ment would not please woman, and,
not being in love, he would be unable
10 make love feelingly. He resolved,
therefore, to propose by letter, for he
was n fluent writer and in this form
could counterfeit love admirably. Miss
Enderbury was well spoken of by ev-
erybody. She needed n home and was
old enough to know that opportunities
for marriage would not be likely to
come TO her thereafter. Winthrop had
met her in society only and made sew
EraI calls upon her in the usual formal
way But, for the matter of that, he
was intimate with no one but men.
Having made up his mind, he sat
down in his room to write the letter,
but threw down his pen, suddenly dis
covering that he did not remember the
lady's Christian name. The matter
must be deferred. The next day, meet
ing an acquaintance. n young man of
twenty, hurrying along the street, he
caught him by the sleeve and asked II
he could tell him Miss Enderbury's
Christian name. The man answered,
adele" Winthrop made another effort
that evening TO write the letter and
succeeded in producing very delicate
epistle. so charmngly expressed that
it could not fail TO touch the heart of
any woman. He closed it by request
ing that if Miss Enderbury would listen
10 his proposal he might be permitted
to call the next evening and hear of his
acceptance from her own sweet lips.
After finishing the note he read it over.
pronounced ii success, signed 1t and
sent it to the Enderburys.
The next day he was rewarded with
little note, written in feminine
hand, acknowledging the receipt of his
letter, the lady admitting that after his
kindly attentions on the occasion of her
debut in society she had gone home and
dreamed of him. Winthrop tried TO re-
member the meeting, which must have
been some ten years before, but failed.
The note was closed 10y an invitation
10 call in the evening.
'It is astonishing" he said to him
self. 'how long romance lasts in wom-
en- and how sensitive they are to n lit
tie attention. especially when passing
from girlhoOd to womanhoOd."
That evening Mark Winthrop walked
up to the Enderburys' door as coolly as
he would 20 to his office. His only
dread was that he would not be able 10
talk as lie had written. He was ush-
cred into n small drawing room, where
he sat waiting for Miss Enderbury.
Presently he heard n rustic of skirts
and an apparition stood in the doorway,
a young girl of nineteen. covered with
bushes and seemingly unable TO cross
the threshold from an intensity of feel
ing. Winthrop saw ut once that there
was some mistake, but had the pres
ence of mind to await developments
without showing embarrassment. In
deed. the sight of so much loneliness
gave him Il fiutter about the heart. In
her he recognized one whom Il few
months before he had met at her debut
and had passed some time in her COM
pany. He had not caught her name on
being introduced and, though he had
met her several times since, was still
ignorant of it. The explanation flashed
upon him. This must be a younger sis
ter of Miss Enderbury. The young
man of whom he had asked the lady's
Christian name doubtless thought only
of one Miss Enderbury, about his own
age Winthrop remembered that the
night after her debut he had, dreamed
of her and The next day regretted that
he was too old to marry n rosebud.
Winthrop proved himself fully equal
to the occasion. Advancing toward her,
he took both her hands in his and gen.
tly drew her into the room.
Il am 1ully aware, he Salu IeellnS-
~, "of the presumption of an old fellow
like myself aspiring to such loneliness,
but 1 cannot help 1T. After that meet
ing when you made your entree into
society dreamed of you, and 1 am en-
chanted to know that you dreamed of
me-"
He dropped into lovemaking with
astounding ease. 1t was no trouble
whatever. His words came to him east
ly. and he was able to express himself
with a delicacy suited to this tender
flower.
"Oh. Mr.. winthrop" said the girl,
.what can you, a mature man of the
world. see to admire. to love. in a mere
chit like myself?"
Your modesty. little sweetheart. on
IL renders you more lovely. From the