Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-02-17
DAILY SHORT STORY
BY What Right?
IOriginal.I


Nellie Blake was.s very nice girl.
Thee only trouble Yfths her, a trouble
COMMON with most (a;irREwhose parents
are A5undantly ableSto support them,
was that she hadn It enough to do TO
keepth er out of mis- chief. Having an
ished her education. there seemed
nothing more for her(to do but to wait
for herSaffinityJ and kbe married. This
was MOTTO herttastea and she proposed
to her father to study we'll some
thing. anything, so%that if she should
be hft'without-
"NoIsense"' said the father "Tll
not permit anythingkof the kind
Then Nellie considered matrimony.
The only maniwho wanted her, so far
as she knew, was Fred Langley. But
Fred was too matter of fact. He was
,plodher. He hadi plodded at college,
att the1 law school and was now plod-
ding IN his profession. She thought
over "a number of Others, but they all
hadfsomething about them unsuited to
herFtaste. She gave up the matrimo-
mali problem, but pne day, on reading
matrimonial advertisement, just for
fun she thought /she would advertise
fora husband and see what kind of an
swers one receives in such cases.
Sizzling DOWN at the mahogany writ
ing desk in THE library, she wrote in
largeA hand Cher own was very delicate)
| with 81 stub ,pen and very black ink n
communication in the usual form. Then
lest some one should find out that she
was so tabsuildly engaged she took the
precaution tOtcarry it to the newspaper
| Office herself.
Ii would require a large volume to
fllGn the body of this story, for Il cor
respondence sITang up between Nellie
and an unknown gentleman who called
| himself Alon1O Courtney, Nellie writ
| ing assAC larissa3 v aTian, the letters grow
| ing in length till neari the end an av-
erage letter covered twentyfOur pages.
Nellie mad expected Ito have a good
laugh at her replies She was mistak-
en-. The first was 80 delicate and def
erential that no one,bUE thoroughbred
couldl have written it. All denoted eX-
IRENE refinement. Then the original
and attractive ideas the man had! And
how those IDEAS appealed to her! 1t
was marvellous that one who had new
err seen her should haveIsuch an insight
into her most hidden feelings. His let
tiers became more and more impas-
stoned till attlast he begged for meet
ing.
Had not Nellie Blake fallen in love
with a soul Sue had seen expressed on
paper she would not!have granted such
an interview AS it was. taking ad-
vantage of Nevening when her par
ents would be out, she wrote Mr.. Court
ney that she would receive him at s
O'clock When the hour arrived, she
was in the drawing room in her most
becoming costume, pink silk, her hair
done high and no jewels. The lamps
were dimmed with artistic porcelain
shades, and she had arranged when
her correspondent arrived to be stand
ing with q screen and a large palm for
q background. When the doorbell
sounded, her heart went up in her
throat Then came the card of Mr..
AIonzo Courtney, and while he was
getting off his coat and hat in the hall
she thought she should faint. The
drawing room door was pushed open,
and in walked the matter of fact Fred
Langley.
To say that Nellie was angry gives
no idea of her condition. She. was too
enraged to say anything for few mo-
ments. Then she Kissed:
"Impostor!'
'Is it an imposture for a man to
transcribe his inner self in words to
one he loves?'
How did you know that 1 advertis-
ed?'
Zone morning, doubtless soon after
you wrote your advertisement. l called
on you when you were not at home.
The maid, who did not know that you
were out, showed me into the library
and went upstairs to deliver mes
sage from me. While waiting for her
return l noticed some large black let
tiers in reverse on the blotter on the
desk. l amused myself deciphering
what made an excellentlpuzZle and had
nearly finished before it occurred to
me that [ was reading a secret. For
this 1 must apologize. Will you for
give me?"
And then?"
at occurred to me that you had writ
ten the duplicate. / wanted to discover
under cover what of strength or weak
ness, good or evil, there might be in
you. 1 watched for your advertisement
and answered it,
Had you a right to do SOP
mo One has never the right to lie
in concealment for a friend. Yet had
1 not been your friend 1 should have
had a perfect right. A girl who adver-
tises for husband is open to all the
world Would you deny me the right
you had given millions of strangers"
Nellie WINGED.
Nevertheless" he went on, ''the in
discretion has brought a revelation to
me. had no idea of the depth of feel
ing there is in your nature, your no.
BILE conceptions and especially your de-
sire to be something more than drone.
l.. IL h