Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-09-06
THE
OGLESBy
ERIDE
BY KEITH GORDON
BY KEITH GORDON


IL Copwigl'. 1904. bu 7. {. Mcclure
When he senior partner is young.
handsome and unmarried ana the wo-
man in the office of Il quiet elegance
Of face and form, s..btly suggestive Of
drawing rocms. it is apparent that
com-,.ca;ionS become possible.
| Og!csby himself had vague con-
scioIsucss Of tie fact at the end Of
J. iss Nentwor.h's first year there.
Ii WAS not so Liuch that. under the
charm If her personality. Turkish
rug. not originally included in the plan
of Office furnishings. had found its way
ter. But that lie perceived certain
incongrui.y in the fact that her slen-
der. well shOd feet rested upon Il pol
ished floor. while he and Stanton
walked on rugs. was more significant.
When incongruities of this sort attract
business mans attention he should
beware.
Miss Wentworth, to be sure, had an
atmosphere all her own, which seemed
to demand proper setting for her.
To this silent demand of her individ-
uality Oglesby made Il good many con-
cessions from time to time, almost
without knowing that he did so. He
had a whimsical theory that she w;ls
like fine china and should be treated
with tie greatest delicacy.
Size herself never seemed to suspect
that there was anything unusual in the
attention that was paid to her conf
fort IL a rug were put down in her
room. WELL surely it was no more than
proper that there should be a rug
there. If Mr. Oglesby showed real
anxiety to know whether the chair that
she occupied was as comfortable a
one as could be procured, Miss Went
worth supposed that it was but the
usual kindliness displayed by employ
ers for their employees.
1t was not until the little room occu-
pied by her contained every office con.
venience that OgleSby was brought to
q consciousness of the fact that there
might be some personal motive in his
thoughtfulness.
I'm. Seems to me, old man. that
| you're daft OH the subject Of our fair
assistant" observed his partner when
| for the third time in as many months
he had suggested some improvement to
be made in the stenOgrapher's equip
ment.
Oglesby answered him somewhat tart
ly and in manner meant TO convey
that an Oglesby could under no cir
cumstances whatever become interest
ed in woman not Of his own class
Still the fact that Stanton had noticed
ANYTHING unusual In his behavior irri-
tated him. He remembered, with sharp
| discomfort, Il number Of times when
he had worked hard-harder by far
than he ever had with any woman OF
| his own word-to win smile from
her. He even found relief in the
thought that with tact rare in girl
unframed to social life she had added
zest to his efforts by her calm. well
bred, but by no means encouraging
| manner.
"An Oglesby and daft on the subject
Of stenographerw he repeated to him
self with scorn as Stanton's remark
ranked in his mind II guess not!'
1t was fortunate that he should have
encountered Miss Wentworth on the
street one day while this resentment
was still warm in his mind. At the Of
| fee in spite Of his resolutions, his man
per was unchanged. Over and over
again he forgot that the cold, serene
young woman who looked at him very
much as If he were a mere detail OF the
office furniture was simply his stenog'
rapher.
But when ne met her on the street
that day sudden remembrance OF
Stanton's speech embarrassed him.
After all. the Oglesby pride whispered,
stanton was right" With this thought
| In his mind he checked the smile OF
greeting that rose to his lips and
| bowed with elaborate and somewhat
patronizing gravity.
Intends to be just as courteous to
me as if | did not write his letters for
% much per month"; was the thought
that flashed wickedly through Miss
Wentworth's mind. I;-r acknowledge
ment of his greeting was reduced to
| flicker of the eyelids that came peril
ously near to being imperceptible.
The effect was by no means lost up
on Mr.. Oglesby and produced in him
queer mixture of triumph and indigna'
tiOn.
"Jove." ran his thoughts apprecia.
lively. "she has the air Of grande
dame"
Then quick transition took place In
his view OF the matter, and he expert
enced thrill of righteous Indignation
at her treatment Had he not bowed
10 her precisely as he would have done
to Miss Ten Eyck. with mere tritiing,
impalpable difference Of expression.
which n person in her position could
scarcely be expected to detect?
Just what was going to happen IN
the future can never be definitely
known. for at that moment the vision
of q tall, fair girl, whose eyes seemed
TO look into his with quiet mockery.
terminated his train of thought. He
felt almost as guilty as II the vision
had been Miss Wentworth in the flesh.
and somehow the dignified displeasure
that he had meant to show when next
they encountered each other at the Of
flee did not seem so possible as 1t had.
And, indeed, the "dignified displeas-
ure" was not at all discernible In the
reference that he afterward made to
that meeting, which showed plainly
his anxiety to efface any impression
of patronage that Miss Wentworth
might have absorbed-a reference that
was received by her with an indiner-
ent smile and quick reference to busi-
ness matters In hand that left him
feeling neatly and beautifully snubbed.
subsequently, in the stenographers
room, Miss Wentworth took letter
head from the drawer ut her side with
the air Of a person In deep thought
Then, with scOrnful smile playing
about her lips, she dropped the paper
into the machine, gave the roller a
quick contemptuous turn and MUIR
| ,,,,,ro1 IN horSplf.