The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-24
"DEUCED AWKWARD"
BY LAWRENCE HENRY.

~1 AS4 W &HxSxS S& &A-kh&N &s4 Copyright. 1904. by Daily Story Pub. Col
 It was on a small steamer in the Medl- terranean, sail from Nice and bound for Cairo. Aboard among other passenger5, was small party of Americans consis- ting of Mrs. Travers. her entrancins daughter Marie, a Mir. Howard Lamont and Freddie Twombiy. The Travers and Freddie had been leisurely doing the con tinent for several months. At Nice. some weeks before. they met MT. Lamont ana he gladly accepted an invitation to ac- company them to Egypt His readiness could be accounted for because of any Of a number of reasons. Among these sev- eral might have been: that Mrs. Travers, though of the parvenue, was a widow; that her daughter. her only heir. was of that charming type of American girl wherein beauty of face, symmetry of form and piquancy of manner cause ad- miration wherever found; that MT. La mont. a bachelor, possibly somewhat blase, still was open to the seductions of the sex, and further, that he wholly appreciated the intrinsic and extrinsic worth of good American dollars; that well. there may have been other reasons why Mir Lamont was there, but sufficient have been enumerated.
 Freddie should also be accounted for in some manner. He had been with the Travers ever since they left New York. Freddie would be called by some people l a chappie, and maybe he was. The girls called him peaches and cream, because
 of his complexion; the men. except in his own set, never grew serious because l of his presence. Nobody seemed to know exactly whether he was a foll or not. ! One thing was certain, he had been doing
 the lackey part of the Travers all over
 the continent, and was still at 1t. But Freddie had 8 purpose in this; 1t was qualification that put him in the man
 class-he loved, yes he loved, deeply, pro | foundly, for all the littleness of the sur | face indication of his nature. He de-
 meaned himself. he sacrificed his self-rs-
 spect, he received orders and reprimands,
 was coddled like poodle or snapped up | like a servant, according to the moods Of | his taskmistresses, and he stood for 1t ail | because he thought it was the way to secure the love of the woman he loved Of course, 1t. was beautiful Marie that ! Freddie loved, and it was a sad day for
 him when MT. Howard Lamont came
 upon the scene. Not that he he'd ever
 received what other men would have l called encouragement from Marie, but at
 times when in real sentimental relaxa- tion. she would hold long tete-a-tetes with Freddie and languidly pick the
 strings of his heart like harp, until the | boy fairly stifled with emotion. HIS l speech was always a stutter, but on | these occasions ne would reach the stage
 where there would be only the stuttcr
 without the speech. They always ended | with a rippling laugh on Marie's part,
 but often her heart would fail her and
 on partig she would extend her hand tfor Freddie to kiss.
 | Tlut with Mir ppea ranoa fhaza rifts in the clouds for Freddie ceased l Mari9E itete-a-tetes were monopolized | by MT. Lamont. the debonair, the i'm pressive. accomplished man of the woriu
 and by the time they found themselves | on the deck of this little Mediterranean steamer he was apparently acknowledged | suitor for her hand
 Mrs. Travers was delighted, for she
 loved her daughter with all the strength | of an honest mothers heart, notwith- standing her own little failings. She re-
 garded MT. Lamont as the genuine type
 of sturdy manhood, and she appreciated
 his position and lineage. It was because l of Freddie's position and lineage that
 she tolerated him, but it was his appar-
 ent lack of the other quality that caused
 her to hold him in semi-con-tempt,
 It was the second day out. Freddie was
 below, slipping an absinthe and whisky
 as a surcrease of the aching of his
 wounded heart. MT. Lamont and Ma ie
 were on the deck enjoying the soft breez-
 es from the Italian shore.
 Do you really think the man who truly loves a woman will sacrifice his l life for her if put to the test?" inquired Marie. the conversation apparently hay ing grown somewhat anmated on her part.
 ''Undoubtabiy," replied M. Lamont,