The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-02-25

Eva's tone and manner that was moi
wont to be there, something that b,
could neither define nor understand
though he felt it instinctively.
81 am not cross, Eva, but I an
grieved-grieved beyond measure
Your conduct last night caused m.
acute pain, the more so as you ex.
pressed no regret for it. But / hope
you are in better frame of mind
today and ready to say you are sor.
ry for what you did. Until you have
done so I really don't feel can kiss
you"
Charlie fully expected that this
stupendous threat would reduce Eve
to the lowest depths of despair ano
bring her, fguratively speaking, tc
her knees, but for once was he ou.
in his calculations. She drew ur
her slender figure and pursed up hel
rosy lips with an air that made him
feel vaguely uneasy. Was it to de.
fly him? Yes. Her next words
proved that 1t was so.
81 am not sorry" she said. "Not
bit. / am glad. I would do il
again"
| Charlie gasped. The situation
was so unlocked for that he could
not rise to it all at once.
GAS for kissing me-" Eva went
on, with a little disdainful move,
"well, you will never have the
chance of doing that again, SO you
need not excite yourself"
Charlie found his voice then.
"You are talking at random now,
Eva" he said severely, ga bad habit.
against which have always warned
you. Will you be kind enough to
explain YOURSELF"
ooh, certainly" Eva answered. 81
can do it in very few words. Lord
Dolly proposed to me last night, and
I accepted him."
Charlie gasped again.
"But you are engaged to me-" he
calculated. "You must be mad.
You can't seriously contemplate
throwing me over for Dolly Dash.
wood. The things impossiblew
She looked at him and smiled.
Incredible as it may seem to you,
I do contemplate it,
"But - but - but" stammered
Charlie, ''this is -extraor-
binary behavior on your part, Eva.
Are you aware that you propose to
treat me in a most dishonorable
way, and-and-er-in short, very
badly"
Her face grew grave.
81 should be sorry to do that" she
said more gently. '1-I don't want
to be dishonorable or to treat you
badly, Charlie, but l an only hui
man, and no one but myself knows
what I have gone through in the
last few months. You have tried
me too hard. l was very fond of
you at one time, and if you had
treated me fairly l should have been
fond of you still. But you would
wear out saint, and / am only a
woman. / don't think Lord Dolly
would be hard on me. He may not
be very brilliant, but at all events
he is a man-the sort of man we
call a gentleman-and knows how
to be generous, even to such an al
together inferior creature as a mere
woman"
She paused and looked critically
at her rejected lover, who now pre-
sented truly pitiable appearance,
with all the starch taken out of him
and general air of limp depression
pervading his being.
''That is ALL" she went on pres
emily. 'But before you 60 there is
one thing that l should like to i'm
press upon you for future guidance
1t is always worth mans while
to be just and fair, even to wo-
man."
She paused again and contemplate
ed him with her big blue eyes, but
he said nothing. He was too be-
wildered to even speak. 1t seemed
to him that all the laws of creation
were reversed and the whole scheme
of the universe turned upside down.
There was hitch in the system
somewhere. It had failed.-London
Truth.