The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-12
THE DIPLOMACY
 -.--- OF DILLNGHAM
JOHN wHITTLEsY KNAPP.
(ccIylight, 1905. by Daily Story ru1
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JOHN WhATTLESN ANAEF' (ccIyiight, 1905, by Daily Story ruo
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 They had been devotees at her shrine, rivals for her favor, in the golden days when she was still Octavia Llv- ingston: before she took old Stenson with his millions, his diabolical tenn per and his railroads.
 And when Aindly Providence re- moved him. leaving behind residue of millions, which 1t was manifestly tni- possible to take with him, both Dilling- ham and Wentworth had resumed their old-t time allegiance.
 The finesse and diplomacy which Olivia had thus far shown in, fgura- lively speaking, holding both at arm length-was in itself a remarkable and truly feminine achievement. On very rare occasions the two collided, as It were; on which occasions an armed neutrality characterized the attitude or both. Wentworth was suave, smiling polite 1t was Wentworth's way. Dil- lingham was friRid. dignified, noncom- initial; it was Dillingham's way
 Inwardly each ragged at the obstinacy and the tenacity of purpose displayed by the other. Wentworth would slip Into his airy robe of nonchalant indif- ference and Dillingham; buckle on his armor of deadly serious intent.
 Cummings, the stolid, Beefy English butler, was quietly and unostentatious- ly garnering a rich harvest of tips from both.
 On an evening in May, when the trees were putting on the newly washed ap- pearance of early springtime. Dilling- ham stepped out of his cab before the big brown stone mansion. with an ex- pression of fell determination in his eye and a gardenia in his buttonhole.
 " He either fears his fate too much or his deserts are small he had been quoting didactically to himself all the way from his club who fears to put 1t to the touch, and win or lose 1t all.
 He would endure the rack no longer, he determined; Olivia should either ac- cept him and have done with it--or give him the fatal cohge-and tonight At the possibility of the latter alternative. his flesh chilled; and he had rapid mental picture of Wentworth In old Stenson's pew, or driving with Olivia in old Stenson's brougham, or gracing the head of the table dispensing ad lib- eratum old Stenson's Saint Julien. He had a shrewd suspicion that Wentworth was not indifferent to the loaves and fishes; he himself wished that Olivia were penY1iless. and nameless, and uu- known, that he might play the King Cophetua act and lift her lowly beauty to his more exalted station.
 
 culiarly inscrutable expression on his wooden face; as an exceptionally well disciplined retainer. thumbscrews and the rack could not have forced to his countenance any expression of the smoldering mirth within.
 Yes. madame was in; and he threw open the drawing room door with his usual obsequious flourish. Dillingham; was aware of two figures under the softened glare of shaded electrics. Olivia stood with the pretty oval of her face half turned away; Wentworth, his countenance wearing the crimson hue of embarrassment, suggesting a recent recovery from German measles. stood before her, stammering broken sent enees. which stumbled upon each oth- CTS heels like illy-drilled soldiers. In stantly by an intuitive flash, Dilling- ham was morally certain that he had interrupted a proposal at the very point of fruition.
 silently be burned incense to the little joss of Luck!
 As always. the woman was first to recover her composure, She came for ward with little cooing sound of well come--Olivia's voice was her chief charrn-and her gracious art of putting every one at ease with himself came to her rescue All her natural tact ral- Had to her aid to set at nauRht the