The San Francisco call., 1905-03-21
CrennutiDg Cupid
BY EPES w. SHRGENT 7
- SUPPOSE that's ALL" said Ma
80 rion dolefullv, as the last en-
velope smoldered upon the
omen fire.

ss rion dolefullv, as the last en-
velope smoldered upon the
open fire.
Yes" assented Mason. 1T s
like all the rest; blackness and ashes.
TT is a good thing" she sighed.
that we found our mistake in time.
Rather" was the cheerful response.
It's an awfully good thing. Suppose
we had let things go along until sum-
mer time before we found out that we
/ did not love each other
THAT would have made it just a
year if we had waited until June" she
announced dolefully.
! Yes, indeed" he said cheerfully.
1T would not have been at all ro-
mantle to have had to burn all our let
ters in the kitchen stove, with the
cook scolding because we were MAX
ing such a muss.
How horrible.' she cried with a
shudder.
"Awfully unromantic' he agreed.
Il mean," she corrected, that it was
just horrid of you to suggest such a
thing"
I didn't suggest it," he defended.
1T was your idea to have this crema-
) tion OF Cupid"
Jim Mason" she cried, ARE you
trying all you know how to wound
me?'
Il don't seem to have to try" he
admitted sadly. Ever since we be-
came engaged L seem to have succeed
ed in nothing else
But you are so practical" she COM
planned. You take all the romance
out of life"
You did not appear to think so
once" he argued.
L idealized you she admitted. II
suppose it was the glamour of the birth
of love"
Mason WINGED. He hated those
hyper-elegant speeches. 1T seems to
me-" he suggested, that loves birth
was registered upon the vital statistics
about the time Adam woke up and
found Eve by his side"
She gave q start at the suggestion of
vital statistics in connection with love-
1t was Masson's matter -of-fact speech
that had led her to ask him to release
her from their engagement
Love is born afresh," she corrected
gently, with each new conquest.
Love is ever old and ever young"
Yes, said Mason bitterly, ''and
sometimes he's old enough to know
better when he falls back on that
born again plea
Have you no poetry in your sou? ?''
she demanded irritably.
Yes" he admitted calmly. That's
where keep it; not on the tip of my
tongue like some of the chaps who
can talk lot and mean so little"
Poetry is the expression of a full
heart
And an empty head" completed
Mason.
When love really comes to you"
she began.
1t has come" he interrupted. "It
came to me when / first saw you com
ing down the stairs at the hotel. I
DID not know then that you were in
Mrs. Hargreave's party but did
know that you were the one woman
in the world for me-
And yet, she insisted. you have
placed your business before your
promised wife,
No." he contradicted. 'I have
never done that but l have gone at
my work with greater spirit because I
knew that | was working for home
and for the sweetest little woman in
the world"
Marion waved her hand with help
less gesture of dissent.
The trouble is, he went on, "that
you thought you were engaged to a
vivif1ed novel, and expected me to talk
like the hero. l cannot
That is just it, she interposed
gently. Il saw that you could not
give me the love l needed and asked
you TO break our engagement"
Cannot you understand he plead