The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-09-05
THE
OGLESBy
BRIDE
BY KEITH GORDON
BY KEITH GORDON
COPYRIGHT, 1901, bv T. C. Mcclure

OgleSDy n1mSelf had vague con
seriousness of the fact at the end OF
Miss Wentworth's first year there
1t was not so much that, under the
charm of her personality, a Turkish
rug, not originally included In the plan
OF office furnishings, had found its way
into her room-that was a small mat
ter! But that he perceived a certain
incongruity in the fact that her slen-
der well shod feet rested upon a pol
ished floor, while he and Stanton
walked on rugs, was more significant,
When incongruities of this sort attract
a business mans attention he should
beware.
Miss Wentworth, to be sure, had an
atmosphere all her own, which seemed
to demand a proper setting for her.
To this silent demand Of her individ.
uality Oglesby made a good many con-
cessions from time to time, almost
without knowing that he did so. He
had whimsical theory that she was
like fine china and should be treated
with the greatest delicacy.
She herself never seemed to suspect
that there was anything unusual in the
attention that was paid to her com
fort II 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 a real
anxiety to know whether the chair that
she occupied was as comfortable q
one as could be procured, Miss Went
worth supposed that it was but the
usual kindness 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
consciousness of the fact that there
might be some personal motive in his
thoughtfulness
"Um! Seems to me, old man, that
you're daft on 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 stenographers 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, number Of times when
he had worked hard-harder by far
than he ever had with any woman of
his own world-to win a smile from
her. He even found relief In the
thought that with tact rare in a girl
unframed to social life she had added
zest to his efforts by her calm, well
bred, but by no means encouraging
manner
IAN Oglesby and daft on the subject
Of stenographerw he repeated to him.
self with scorn as Stanton's remark
ranked in his mind. Il guess notw
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
ner 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 he met her on the street
that day a 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
so much per month";" was the thought
that flashed wickedly through Miss
Wentworth's mind. Her acknowledge |
ment Of his greeting was reduced to a
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 a
queer mixture of triumph and indigna-
ton.
"Jove," ran his thoughts apprecia- |
lively, "she has the air of grande
damep'
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
to her precisely as he would have done
to Miss Ten Eyck, with mere trifing,
impalpable difference of expression,
which 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
OLA tall, fair girl, whose eyes seemed
to look into his with quiet mockery,
terminated his train of thought He
felt almost as guilty as If 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
fee did not seem so possible as it had
And, indeed, the "dignified displeas-
ure" was not at all discernibIe 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 indiffer.
ent smile and quick reference to bust
ness matters in hand that left him
feeling neatly and beautifully snubbed
Subsequently, in the stenographer's
room, Miss Wentworth took a letter
bead from the drawer at her side with
the air of a person In deep thought
Then, with a scornful smile playing
about her lips, she dropped the paper
into the machine, gave the roller
quick contemptuous turn and muir
INJURED to herself:
"a perfect cadp'
Fight the conviction as he would.
Oglesby became more and more CON
vinced as the days went by that a
lire thing had happened to him.
Why, otherwise, was he forever fur
lively watching her clear, pure outlines
with satisfied delight?
Yet his very soul WINGED at the
thought of an Oglesby In love with a
girl-and one, moreover,
who scarcely noticed him. With that
thought the queer, unreasonable ex-
lltation that he had experienced before
1t being snubbed darted through him.
he was proud of her-proud of her
IS If she had been himself. .
For two generations the OgIesbys had |
married bellies Of their day Indeed, to
De born an Oglesby--and a man-was |
much the same thing as being born a /
prince Of the blood.
And now the head of the Oglesby t
amily was absolutely dependent upon I
| girl Of the people-a young woman I
Who earned her living by means of the