The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-24
A CASE OF GRIP.
BY NORMAN H. CRowELL.

ai For . woman-hater of thirty to sud- denly find himself irretrievably in love Is a serious state of affairs. To discovere, moreover, that the object of ones affections is discouragingly apathetic in. the matter copmiicates the thing to considerable degree of frenzy.
 yet that is what happened to me. After a more or less sprightly exist ence in which the smiles of charm CTS and the wiles of charmers' ma mas had been successfully withstood, 1 had reached the satisfying conviction that was at last rooted and ground ed in the bedrock of respectable bachelorhood. To lok down from my height and contemplate the strife from which 1 had now fully emerged was a pleasant thing. And now, in the midst of this-at the zenith of my tri- umph--I felt 1t seise me. She was a queen--every inch--and perhaps 1t was her very imperious- ness that commanded my unwilling ad-
 miration- I had known her years ago I-when she was a mere girl, In fact. II was twenty-two and she. sixteen. Cue day I carried her across lit- tie stream on my back. It began there, but I did not know it. Norah Branch went East and dropped out of my sight--and life.
 She had returned now--not the Norah Branch of my schoolboy days but Branch-the great artiste whose beli-like voice was sufiicient to hold vast audiences breathless to the first faint cadence that fell from her per- feet throat.
 I met her as she came forth to her carriage. She recognised me daintily and smiled--a plain, womanly smile | that swung me back to far bygone
 days. clumsily greeted her and
 passed on abruptly, as if in haste. berating myself at my unhappy lack of insouciance--a quality upon which
 I had always taken particular pride. | At that moment 1t became appar- ent that I, Frederick Bennington, had
 been struck by the blind gods random
 archery and that the wound was a | sore one.
 l I became foolish. From a sanguine.
 carelessly- happy man l was trans formed into a moody, sombre, tomb | like being. My fellow club-members
 rallied me--advised tours to the con- tinent, mountain climbing and entire
 change of scenery, air, etc. snapped
 their jokes too dull for my benumoed
 brain.
 | She sang. I took a box and pelted
 her with flowers. She smiled. scared into the clouds. She held her
 hands toward me as the music welled
 from her superb throat l stormed the privacy of the stage where I grew profuse in my compliments and ear nest in my laudatory adjectives- She | thanked me simply and put back stray wisp of brown hair that floated loose from her magnificent coiffure. "Dodo," cried, Do you remember
 the time I carried you across that
 "Yes. It was long time ago." she | said.
 "But I recall 1t very distinctly"
 T wonder whyg" was her innocent remark.
 you put your arms around me then,
 Dodo. Do you remember thatT' She smiled.
 T was very silly in those days, Mir Bannington," she said. I blushed, unable to meet the thing | to my satisfaction.
 | A call-boy blundered In and the great singer fitted out to face the sea of critical fellow w-humans-her one surt talisman supreme and ready to her caIl-that wonderful voice. It was pathos this time-deep, sob ping sympathy that seemed to croon It's soul into the very hearts of the listeners Her rich mellow notes lad en with the honeyed tremor of sad ness dimmed many an eye ere she swept graciously from the stage to face me flushed and triumphant-her
 superb bosom rising and falling with the intensity of her emotion.
 Bravo. little girlp' said I. They're
 all crying out there"
 She threw her hand toward me deprecatingly and sighed. Then her head sank down toward one fair
 shoulder as she roguishly replied: Fritz the Flatterer!' I started. That was my appeilation in the good old days-I thought she had forgotten it. But her eyes were glancing into mine in a manner that puzzled me I hesitated between two mighty um- pulses Words to bestow upon this fair structure deserted me-they were | like clay in a casket of precious gems. I was impeiled by pair of saucy brown orbs-yet repulsed by a pouting, determined chin; drawn by yon legligent lock that crept stealth fly down over one half-hidden ear repelled by a naughty shrug of match less shoulders.
 Yet there she stood. calmly. grand iy, while I weak mortal, vacillated. Suddenly she straightened, placed her jewelled hands bewitchingly akimbo while an amused smile rippled at the
 corners of her lips.
 ''You great stupid!' she said. What
 are you staring atT"
 Taken aback, I met her eye-from the distance came the call-boy's lead- en tramp-I stirred--a step forward
 she seemed to float nearer yet may
 have dreamed it-then warm pulsa-
 ting body was clutched in my arms
 and ruthiessly held. A quiver, a strug-
 rie rosy, up-turned face that
 breathed defiance-a faint, lingering