Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-09-02
ONE GIRLS TRAGEDY.

The girl with the chilly smile eyed the
young woman with the dropping mouth
keenly.
Been taking antifat?" she asked at
last You look thin and washed out"
Thank you for your kind words" re-
sponded the girl with the dropping mouth
With considerable asperlty ''Your dys-
pcpsia is worse, l observe Only that
would make you so truthful and frank"
oh! come now, what's the trouble
Don't waste your time being sarcastic
Well" said the girl with the dropping
mouth, Il do feel rather unhappy, that's
the truth. There's nobody to blame but
myself. You've heard Mabel talk about
that cousin of hers who has been study
ing abroad. several years, haven't your"
Haven't l." acquiesced the young
woman with the chilly smile I'D like
to know who could escape him Albert
Howard Graham. The family just wor-
ships him."
Yes, he lived with them when he was
small boy. 1t seems he's going to drive
Marconi into oblivion when once he gets
started. Really, he has done some won
dertul things, and Mabel always prom
ised she would-er-"
Give you the first chance at him?"
well, you know, I'm her dearest
friend. and she always has said that he
and were made for each other. Nat
uraliy, got interested in him. | rather
looked forward to meeting him, too. 1t
seemed so romantic to think maybe be
was my fate.
50 you can imagine my state of mind
the other afternoon when Mabel called
me up on the phone and said Albert
Howard had Unexpectedly arrived home
from France the night before, and she
was dying for me to meet him. and that
she had just sent him over to my house
after her purse she had forgotten the
day before. She said he had a business
GRAND he must attend to on the way,
but she thought he'd be there in an hour
Il was so excited, and | had tons of
things to ask her, but in the middle of
our talk the bell rang and | had to 90 to
the door, saw it was the man to over
haul the kitchen stove whom we had
been expecting for a couple of days, for
ne had queer long bag and some wire
things in his hand.
Il didn't want to lose Mabel so |
called back over my shoulder for him to
sit down and wait till | could attend TO |
him, and rushed back to the phone. / |
asked Mabel if her cousin knew she had !
sent him over to meet me, and she said |
no, and then / had to ring off, for | had !
to get into decent dress and do up my |
hair. 1t was struggling all over my face
and | didn't want Albert Howard to get |
bad impression of me.
THE stove man sat meekly in a corner
as | started to tear upstairs, and | had
to stop a minute. l told him to come
with me. and opened the kitchen door
"'You'll find the stove there, / said,
airily, and suppose you know what to
do-clean it out so that it'll burn Then
| flew upstairs.
Il got dressed and sat in the reception
room for two hours, and Albert Howard |
Graham never appeared. got angry at
last and thought I'd teach him a lesson
when he did come-it was some of his |
foreign atfectation, / supposed, making |
a girl wait.
Then | suddenly remembered the man |
in the kitchen. and wondered what he |
could be doing, for | hadn't heard noise |
from the basement the whole two hours |
| went down to investigate. The man |
SAT calmly on q PIE OF WOOD smoking Il |
cigar, He seemed so much at ease and |
so self-possessed, and eyed me so strange
ly that l just stared open mouthed. 1t |
was the first time | had taken a good |
look at him-my mind had been so full |
of Albert Howard.
Then it flashed over me-for Mabel |
had shown me his picture-he was Albert |
Howard Graham himself! The bag and |
wires were electrical things he had just
bought. And | had ordered him into the |
kitchenl"
i suppose he wasn't thoughtful enough |
to clean the stove as you requested him,
either" put in the girl with the chilly |
smile.
you can't appreciate a tragedy when
it is thrown in your facet" the other |
wailel--Illustrated Bits