Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1905-05-10

occasionally" admitted the au
thor. "But Pm sure beg your par
don if l anticipated your climax
What did she do them"
"Why," said the girl, "she pu
herself in her school friends place.
"Great heavensw cried the au
thor. do you mean in the coffin p
"Of course notl / mean she as
sumed her dead friends name and
and personality, think you call it.
and pretended she was her."
"She," suggested the author, "witl
the connivance Of the cousin ?"
mo. She told the cousin moth
ing about it. She left the omnibul
and drove straight to the man.
house in cab and rang the bell ant
walked in. The man was standin,
on the hearth rug alone in the room
and she ran up to him-remember
she hadn't seen him for ten years
and, with a wild gesture, exclaimed
Save me p"
eyes," observed the author, "you
have hit upon strong dramatic sit
uation there. What does the man
say, though"
"The man replies, 4 will proclaim
your innocence with my best breath,
or something of that sort, and she
falls into his arms. After soothing
her for a few moments he inquiries
who she is. She tells him she is her
dead friend, his sister-in-law's cous-
in, but the man replies that there
must be some mistake, as he has no
sister-in-law. The girl fixes her eyes
upon his face intently for several
minutes before remarking, Then
you are not James de Vere? The
man answers, No; my name is
JONES' and the girl discovers that
she has come to the wrong house"
"Ah, that, too, is fine situation, "
murmured the author-"for the
girl"
eyes, / do not think it is bad.
But the strange part is that Jones
and De We're are both members of a
club where ladies can be taken as
guests, you know. There are such
clubs ia London, aren't there?"
"Oh, yes; several" said the au-
thor.
80 Jones offers to conduct the
girl to this club and hand her over
to De We're, and they drive of to-
gether. Meantime the girls hus-
band has discovered her fight and
starts in pursuit. Having heard her
once mention the name of her dead
school friends cousin, he first seeks
out this lady and from her learns
that his wife and she met that very
morning in an omnibus. That re-
assures him, and he goes home to
dinner. Jones and the girl reach the
club, and Jones finds De We're tax
ing afternoon tea with--whom do
you think"
II am at a loss to conjecture"
said the author, permitting his eyes
to dwell dreamily on the girls flush
ed face.
"Why, with the school friendp
exclaimed the girl, clasping her
hands.
1.-THE school friend~
eyes. She wasn't dead, after all.
It turned out to be merely mali
cious and unfounded report. On
the contrary, she was engaged to be
married to De We're"
"Ah, lucky De Verel And is that
ALP
"No; that concludes the first half
Of the story. The rest is principally
l want to know how
it ought to be written" said the
girl.
"It's too exciting for me to give
an opinion straight off," rejoined
the author. "You say the girl knew
the man for ten years~
"Yes."
"But the man didn't know the
girl~
mo"
1T was his loss" murmured the
suthor. 'Pray, how long have you
known me~
ooh, ever since / was fifteen or
thereabonts," answered the girl, ex-
aiming the pattern Of the authors
carpet.
"And it seems only within the last
half hour that / have known your
the author, rising from
his chair.
"What on earth do you mean"
demanded the girl.
81 mean," said the author, that
We will write your story together If
1ou will, but on one condition.
"And what is the condition.
"That, unlike the girl in the story,
,ou will promise never, never to run
away from me, not even for lark"
"Ohw said the girl.
And
"Ah," SAID the author, putting his
lrm round the girls waist, "but |
owe you, I love you. I love your
And the girl didn't run away
It. Louis Globe-Democrat.