The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-05-16
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Al " " The speaker was young
v man of twenty-eight and
the man addressed was
about the same age. There
was. however, striking contrast be-
tween the two. The first was the less
interesting of the two, his square face,
firm jaw and soidly built frame
seemed to proclaim him an admirable
specimen of the average man, so full
of common sense as 10 have no room
for ideals. His companion was. on the
contrary, noticeable man. A man,
1t could be seen, filed with quixotic
notions, a poetcal and highly strung
temperament, the chief visible sign of
which was the finely formed nose and
sensitive nostril. The friends. for such
they were, walked slowly along the
Thames embankment in full enjoyment
of a surprisingly mild morning in
March When they reached Cleopa-
tra's Needle. Martin Atock made the
remark with which our record of
remarkable episode opens. His com
panion, Richard Lyon, replied some
what eloomily, Because i have lost
all faith in womanho0d."
His friend surprised, exclaimed, by
JON! What loss"
ut is loss, very great loss" said
Lyon with emphasis, and added as he
grasped Atock's arm:
II did not tell you / am engaged to
be married.
married! BY Cad, you surprise me.
NOT knowing the lady, l suppose l
can't congratulate you, and knowing
you so well, with your poetic fads and
fancies, I'm afraid can't congratulate
heri That's the situation, l fancy.
Seriously, dear boy, I'm delighted. But
are you sorry that you're about TO he
tied up? Is that what's the matter?
And where does the loss of faith in
womanhood come INF"
let US take one of the seats in the
garden for moment, and perhaps
when l tell you the facts you can help
me-"
They seated themselves, and Lyon,
tapping the sole of his boot with his
stick as he rested one leg on the other,
said slowly:
81 am, as told you, engaged to be
married.
"And l have congratulated you on
The fact" said Atock. 81 hope you'll
be very happy"
"Yes; but I've got myself into a hor
&rid mess, in this way. / have been
engaged now three months, and the
day before yesterday l wrote long
letter to my fiancee."
"Well, that was not very wrong
thing to do"
one does to the girl one hopes to
make ones wife. Naturally l used
very strong terms Of endearment, and
am worried TO death bJ the fact that
writing in my office, as l did, in a
hurry put my letter into an envelope
addressed to a girl have only seen
once and never said more than It's
q fine day to-"
well, there's nothing criminal in all
this. The recipient may smile or laugh
at you, but if she's lady she'll re-
turn the letter. without a word, and by
and by you'll both forget all about it."
what worries me- Martin, is this
wrote, as told you, in very strong
! strain. l let my feelings run away
with me, and l even had the temerity
to ask my wife-to-be to come alone to
my rooms at 7.30 tonight and promised
to take her TO the theatre"
''Yes; well, you think you've given
the show away, so to speak, to a
stranger. Is that iti'
NO" said Lyon shortly. II did not
mention my fiancee's name at all, so
the person to whom the letter is ad-
dressed cannot be identified"
"Then what in Heavens name are
you groaning about?" cried Atock, in
terrupting.
Cant you see that there is some
thing worse than what have yet told
your
''Dear old chap, tell me what it is,'
said Atock. fully won at last to view
the matter in a serious light.
"The tragedy lies here said Lyon.
'T write and ask lady TO come to my
rooms alone. The letter is addressed
with. of course. the most honorable
intention to my fiancee. but it reaches
the hands of lady who is an utter
stranger to me"
YES" said Atock, keeping a very
serious face with an almost superhu-
man effort "and the tragedyT"
"The tragedy is that she has accepted
my invitationl She is coming tonight,
she writes me. and even adds that she
does not mind whether we 60 TO the
theatre or not"
"Well," said Atock, that is awk-
ward, must admit. You're in a
beastly fix. III tel you ! have it.