Willmar tribune., 1906-01-03
The Man Who Would
J. Never Betray
By C0SMO HAMILTON
'".sss ~ -
Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles.l

ii By COSMO HAMILTON
Copyright 1905, by Joseph 3. Bowles:) j..
I want you to tell me. I've got my
own ideas on the matter. Was. Din
ton coward or liar2
ThereFis a woman in the story, and
| Dinton has straight nose, a fine
mustache, and he stands six foot one
in his socks.
Canon Dinton had one son, Maj.
Carbis one daughter. Their houses
lay near to each other in village out
side Gloucester.
Harry Dinton and Mary Savernake
Carbis knew each other by sight before
either was able to pass the time OF
day in words tabulated by Johnson.
For some years they were wheeled out
! side by side. For some years they ran
together hand in hand. Then came
Harrow, and "school for the daugh-
ters of gentlemen" at Brighton. In
the holidays they raced on ponies,
blackberried and kissed each other in
q brother-and-sister way. Then the
| boy entered the "shop," as his father
had wished to do before him, and the
girl remained at Brighton. In the
holidays they still raced on ponies,
played tennis and golf; but they black
berried and kissed each other no more
in a brother-and-sister way. At II
they were, very secretly (no one must
know, engaged to be married. Har-
rvs mustache could be twisted; just
| half Mary's hair had gone up.
Jove, how time slips on from chapter
to chapter!
Harry Dinton grew into fine young
man, straight-backed, clean-eyed, hard
! of hand. On the great day upon which
he came down to the drawing-rLom in
his first uniform he looked everp inch
| a soldier.
"Will he do, Dinton? Will he do?"
| said the major, with slight moisture
in the corners of his eyes, due very
likely to gout.
"He's a credit" replied Canon Din
ton, in the stiffest speech he ever per-
petrated, due, very likely, to gOut also,
Ito his father, to his friends, ard to
the nation"
"Eh, Mary my dear, eh?"
eyes, indeed!" said Mary, whisn in
her heart she cried: "He's man, and
he's mipe-he's mine.'
And then Harry "joined," and bagan
to live as most of them live; he bought
things he couldn't afford, and gambled
and paid up with other peoples mouey,
and flirted little with young man+ied
women. Soon, quite soon, his me:atal
perspective began to change. !:he
three figures which hitherto had
dwarfed all others in his sight became,
respectively, dear old dad" funny
old chap" "poor little Mary"
Poor little Mary read, and re-read,
and kept his letters-we know the kt-
ters-and laid her flowers, her heart,
her faith, her trust, at the foot of the
pedestal upon which she had plated
the image of the man who would never
sbetray.l For you must understand that
Mary was no ordinary girl.
She was a hero worshiper, an enth1l-
siast, an optimist, a believer in things;
she was very simple. So far as s.ee
knew, she had never possessed a moth
er, you will remember. Her environ
ment also kept her from becoming as
other girls are. The country was all
she needed. Her garden, her animals.
the management of her fathers house,
filed her days. Her dissipations were
the croquet matches she played with
the Canon and her father, till the light
failed, to be followed by cut-throat
bridge with them under the green.
shaded lamp. She needed no frocks.
She attended no sales. She borrowed
no money. She met no "smart" peo-
ple She saw no life, but she lived
to her own complete satisfaction in her
dull, stupid village. There were the
letters, you will remember. (We know
the letters.)
Do not for moment run away with
the notion that Harry did not believe
the hieh-fown, not badly-worded SEN
timents he professed tri-weekly to the
young woman he was to marry. At
that time he did, although he, received
many three-cornered notes from a Mrs.
Tarporley, who kept open house and
possessed no available husband. He
said to himself that the whole thing
was different; that, really and truly,
Mary was the only woman in the
world Zone has to be ordinarily civil,
don't y see.'' And so, to the surprise
of his best pal, he still continued to
play the game, more or less according
to rules
Then came day when the regiment
was ordered to India. Harry spent his
leave at home. For the first few days
the general petting he received was
very pleasing. Then the croquet bored
him, and playing bridge for love didn't
amuse. 1t was all so quiet, so slow,
so off-the-map. There were many
things he was missing, the opera, with
but that doesn't matter; new play;
polo match at birmingham. OF
course, Mary was the most beautiful
girl in the world and all that; but why
didn't somebody tell her not to wear
dresses cut in that way? They weren't
worn. And her hair-nobody did hair
in that outre manner. Everything irri-
tated him.
. Il Dunno" he kept saying, in an
ashamed way, in the watches of the
night; II dunno, I'm sure Dear old
dad used to seem s,lch a grand chan a+