The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-08-24
IA College Love Affair |
s By B. J. KR0MrR 6

By B. ]. KRONER

aroused all his latent passion. As he
gazed at it he felt the full tide Of his
passion sweep through him until it
seemed that he must burst.
Miss Sample chartered on.
we all thought you We're awfully
sweet on Laura Tolman," she said,
Really, we did. In fact, the whole
class thought it IA a match, and
was all fixed up. 1t was perfectly par.
alyzing when, after commencement
you plunged into business. and she
got engaged to that Bently fellow"
You can't always judge about
these college affairs" he replied. with
a fine assumption OF Indifference. by
the way, whatever became of Miss
Tolman-or Mrs. B~ently?"
"Oh, dear, didn't you hear she re-
piled, with a shrek Of laughter.
No" he replied, graveIy, and a
triie shortly.
oh, my, it's the greatest joke"
laughed the girl. Let me tell YOU
no, positively, | must read it to you,
El-never mind who, but one of the
old class wrote it to me from Sara.
toga. Wait, and I'll get the letter"
And away she danced, leaving her
caller wondering whether to be angry
or glad.
Presently she danced back in
again.
Listen to this" she said, and then
she read:
"Oh, Carrie, just the funniest thing
happened here yesterday. You re-
member Laura Tolman, of course,
Well, she has been here all the sea
son with her mother-who, by the
way, does not look much older than
Laura, Well, you remember she be-
came engaged to Mr.. Bently just aft
er she graduated, and Mr.. Bently has
been here also all the season, and he
has been a perfect shadow to Laura.
She has seemed a trifle cool, and II
day, presuming on our old class rela'
lions, | chided her about it.
Ella she said, very solemnly-
and you know Laura never was very
solemn, I'm awfully afraid I've made
a mistake, There was another be-
fore Mr., Bently, and | liked him very,
very much. But he seemed tongue
tied, and it made me angry that he
would not speak, and-and I &C
cepted Mr.. Bently-and sometimes it
seems to me that it would be a sac
rilege to become his wife, when my
heart is-somewhere else
While we We're talking a messen.
ger boy came with a note from her
mother that she had left for New
York with Mr.. Bently, where they
would be married the next day, and
she hoped Laura would approve and
always treat her second father with
all due respect-and a lot of other
stuff; and she wound up by saying
that Aunt Julia would be a sufficient
c%haperone during the brief honey
trip they proposed to take.
"Oh. my, Carrie, what a shock it
was to Laura. And really | don't
know whether she was more angry
or more glad, You see, Bently had
found out that the widow had old Toll
mans money, although everybody
had been led to believe that the bulk
OF the estate had been left to Laura"
Now, what do you think of that?'
asked Miss Sample, laughing until the
tears ran down her cheeks.
What became of Laura?' asked
Belknap, with an Indifferent show of
indifference,
"Oh, she's living an old maids
ideal life at the old home in Cleve.
land replied Miss Sample, careless.
ly. THE Bentlys moved to New
York and built a palace on the drive.
Laura preferred to live in the old
home. Oh, you must not go yet, Mr..
Belknap. Where in the world would
you go at this ridiculously early
hour"
ITO Cleveland" he replied, regart-
ing her steadily.
After he had left Miss Sample
looked off into space for a moment,
and then gave voice to a prolonged
whistle.
Copyright, 1906, by Daily Story Pub. Coz