Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1907-09-26
Seeing "
veSuviuS.
800. By JAMES LEWIS.
By JAMES LEWIS,
Copyrighted. 1907, by Mary McKeon.

1
conservative way. He was also a
| patron of the theater, but not Of
| actresses. Now and then he made n
bet on a horse race or an election, but
ticipate In wild revelry. He was
| bachelor of good character, and why
he did not marry was something no
fellow could find out.
Nothing is mystery to one who
knows Mr.. CASTOR knew that he was
simply waiting for the right woman
| to come along and arouse the ro-
nance In his nature. That he had
romance he felt quite sure, but that
the right woman would come he had
| begun to dorh. He had prevented a
girl IL finantia distress from leaping
into the river but she was older than
he and did not appeal to him. He had
stopped a runaway cab horse and saw
| ed the woman inside the vehicle but
she turned out to be a bachelor girl,
who coldly thanked him and said that
| she was about to vault on TO the
|
At a theater panic one night he had
seized a pretty girl in his arms and
hustled her out, but she had told him
that she was already engaged and had
| offered him a dollar in cash for his
cxertions.
Between the ages of twenty-five and
| thirty-eight Mr. CASTOR had had at
| looct 6ftaou narrou aspupec fronn call
ing up that slumbering romance that
| would lead to admiration and love. and
he had finally come to the conclusion
that 1t would have to be something
out of the beaten track and might
never happen at all
| How little do we know what a day
may bring forth, On certain Sun
day Mr.. CASTOR sat in the smoking
room of his club and read the six vol
ume Sunday papers and was satisfied
and content. On Monday he decided
| to sail for Italy and see the volcano Cf
| Nesuvius In operation. No one had
ever suspected him of partiality for
volcanoes. He had not rushed off to
the Johnstown food or the Galveston
disaster or the Baltimore fire He had
never been known to attend a prize
fight or pay visit to the morgue, and
he had once turned pale at sight of a
| bleeding finger on the hand of a club
waiter, but now he wanted to sail far
away and see n volcano belching de-
struction for twenty miles around.
Such is man.
Five days from the date of making
his decision Mr.. Castor sailed for
Naples His steamer was not over
crowded He would find plenty of
standing room at the deck rail when
he reached port. This would be one Of
the occasions when the front seats
were not reserved for ladies. 1t was
two days before the old bachelor sud
| denly discovered that there was an
| extremely good looking young woman
| aboard In charge of the captain. His
heart gave one jump, and then he
turned away, He was off to see vof-
canoes and not to look after comely
| women. Besides, the captain whis-
pered to him that Miss Dawson did
not care to make acquaintance on the
voyage. BY way of revenge Mr.. Gas
ton did not stare at her at the table
as Did all the other passengers.
-Four days had passed and he had
met Miss Dawson face to face a dozen
times, and neither had seemed to see
the other Then he passed her vacant
steamer chair and found her purse ~
Ing where she had carelessly left It,
Finding lady's purse, whether on
land or sea, calls for immediate action.
Mt Castor was in search of the cap
tain to hand ii over, with contents I'M
touched, when he met the young lady
face to face and had the hardihood to
address her. She mt once responded
smilingly. Yes, ii was her purse, and
she was under thousand obligations,
and so they introduced themselves to
each other and sat down for chat.
She had told the captain that she
didn't care for introductionS. but she
was willing To make an exception in
Mr.. Gastou's case. Mr.. Castor was on
board for the express purpose of going
10 Naples TO see volcano humping
itset and hadn't expected to speak to
a woman en- route. but he was also
willing to make a solitary exception.
There were many other chats, but
1t was not until the last day out that
Miss Dawson solved a problem that
was puzzling the bachelor She was
going TO Italy 10 claim IL large estate
left by her grandmother. She had the
papers with her. She was an orphan
ana had no relative To come with her,
and her New York lGwyer and her
maid had accidentally been left behind
when the steamer sailed She must 90
to hotel in Naples and wait for them.
though she would be in consultation
with an Italian lawyer meanwhile, and
some preliminary steps could be taken.
The romance that had been buried
deep In the heart of the old bachelor
began to thaw out It thawed and
dubbed and rose to the surface.
1t begot admiration. Mr.. CASTOR
wouldn't have made wager that II
"onldnt end IN begetting love. The
thlhS that was needed had come TO
MN NJ last ON arrival at Naples the
captain took Miss Dawson to n GER
tam hotel and Mr. E,g.., 49,.