The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-10-25
DIS ENcHANTED

efn III every paINlCu4tAs iNSAuoAAb ASoAh
and soul. She was charming, she
knew, and somewhat vain, clever and
little mercenary and thoroughly
worldly wise and worldly minded, aud
vet there were three years when Miss
Brockton rivaled any old time heroine
of romance in her sentimental attitude.
1t happened in this wise: One day
when she was twenty three there came
to her certain stalwart fellow she
had known from infancy and told her
what she already knew-that he loved
her and wished to marry her. Miss
Brockton, liking him exceedingly well,
realizing how pleasant life might be |
made with his money, his name, his |
devotion to her and his companionship |
and deciding that the ecstatic love OF |
which poems and novels treated would |
never come to her anyway, accepted |
him. The engagement came out duly. |
! The cups and saucers came in. Mar
garet liked Jack Whlttlestone a great
deal and found the position of iancee
charming, and ali was well.
Then the villain appeared upon the
scene In the shape Of Louis Radcliffe,
Jacks cousin. Louis was a delight
fully unmodern person, W&o seemed
to have taken for his model some of
the early Victorian heroes. He was q
combination OF youthful romanticism,
elderly cynicism and other interesting
qualities He had a superb scorn of
the conventions, a magnificent belief
In himself and a corresponding ami
able skepticism in regard to other PEG
pie.
He interested" Margaret greatly,
she said, at first Then she ceased to
say anything about him. Jack. not be-
ing skilled In the ways of women, did
not worry over either his betrothed's
speech or Its absence. lie knew the
new woman well enough not to assert
his rights and bid her have less con-
versatlon with his cousin, even had he
wished to do so. Liberty being the
law OF Margaret's life and unsuspect-
ing good nature OF Jacks, the situation
had every chance to complicate itself
1t did so promptly Margaret, who
had decided that fervid and ecstatic
love was not ut all likely to come her
way, awOke one fine morning to the
realization that the universe had in 1t
Just one man-Jack's impossible, pow
I erty stricken, irresistible cousin-and
Jacks cousin, who had laughed at Mar
garet's feminine cynlclsm and pretense
, of GOODNESS, felt that she and she alone
could be the complement TO his life.
. They were both unhappy enough to
; give them credit for some good inten-
I lions, but In the midst Of their unhap-
piness they We're supremely conscious
of what trlfe misery was compared
to the JOY OF seeing each other.
3 Margaret knew perfectly In her few
sane hours that she did not wish to
. marry Louis Radcliffe. She realized
! that he would develop into thorough
ly undesirable sort of husband, even
] apart from his poverty.
'If only l could get over this" she
mOaned to herself "At forty should
Q be wretched with him. At forty l
d should be comfortable II not madly
a happy with Jack. If only-if only l
Q were forty noww
1t was one day when she and Louis
= had sat for an hour staring ahead Of
b them at the sea that the climax came.
"Why don't you talkT" demanded
D Margaret, finding her heart beats OPP
J presslve.
8 Because l cannot say what / wish
U to-" he answered. Then of course he
u proceeded to say the things which he
II should not have said, and for a few
minutes the sea and sky reeled before
3 their eyes and they breathed as II in
a trance, after which, according to the
9 sacrlficial modern manner. they decid.
q ed to part. and the next day the com.
IS munity was startled to learn that Mr.
D. Radcliffe was going to Europe.
, Then It was that Margaret showed
II how thoroughly lacking she was In the
D modern mercenary spirit she had al.
a ways claimed. 1t gave her mourn.
4 full satisfaction to think that, though
she could not marry Louis, who. TO tell
p tho truth, had not asked her to do so
L. she need not marry Jack. So she
10 broke her engagement promptly and
u proceeded to indulge herself in heE
% great grief. She heard nothing oil
10 either OF the cousins for a long time
% for naturally her course of action with
p Jack had suspended communication
u between the families.
10 For three years she was secretly al
u romantic as the most romantic school
H. girl, She thought of Louis constantly
q and pleased herself by imagining tina
y he, in Egypt or Algiers or wherever
;! he was, must know her thoughts. She
= was exceedingly happy with her grief
10 outwardly she seemed much the same
but inwarily she acknowledged tht
" sway Of love and Its power.
One evening three years after LOuil
y Radcliffe had gone away she went L
Is q reception. \ little pudgy woman
" overdressed and Overgemmed, stood BY
y her hostess side.
Is My cousin, Mrs. Radcliffe, Mis-
o Brockton," said her hostess And then
40 with sudden remembrance: "You mus