The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-03
AUDREY'S APHASlA.
u-r.e. w. Sargent.

Copyrighted. 1907, by E. C. Pa1cei'S.
 It had been rubbing 1t in to ask DicA Fitzgerald to act as one of the usners at the Craven -Mountford wedding. Dick had been in love with Aua.ey Craven long before Sir Henry Moun. ford had come across the water II" search of a bride and bank aecoun.'
 Mrs Craven had shrewdly arsusu that with Dick acting as one oi .ne ushers she would put stop 10 the iass shred of gossip For several years their friends had looked for the an nouncement of Dicks engagement to Audrey, and the new turn of anairs had not met with popular approval If Dick was an usher he might seem to give countenance to the alliance.
 No one blamed Audrey for the en- sagement Mrs. Craven had she oeeh man, would have achieved credit as e' ward boss. In her feminine spneee , hectored her family, the charitanie societies of which she was invarianly the president, and even the rector or St. Judes recognized God, Mrs. CraV- en and the bishop in that order.
 When Sir Henry was graciousiy pleased to accept Mrs. Craven's dlplo- matic evertures their set had regard ed Dicks fate as sealed and' with a murmured Poor Audrey gave tneir attenIlOn IO oluCi hheAAS'
 nouncement that Dick was to be one of the ushers brought forth an aodlt- ionaI Poor Dick" but he rather en- loved his duties, as. standing on the steps of St. Jude's. he explained 10 the wedding guests that the service was postponed owing to the absence or Miss Craven.
 I've only know what word was sent up from the house., he assured MFs'
 
 visit Nell Testra last night She left SO early that no escort seemed neces- sary. but she did not return home. No one knows what happened. Mrs Cray en Is prostrated. Sir Henry? under stand he is taking 1t very badly. He bowed her away and turned to the next conner. There had been no time to recall the invitations and the six ushers were too busy to give more than passing attention to any one person.
 Sir Henry was taking 1t very badly indeed. He was storming up and down the long hall of the Craven homo, ana between disappointment and wounded pride the foodgates of speech were opened and his language would have done credit to a staL le boy. Mrs. Craven shut herself Into the library long before he had concluded
 
 aided by the coachman. elected Sir Henry from the house to the huge de- light of the reporters who had vainly besieged the front uoor for the last hour or so.
 Then Mrs Craven took her bed and vowed that daughter of hers should never marry into the British nobility. while Carver Craven hurried down to the police station to ask that Q gen. | eral alarm be sent out.
 Nothing came of this action, and after a couple of days. the papers dropped the sensation. Dick was dis | tracted Two days before the ceremony Audrey had assured him that things would turn out all right and had told l him pot to worry, but her long silence argued that she had not been able to make things go as she had planned. and that she had killed herself rather ! than marry a man she did not love. In the hope of distracting his mind | t senior Fitzgerald intrusted him with a commission to Chicago, and | Dick glad to get away for few days. | took the train, after exacting prom ise that he should be informed by | wire of any development
 | The trip seemed interminable. but at last he reached town and establish ed himself at a hotel. He could not see the people he wanted until the | following morning. and to dispel his | loneliness he hunted up Jim Dalton Dalton and he had been chums in the college days before Dalton had | gone West to study medicine. He was l interne in one of the hospitals now and after dinner Dick and he wen, | out.
 Want to see the animals?" asked | his chum after the first flood of ques- tions had been asked and answered | Dick shook his head.
 | "Td rather talk" he said. I'm 1T no mood to look upon suffering"
 We've got one celebrated case,
 said Dalton proudly. Been in thu 1 papers almost a week now A ripping pretty girl with aphasia. Doesn't know
 who she is or where she came from O
 where she wants to go. The funn!
 part is that she suffers from none O
 the cause of the disease"
 Dick smiled. Tt must he pleasant t
 forget everything sometimes" he said
 You couldn't innoculate me. Coul
 you?"
 "I never knew that it was infect
 .ous." said Dalton. "Still you migh
 try it In the interest of science. Sh
 usually comes in for chat in tn ] evening She likes to talk about he