Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-12-20
Richard the
 BraZen

:. , well and unhurt, and in consideration , of Mir. Renwyck's method of doin, f business he persuaded himself that h. l was also right in adding his noncom initial warning. By this he hoped t
 put the cattle king on his guard, il I which case he trusted to his father shrewdness to circumvent the enemy. This duly discharged, Richard called at St. Luke's hospital and was mucf
 distressed to learn that Lord Croylan(
 was not doing well at all. He had de , veloped high fever, and in his pres Richard therefore could only leave the
 earl's mail, securely done up in pack
 age addressed to MT. Richard Will
 Hams, with the message that Mr. Peter
 Wilson had called and would come
 again within a day or two Then, hay
 ing nothing else to keep him in the
 city. after stop at a flower shop he
 returned to Irvington.
 Tn the meantime the final rehearsal of
 ''The Man and the Bird' was material
 ly interfered with by an upheaval of
 conflicting emotions on the part of
 Miss Imogene Chittendon. By the
 morning post that young lady received
 letter, which she read through sev.
 eral times, then ran to her room, flung
 herself upon the bed and expressed her
 emotion in tears and mysteries.
 Miss Renwyck, in passing through
 the hall, caught the sound of weeping
 and went in to comfort her She found
 Miss ImOgene in truly pitiable state
 and the better part of an hour elapsed
 before an intelligent explanation of
 the trouble could be obtained. Miss
 Chittendon told her story in jerky, dis
 jointed sentences, so interspersed with
 sobs and gasps that to quote her in de-
 tail would be an utter impossibility
 The thread of the romance ran in this
 wise:
 1 Several months previous to the open | ing of this narrative Miss ImOgene
 had been a pupil ill fashionable young ladies' school in Morristown, N. J. Like many of her mates, she had carried on innocent flirtations be- meath the very noses of certain stately gray headed wardens of propriety harmlnssly enough. In her last and most violent affaire du occur, however, she suddenly found cause bitterly to regret her rashness.
 Mir. Roderick Fitzgeorge-the last Morristown object of Miss Imogenes transient affections-posed as lieu tenant in the United States army on leave of absence, spending furlough at the quiet little Jersey town. He was of a romantic disposition and appeared very dashing blade, bewilderingly good looking to pent-up schoolgirl in spite of certain physical defect. The lieutenant was possessed of many oth- CT accomplishments, known and un- known to Miss Imcgene, among which, according to the young lady's own statement, "he could make love just beautifully in the moonlight over garden wall that was just covered with broken glass and horrid wire WllH SllCkeTS ull over II.
 Be that as 1t may, this Romeo was untowardly discovered in the midst of most poetical speech across the afore- said wall one spring night about 10 o'clock, and the touching love scene then in progress came to an abrupt, not to say painful, end. This was caused by the pulling of Roderick Fitzgeorge's ladder from under him by the villain in the piece-the night watchman- who had treacherously crept along the garden wall at the instigation of the protagonist of the drama, the princi- pal of the school, who, splendidly sery- ed by her intelligence department, had ruthlessly interrupted the course of true love.
 The little drama ended in two more acts, the first severe curtain lecture and a strict quarantine until gradua- tion day for the fair Juliet and the second a brief hospital scene for the disturbed Romeo, who had encountered the watchman's club at the foot of the ladder.
 Miss ImOgene of course was furious. Therefore she wrote quite dozen let ters to the afflicted martyr. which she 1 succeeded in smuggling to him, ex- pressing her sentiments In far warmer | phrases than otherwise might have | been dictated by discretion or were | justified by the facts of the case. She ! felt that her youthful heart-the dear Roderick's leg. to say nothing of his | head-was broken irremediably. though 1 the human heart requires a longer { time to heal than fractured limb or | eranium. But time cured both afiilc- tiOns, and 1t came about in this wise:
 A few days following his recovery Mir. Fitzgeorge left town between two trains. Many whisperlngs went around as to the cause of this precipitate de- parture, and many strange coiuci- dences were noted. Among them was the somewhat prominent mention of a safe discovered the nlorn- ing after his departure fin q condition Miss Tmogene's broken heart. Of all this. however. Miss Chit tendon knew nothing. and for many days she mourned- Of course dear Roderick knew nothing about the affair md only left MOrTistown because his leave 6f absence had expired CT be- ,ause he was angry at the residents or but whstsver his reason. Miss Inc gsne was sure # was a good one. However that might be. from Mir. FitzgsOFEe's point of view fs was an rnrn~aTFwa ss-a