The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-03-18
HER
|PREDICAMENT
She Had Lunch With the Man
She Hated Most.

the girl from the Bronx, as she sanl
weakly onto her friends divan anf
reached for cup OF tea, III he hat
been a perfect stranger; but to fine
yourself sitting opposite the man 70,
hate most in all the world and have
vowed never to speak to again---to find
yourself sitting opposite him, | SAY
and eating dinner at his expense--can
you imagine anything more tragic :?
But you could have left or--or--
explained" began her hostess.
mo, couldn't walled the girl from
the Bronx, How are you going to ex-
plain anything to anybody without
| speaking to him? And | had vowed |
wouldn't by all the gods, big and little.
And, besides, 1t happened so naturally
well, III tell you all about it.
New York is pretty big place. but
find that when there is anybody In
town whom you particularly don't want
to meet the town gets so cramped that
you always are stepping on one an
others toes. AT any rate, you always
are running across the people YOU
\ %
don't want to see, and you never by
any chance run across somebody that
you are dying to see. SO, of course. it
was only week after we had Quarrel
ed and separated forever that-the
thing happened.
Il had been shopping all morning.
and when noon time came | was lust
so tired that | thought | would Just
take an elevator to the lunch room
OF the department store instead of go
Ing home. You know how crowded
those places are at noon. Well, when
| reached this one, it looked like the
geological gardens at feeding time.
Everybody in town seemed to be eat
Ing there; and there wasn't a table
left-only seat opposite gentle
man, the waiter informed me, and he
asked me if | would mind occupying
it. | was so hungry and exhausted
that | would have been glad to eat
opposite a polar bear; so / was only
too grateful to be allowed to sit oppo-
site the gentleman.
4 followed the waiter through the
lanes made by tables and had dropped
down in my chair before | glanced at
the gentleman; and then | discovered
to my horror that he wasn't gentle
man at ALL and just the rudest, most
overbearing man | ever knew. and the
very one | had quarreled with the
week before. OF course, he might
have risen and gone away; but he
didn't. And then another waiter came
over for my order and took the gem
tlemans at the same time I got
awfully busy fussing with my wraps
and my gloves; but he just sat there
not seeming to notice me after the
first stare of blank amazement 1t
seemed to ME | dropped everything |
possessed In rapid-fire succession.
Say, how long does it take to make
soup, anyway? 1t seemed fully three. |
quarters Of an hour before that blessed |
waiter returned bringing tray with |
tureen on it. And when he did APP |
pear he set the tureen down in front
VI him instead of me- And that wasn't I
he worst The next thing he did was
o take two plates, wipe them off with
lis seTviette and place them in front
,f-that man. Then, before | could
latch my breath or scream, or some
hing, he was gone, and he was pass
ng me plate of soup.
Il accepted that plate with as good
! grace as possible and determined to
Jet cup of coffee and roll and dis
lppear. But fate and that waiter
we're against me. | was only half
through my soup when that waiter
anne sailing back with tray CON
aiming two orders of fish. He had
rdered fish for himself, it seems;
nd the idiot took it for a double or
er | don't believe up to that time {
e really intended to make a Joke of
t but when he saw how things were
DING it entered his soul to push them
long little. Is
Il would have refused the fish, but :
y the time / caught my breath the {
iaiter had disappeared again-and | t
wouldn't speak TO him. Besides, how !
ould | have explained TO the waiter? |
,either one of us had told him that y
re were not together when he brought 4
he soup, and we could hardly explain T
hat we had made each others ac t
uaintance during that course. was /
\ for it! So | merely gulped. and S
'ent through the courses silently. one I
fter another. But I didn't speak. {
nd neither did he. II get to be a sort /
painful pleasure after awhile, and a
could easily imagine how the early e
martyrs felt when they en-. f
,red slow torture for the sake of Il
heir principles. had triumphantly a
wallowed the last drop of coffee when e
he waiter appeared with the bnl
hen | rose TO the occasion. fixed +
hat waiter with my eye. il
BRING two bills" commanded. n
teadily. And though the man jumped 70
e said nothing and took the bin back Il
nd brought two separate ones. Hell =
took me FOR a womans T.,
lffrage crank But opened my pock. n
book nonchalantely, and then-my n
ord Edith had only 60 cents. :
nd the bill was IS cents. T
"0h don't AK me how Il f,,,,,o.sl :,