Willmar tribune., 1908-12-30
Love In a Dictionary
(Original.1

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Not long after my being graduated as
a civil engineer was placed in charge
OF section of railroad running
through large tract composing the
hacienda of Don Jose Miranda. On the
evening Of my arrival on the ground
l received an invitation from him to
make his house my headquarters. Had
I been older might have declined to
place myself under obligation, but in
youth one Is not so likely to refuse
favors.
Nor is one at that age overscrupulous
In love. Don Jose had pretty daugh-
ter. Dona Ysabel, who was heir TO
considerable portion Of his estate. l,
who had nothing but my profession
and not much income even In that.
should not have listened moment to
the temptation to make love to this
he1ress. When youngster wishes to
do the right thing in such a case he is
apt to beat the devil about the stump
by showing his heart to the girl in
some covert way. l beat the devil
around the stump not only as a salve
to my conscience, but because l was
not afforded an opportunity to make
love openly. Besides. l had no reason
to suppose that the young lady would
respond. and to think of receiving
snub from her for proffered love quite
took my breath away. Prudence die
tated plan that was noncommittal.
l never saw Dona Ysabel alone. but
l passed many evenings at the house
In company with the family. One even
ing | took dictionary from the library
on pretense of looking for the Spanish
for a word l wished to use. Don Jose
was in the room with others, and Dona
Ysabel was looking over nv shoulder.
There is story that a courtier who
aspired to the favor of Queen Eliza
beth of England wrote his aspiration
and his fears on a window pane with
a diamond and received his reply in
the same way. The message and re-
ply constitute rhyme and are famil-
lar to most people who have received
finished education. Whether Dona
Ysabel had ever met with them l did
not know. While turning over the
leaves Of the dictionary l stopped and
held my thumb for awhile on the
word "fain." Then. carelessly turning
over the leaves, suffered it to remain
on the word would" In this way
l indicated the line:
Fain would climb. but fear to fall.
l had reached the word "climb" and
was looking for "but'' when Dona
Ysabel walked away from me. in.
ferred that she had not seen through
my device. for If she had a natural
feminine curiosity would have led her
10 remain where she was till l had
finished. Replacing the dictionary in
the library, began a conversation
with her father about the location of
the railroad through his hacienda, a
subject in which he was interested
The next morning arose and break
tasted, as was my custom, long before
the family were downstairs and was
going to my work when, passing
through the library, was surprised
to see the dictionary lying open on a
table. Going to it, my eye rested on
the pages before me, which included
words beginning with the letter 81"
Under the word "if'' I noticed light
pencil mark.
My heart jumped. "If'' was the be-
ginning Of Queen Elizabeth's reply to
the aspiring courtier. Rapidly turning
over the leaves to words beginning
with 'if' l looked for "you." There
was pencil mark under it. "Are''
was the next word in the queens reply,
and this, too, found underscored.
had seen all l required to convince me
that not only had a reply to my mes
sage, but the reply l desired. It was
this:
II you're afraid. climb not at all.
completing the famous rhyme:
Fain would climb, but fear to fall.
II you're afraid. climb not at all.
It was so we'll known to Dona Ysabel
that she did not need to see it COM
pleted after the word "climb."
On the surface, from this time till
had finished my work, Dona Ysabel
and were merely acquaintance. We
did not even use the dictionary or any
other means Of communication, but
the night before was to take my de-
parture, again making a pretext of
finding a word, l withdrew the volume
from the library and began a hunt.
Ysabel stood over me. and I pointed
to the following words:
The way is dark. The road l fail to see.
AS soon as had completed my mes
sage Ysabel left me and. taking up
some embroidery, devoted herself to it.
But watched her and saw that she
was in deep thought. After awhile she
laid aside her work and, turning to the
dictionary that lay on the table, began
to turn over the leaves. I went and
stood over her. She pointed out the
following reply:
Make your demand and leave the rest
to me.
After the family had retired for the
night and l was having a few final
words with Don Jose about the section
Of the railroad l had located sud-
denly astonished him by asking for
his daughters hand. 1t was not only
my impudence that startled him, but
wonder that should have made such
a demand without something Of a
courtship as is customary in the United
States. Before he could make any re-
ply said that, Of course, ne and his
daughter would together agree upon a
HI NJ, 1,o