The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1908-10-09
Love In a Dictionary
tOriginal.l

Not long after my being graduated as
n civil engineer was placed in charge
of section Of n Elilroad running
through a 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
l 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 Ysahcl, who was heir to a
considerable portion of his estate. |,
who had nothing but my profession
and not much income oven in that,
should not have listened a moment to
the temptation to make love to this
hciress. When youngster wishes to
do the right thing in such a case he is
apt to beat the devil about the stump
hy showing his heart to the girl in
some covert way. beat the devil
around the stump not only as a salve
to my conscience, hut 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 q
snub from her for proffercd love quite
took my breath away. Prudence die
tatci plan that was noncommittal.
| never saw Dona Ysabcl alone, hut
| passed many evenings ut the house
In company with the family. One even
ing | took 4 dictionary from the library
m prrtcnSc of looking for the Spanish
for word I wished to use. Don Jose
was in the room with otherS, and Dona
lSahcl was looking over my shoulder.
There Is story that courtier who
aspircd to the favor of Queen Eliza
beth of England wrote his aspiration
and his fears on 4 window pane with
n diamond and received his reply in
the same way. The message and re-
ply constitute 4 rhyme and are famil-
lar TO most people who have received
a finished education. Whether Dona
Isahcl had ever met with them did
not know. While turning over the
leaves Of the dictionary l stopped and
held my thumb for awhile on the
word "fain." Then, carclcssly turning
over the leaves, suffered it to remain
on the word would" In this way
I indicated the line:
Fain would 1 climb. but fear to fall.
had reached the word "climb" and
was looking for "but' when Dona
YSabcl walked away from me. 1 in.
fcrred that she had not seen through
my device, for il she had q natural
feminine curiosity would have led her
20 remain where she was till l had
finished. Replacing the dictionary in
the library, l began n conversation
with her father about the location of
the railroad through his hacienda,
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, I was surprised
to see the dictionary lying open on
table. Going to it, my eye rested on
the pages before me, which included
words beginning with the letter az"
Under the word 'if'' 1 noticed light
pencil mark.
My heart jumped. "If" was the be-
ginning of Queen Elizabeth's reply to
the aspiring courticr. Rapidly turning
over the leaves to words beginning
with "if' I looked for you" There
was pencil mark under it. are
was the next word in the queens reply,
and this, too, l found underscored.
had seen all required to convince me
that not only had reply to my mes
sage, but the reply 1 desired. 1t was
this:
If you're afraid, climb not at all,
completing the famous rhyme:
Fain would I climb, but fear to Fall.
If you're afraid, climb not at all.
1t 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 l
had finished my work, Dona Ysabel
and were merely acquaintances. 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, withdrew the volume
from the library and began a hunt
Ysabel stood over me, and pointed
to the following words:
Tho way is dark. The road 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
that lay on the table, began
to turn over the leaves. 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 fSr the
night and I was having a few final
words with Don Jose about the section
of the railroad 1 had located I sud-
denly astonished him by asking for
his daughters hand. 1t was not only |
nv imDu1pnca that startled him hut |