The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1908-06-23

NANNIE REACHED OUT HER HAND AND
CLAsPED HIS.
proved recreant to an earlier promise
Somewhere a woman mourned her
broken heart and his broken promises.
At the next station Mamie changed
tts q train In the opposite direction.
She had been hurrying downtown to
meet Jack for a matinee with him.
They were to have met at downtown
station because he could not get away
from the Office in time to call for her.
What he was doing In the uptown dis
trict she did not know, and now she
told herself that she did not care.
Bravely she held out until she
reached the house; then she hurried to
her own room to throw herself upon
the bed and food the pillow with her
tears.
Less than a year had passed since
Jack Laurance had come into her life.
but 1t had been the most important
year of her girlhood.
Almost from the first she had been
attracted to him by his manliness and
the honesty Of the deep brown eyes.
She had been pleased with his atten-
tons, and when he told his love and
asked her to become his wife 1t seemed
as If her cup of joy was filed to over
flowing. She had often felt a super
stitious dread that something might
happen, and now that fear had been
realized.
Several times the telephone bell rang
but Mamie felt that she could not
and the last time she sent message
to the effect that she would write to
him.
Before she could finish her letter
one had come from him In which he
apologlzed for not keeping his appoint
ment on time and explaining that he
had run uptown on business and had
been delayed by an unexpected en-
counter with an old friend from whom
he had been unable to escape.
The letter was the last thing needed
10 confirm Mamie in her resolution
By his own admission Jack had been
uptown. He might intend to explain
away his detention by an old friend,
but Mamie knew what that encounter
had meant, so it was a brief and
formal note that accompanied the ring
back to the giver.
Jack did not yield easily, but Nan
ME would not read the letters he wrote
imploring her to explain just what the
| trouble had been. He told her he
could not believe that the engagement
was broken because he had been late
in keeping an appointment, and he
begged her to give him an opportunity
to explain.
70 Mamie the letters merely meant
| that he feared the old man had sought
her and revealed Laurance's perfidy.
Doubtless he wished to ascertain If
this was the fact, that he might offer
some explanation. Perhaps he even
thought that he might be able to win
her over, but no one could have lis
tened to the old mans plea and accept
any explanation from the wrongdoer.
For nearly two months Jack persisted
In his endeavor to set things straight
and Mamie grew pale and nervous un-
der the strain. Even her father, alb
sorbed In business affairs, saw her dis
tress and In his clumsy way sought to
help her.
| His help took the form of theater
tickets, and several times she met him
downtown on Saturday afternoons and
went to a matinee with him. One aft
ernoon he regarded her with eyes that
| twinkled.
Were going to be real frivolous this
afternoon" he declared. 81 got seats
for the variety show. There's chap
on the bill l met the other day. he
Is something of bore when he wants
| to talk about bimself-which Is most
of the time-but otherwise he's a good
sort, and I'd like to see what he does. y
Mamie nodded. Her father had often
sacrificed his own inclinations to take
her to serious plays, which she liked
best. 1t was only fair that he should
have his afternoon of vaudeville. Once
ensconced in the comfortable chairs
she found the entertainment rather di-
verting.
The chief attraction was playlet of
fered by Hugh Wassingford, who had
achieved a reputation on the dramatic
stage, which he was now selling to ad.
vantage In vaudeville.
Mamie started at his entrance. Al
lowing for the changed appearance In
makeup, 1t was the man of the ele-
waited platform. The voice, the man
nerisms were all the same, and pres
emily the story of the sketch developed
the tale Of deserted daughter, and
In the same words that had been scared
into Nannie's brain, the old man made
his plea, but this time to a paid sctos