The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-29
, Marrying Mary. ,


Ted Tenton threw the dainty note
into the fire, and reflectively watched
the tinted sheet blacken and finally
disappear.
There's an end to that" he said
half aloud. II guess maybe III mar
ry Mary Horton after ALL"
For a person who has just been re-
fused by the daughter of a ear mill
ionaire. he smiled rather pleasantly.
True, Miss Horton had far less mon
ey than Miss Manwaring, whose let
ter had just served to feed the flames,
but Tenton was rather glad that
things had turned out as they had.
"A somewhat conceited person, he had
not enjoyed eating the humble pie
which Miss Manwaring fed her adj
mirers and smiled comfortably as he
recalled his easy triumph with Mary
Horton three summers before. She
had been just budding into woman
hood then, and she had already CIV
en- promise of being a beauty. Her
father was rich as riches went in a
small town, but he had an odd OBJ
lection to travel, and he never Jared
far from home, nor permitted his
family to do so. His wedding jour-
ney had been his last, so Mary had
never been outside of the county in
which she had been born.
Commercial travellers and third
rate dramatic companies we're al
/, most the only visitors to Carbonate,
so when Tenton had come to visit an
elderly aunt, he had won Mary's love
without effort. To him it had been
merely a summer filtration which
he had, been willing tf carry on into
the winter, since it had involved only
the writing Of letters which had CIV
en- him practice at love making by
mail.
To the girl it had been an awaken
ing of soul, but Tenton was too self
complacent to read between the lines
of her letters. He had accepted
snugly the frank worship of the girl,
and did not realize that rapidly she
was becoming a woman.
" Tenton liked to write letters, and
SO the correspondence had continued
and in spite of his adroit as
to why he could not come to Carbon
dale again, the girl seemed to expect
that presently :e would come to
claim her hand.
Tenton had encouraged her belief
for he assured himself that should
he fail to win the heiress he would
have Mary to fall back upon. Now
that Miss Manwaring had written a
very decided negative, he reached the
conclusion that he was glad of it.
His pride had been hurt a thousand
times while he was making his cam
paign for the Manwaring millions.
Mary Horton was an only daughter
and would receive at least $500 900.
That was plenty to start them, and he
might even learn to live in Carbon
dale, where he could be the richest
man in town. 1t sometimes was safer
to be the largest frog in a small pud-
die, and in the city Tenton felt al
times that he was little more than a
polywog-a tadpole on the edge OF
the pond in which there were many
great frogs.
Some business matters must be
closed up before he would be able tC
get away. Also Tenton thought, with
a pang, of the literary masterpieces
with which he favored Miss Manwar.
- ing, so III a graceful note he request,
ed the return of his letters. He was
somewhat surprised when he re.
ceived a reply to the effect that he
would receive them later. then the
matter slipped from his memory il
the rush Of affairs that preceded his
trip to Carbonate.
He wired Mary that he was coming
so, as he stepped from the train, he
was surprised that she was not on the
station platform to greet him. Rue
fully he made his way to his aunt's
home and accepted her surprised wei
come with such federation as he could
command. He always had detesteG