New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-10-27
NO ONE TO LOVE,

BY FLORENCE ETHEL CROSBY.
copyright, 1909. by American Press Asso-
ciation.I
We never know when we are on the
brink of a change for better or for
worse. At forty was tired Of life. I
had built up a good practice. in my
profession, the law, and the novelty
had worn off legal questions. l loved
no one. and no one loved me. was
member of several clubs. but they had
grown to be very dull places to me. AS
for society. the old were too old and
the young TOO young for me. In short,
had exhausted the pleasures of youth
and had laid no foundation for those
of age.
One night was travelling on a Sleep
er. Lying in my berth. l unused: To-
morrow morning shall arrive, go to
my rooms. battle and then to the club
for breakfast. At 10 l shall reach the
Office. to be pestered all day by clients
who are dissatisfied with the laws de-
lay or the injustice of justice; on the
way to my rooms stop at the club for
the regular 5 O'clock cocktail; at Z
hunt for some one with whom to get
through dinner; evening forced in
order to pass the time to make per-
functory call: at II bring up at my
desolate quarters. And this will be my
program day in and day out. Oh, for
new sensation.
"Here. darling. drink this
The new sensation had come the mo-
ment asked for it. The voice was a
woman's. soft and sweet. In the dim
light saw something extended to me.
1t was cup. I took it. and in doing
so my fingers grazed soft hand.
There was a spasmodic effort on the
part of the giver to withdraw the cup,
but had got my grasp on it and re-
fused to part with it. When l had
quaffed the contents extended it. but
there was no hand to take it. l put it
under my pillow and went to sleep to
the sound of an angels voice saying:
"Here, darling. drink this
In the morning l fished out the cup.
1t was of silver, and on it were the
letters "Bennie" After dressing l
looked about me for it's owner and was
not long in finding both Bennie aud
her mother. They occupied the next
section to mine The mothers features
were as refined as her voice. She was
about thirty and dressed in half
mourning
Heaven forgive me for hoping that
her boy was fatherless.
l tried to catch her eye. but never
did woman before absolutely ignore
me. She appeared to be absorbed in
her boy and had no eyes for any one
else. certainly not for me. AS we
were entering the terminal station 1
stepped up to her. DOTTED my hat, ex-
tended the cup and said:
pardon me, madam. think this
must be yours
"Not at ALL" was the decided reply.
One would have supposed from the
sharpness Of her tone-not at all like
the endearing words of the night be-
fore-that had insulted her. This
irritation and the fact that she would
not look at me convinced me that If
she was not the owner Of the cup her
boy was. A woman on meeting a
stranger to whom she has said loving
~. Here. darling. drink this" would
naturally be ruf1ed.
AS said in the beginning. we don t
know what is in store for us. The
night before I had gone over what l
would do on the day Of my arrival.
I did nothing, as l had supposed l
would. followed at distance the
lady and her boy. saw them enter a
carriage. took another myself and told
the driver not to let the first out Of his
sight. Half an hour later l made a
note Of the street and number at which
Office that day sat in the library Of
the club reading. What l read was.
''Here, darling, drink this in every
line on every page. One other matter
alone occupied my thoughts-I was
planning how to find out all about
the lady and perhaps make her ac-
quaintance. The perhaps" refers to
whether some one was living or dead.
When learned that he was dead I
said. s"Thank"- and checked myself
l was not long in making the Widows
acquaintance through the good Offices
Of a mutual friend What luck that
she had refused to look at me on the
car! She met me with an unembar-
rassed smile. Ny smile broke out all
over me at once. like measles. If she
only knew. Thank heaven she doesn't!
During my call she mentioned her lit
tie boy. Sly fox that was. pretend
ed to be surprised that she had boy.