Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-07-16
How Willett
Wooed the Widow
~ SAMUEL MINTURN PECK

By SAMUEL MINfURN Peer
Copyright, by J. B. Lppincott Coz
well, Bob, I have settled it," sale
Frank Willett. aged 40. bursting into
the room of his friend, Robert Hall
Dropping into a chair, he wiped his
moist brow and breathed rapidly.
Settled what?" asked Hall, laying
down his pen and offering cigar.
why, have proposed to her."
Proposed to whom?"
ITO Mrs. Langston. Hang it, man
have you forgotten my long consulta
ton With you last Friday?" Willett
bit oil the end of his cigar and STRUCK
a match viciously. II presume thai
you have not only forgotten the occa
sion, but that the advice you gave me
has also escaped you"
Advice in regard to what? You
are always asking advice about some
thing and then following your own
head"
Don't you recall my telling you
that l was in love-in love with Mrs
Langston, the loveliest woman that
breathes, and that Jim Parsons was as
hard hit as l, and while I believed
was ahead In the race was afraid OF
Jim because he had such q slick
| tongue?"
"Oh. yes, and said that you would
best not let any grass grow under
| your feet, because a woman who had
been married three times already
would not stand any dilly-dallying-
II you did not speak quickly that she
would marry Jim just from force OF
habit"
Precisely, but that wasn't ALL"
What else did l say? You have
Interrupted me in the middle Of let
ter to my fiancee, and my thoughts
are bit scattered"
We'll, to help you collect them,
told you I had made up my mind to
propose at once, and as l had never
been in love before, and consequently
had never made a proposal wanted
your advice in regard to the best way
OF doing 1t. l naturally supposed that
man who had been refused by a
dozen women and had finally succeed
ed in becoming engaged to the thir-
teenth would have acres OF good
counsel to give me-"
And didn't 1? It seems to me I
told you to follow the inspiration Of
the moment"
$50 you did, but it appeared to me
hardly safe to leave such an import
ant matter entirely to chance. In
case the inspiration failed to inspire
l wanted something to fall back upon" :"
Yes, and 1 called you a fool, and
told you dozen ways at least of put
ting the question"
Good. l am glad to see that your
brain is growing clear and your mem
ory coming back to you. AS I was not
fluent Of speech like that fop Parsons,
you suggested that l make the pro-
posal by letter"
"And the plan did not please your"
Certainly not, and for two reasons.
First. l thought it was cowardly, and
second, I could not bear the suspense
of waiting for reply"
Then 1 said you might take the
fascinating widow boat riding, upset
the boat, swim ashore with her, and
claim the life you had saved"
And you knew couldn't swim!"
II knew that nothing / could pos
sibly suggest would meet your appro-
baton. But since you have proposed,
and the matter is settled, great Scott!
man, what is the use of going over
our last interview"
Merely to show you by contrast
how much better was the plan
adopted after leaving you. BY George!
1t was a great performance" said Will
lett, smoking away with reminiscent
complaisance.
ITO begin at the beginning, man
can't very well propose till he sees
the woman alone. and for six weeks 1
have never called on Mrs. Langston
that l didn't find Parsons there. or
that he didn't arrive a few minutes
after did. So decided to 60 to the
widows, and If I did not f1nd him to
wait till he came and then sit him
out; for it would be most embarrass.
ing to have him drop in in the mid
die Of the business and force me to
stop and pick up the threads on an
other occasion. Love is something
like champagne. When the cork Is
once removed it becomes stale.
Accordingly, last Sunday evening
l went to see Mrs. Langston, and sure
enough I had not been there five min
utes when in marched Parsons in
grand toilet bringing a dozen Ameri-
can Beauty roses. Mrs. Langston
greeted him just as cordially as she
had greeted me, although he Is such
an idiot, and, of course, 1 had to be
courteous, too. She seemed as pleased
to receive Parsons flowers as the bon
bons l had brought. That Is a way
she has. l was sure it did not mean
anything But 1t did irritate me, after
she had placed Parsons roses in a
lovely vase, to have her open my box
of sweets and hand them to the fel-
low. Yet the most exasperating thing
of all was to watch Parsons deyouring
my bon-bons and gazing complacently
at his roses. 1t made me wild to
think that before the evening was
over there would not be a caramel
left, judging from the pace Parsons
had set himself, while tomorrow his
roses would be as fresh as ever, and
by their color and fragrance remind
ing Mrs. Langston every moment of
the giver.
Mrs. Langston is wonderful
woman! Most women would have
found it an embarrassing task to en-
tertain at the same time two men as
antipathetic as Parsons and I. But