The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1909-07-15
ROMANCE IN HYDROPATHICS

kOMANCE In HYDROPAIHlCS
Naturally, when Paul and Millicent
first began their indiscreetly desperate
! Irritation there was good deal of heart
aching among the other would-be Eighty
damsels staying in the place. For one
thing it was because Paul was the only
person staying there who might in any
way be considered a celebrity. Really
well known people purposely avoided
| Gurdlestone- on-Sea, pronouncing it vul-
gar while smart young men of means
were a rara avis among the conglomera-
ton of suburban vulgarity which every
year assembled there.
Thus the triumph of AIillicent in the
| face of so much competition was as
glorious as it was complete. But then
she was an old hand at the game of
husband hunting. Every summer was
spent flying meteor-like round pier ends
| in dazzling succession of attractive
| frocks, enormous and unsuitable picture
hats, and cheap and gaudy turquoise
earrings. There was no rule in the mat
rimonial game at which she was not an
adept, the only thing being perhaps that
she knew the different maneuvers a lit
tie too WELL Her art in this respect
was not of that kind which conceals it.
self. 1t was too apparent. Probably for
this reason she had never been able to
secure anything really permanent in the
way of an engagement. Not one of the
men she had pursued had ever really
come up to the scratch.
And now alas! she had reached that
time of life when woman knows the
advantages of thickly curtained win
dow. She stood, still unattached, on
that borderland between Cooking well''
and wearing welr'-on the threshold
between II wonder who she'll marry"
and II wonder why she didn't"
| Nor was she in any way eXigent. Her
needs, Economically speaking, were of the
most modest. All she wanted was plen-
| ty of money, an assured social position,
and a host of friends. Love, respect,
fdelity-all those things most difficult
to possess, most precious when obtained
she left to other women. All she her.
self required was of the world worldly.
She wondered whether Paul Vallierion
Happily things seemed to be going
extremely we'll with her in that direc-
ton Wherever he went she also was
TO be found They gave each other
secret chances of mutual understanding.
They had the usual stock of more or
| less silly Jokes in which lovers always
indulge and which are sweet because
understood by themselves alone. They
giggled and Uttered in odd corners, and
playfully paved each other on the
slightest provocation. All of which
things are understood in Gurdlestone-
on-Sea, to be the unmistakable symp-
toms of true love.
He being literary man, she talked
literature. She had no IDEAS on the sub
iect, but she played up to his prejudices,
and, manlike, she considered he was de-
ceived She let him talk to her about
his work and fattered him at every
available opportunity.
As for her parents, they watched their
daughters fascinating ways with the
greatest pride and satisfaction. Such a
son-in-law, they considered, would be a
distinction to any family. The younger
daughter gave herself literary airs and
talked glibly about Bernard Shaw and
Schopenhauer with all the complete as
surance of real ignorance In fact, the
whole Stubs family lived in perpetual
state of subdued triumph
eager anticipations the object of all
their rising hopes vanished suddenlv
from their midst. A telegram was or
day received requesting his Immediate
presence in London.
1t was only for a few days, however
and Millicent at the bottom of her heart
was secretly rather relieved.
There is such thing she knew as
seohc fo,1 dor,
As everything between them had s"
hopes a few days absence would bur
bind him all the more securely to ner
side. One tender goodbye" is WORTH
all the coy corners in the world.
there anything more melting to mutual
1t is only when man and woman say
goodbye that their souls touch. b.
sides, they might have gone on simply
flirting for months. When a man IL
entertained and amused he is obviously
content to let things remain as they
are. but it is not of such sentiments thai
husbands are made. A few days awav
from her society would bring it home I.
him how necessary to his complete naD-
piness she was. Besides which he woule
probably write her letter, and letter
is worth all the spoken words in tp.-
world. It is evidence if need be for one
thing, and for another it generally To-
quires an answer. What then could n.
more advantageous?
Besides, too, London would be empJv
and deserted at that time of the year.
All his friends would be out of town.
He would have absolutely nothing to 90
and Millicent knew that when a man
has nothing to divert his mind he gen.
orally thinks of girls-it is the line OF
least resistance in masculine mentality.
So they gave each other one of those
lingering "farewells for ever until next
Monday which between lovers reacn
the delicious ecstacy of final adleu-
and Millicent, sitting beneath the sweep
ing branches of an artificial palm. looked
like the figure of Tragedy in a famDov
ant costume. Both of them were strange
ly silent, but between lovers it is in the
silences that wonderful things are born.
Besides, as Millicent said to herself, "a
man often proposes marriage when he
has nothing else to say"
The next morning, however, he was
gone, and his absence was the one gen.
eral topic of converse lion for the day.
Millicent played the part of unhappy
womanhood to perfection. She had just
that note of forced gayety which theat-
really bespeaks broken heart. 1t i'm
pressed the other visitors in the hydro
ptahic enormously.
AS for Paul, he spent his day in Lon