Middletown transcript., 1909-06-05
WINNIE AND THE WllDOWER
BY EMER1o HoLME-BEA,dAN

he asserted cheerfully. Let US
talk about
No, put in Winnie, firmly, not
yet. It's hardly decent, I think,
to dismiss a melancholy subject
in such an off-hand way.
Well, perhaps not, agreed the
widower, in a resigned tone.
Only, if it's all the same to you,
l.
1t isn't she cut him short.
The widower spread out his
hands deprecatingly.
OF course, he admitted, with
an amiable smile.
Winnie was silent for a mo-
ment. Then she looked up sud
denly, fixing her large, blue,
childish eyes on the Widower's
abstracted countenance. can't
think, she protested, what on
earth ever made you marry her.
The widower withdrew his gaze
slowly from vacancy and let it
rest on her face with mild
wonder. You didn't know my
wife, he remarked, graphically.
1 don't see that, that would have
helped to explain what made
you marry her, persisted Winnie.
1t would have helped i'm
mensely, he corrected. 1t would
have afforded a complete and
satisfactory explanation, in fact.
Winnie shook her head.
don't understand, she admit
ted. 1t has puzzled me ever since
especially as as-She
faltered and blushed.
Exactly, said the widower. Es-
pecially as that was the case.
Don't be absurd! exclaimed
Winnie wrathfully. All the same,
I should like to know, she added,
with true feminine pertinacity,
what made you marry her?
Shall tell you? he asked
calmly.
Do, please, entreated Winnie.
She did, said the Widower.
She did What do you mean?
l mean that she made me
marry her, explained the wido-
wer, patiently.
Your wife +? demanded Winnie,
opening wide eyes of amazement
upon him.
Yes. She was a woman of
most extraordinary determina-
ton. She was very rich, too. He
sighed. Money is such a power,
he added.
Then, said Winnie, with an air
of stern rebuke, it was not a love
match at all?
Well, perhaps not exactly what
| you would describe as a love
match, he conceded; although
she pretended to be very devoted
to me. may add that she had
a rather remarkable way of show
ing her devotion at times.
What sort of a remarkable wayP
inquired Winnie, becoming inter-
ested. Did she pet you too
much?
Hardly too much, replied the
widower rehectively. You see,
the poor girl had somewhat
fiery temper. She was terribly
jealous entirely, oh, quite entire
| ly without cause, he hastened to
add. Nevertheless, she would
not allow me on any considera-
ton to speak to a woman under
forty-five.
That must have been a great
hardship, murmured Winnie.
I could have supported it with
equanimity, he sighed. But she
latterly developed various IN.
comfortable eccentricities.
Among other thing, she become
a vegetarian, and compelled me
| to live on herbs like herself. She
embraced the absurd theory that
two meals day were enough
Tor human beings TO SubSlSt upon,
land from that moment I never
knew what it was not to feel
hungry. It was this practice, 1
believe, that eventually carried
her off.
She-she was not very young +?
| hazarded Winnie.
| Poor girl no She had been,
I believe. But she outgrew it.
She was in her sixty-fourth year
when she expired.
Sixty-four exclaimed Winnie
Sixty three! he corrected.
| Ooh! CALCULATED Winnie in a
IIonr.drawn pasp. And vou-Vou