Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-09-30
PART ONE.
CHAPTER |.
1910. by W, G.. Chapman.
Copyright in Great Britain.

found my wife and told her all
about it. You see, Agatha" | said,
ffs going to be rough on old Arch
If he doesn't. After all, she's always
promised him the property; 1t should
90 to him."
The secretary, that is, my wife--I
sometimes refer to her in that way
in memory of certain six weeks |
and my friend Terhune once spent at
Castle Wyckhoff, during which she
bore that title and / fell in love with
her-my wife put down her sewing to
answer me. She was doing me
knitted tie, by the way. green. with at
least six different stitches in it. Aw-
fully clever at that sort of thing, my
wife.
Yes, see" she said; '"but, Wilfred,
isn't it little-a little sudden? How
can he expect to get married in so
short time as ten days?"
It was sudden, surely, and unusual.
But for the matter OF that, the whole
thing was out of the ordinary. You
see the point was that an eccentric
old aunt of my friend Archibald Ter
hume, Mrs Georgiana James of Es-
sex, had written to acquaint her
nephew with the fact that she intend
ed to leave a certain piece Of property
which she had long ago promised him
to a third cousin of hers who lived in
America if Archibald did not immedi-
ately get married In fact. she gave
him exactly and only ten days from
The receipt of her letter in which to
accomplish the holy estate, or, rather,
in which to get himself engaged The
actual ceremony she would leave to
ioliow as soon as possible when the
Proper order Of things should permit.
Arch, when ! saw him in London
that morning was in the widest state
Of mind Imaginable He had only just
received the letter, and he'd be bless
ed If he'd take unto himself a wife at
ALL merely to humor the impossible
wnims of his Aunt Georgy. much less
accomplish the deed with any such in
decorous haste. She had always
badgered him to death on the subject
Of getting married. and now he sup
posed this was her way of furnishing
him for his systematic disregard of
her wishes.
Wants to jolly we'll push me to the
wall and force my hand" he told me
Indignantly, Shed do anything to
get her own way. that old woman'
And the reason she says she's bring
ing things to climax now is just be-
cause I'm forty years old today! She
says that If don't get married soon,
Ill be SO old no one will have me-!
Fancy that" His tone was positively
shrill with sp!eer and disgust. Just
as If that were so very old" he went
on, twitching about on his chair and
piucking angrily at his eye-glass
string. Why. lots of men don't even
begin to think of marrying till they're
forty-fve!
! smiled. The old boys weak spot
IS his love of admiration, and / often
feel convinced that If 1t were not for
MS delight In being considered one
Vi London's most eligible bachelors,
aud his pride in being one of the most
popular dinner guests in town, he
would long ago have entered the
ponds of matrimony.
She says" he continued, jerking
over page of the closely written let
Ter that he held in his hand and glanc-
ing down it as he spoke, that al
'hough she has always looked forward
win pleasure to leaving that piece OF
property which represents the bulk
u her fortune, to her nephew, that she
cannot allow herself to do so unless
"e complies with her wishes and be-
0ohes a married man. To bestow so
,eu an Inheritance upon a single man,
sue says, is like putting a premium
VA seilshnessl" Terhune snorted with
'~patience when he had read that last
sentence, but I couldn't help but ad-
1H'Fe the old lady for it thought she
must have been something OF a char
ae'e' to express herself so forcibly.
She goes on to explain" said Arch,
assuming his reading after letting his
sye skim down the page to the close
" the letter, that the reason she
units the days of grace in which am
opposed to persuade a girl to prom.
Ss TO marry me, to ten, is because
sue thinks deserve TO have to hurry,
-aF'ng thwarted her wishes so long,
suo hat little anxiety will do me no
-a'ln- His face was a picture as he
eaa this, and his voice trembled SO
qua a sense of outrage that he could
hardly go on.
9Ae concludes by saying that will
more likely to achieve the result
. sue desires. if ! am put under a GER
an amount Of pressure. She knows
g procrastnating habits only zoo
dis glare was SO yindictive by this