The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-04-28
A BACHELORS BUTTON.
BY Malcolm Eurx..

~. And what did you see in me?"
h lifted her gray eyes to his, and
shrugged her slender shoulders with
an insouciant air.
Not much!" was the unexpected re-
ton, Geor?"
h held out the tiny red blossom
little more than a daisy blushing vivid
~. with a careless bow. which
how had the power to irritate him in
his present mood.
He took 1t and flung 1t far away
across the cliff.
Il am no longer a bachelor low
worst luck!" he muttered as he turned
on his heel and left her.
Ellice Dare shivered a little. although
1t was mild June. These little tiffs
were becoming of almost daily occur
renee now, n both of them were at
fault, she knew. And yet Godfrey
would not or could not, see where he
permanent, and Ellice, a creature made
for smiles and laughter and fun, loved
nothing so much as to tease him.
A sob escaped her thin white throat
as h sank down on a seat, and the
sea made her little tapping sound on
compartment to her thoughts.
I'll try 1t ever so hard-ever so hard.
next time" she murmured to herself.
"Perhaps-oh, if Godfrey wouldn't take
things so seriously! Why-oh. why,
didn't he kiss that bachelors button?
him."
She rose and whistled to her dog.
and the two were soon racing over
the heathery moor which fringed the
coast. each in THEW different way en-
joying their exhilarating air and the
exercise of mind and body.
All at once something her husband
had said came to her mind She had
been very lear to forgetting it in her
volatile way.
II am no longer a bachelor, worse
luck!"
Something must be done. She could
not give him back his bachelordom
Would he follow her up If she did?
Would he put detectives on her track.
who would find her dead body cast up
by the sea some months afterwards?
OF course that would be the correct
solution. but 1t was not one which COM
ure-built nature.
No, h would run away, and then
perhaps, Geoff would be sorry, and miss
her. He might even write and ask her
to return. and be as loving and sweet
to her as he had been in h days OF
their honeymoon-1ayS that seemed so
far off now.
And SO the world was startled one
day by being asked to accept the fact
that Lady Ellice Dare a run way
from her solemn-eyed, clever husband
and the funny part was that the
world was not surprised.
The usual What she ever saw in him."
Wonder that she managed to hit it
off with him so long and a few re-
grets were some of the comments, ere
the world settled down again, as it al
ways does, to think no more about the
matter.
Godfrey Dare said little; he did not
employ detectives: he made not the
slightest effort to find his runaway
wife. She had gone-it was her choice.
| and he accepted 1t in the same phleg-
matte way he lived his life.
There ann a day when he had to go
into his wife's for something, at
least twelve months after her disap-
pearance. He had not entered 1t from
that day when he had come home to
find her gone till now, and today as he
stood on the threshold the daintiness
and emptiness of it struck home. Where
was she. the dainty owner Of this pretty
home?
On the dressing table a withered
blossom lay, quite dry and shrivelled
up. but bearing q very faint semblance
to that he had flung away the last time
he saw her-a bachelors button!
He picked 1t up and it cracked in
two. Wondering at himself, he laid his
lips on the dead thing, then put 1t care
fully away in his p~ocketbook.
Come with me-" said a friend to him.
meeting him in the city the next day.
n it is likely to be amusing. Millman
Smith, you know, can be awfully witty
at times"
Godfrey had lain awake all night, he
was tired Inc unfit for work. So he ac-
copied his friends invitation because
~ 1-1A &c. ~0-1
and the two men were soon listening to
the case before Lyne's, which had not
yet come on.
IT seem to know thai voice." Dare
muttered, as a steady, girlish voice
broke on his ears.
He looked up to get a glimpse Of the
! speaker. She was up defending herself
"a slim young waitress-from an ac-
cusation made against her by mother
waitress from the same establishment
1t was a charge of stealing half a SOW
ereign, n though no one had seen the
defendant commit h act. half a Sow
ereign was found upon her when h
was searched. She denied that it was
the other girls, 1t was her own, she
said.
Dare's friend had taken the opportu-
nifty for al after luncheon nap. the
girls voice broke in the middle Of a
long sentence, n Godfrey. looking up
~ " ~ QUAY AtASN NPOAA AAAAAAs
In an instant it dashed across him.
Ellice!
He scrambled down from his seat, and
came w behind Milman Smith. who greet
ed him with a hasty smile. Then ensued
a slight consultation. The magistrate
spoke.
This eminent gentleman, MI. Geoffrey
Dare. will defend you.'' he said.
And defend her Dare dis to the best of
his ability. Following his suggestion. the
other waitress jacket lining was searched.
and the lost money was found; there had
been a hole in the pocket and it had
slipped through.
Accused was acquitted.
"Come along" Dare said, giving her arm
a gentle squeeze. "Ellice. l am going to
a k o home, dear"
She still hung back-he looked up as they
were passing down a small street, and a
little green grocer's shop met his eye.
Displayed in the windows were plants and