The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-09-07
Retribution
By BERTHA D. ALsOP
Copyright. 1910, by American Press
Association.

He was from childhood lady killer,
AS boy In knickerbockers he had giv-I
en- the little girls Of his acquaintance
flowers and invited them to have ices
with him. They were not old enough
to quarrel about him, but they dotedI
on him all the same. As youth heI
resembled a young Byron with hisI
large blue eyes, his neglfgee flaxen hairI
and round white throat. Then camel
young manhood. BY this time heI
found more zest in his attentions tol
girls, though fewer pleased him. HeI
and they were still young enough tel
feel the sweetness of Irritation, and
occasionally when the denouementI
came he was obliged to admit to him.
self that he had been singed.
He had no thought of marriage, a
home, children. He didn't consider
himself old enough for that. When he
reached twenty-seven he began to look
forward to 1t as something that would
naturally come about. At thirty-fve
he wished that 1t would come about.
At forty he began to fear that 1t would
never come. Then 1t occurred to him
that he had better try to bring 1t about.
But by this time young girls had be-
gun to consider him an elderly man.
And, as for those near his own age, he
had no use for them. He knew that
men Of forty have on rare occasions
married girls half their age and botk
husband and wife been very happy in
each other. Why not he? He re-
solved to make an effort.
An effort in love! He had glided
naturally into so many affairs of the
heart that to try to get into one SEEM
ed repugnant to him. Why had he not
taken advantage Of some one of these
affairs to preclude the possibility Of
the lonely old age that was overshad3
owing him-why? He knew well
enough why. He had always consids
cred the game, not the reality. To
have taken one of the girls he might
have had would have been to give up
a conquest. At least so he had regard
ed it at the time.
Having lost his position at home OF
a young man and consequently not
being thrown in with young girls he
determined to go elsewhere. 1t was
the season of outing, and he determin-
ed to go wife hunting by the sea- He
had made many conquests there. Noon
light shimmering on the dancing waves
had called out that which had moved
many a girl to love him. True, now
there were gray hairs i'm his moustache,
and his Byronic forehead was higher
than 1t had been, but he thought with
the same surroundings he might do the
trick as he had often done 1t before.
1t was sad TO see young girl pass
him without looking at him, whereas
twenty years agone another of her age
could not have refrained from q
glance. He became acquainted with
several of them, but somehow there
seemed a gulf between him and them
that he could not cross These werel
half or less than half his age Finallyl
he met one between twenty-five and
thirty who caught his fancy. There
was this, too, about her that he did
surprised him by acting and talking in
a way that seemed childish to him.
They seemed to him to have grown
nearer the nursery than their proto-
types. Surely the girls he had asso-
ciated with when he was under twen-
ty-five were not as frivolous as these
misses. The older girl. on the contrary,
talked and acted like woman. She
could be companion to him.
He made up his mind that If he
could win her he would do so. He
made a few abortive efforts to make
love as he would have made 1t fifteen
or twenty years before. What DE
would have said and looked and acted
then now seemed insipid to him. He
desisted, contenting himself with the
girls companionship and showing her
little attentions.
One thing troubled him. Though sha
accepted his attentions and listened I'd
his chat, she did not seem to be ing
pressed with his superior wisdom. H0
felt that, while she attended to what he
said she occasionally let it be known
that she knew more Of the subject he
was talking about than he knew him
self. Surely there was nothing near
the nursery here. He was uncomfort
able at the thought that this young
woman felt him intellectually beneath
her. 1t was rather that he felt her to
be his superior.
When the season was drawing to q
close he wished to bring matters to
focus. This used to be easy enough
when he was youngster playing
game. But now that he was a middle
aged man, intending to tell mature
young woman that he loved her and
ask her to be his wife, it seemed that
the many times he had done the sand
thing came up to mock him.
However, he got it out. II
"How times change us" she SAID,
"a dozen years ago, when l was six
teen, you proposed to me, and you did,
it beautifully. Then 1 thought you