The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1911-01-19
Observation-Disclosures
Beautiful Miss Howard
By ANTOINETTE PATTERSON

soon to announce my engagement TO
Miss Katherine Howard. the pretiest
girl in New York"
Had Drew been obscrvant. he would
have noticed tightening OF the cler-
gyman's lips.
Well" Henry said, a trifle instead
lily, 81 must be on-l'm late now to
an appointment" Then he added. Il
hope you'll be awfully happy. Lang
don-and will make her happy. Good
by"
so this is the end" Strong said to
himself when he had gone to his
rooms and poked the FIRE. THAT girl
with such possibilities will fritter her
life quite away" He thought Of Drew's
well known lack Of steadfastness,
but he dismissed this az having no
especial bearing She won't be &C
tually unhappy; Drew Will never grow
tired of her. and he's n nice fellow In
a way And awfully good looking.
All, Katherine, Katherine! must
have made a poor lover-but you were
the only ono for whom | ever cared,
and ! think didn't understand quite
the way to show you how much, ]
wanted you to see the world first;
but how could have been idiot
enough 10 hope for a different ending?
Tonight | feel / would give anything
II only you could have known how
much | loved you!"
Strong awoke to a new difficulty;
1t was near Lent and he now felt the
promised visit to New York would be
most unwelcome Later. Miss How
ard would probably write him. Herein
| lay the difficulty. Langdon Drew had
assumed he would say nothing about
| his love affair, yet the letter must
suggest some kind OF an explanation
However, a day afterwards, Kath-
crime Howard received the following
MY Dear Miss Howard feel that
| for many reasons It will be best for
me to postpone my visit to New York
this spring | hope you VIII believe
how great is the interest l shall al
ways feel In you and how much trust
your life viii be happy one.
Always most sincerely.
HENRY STRONG
February 2S, 1870"
Katherine was alone when the note
came She had not been feeling too
,Aell pleased with herself She had
refused Langdon Drew and Mary
Browning and Bessie Wctherill had
bocn avenged. But. since the reading
Of this note, Katherine felt sorry for
Drew
The main thing concerning the let
ter was its !ncomprchcnsibility Had
Henry Strong become too absorbed In
other things-the Boston papers were
constantly quoting him as q man
worth listening Toto have the time
10 think of love? -
The season wore away and many
persons wondered why the beautiful
Miss Howard had not become Ell.
gagged
And then an odd thing happened.
Mr.. and Mrs. Wcthcrill. whose daugh.
tier was once engaged TO Mr.. Drew
and who had just returned from
abroad. moved into house adjoining
Mr.. Strongs church Within a few
weeks the rector called,
Mr. and Mrs. WethcrIn were out,
but Miss Wetherill would be down in
few minutes MI Strung's eyes
fastened themselves upon n largo pho
tograph of Katherine Howard. He
did not know Miss Wetherill had come
into the room until he heard her say:
I'm glad to see you. Mr. Strong
You are admiring, | am sure the pic
ture OF one Of my old school friends
Katherine Howard"
Mr. strong turned the conversation
TO other things. When he rose to 20
Miss Wetherill noticed that his eyes
again sought the picture. But this
photograph had always attracted at
tcntion.
"she Is one Of the most loyal
hearted as well as beautiful girls,
Bessie Wetherill said. and would dc
ANYTHING in the world for friend.
hone soon to have her visit me
though have Just heard she has be
come engaged TO Il distinguished
southorner whose rame | cant re
member"
Mr.. Long took his leave feeling
mucl confused. Langdon Drew could
never In the world be taken for q
southerner. and he was not distin
guished Strong bought n New Yorl
paper. on the front page was a pic
ture OF THE Beautiful Miss Howard.
II headed column reporting her en-
gagemeut to a royal parsonage, Prince
Won schamberg.
Mr.. Strong read no more. HI
stuffed the paper into his pocket, fo
onop In his life forgot an engagement
and took the first train to New York
Miss Howard entered the drawing
room. Her greeting was distant. Blu
Henry Strong noticed nothing. Some