El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-27
BY Kari Fischer.
a T 10 o'clock there was a knock at
the door of EmiPs room.
''Come in

| - the door of Emils room
Z Come i'm
Mergrethe. the pretty little parlor
| maid. entered and handed him an ex-
press letter, Emil scanned the address
carefully.
From Frau ElSbacher," he said to
himself IAN invitation, I suppose"
And sure enough it was. The little
stout Frau Elsbacher asked Emil to
come for dinner. Please answer by
express letter"
And as postscript she wrote:
LUIS friend Weir. is also coming,
but nobody else"
Emil knew what that meant Frau
Elsbacher expected him to propose to-
day. Well, why not? He had courted
Fraulein Lu long enough and was very
much in love with her. Her laughing
brown eyes were irresistible. And then
the bachelor existence he was leading
was really unbearable, this awful life
in a boarding house in a great city was
dreadfully monotonous-
With quick resolution-Emil was
fond of quick reso1ves-he took an en-
velope from his desk, addressed it and
enclosed letter accepting the invita-
ton Then he called Marguerite and
asked her to send the letter without
delay by special messenger.
cit is very urgent" he said to her as
she left the room,
Happy at the thought, that the thing
was settled. he lit a good cigar and sat
down comfortably in his big chair. AS
ne sat staring at the blue clouds OF
smoke whirling towards the ceiling. a
strange thought struck him. He said
to himself: Now you are your master,
you can do just as you like. But when
you are married. what then? Don't all
IL 100 r
this room, you dare not smoke because
of the curtains, and some night when
you would rather stay at home you will
have to go and listen to some awful
opera or concert Good Lord! Emil
jumped to his feet.
He had realized that he had sealed
his own fate when he sent OF the ex-
press letter 1t was just as good as
proposal, proposal to Lu! Perhaps
Margrethe had not yet left, perhaps
she was still gossiping with the jani-
tress below. He opened the door, ran
out and rushed downstairs into the
street. On the opposite sidewalk was
Margrethe flirting with a tall soldier.
IT have sent It," she cried and evil
IDENTIFY expected tip for being so
quick. but in this she was disappointed.
Emil rushed to the postoffice, where he
asked If it were possible to stop an ex-
press letter No, 1t could not be done.
What was he to do? Sned telegram?
Why, Of course. And he wired Frau
Elsbacher; 3Sent express letter by mis-
take, please don't open. Then he hand
ed in the telegram and went away very
well pleased with his own ingenuity.
1t was very hot day. Emil first
thought of going straight home, but
remembered that his room had not been
put in order and 1T was hot and uncorn-
Portable in the parlor- Besides, he de-
tested that parlor. It was too hot to
take a walk. Now if he had his own
home and a little wife TO make him
comfortable il would have been differ
emit Had Lu been his wife for instance!
But Lu is out of the question now,
of course. He had just burned his
bridges behind him. Frau Elsbacher,
of course, will open the letter anyway
and read it and then she will cut him
and Lu will marry Herr Schulze or
somebody else and he will be doomed
to live in a boarding house forever.
Full Of despair. he stops at the cor
ner He must cancel that telegram, but
how? A boy is already rushing 1T to
Frau Elsbacher. What will he do?
What in the world will he do?
Telephone? Why of COURSE! He
rushes into a cigar store and rings up
the familiar number. Us this Frau
Elsbacher Yes. Good morning. I am
sorry to say just sent you telegram.
Has 1t arrived yet? You don't under