Charlevoix county herald., 1911-02-11

| soon 10 announce my engagement 10
| Miss Katherine Howard. the prettiest
girl In New York;"
Had Drew been observant, he would
have noticed a tightening of the cler-
gyman's lips.
Well" Henry said. trifie INSTEAD
lily, II must be off-I'm late now to
an appointment" Then he added, II
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
we'll known lack of steadfastness,
but he dismissed this as having no
especial bearing "She won't be ac-
tually unhappy; Drew will never grow
tired Of her, and he's a nice fellow In
a way. And awfully good looking.
All. Katherine. Katherine! l must
have made a poor lover-but you were
the only one for whom l ever cared.
and l think l didn't understand quite
the way to show you how much.
wanted you to see the world first;
but how could l have been idiot
enough to hope for different ending?
Tonight l feel l would give anything
If only you could have known how
much l loved you!"
Strong awoke to new difficulty;
it 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, 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. l hope you will believe
how great is the interest l shall al
ways feel in you and how much trust
your life will be a happy one.
Always most sincerely,
"HENRY STRONG.
February 2S, 190-."
Katherine was alone when the note
came. She had not been feeling too
we'll pleased with herself. She had
refused Langdon Drew and Mary
Browning and Bessie Wetherill had
been avenged. But, since the reading
OF this note, Katherine felt sorry for
Drew.
The main thing concerning the let
ter was it's incomprehensibility. Had
Henry Strong become too absorbed in
other things-the Boston papers were
constantly quoting him as man
worth listening to-to have the time
to think of love? "---
The season wore away and many
persons wondered why the beautiful
Miss Howard had not become en-
gagged.
And then an odd thing happened.
Mr. and Mrs Wetherill, whose daugh-
tier was once engaged TO Mr.. Drew
and who had just returned from
abroad, moved into house adjoining
Mr. Strong's church. Within few
weeks the rector Calleu.
Mr.. and Mrs. Wetherill were out,
but Miss Wetherill would be down in
a few minutes. Mr.. Strong's eyes
fastened themselves upon large 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, l 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 go
Miss Wetherill noticed that his eyes
again sought the picture. But this
photograph had always attracted at
tention.
"She is one OF the most loyal
hearted as we'll as beautiful girls"
Bessie Wetherill said, land would do
anything In the world for a friend. l
hope soon to have her visit me.
though / have just heard she has be-
come engaged to distinguished
southerner whose name | can't re-
member"
Mr.. Long took his leave feeling
much confused. Langdon Drew could
never in the world be taken for
southerner, and he was not distin-
guished. Strong bought New York
paper. On the front page was pic
ture of "The Beautiful Miss Howard"
II headed a column reporting her en-
gagement to royal parsonage, Prince
Won Schamberg.
Mr.. Strong read no more. He
stuffed the paper into his pocket. for
once in his life forgot an engagement,
and took the first train TO New York
Miss Howard entered the drawing
room. Her greeting was distant. But
Henry Strong noticed nothing. Some
thing was going to be definitely set
tied then and there.
Miss Howard, are you engaged to
be married, or going to be, to Mr..