Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1911-03-31

Two
Letters
Neither of Which Was Ever
Posted
By Ethan Armour Bache
Copyright by American Press Asso-
clatlon. 1911.

1t may seem paradoxical. but there
is nothing more dreary than beauti-
full morning when one carries a load
on his heart l had left Adele the
night before. she having told me that
she honored and respected me. but
would not marry me. And now | was
walking on the road to the village to
post letter accepting an offer my un-
Gle. who was in the tea trade, had
made me of a position in his counting
room at Hongkong The beauty Of an
opening spring Knocked me. The warm
sunshine the sprouting leaves. that
delicate pale robe Dame Nature was
putting on. contrasted painfully with
the loss OF the girl | loved and from
whom ! was about to permanently
separate myself by going to live in
barbarous land A robin on limb Of
a tree, cooking bis head on one side.
looked at me. seeming to smile and
say ut the same time. Poor fellowF'
A chipmunk sat up on the top rail Of
a fence eying me roguishly. and some
how be seemed to be saying to me In
congruously: Cheer up. cheer upl
You'll fare better next timer
| knew very well why Adele had re-
fused me. 1t was all on account Of
Wrmarth He had come on to the
field not more than month before
with that air Of superiority some men
always carry about them-an air Of
intellectual supremacy. When one ex-
pressed an opinion in his presence be
would put on look as much as to
say. MY dear fellow. have long age
solved that problem, but you-why, it
is far beyond your comprehension" d"
He was graduated at the biggest uni
versity In the land. was elected to the
biggest fraternity and was the biggest
all round man in college while there.
And, stepping out as the biggest man
from among undergraduates. he had
stepped into the possession of what,
so far as competition with me was
concerned. was the biggest fortune in
the world. Vixen this great young
man expressed a desire to possess the
girl wanted what chance had II
Reaching a point beyond which the
road met another, | saw Adele coming
on the other road II men have any
one advantage over women 1t is in
possessing pockets. We each carried
a letter, and. while mine was hidden
oxr-o-, T., nm ,,oolrak Adafo ~uoo nhlfuod
to carry hers In her hand. As soon as
she saw me she showed plainly that
she would very much like to get rid
Of that letter. But. poor girl. what
could she dor A man without pockets
If such a case is upposable-might
put it in his hat; woman. unless she
carried hand bag. which Adele did
not. must needs keep it where all the
world can see
] was a lover Of long standing.
though had only recently avowed my
love. Adele had not the heart to
throw me over without preparing me
for the ordeal She wouldn't accept
wilmarth until she had dispatched me
had the evening before brought mat
ters to crisis. and she had run me
through the heart. Having done so.
there was nothing to prevent her CIV
ing Wilmarth a definite answer to his
suit She had written It in the form
of an acceptance.
This Is the reasoning went through
in my mind as to why Adele carried
that letter.
Adele came to the fork of the road
evidently embarrassed. Since she
could not get rid of the letter just be
fore meeting me she tucked it In her
belt | noticed she was careful to
place the address inward so that It
could not be seen She was bIushing
to the roots Of her hair If there was
any doubt In my mind before that the
letter was for Wilmarth there was
none now.
"Why do you crumple your ietterT
I said "It will not be presentable
when received"
"Oh. don't think Its appearance
will make much difference to its recip-
tent II - tut AiriuI VI tcttci that
interests one"
TITS singular that you and / have
met on similar errand. Pm on my
way to the postoftice to mail let
ter"
This did not seem to interest her;
at least she made no reply to the re-
mark. The postofiice was but few
hundred yards ahead of us. Crossing
a walk leading from the village, l
struck into it Adele followed.
had no sooner done so than | was
dissatisfied with myself. Had not
Adele settled the matter between usl
What weakness to keep up an as
sociation that could lead to no goodl
The truth is | was desperate 1t is
one thing for a man to be obliged to
give up woman he loves and another
to give her up TO some particular man
The evening before | had been con
demned: in this letter saw my execu-
ton
Neither Adele nor spoke till we
reached side hill on which was a rus
tic bench There we seated ourselves.
I remember few things In the land
scape before and beneath u.s. There
were scattered dwellings and church.
Through the fields ran canal with
locks. in one Of which men were low
ering boat was far too preoccu-
pied to have noticed this had not Adele
said.
'I'm always interested In seeing a
canalboat go through locks"
ssESnecIailv whom ffsa LOT dawn m ffa