The Sauk Centre herald., 1911-08-03
L0ue Finds
Another Way


month at the beach for the sole rea-
son of waiting for a proposal from
George Elmore, that young lady would
have denied the allegation indignant
ly. That George Elmore was hope
lessly in love with Gertrude was
self-evident fact.
Two months previously, Mr.. Elmore
had met the attractive Miss Lee at
resort in Virginia and later had fol-
lowed her to Atlantic City. He was
her constant companion
Elmore and two friends Victor Har-
rison and Charlie Travers three
months previous had spent a Sunday
on the water. They had been class
mates at Yale ten years ago and none
Of the trio had married. After jok-
ing on the subject for some time,
Charlie Travers, who was full of ro-
nance, said:
We'll, boys, I've got proposition
to make. One of us has got to get
married soon or luck is against U.s.
Let's each draw and the one to whom
the lot falls must stand by the bar
gain. Now, here is the proposition
he must put in bottle slip of paper
on which must be written that the
finder will learn something to his ad
vantage If he communicates with
given address. The bottle must be
consigned to the water and the sender
must wait year before he can con-
slider himself free from the obligation.
If the person who finds the bottle is
an unmarried woman it will prove that
matrimony is for one of us.
Capital" cried Victor
Splendid came from Elmore.
The lots were cast with the result
that Elmore found himself the hero of
the romance. He save the address of
his New York lawyers and after much
merriment the bottled message was
borne off on the waves.
After this little episode, Gertrude
Lee and her aunt came to the beach
for a few weeks and stayed at the
same cottage as did Elmore.
The old, old story was the result
Many time the words were on FL
mores lips to ask Gertrude to be his
wife but always the vision of a bottle
floating on the waves held them back.
He was bound in honor not to speak
of love to woman for year. He
was afraid to confess to Gertrude
how silly he had been for he did not
know how she would look upon the
matter. Yet some explanation to the
girl was most assuredly due.
A letter was pushed under the door
1t was from Brown & Burton, his law.
yers, inclosing the fatal news. It
came In the shape of short note writ
ten In an uneducated hand by Miss
Marie Bonner who expressed her will
ingness to learn anything to her ad-
vantage as the finder of the bottle.
1t took no adept to discern from the
letter that Marie Bonner was a person
of no culture and belonged to the
great army that constitutes the mass
es. Had she the combined charms of
Venus and of Helen Of Troy, Elmore
would not have felt compensated for
the loss of Gertrude
In this state of mind Elmore dress.
ed for dinner. Afterwards he saw
Gertrude and the two sat on the piaz-
"a of the hotel.
do you think It IL bad luck to give
away what one finds?" asked Ger.
trude
II most decidedly do. It Is an old
superstition that l have great respect
for" replied Elmcre.
Il never have found anything of
value in all my life, in fact l never
really found anything but once and
have often wondered how it turned
out
What do you mean? Was it a
curio?"
mot in the sense you mean. / was
down in Virginia at the beach where
met you. l knew a very few people
at first, so every morning early
would take my maid with me for a
walk along the shore. One morning
! saw a bottle that was washed up by
the tide and / stopped and picked it
up The bottle was tightly sealed and
inside | could see writing on a slip
of paper. Full of curiosity we lost
no time in getting the message out of
the bottle to find only a request that
the finder communicate with some law
firm on Broadway and presumably
get a reward"
Elmore could scarcely restrain his
anxiety What of Marie Bonner? Was
she a fake or could this have been
a similar adventure to his own?
"How did 1t turn out?'
That is just what l would like to
know"
Didn't you write to the Broadway
lawyer"
20, no; instead just turned the slip
over to Marie and told her to try her
luck when she returned to New York
Marie left last week"
"Marie!" cried Elmore, excitedly.
What was her last name"
Marie Bonner, my maid. Why
what is the matter?" asked Gertrude
as she noticed the sudden change in
Elmore
1t did not take him many moments
to appreciate the fact that the actual
finder of the bottled message was the
L I'll =;