Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-03-09

favor. had taken her cut number
of times and persuaded myself that
the tender passion was stealing into
my aging breast But I was not and
never had been anything of n butter
fly. l was and always had been n
serious man. | found it somewhat
irksoIne TO go about as an escort 10 a
young girl to amusements in which
took no interest. The very night be
fore received the epistle from a
distant past had attended my little
girl TO a ball where she had kept me
for lust on more dance" till 3 O'Clock
in the morning.
1t is not strange that 1 was affected
by Miss Whi.ney's reply to e PROPOSE
ton made twelve years before. The
dozen years she hsd spoken of had
passed and while 1 was still on the
lower side Of middle age she had pass
ed beyond It Nevertheless my interest
in bachelor life-if I ever had any
had died down until its pleasures had
turned to gall. Ny recent attendance
upon a society bud during the small
hours OF the morning was still fresh ia
my memory. while the insipid nothings
/ had been obliged to say and listen to
nauseated me.
wrote at once to a relative of Miss
whitney asking what had become OF
her. and received reply that she lived
in the house In which she had always
lived. and in which l had so often
called upon her while was n student.
She was beloved and respected by all
who knew her and my correspondent
wondered that though she had receiv-
ed many offers she had accepted none.
4 few days after the receipt Of this
information l was in Miss Whitney's
home and sent up my card with the
letter had so recently received. hay
ing underscored on the envelope the
postmark showing the day It was mail
ed and another giving the day 1t was
received.
When Miss Whitney came down TO
receive me, with considerable embar-
rassment in her manner and a tentale
blush on her cheek, j was surprised
that she did not show her years by
half a dozen, and there was not a gray
hair in her head She looked much
younger for a woman than / for
man.
However. l had not come to see her
for beauty, but in the hope Of re-
newaI of that companiOnship / had
enjoyed decade before. She told me
that she had been at a loss TO under
stand my silence, for since her letter
had not been returned TO her through
the dead letter Office she could not
doubt that 1 had received It.
During an hours conversation with
her the fact became impressed upon
my mind that I was not the man to
marry chit Of girl and that 1
would find the companiopship l needed
In Miss Whitney. I received a promise
that she would correspond with mo,
and since my home was not a long
journey from hers l made her a num-
Der Of visits. But my own mind was
made up at our reunion, and fortunate
" I had only to wait for the lady tn
be satisfied that I would not he likely
TO regret the step. was bent upon
taking.
That regretting is one Of the most
improbable things in the world r.
manifest in the fact that we have been
married twenty years and are more
companionab BILE by far than at the time
Of the wedding. More than this, our
affection has increased steadily. and IL
seems to me that with us the period OF
romance has been inverted. coming as
it has in our old age. Indeed, not
year passes but we find ourselves more
dependent upon each other.
never go by a certain building in
the town I'm which we live without re-
membering that the old trap II re
placed for dozen years contained the |
first answer TO my proposal to my |
wife. And ASSOCIATED with this re- !
membrance is another think Of the |
maiden who kept me till 3 o'clock In |
the morning waiting for that one more |
dance.
I feel very kindly disposed to that /
maiden, for Il was her giddiness that /
kept me waiting, Gaping, at times nod
ding, while she was fitting about like
Il butterfly. And was IT not this lesson
she gave me in the nick OF time that
!urned me to a more satisfactory love-