The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1911-01-06

hNNNA Whulh HhNN AuAh 9Nh AN hA'N
me--for / know him, too"
DO you mean he was ever In love
with your"
MY dear. I'm ten years older than
Rolfe-and always was, Also, ! have
always been an old maid. But there
have been other girls"
And then for hours and hours told
her about all the other girls. / spared
no details which would make my story
more convincing, and found that she
knew some Of the girls l mentioned,
though she had not known that the
man involved was Rolfe Carson. And
she could not do otherwise than be-
lieve me.
But she took II all so queerly.
had expected tears, stormy denlals-
anything but this calm, dry accept
ance. And I suddenly realized that
she did care for the man, terribly, and
wished that had not told her, Real
love comes 20 no one twice. II wasn't
any of my real business, anyway.
At daybreak / went to my couch in
the sitting-room, where ! slept the
sleep OF the exhausted. And when,
late In the forenoon, | tiptoed into
the bedroom, found that Felicia had
departed, leaving this note on the
dresser: "Of course ! believe you
but I can never forgive you. Some
day you will understand why"
And then / smiled with a positive
relief. / knew that she was already
recuperating and told myself that I
had done good work Within a week
Wendell Hall was tagging her around,
to the great distress Of Carrie Worth
ington, who came TO me and sobbed
out the tale Of his faithlessness. |
was sorry for the child, too for I
knew Felicia we'll enough to under
stand that she would finish Wendell
Hall before she let him go.
The rest of the tale came to me five
weeks later, away out in Iowa, where
had gone to visit relatives and where
! found Rolfe Carson doing the same
thing. and incidentally teaching the
art of Irritation to an apple-cheeked
young cousin Of mine.
When I had renewed my acquaint.
ance with him and had had the salts
faction of impressing upon his vanity
the facts of my sisters very happy
marriage, he confided in me, too, sure
of my safety, even as the others.
He told me, and for the life of me
could not help believing in his SINGER
ity as he told It, that at last he was
really in love, with the most innocent,
sweet-hearted little girl in Massachu-
sets. And her name was Felicia.
listened with Joy that was deep and
far-reaching; but somewhere felt
vaguely sick, too. And then / did the
only thing there seemed for me to do;
I made a complete job of It. / told
Rolfe Carson first just what thought
of his methods and then / told him all
that l knew Of the guileless Felicia.
l knew all the time, Of course, that
neither of them would ever speak to
me again, for it was inevitable that
they should meet and compare notes.
But l didn't care. was tired of be-
ing a go-between, and, anyway, / was
too fond of them both to care to see
them made unhappy for life, when by
such a small and really pleasurable
effort l could prevent 1t.
And so ! told him how even then
the guileless and sweet-hearted Felicia
was trailing Wendell Hall and there
by making the little Worthington
girl old before her time. l told him of
all her previous flirtations, emitting
nothing that l thought might interest
him. And when / finally paused to
think of more he said through his
teeth, Are you through" and in an
other moment the gate slammed vi.
ciously. And that evening he was re-
called by telegram to attend to impor-
tant business in Boston. And he
didn't leave any message at all for
my apple-cheeked young cousin, with
whom he had been going driving the
next day. She cried furtively, and !
meditated.
And for one whole week l lived in a
state of triumph, not unmixed with a
feeling of approaching disaster, which
l could not shake off. Then there
came to me a marked paper from
Boston. On the front page, in the
most vulgar and ostentatious display,
were pictures of Rolfe and Felicia.
And beneath the pictures was a whole
column of most interesting and read
able matter telling how the young
people had been married seven weeks
before at the beach. 1t had been a
love-at-first-sight affair, and as both
were members of very prominent and
very conservative families the young
people had chosen to keep the mar
riage secret until they were ready to
sail for South America, where the
groom had important business inter
ests.
l showed the paper to my apple
checked young cousin and then l
sighed a hit wearilv I was too stu