The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1911-04-07
Two
Letters
Neither Of Which Was Ever
Posted
By Ethan Armour Bache
Copyright by American Press Assoc
iat tim IQI1
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation, 1911.


on his heart / 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 a 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 a
barbarous land. A robin on limb Of
a tree, cooking his head on one side,
looked at me. seeming to smile and
say at the same time, "Poor fellow!
A chipmunk sat up on the top rail Of
fence eying me roguishly, and some
how he seemed to be saying to me in
congruously: "Cheer up, cheer up!
You'll fare better next timer
knew very well why Adele had re-
fused me. 1t was all on account Of
Wilmarth. He had come on to the
field not more than q 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 he
would put on look as much as to
say, my dear fellow, l have long ago
solved that problem. but you-why, it
is far beyond your comprehension"
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. When this great young
man expressed desire to possess the
girl 1 wanted what chance had /?
Reaching a point beyond which the
road met another, saw Adele coming
on the other road. If men have any
one advantage over women 1t is In
possessing pockets. We each carried
letter, and, while mine was hidden
away in my pocket. Adele was obliged
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 do? A man without pockets
if such a case is upposable-might
put it in his hat; woman, unless she
carried a hand bag, which Adele did
not, must needs keep it where all the
world can see.
l was 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
tiers to crisis, and she had run me
through the heart. Having done so,
there was nothing to prevent her Civ
ing Wilmarth q definite answer to his
suit. She had written it in the form
Of an acceptance.
I'm 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. l noticed she was careful to
place the address inward so that it
no hA
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 letter"
1 said. 1T will not be presentable
when received"
ooh. | don't think it's appearance
will make much difference to its recip-
lent. It's the inside Of letter that
interests one"
"It's singular that you and i have
met on similar errand. I'm on my
way to the postoffice to mail a let
ter"
at least she made no reply to the re-
mark. The postoffice was but few
hundred yards ahead Of us. Crossing
walk leading from the village. i
struck into it. Adele followed.
l had no sooner done so than I was
dissatisfied with myself. Had not
Adele settled the matter between us?
What weakness to keep up an as
ISOLATION that could lead to no good!
The truth is I was desperate. 1t is
one thing for a man to be obliged to
give up a woman he loves and another
to give her up to some particular man.
The evening before 1 had been con-
demned; In this letter ! saw my execu.
ton.
Neither Adele nor / spoke till we
reached side hill on which was rus
tic bench. There we seated ourselves.
1 remember a few things in the land
scape before and beneath us. There
were Dcattered dwellings and church.
Through the fields ran n canal with
locks. In one, of which men were low
ering q boat. / was far too preoccu-
pied to have noticed this had not Adele
said:
I'm always interested In seeing q
canalboat 90 through locks"