Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-08-17
The Argus Daily Story
Fooled-By Read Gridley.
Copyrighted. 1872 by Associated Literary Bureau,

him. told him of the game we proposed
TO play before the young lady. and in
Il few minutes we were again seated
in the car speeding on toward Munich.
Shortly after starting addressed Lieu
tenant Becker in German:
Herr Lieutenant. inasmuch as It
made no difference TO any Of us wheth-
er the window was up or down. | have
made up my mind that the affair be-
tween us can 80 no further. Since 1t
cannot be stopped without an apology
from me offer you one"
Il accept your apology" replied the
officer. with no very good grace.
l gave the American girl a furtive
glance to discover If she were de-
ceived. but could not exactly make out
whether she was or not. thought I
saw on her face an expression OF dis
atisfaction-indeed. contempt for mo
because had made the apology. This
l did not like. Possibly she consid-
cred that l had shown the white
feather. This view OF the case was
strengthened by her subsequent treat
ment of me-. which was. TO say the
least, not cordial. l addressed a re-
mark to her, and her reply was very
cool and given with manner indicat-
ing that she did not care to continue
the conversation.
1t was certainly irritating TO have
taken upon myself Il duel in defense
OF n fellow country woman 10 be snub-
bed by her for having crawled out or
1t. l had not considered this possi-
bilty and was not prepared for II.
But what could | do? The rest of my
ride was unpleasant in the extreme.
could not very we'll change my seat,
and 1 was obliged to sit facing the
girl. who took no pains to conceal her
condemnation of the course I had TAX
en- in order to avoid Il meeting with
Herr Becker.
Finally, thinking that she did not
understand such matters, l explained
! to her that an officer in the German
/ army could not avoid giving chal-
| lenge after having been treated as 1
! had treated him without being obliged
to leave the service in disgrace. Ell
! Their I must apologize or the duel must
take place.
/ The girl looked at me with an ex-
preston that was unintelligible.
Whether she did not believe the ex-
| cuse l gave her or for some other
cause, she simply nodded her head
and remained silent. | was sorry
had attempted an explanation. l had
not made matters better. but worse.
Turning red IN the face. I pulled
book from my pocket and began to
read, or, rather. to pretend to read, for
was too chaGrined to do anything OF
the kind. After spending some min
utes in this way l suddenly looked
over the page l was reading ut the
young Indy and caught her looking at
me with puzzling expression. What
it meant l could not guess.
On arriving at Munich the young
lady called a porter. who took her
hand baggage, and DouhOT and | rails
ed our hats to her. She was very civil
! to DOnhof. but scarcely recognized
my salute.
"A woman all over" l remarked.
IF man is ready to fight for her she
won't have it; If he takes advantage
of there being no necessity to fight
for her she despises him"
DOUtiOu aITIupbu Win lTIcuu bcCh-
err sent him for meeting the next
morning in Il corner of a park, where
such affairs usually took place. We
had no fear of the police, who did not
interfere in duels unless their attention
was called to them so pointedly that
they could not very well help them
selves. DonhoR and | went to the
ground. where we arrived about the
same time as Becker. his second and a
fat little man with glasses and a case
of surgical Instruments Being the
challenged party, | had chosen for
weapons the small sword We were
about TO take our positions when the
police appeared from concealment and
put us all under arrest.
who informed you of this fght?" 1
asked.
"An American lady"
"Thats too bad" | exclaimed. was
really disappointed. We thought we
had fooled her.
\ police official handed me note
signed Ethel Warren. saying that If l
would call upon her she would be
pleased to see me.
Well. there was nothing TO do but
drop the matter, ut least for the pres.
ent. and. acting on the explanation |
had given Miss Warren that Becker
must fight or get an apology. | made
him one in earnest ! was too much
displeascd or thought | was-with
Miss Warren to 20 TO see her for aOme
time. but finally did so TO set myself
right IS TO that first apology to Becker.
She received me very grarinusly and
! with half triumphant, half comical
while.
"You thought you had deceived me"
she said lin that mock apology. From
the car window ! saw you and your
friend converse together. then saw him
join the officer Immediately after leav-
ing you"
Then why did you treat me so con
|, temptuOuslvf' ! asked
How could ] have better led you to
believe that had been deceived by
. your stoTyr'