Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1912-02-24


seemed that all the Joys In the world
were concentrated In those few mo
ments, Then. saying that she would
go and hiring my noon meal, she left me
Never In my life have | been placed
in such quandary. My own dear
twin brother had left me to personatc
himself with woman he loved and
who loved him. ! didn't know wheth
er l was acting both dlshonorably and
unbrotherly TO him or not, He had not
confided the truth to me. He had ex'
pected that the girl would mistake mt
for him, but had the position in which
this mistake would place her and me
occurred to him2 Probably not He
he hadn't thought of this. ! was terri
fed at receiving caresses that were in
tended for him. 1t was as dishonorn-
BILE to the girl as to Jim. What was
TO do?
The thing l did-the next thing-was
to eat the dinner she brought me, all
the while the lovelight In her eyes
beaming down upon me. After ] had
finished and she had removed the tray
she told me that she had reported me
to be so much better that she had more
time to devote to other patients, but
she would come In to see me between
her attentions to them During one of
her absences | thought the matter
over and came to the following conclu-
sion: must go on playing Iim's part.
whatever IL was, for | could not do
otherwise without giving him away,
and how serious this would be to him
| did not know. had been placed In
position for which was in no way
responsible. My conscience was clear,
and l didn't see how 1t could be cloud
ed. would act the part of respon
sive lover.
! managed to put on my departure
as discharged patient for two weeks.
How ] succeeded In doing 1t ] don't
know. unless it was by the connivance
of the girl who dreaded to part with
me as much as l dreaded to part with
her. At the end of these two weeks
! am ashamed to confess that ] was
| ready to fight to the death my own
flesh and blood. my own twin brother.
for the love of the girl In whose af-
| fections l had taken his place. | ex-
cused myself by encouraging a suspi-
cion In my mind that he had treated
her shamefully and that l was justi-
| fed In securing her for myself. At
: any rate. would never give her up to
him or any one else.
| But what next? When this query
popped into my head was seized with
a sudden desire to get out of the hos
| nd n N
explanation. Then. whatever 1t was,
| would tell him that. having placed
me in a position to make love to his
| girl. he should not complain that had
won her from him. Had | won her
from him? Did she love him or me-,
or both of us?
Feeling that If l lay thinking upon
this brain and heart racking problem
should go mad. threw off the COW
ers and jumped out of bed was In
Jim's clothes in twinkling and when
my nurse entered again / was ready
for my departure.
She stood looking at me. surprised.
folded her in my arms. showered
kisses on her particularly her lips
then dashed away without word of
| eXpiduduOH dS W my SuNuSb uSPe'
| ture. {atifr t.41
In an hour I was with Jim.
"Why did you put me in this posi-
ton and why have l heard nothing
from you SINGER asked impatiently.
Does she love me still mean your
"She loves meme. | say-not you
1 at ALL"
"Thank God" I.
/ What do you meanT"
"Subside, Bob. and I'll tell you all
about it. | dared not write you'll mean
myself-for fear of giving away the
whole situation. went to the hos
pital engaged to be married. l hadn't
had time to inform you of my engage
ment before was taken Ill. Immedi.
ately after our betrothal my fiance
sailed on European trip. The hos
pital girl took a fancy to me at once
and showered such attentions on me
that l couldn't help reciprocating.
very weakly suffered myself to be
drawn into an affair of the heart
assure you / didn't realize how deeply
involved l had become before ] com
mitted betrothal bigamy.
I'm your appearance l saw a loop
hole. took advantage of 1t. and from
what you tell me all has turned out
fortunately"
"Jim, you ought to be ashamed OF
/ yourself--to win girls affections and
then run away from her"
ITO have my own brother to dlshon
orabiy take her away from me. II
seems to me that's the pot calling the