The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1912-11-29
The INITIAL m
Romance in a I.ady's Shopping
Rag.
BY BRYANT z. c. ROGERS.

,And as for Royal being in love. !"
sfad the widow Rexford, to the caller.
1T is not true. though / wish it were.
should dearly love to know that he
was settled down in his own home"
But he is not cynic?"
oh, dear, no. 1t is Just that-that
well can hardly explain. He wants
rousing up, as it were. Admiring.
courtship and marriage seem prosy
events to him. There, will have to be
adventure with his falling in love-"
Royal Rexford, only son of the
widow, had reach ID the age Of twenty
Iour without ever having fallen in
love. 1t couldn't even be said that he
had hirtedi He could waltz and play
bridge and render himself agreeable
at afternoons" and week-ends, but It
stopped there. He didn't favor wo-
man suffrage, and he didn't say word
against 1t. 1t was .ust that he was
not interested beyond a mild and par
donable curiosity. His intimates Of
ten wondered what would arouse his
emotions, but they had waited in vain.
On certain afternoon Mr.. Rexford
left New York for Hartford He was
: neither elated nor cast down He
dlon't care whether he went or stayed.
lie didn't care whether he went be.
yond Fall River or got off there.
Every chair in the car was taken, but
ne didn't care t. size up his fellow
passengers. In an Indifferent sort
OF way he acquired the knowledge that
there were three or four young ladies'
among the travellers, but what of It?
There were also ladies and fat men
and lean men.
Mr. Rexford passed most of the time
In reading. When he reached
journeys end he was in no rush to
leave the car. IT thereby happened
that he was the last one out, and as
he passed down the aisle he saw a
shop )ing-bag reposing in one OF the
chairs They have been left behind
hundreds CT times by hundreds of wo-
men. According to rule and law and
several other things Mr.. Rexford
should have passed on and left The
porter to find the Tag and turn It in
to the lost property Office II not that,
then he should have turned 1t in him.
self.
But Mr.. Rexford didn't do any such
thing The sight of that bag with fits
silver IN" on the side aroused a faint
interest in his breast It seemed to
say to him: Please take care of me-"
and he walked out of the depot with
the bag cuddled up under his arm. He
expected to meet the loser any minute.
but 'he did not return The treasure
went with the finder to hotel for the
night. and reached row York with
him the next day
Most persons would have opened
that bag within an hour. but Mr.. Rex
ford didn't He waited until his re-
turn, and then he only took peek
just enough to Discover a roll OF false
hair and a powder-puff There were
other things further down, but he kept
hands of
Mr. Rexford had not Intended to |
appropriate anything. What he meant
to do was to fine the owner. but in
his own way. That way was by ad.
vertisement in the papers and when It
came out il read:
Found. on the Hartford train, on
the 29th, ladies' shopping bag bear
ing the initial M Address BOX 49,"
The brief advertisement was placed
in four papers, and the loser would be
almost certain to see it. She did see
1t. She lived just outside of Hartford,
and would be greatly obliged. and SO
forth
Mr. Rexford didn't follow the usual
mode Of procedure in such cases He
was not a bit curious, but with that
bag nicely wrapped up in scented pa
per he made his way back to Hartford
and to the surburb where was located
the homo Of the loser 1t was SO kind
of him. said the spinster OF forty, and
1t was so careless OF her. Her name