Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-12-03
A MISTAKE
But II Made No Differ
ence In the End
BY LESTER ROWLAND

4 BY LESTER ROWLAND
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'Good night, darlingr'
had got into my berth In q sleep
Ing car. It was late. and was one Of
the last to retire. The lamps were
turned low. Suddenly the curtains
were divided. I could see the outline
Of q woman's head and bust leaning
over me- A pair Of Lips were pressed
against mine.
.Oh, heavensT' In the same voice AZ
the good night darling"
Evidently the Lady had expected to
and the waxen lips of child and had
met instead the mustached lips Of q
man. OF course she had simply mis-.
tuken the berth. There are many such
mistakes on sleeping cars. and 1t Is
wonder there are not more. The mo.
ment one leaves his section at night
when the curtains are all hung every
curtain looks the same, and II he goes
to the end of the car and returns he
In lost In a wilderness Of drapery. Per.
haps the lady felt her mistake-in the
dark she couldn't see it-before her
lips touched mine, but slight curve
In the track threw her In my direction.
and they were pressed down upon
mine in an unintendonal long drawn
kiss-a kiss that neither Of rs could
help. but to me delicious kiss. 50 de-
licious that I lay awake half the night
thinking about It
The car was occupied by through
messengers, and I believed I should In
the morning find the lady who had
said good night. darling" and had
given me that delicious kiss. I did not
think she would likely know whom
she had kissed. but fancied that !
should be able to single her out from
among the other women on the car.
could hear a child's voice In the next
section. and doubtless the lady had In
tended to kiss the child good night
Hardly had the berlns near me been
made up In the morning when ] began
my observations. In the section where
| had heard the child's voice sat a lit
| tie girl Of ten. a young lady Of twenty
nnd nursemaid In the section next
mine on the other side sat an elderly
couple. There was but the one young
woman near me. and, though It had
been too dark for me to see her the
night before. I could not, at least !
would not. believe that she was old.
I listened for the sound Of the voice
of the lady who sat with the little
girl. and the moment l heard 1t ]
knew 1t belonged to her who had said.
Good night. darling"
There were two Of Us In my section.
| |. who had occupied the lower berth.
and man who had slept In the upper
berth. There was no reason to suppose
that the young lady knew which slept
below. Whether she knew that she had
kissed one of us I had no means OF
knowing. II was quite possible that
she had located the section after the
mIshap. I determined that she should
not suspect from any betrayal Of mine
that I was the fortunate possessor OF
the lost kiss
She was sitting with her back to me.
and I could only see her side face
when she turned to speak to the child
who sat beside her. was pleased to
notice thnt the profile was attractive.
| arose and went into forward car
for no reason In the world than to
have a look at her full face when
returned When I did return from the
moment l opened the car door till ]
had passed her she was looking ont
through the window.
In this she made a mistake In such
matters between the sexes we tnd
clews In very small things. just as the
detectives do. By refusing me a sin
gle glance the lady caused me to sus.
pect that she had made some progress
In learning whom she had kissed Wo-
men are far more adept at finding out
such things than men. and there was
no more reason why should have 10
Gated her as the one who made the
blunder than that she should have 10
Gated me as the one who had pro6ted
by It
was very glad to notice that the
trio-the lady. the little girl and the
nurse-had settled themselves for a
long Journey They had hamper con,
tanning food dainties sufficient for sev
eral days journey. My lady settled
herself down in a graceful and easy
position. The little girl arranged her
toilet for comfort. and there was ev'
cry Indication that they were there to
stay. had high hopes that ! should
be able to occupy the same car with
them all the way to San Francisco.
whittier I was bound But how should
I get acquainted. for II must refrain
from a word with my lady what
would It profit me?
II was not long before saw the
tickets of the party in whom ! was
Interested and that they were the
same as mine. therefore had no oc.
casion to hurry an acquaintance. but ]
| formed my plans for one. As a good
general will attack the weakest point.
10 did I. The little girl could not re-
main all the while In her section and
soon began to race through the car.
ioining another child about the same
age. began on the other child. OF.
fering her fruits and sweetmeats. nm
ally extending my gifts to the object
through whom I desired TO act OF.
fered her a large Juicy pear. She put
her little hand on It covetously. looking
at me as though wondering II she
might accept It. then ran away to her
guardian, and knew she was telling
sf the offer and asking II she might
take the gift. The lady did not look
around, but the child came back to me
and took the pear. had gained moth
Ing, the lady having. perhaps purpose
| ", avoided any knowledge Of the per
SON 70 whom the child was indebted
During the journey laid every con
ceivabls plan for making the hdys
! acquaintance and carried out many OF
them. She blocked every advance
made, not pointedly. but 30 adroitiy
that I had no reason to think she was
doing 20 intentionally. When We
reached Gan Francisco was obliged