The Springfield herald., 1912-02-02

seem to care for any men but Bruce
and myself. and I can't believe that
you and he are in earnest In your
brazen flirtations. In the first place.
he has no more seriousness about him
than q jumping-jack, and In the sec
ond cannot conceive of girl with
your ideals loving a man Of his Pc
culiar financial practices and alley-cat
habits. Outside Of his more or less
respectable club he has no more
fixed place of abode than has q bal
loon. and l don't believe he would
be any moro content to settle down
than one"
She would toss her head. THAT is
because the poor fellow has no home
to allure him. Just you wait until he
gets married. II he wins the right
wife he will settle down 80 hard that
you can hear the echo"
would wave my hands in protest.
But he speculates upon the board
bets. and all that. md while do not
consider such things as particularly
depraved, 1 know that you are utterly
against them. Besides. he is fnan-
cial humorist. How could he support
wife in tho dreary, moneyless Pc
riods?"
I'm sure l don't know-that would
be his end Of the bargain. But do
know that II he had wife who would
save what he throws away when he is
prosperous they would never come to
want. And I am not sure, after all,
but that 1t is better to have lot OF
money part of the time and none the
rest than to have only little all the
time"
That would quiet me for time.
l had to depend entirely upon my sal
airy, for being under heavy bonds !
could not have speculated had
cared to and still retained my posi-
ton II the fact became known. Still,
by certain economies l had managed
to hide away few hundreds for
emergencies, and in addition to that
had in the savings bank $1,000
which had come to me from my IA
TIERS estate. That. however re-
garded a good deal as a trust fund
which was to be left unused except in
case of last resort. So I would take
another tack and try and impress her
with the greater virtue Of ultimate
achievement through industry and
economy rather than by moving your
way through the ranks OF your fellow
men. From her Quietness l would
think she was becoming converted I'M
til Of a sudden she would give fdget.
There he comes now. down the
walk back Of u.s." she would assert
without even a glance around. And
sure enough 1t would be Bruce.
cigar in his mouth and a bundle as
big as a peck measure wrapped up
in paper under his arm. l always
thought my physical senses were par
ticularly alert. but she would invar-
iably announce his coming before
knew he was within gunshot. Hear
ing, intuition, instinct or sixth sense,
know not what 1t was. but at times
1t struck me Is almost uncanny. Up
to US he would come strolling with
smile and audacious Hello. little
sweetheart" and a nod and an
off-hand "Howdy, old man." to me;
and standing before us with his feet
wide apart would grin at her like
SOOo-ndtuTeu puppy. lueu Wouio
see Clare's eyes begin to light up.
What is 1t this time. Bruce?" she
would half gasp excitedly. With a
studied elaboration that would keep
her in sQuirming suspense he would
gradually open the bundle and raise
1t on high. Then suddenly he would
pour pailful Of roses carnations or
violets over her head and send them
tumbling into her lap and down on
the grass in a waterfall of fragrance.
And at that she would utter a little
cry and go down upon her knees as
she gathered them up by the handful.
scolding him like maybe for his ex-
travagance. and stopping after every
few words for a rapturous smell Of
each captured treasure. And that
would be my reward for my lecture on
the sin Of extravaganza.
Then. regardless OF my presence,