Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-04-30
NUMBER 10

finished and she had removed the tray
she told me that she had reported me-
to be 80 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 I thought the matter
over and came to the following conclu-
sion: must 90 on playing Jim's part.
whatever 1t was, for I could not do
otherwise without giving him away,
and how serious this would be to him
| did not know. had been placed IN
O position for which I was In no way
responsible My conscience was clear.
and didn't see how 1t could be cloud
ed. l would act the part Of respon-
sive lover.
I managed to put of my departure
as q discharged patient for two weeks
How / succeeded In doing 1t don't
know, unless 1t 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
I 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 | had taken his place. l ex-
cused myself by encouraging a suspi-
cion in my mind that he had treated
her shamefully and that I was justl.
fed In securing her for myself. At
any rate, l would never give her up to
him or any one else.
But what next? When this query
popped into my head was seized with
q sudden desire to get out Of the hos
pital. find Jim and hear from him an
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 l won her
from him? Did she love him or me,
or both Of US?
Feeling that II lay thinking upon
this brain and heart racking problem
I should 60 mad. threw of the Gov
ers and jumped out of bed. l was In
Jim's clothes In a twinkling and when
my nurse entered again l was ready
for my departure.
She stood looking at me. surprised.
folded her In my arms. showered
kisses on her face-partcularly her lips
then dashed away without word OF
explanation as to my sudden depar'
ture.
In an hour I was with Jim.
why did you put me in this posi-.
tion and why have l heard nothing
from you since?" l asked impatienty.
Does she love me still mean you"
"She loves meme, say-nOt you
at all"
THANK God"
What do you mean"
"Subside, Bob. and I'll tell you al
about 1t. dared not write yOu-l 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
mcnt before / was taken Ill. Immedi.
ately after our betrothal my fiance
sailed on European trip. The hos
pital girl took fancy to me at once
and showered such attentions on me
that | couldn't help reciprocatins. ]
very weakly suffered myself to be
drawn into an affair Of the heart.
assure you I didn't realize how deeply
involved l had become before COM
mitted betrothal bigamy.
I'm your appearance l saw loop
hole. took advantage OF 1t. and from
what you tell me all has turned out
fortunately"
Jim. you ought to be ashamed cf
yourself-to win girls affections and
then run away from her.
"To have my own brother to c!rhon-
orably take her away from me-. II
seems to me that's the pot calling the
kettle black"
"Call it squared" ! said. seizing
inns hand.
was happy in knowing that could
claim our girl, but was puzzled to
know whether I should do so as Jim
or myself. He and talked the mat
ter over and decided that after becom-
ing formally engaged l should intro
duce Jim to my fancee as my twin
brother whom she had never met.
This plan worked admirably. After
the - oduction l twitted my betroth.
ed, saying:
II presume. sweetheart. that since
Jim and I are twins you would as lief
marry one Of us as the other"
"H'mw she replied deprecahngly. ~
would know you apart in the dark"
dare say this is the only case where
IN two brothers who had occasion tc
quarre! over the same girl blessed
each other instead. But the secret !:
between Jim and me. Neither OF our
wives has an inklipg Of 1t. Should
Jim tell his wife how nearly he cane
being cnrried away by proplnquity
during a period Of physical weakness
there would be trouble at home. II
were to tell my wife of the trick by
which one lover was substituted for
another she would be furious.