Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1913-01-02


soye was the first young woman he
had ever met who could pull away
sudden barriers and open up pathways
for speech, who, when he was about
| to hounder into some cul-de-sac, guided
him adroitly into an alley round it.
Not once was it necessary to drag
in the weather, that perennial if
threadbare topic. He was truly aston
ished at the ease with which he sus-
tanned his part in the conversation,
and began to think pretty well of
himself. 1t did not occur to him that
| when two clever and attractive women
| set forth to make a man talk (al-
ways excepting he is dumb), they new
er fail to succeed. To do this they
contrive to bring the conversation
within the small circle of his work,
his travels, his preferences, his ambi-
tons. To be sure, all this is not fully
extracted in fifteen minutes, but a
! woman obtains in that time a good
idea of the ground plan.
Two distinct purposes controlled the
women in this instance. One desired
to interest him, while the other sought
to learn whether he was stupid or only
shy.
! At last, when he left them to change
his clothes and hurry down to Cooks,
| to complete the bargain for the Yhior-
des, he had advanced so amazingly
well that they had accepted his invi-
tation to the polo-match that after
noon. He felt that invisible Mercuri-
al wings had sprouted from his heels,
for in running up the stairs, he was
aware of no graVitative resistance
| That this anomaly Can acquaintance
with two women about whom he knew
nothing) might be locked upon
askarce by those who conformed to
the laws and bylaws of social usages,
worried him not in the least. On the
contrary, he was thinking that he
would be the envy of every other man
out at the club that afternoon.
"Well?" said Mrs. Chedsoye, quiz
zical smile slanting her lips
'You wish my opinion?' countered
the daughter. He is shy, but he is
neither stupid nor silly; and when he
smiles he is really good-looking."
"My child" replied the woman,
drawing off her gloves and examining
her shapely hands, II have looked in
to the very heart of that young man.
A thousand years ago, a red-cross on
his surtout, he would have been beat
ing his fists against the walls of
Jerusalem; five hundred years later,
he would have been singing chant
royales under lattice-windows; a pa
ladin and a poet"
slow do you know that? Did he
make love to your"
mo; but made love to him with
out his knowing it; and that was
more to my purpose than having him
make love to me-" enigmatically.
Three days, and he was so guileless
that he never asked my name. But
in Monte Carlo, as you know, one asks
only your bankers name"
"And your purpose?"
"It is still mine, dear. Do you real
ize that we haven't seen each other
in four months, and that you haven't
offered to kiss me "
did he go away without writing to
| you about that money!"
Mrs. Chedsoye calmly plucked out
the inturned fingers of her gloves. II
believe did receive a note inclosing
his bankers address, but, unfortu-
nately, in the confusion OF returning
to Paris, lost it. My memory has
always been trial to me-" sadly.
"Since when" coldly. There is not
than yours"
"You flatter me. In affairs that in
terest me, perhaps"
"You never meant to pay him. It
Is horrible"
'My dear Fortune, how you jump at
conclusions! Did l not offer him a
draft the very first thing?"
knowing that at such moment he
could not possibly accept it?" de-
risively. Sometimes hate you'll"
I'm these days filial devotion is a
lost art"
mo, no; it is flower parents have
ceased to cultivate"
And there was In the tone
strained note which described an in
tense longing to be loved. For IL
George Percival Algernon Jones was
lonely young man. 1t was the result
of his own blindness; whereas Fortune
Chedsoye turned hither and thither in
search of that which she never could
find. The wide Lybian desert held
upon its face loneliness, a desolation,
less mournful than that which reigned
within her heart.
Flush! We are growing sentiment
al" warned the mother. Besides,
believe we are attracting attention"
Her glance swept half-circle COM
placently.
Pardon me! I should be sorry to
draw attention to you, knowing how
you abhor it,"
my child, learn from me; temper Is
the arch-enemy of smooth complex
ions. Jones-it makes you laugh"
1T is homely, honest name"
81 grant that. But Percival Alger-
| L.. - n