El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-13
Accident Rules the World


r, on their wedding trip and were
sitting outside Cafe de Ia PAX An
unusually handsome young couple they
were-she fair. pink and white, with
big blue eyes; ne tall slender with
dark hair and brown eyes. and their
10 days old happiness was evident
to all
Gudrun looked at her husband with
unconceaIed admiration now she loved
him, She felt so safe and happy with
him and trusted him in everything lie
was almost u years older than she
and knew everything. As now, for in
stance. here In Paris when they were 10
take the Metro" he always knew
where they had TO change OF get out
And he loved her so dearly she knew
50 their marriage at least, was firmly
built on a rock and the lucky star
which had brought them together WOulu
continue to shine on their Whole me-
path. God himself had lighted the star
of love in their path and they were. TO
walk along ii side Dy side until parleQ
by death So pastor Estrup had said
only 10 DAYS before in his wedding ser
mon, and Gudrun Ielt sure that pastor
Estrup was right.
Now Erik half arose from MS char
and greeted couple making their way
among the tables. That is, Erik greeted
the woman. He evidently did not
know the man who was walking IN
thing strangely en- barrassed about Il
II he had had time 10 think he would
surely have acted as if he had not seen
the woman. who raised her yeDroWs
and returned mis- greeting very colby
Who was that Gudrun asked try
ing not to appear interested
Erik laughed You can Z imagine
Truly Napoleon was right when be said
that accident rules the world. To the
fact that ! slept too long one day years
ago / actually owe my present happl-
Gudrun looked at him surprised
II " i'll tell you, Tor we nave prom
ised each other that we viii never nave
any secrets i once came very near
marrying the woman who Just passed.
but, as I said. I fortunately oversight.
Otherwise you and I would not be sit
ting here together now
Erik took mis- wife's hand, held II
moment. and went on;
-Four years ago I went out as the en-
gineer Of a new steamer on Its trial
"trip. 1t was a boat our firm had built
and the woman was on board Sne nau
christcned the boat when ii was
launched and was the daughter OF the
president or the steamship company TO
whom We sold the boat. a small SWed-
ish company. She was the only woman
on board, pretty, lively ana entertain
ing. and we soon became very good
friends. The last hour We were alone
together on the deck, / was IN splen-
did hUmor, the moon was shining and
I think I kissed her hair She had made
a strong impression on me and before
we parted We promised TO write otten
And we did correspond loved 10
write letters to her. You know. dear
Gudrun. how lonely my life was Tor sew
eral years. Our letters became more
and more intimate and we both lOnged
to meet again Did 1 love herr At least
thought 1 did. Then one day re-
ceived a letter from her father lie
had found and read all my letters and
his daughter had told him she loved
me. Being a man Of the old school, he
saw no other way out Of this than
public engegement lie wrote me mat
he and his daughter would De IN 60
penhagen the following sunday and
asked me 10 call at their hotel at 10
o'clock
surprise. but I could not see that mad
any choice and felt quite sure that ]
loved her. so i promised to come
ION Saturday evening, however, ]
met an old friend from Glasgow who {
wanted to see the sights. and IL was
very late when L got home aWoke
with a heavy head in the morning and
my first thought was, OF course, that :
had slept too long / looked at my
WatCh-it had stopped at half past SIX .
I lived alone and had no CLOCK, put I 7
knew it must be later than that got l
into my clothes in a hurry and rushed !
out II was quarter past IL
Nv hen I reached the hotel the pres
dent and his daughter had gone out and ]
left no word for me / cannot say that l
I was worried Anybody might sleep 7
too late. I sat down in the cafe and I
ordered some breakfast. but the more ]
I thought the matter over the more L /
felt that / did not love the girl. did /
not really know her
II thanked kind fate that i had been I
late TO avoid a painful meeting, I Z
wrote her father exactly what mad hap I
pened and how we had behaved like two 4
children The next day 1 received an I
answer from him saying that might /
have saved myself the trouble OF an /
as his daughter would I
never marry man who failed 10 keep }
an appointment
Fl was happy-imaEine. Gudrun. THAT I
would have been my fate IL / had not ]
oversight myself Then I should never I
have mot you
He bent towards his wife and saw /
that her eyes were full Of tears.
And that was why. she sighed
Erik looked ut her i'm surprise
why, Gudruu. surely YOU are net \
Jealous At that time ] had never seen /
YOU, and the other seems TO have got
over il very we'll But, Gudrun-
oh it is nothing she said Come
let us 60
The rest Of the day Gudrun was si-
lent ard they returned to their hotel /
very early. When they were alone in
their room. she said
Erik. I know that I have not been
as 1 used to be. Promise me not 10