Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-06-19

Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate).
CLARA Scott, you and I are chums.
aren't wet" asked Miss Dorothy Lang.
"Yes( Of course" was tho reply.
I'VE have been chums for three
years?"
yes" #.. b..
"And we have never quarreled about
anything7"
NO" sM.
"You have said anything you wanted
to me, and have done tho same by
your" .,f..
Yes"
And you won't get mad at what
am going to say now, will your" [
mo. though hope it's nothing
awful"
1T isn't 80 avfully awful. It's Just
a little bit awful"
'"Well, let me draw a long breath
first. Now 30 ahead"
DO you know what folks are say
ing?"
mercy, not"
'They are saying that Stephen St.
Clair is trifling with you"
Dorothy Lang, you don't mean it!"
1--WE heard It . dozen times"
How do the gossips know that we
are not ensaged7" Miss Clara asked
with some show Of spirit and many
bushes.
Just as easy AZ, pie. II you were
you'd have told me at once. and I'd
have solemnly promised to never.
never tell, and then gone around
telling it to everybody. No, you
can't be engaged yet
but who says I want to be-"
why, what Z question! OF course
you want to be. Every girl does.
You and Stephen should have been
engaged months ago.
"But who says We are in lover"
'They all think you love each other
and they can't make out why tho
en- gagement isn't announced. In one
way it's none Of my AFFAIR. but being
we are chums, and being I've always
hoped you would get good husba nd.
and being Stephen Ia certainly nice
young man, and being"
But suppose he hasn't asked me
to marry him." ..s=
ooh"
And suppose he does and say
nor
ooh! OH" ..
~ am going to do just as please
about IT," -..
It was Miss Clara's fault that there
was talk and that no engagement
had yet been announced. Soon after
she and young Mr.. St. Clair had be-
come acquainted the question Of
American girls marrying titles came
up. Mr. St. Clair was aggressively
az ainst 1t, and more to be on the op-
posite side than for any other reason
the girl had said:
Il don't blame them one little bit.
IT'S only natural that girl should
want to marry man that Is looked
up;to BY q large circle"
That was blow for Mr.. st. Clair.
He! was not q foreigner. He had no
title. He was q cashier Of q bank,
and not i've hundred people knew
him. As to how many looked up to
him" he had never figured, as 1t was
his business to demand good security
from all borrowers. As time went on
he was in love, and he would have
admitted 1t but for the girls stand
on the question of titles. She had a
rich father and money in her own
right, and was handsome besides,
and most any day money hunter
might drop over the water and seek
her hand. She seemed to be keeping
herself free for such an emergency.
It jolts a good man to propose mar
rage and be turned down. Stephen
St. Clair was a good man and he
feared Jolt. Therefore, things drag.
ged along and the gossips had some
thing to wonder over.
When man Is mystihed and irri.
tatAd by the attitude of another man
he can say:
what in thunder do you mean by
such conduct"
What can a girl say? Nothing!"
Less than a month after the con-
versation on the veranda what look ed
like q climax came. The Baron
Shmidt came over from Germany In
search Of a wife.
She must be handsome. She must
be charming. She must have money.
Her father must have heaps Of the
long green, so that when the Baron
had frittered away her dowry the
fathers bank account could be de-
pended upon.
How did the Baron find out about
Miss Clara Scott, who didn't live
within fifty miles Of the port Of New
York, from which he first got sniff
Of the air OF freedom? Why, even
the hotel boys OF Gotham keep a
list of the heiresses Of the whole
United States. and their charges are
said to be very moderate. y
Baron Shmidt was made acquainted
with Miss Clara Scott.
He was baron and a colonel and a
personal friend of the kaiser's. He
owned seven castles on the Rhine.
He was the biggest frog in the pond
at court and had seven medals for
bravery. He had six decorations OF
honor ...-
He didn't make the mistake that
some foreigners do Of popping the
question half an hour after he was in
t-oduced. Indeed, It was all OF forty