Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-01-08
NOT At ALL DIFFICULT
BY GRACE scHEvEBs.

he the limit?" They did not employ
the term In its usual sense, for their
admiration of young Dukes was
boundIess. What they had in mind
was his infinite capacity for keeping
still.
He never talked unless he had
something to say. and when he had
said It ceased talking. There was
sound philosophy in his method, but
the average man has not the strength
of mind to follow 1t out--he keeps up
conversational twitter because he
has a horror of silence. 1t gets on
his nerves. Aller Dukes did not seem
to possess any nerves. At any rate,
he did not flutter an eyelash at whole
streaks of stiffness. The odd part
of 1t was that this habit did not seem
to shut him off behind any remote
barrier--he had the faculty of making
himself more intimately one of the
party by just listening than did the
others by reams of gable.
He never by any chance gosslped
| about himself
Most people are 30 egotistical that
they think the public is feverishly in
terested in their trips to Europe. pro-
jected or past, their new clothes at
the tailor's or dressmaker's, their
servants shortcomings and the money
they are making.
Aller Dukes seemed wrapped In i'm
penetrable modesty. Any information
you got out of him relating to him
self had to be pried and blasted loose
and he clearly regarded the operation
| with disfavor.
Naturally he was fascinating to
| girls, because he gave them so much
| to talk and wonder about. When he
took one Of them to a party she had
| all the sensations of starting on q
trip into remotest Africa, because
there always was the possibility Of
making Aller Dukes talk.
i Nobody has done it yet, but while
there is life there is hope. The effect
of Alters silence was to make other
people talk, and resolve as they would
not to chatter and unfold their best
secrets to him, they always did.
When he began taking Ethel Anvil
ing around more than all the other
girls excitement ran high.
Suppose" said Ethel's best friend.
Suppose he should want TO propose
to you-he'd never be able to waste
words enough to lead up to It!
what's he going to do? A girl simply
has to be sort OF courted!"
I'm not worrying" said Ethel, and
tossed her head. Hes Just a good
friend and doesn't care q bit about
mel"
| But It was observed that she
blushed when she said It.
| Perhaps Ethel herself wondered az
had her best friend She and Aller
got along famously together because
she could talk six miles an hour and
she always took such a vivid interest
in life that she had plenty to say. Not
that Aller maintained a sphinxlike ST.
lence-when she considered the mat
ter 1t seemed that he always said
things to the point. Still,as her best
friend had pointed out, girl simply
has to be courted.
And the young man had wasted nc
time in pretty speeches.
Before she realized it, Ethel Awling
was consumed with curiosity as tC
whether Aller Dukes really liked heI
good deal and how he possibly could
convey the idea to her IL he did like
her.
Deep down in her heart she wai
I
hoping that he did.
; Several others had told Ethel thai
they cared for her. and as she re
viewed the manner in which they haC
!, done so none OF the methods EN-
ployed appealed to her as at all at
tractive. To be sure, they had beer
graceful enough, clever enough, artis
: tic enough, and yet she had sent tbs
young men all away. How. she pain
fully wondered. could silent Allel
Dukes tell her Of his admiration, sup
posing he should want to, SO that 4
would impress her? She disliket
very much the idea of not being i'm
pressed sufficiently to say yes. b.
which one may judge that Ethel wal
considerably in love with the silen
chap.
III To her self she insisted that sh'
did not care a bit.
Most Unexpectedly one evening, jus
as they were going down the step
on their way to a party, not whel
they were returning. with moonligh
and the rest of the conventional sci
ting, Aller Dukes turned his hea'
toward Ethel a moment and the
said: "Will you marry me, Ethel?"
It took him exactly from the thir
to the fifth step to say II. And Ethe
after an instant, heard herself sayin
calmly from the sixth step to tn
; seventh: Eyes. Aller." And thel
( they were walking on the level side
z walk.
Some time later Ethel said II
/ proachfully; THAT was an awful
! funny way you proposed to mel"
| AIIa.. IcnEaH aurprlaaH oT dom