Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-10-02
A Cure For
lndeclsion
By JOHN Y. LARNED

you to tell me before | go whether you
will marry me or not"
Suppose | say not"
'tThen | will not ask you again."
Eva WINGED.
II believe" continued Jack, sin a wo-
man taking plenty of time in making
up her mind on such an important mat
ter as marriage, but what's fair for
one is fair for the other. 1t would be
as unreasonable for the man to put Off
the wedding day indefinitely as for a
girl to take an indefinite time to accept
or decline him.
IF | accept you and we find what
so many are finding nowadays, that
marriage is In our case a failure. you
will be the sufferer as well as l."
Correct. And IL we grow every day
more devoted to each other you will
be the gamer as well as l."
in other words. It's a game OF
chance"
IF you think so. why not come to
your decision by a game of chance? |
will play you an odd number of games
OF euchre: IL l win the most of them
you marry me: IL you win the most
of them you don't
.sThere would be no sense in that"
why not?'
IF l wanted you | would play bad
ly; if not | would play my best. But
it wouldn't be fair anyway. because
you are a much better player than l."
you might spin a coin. No one can
tell on which side II coin will fall. Fate
alone would decide In that case
But suppose fate should decide
wrongT".
IF you know which alternative is
wrong why resort to cards or coin spin
ming? Why not decide in the right
yourself?'
But I don't know which way is
wrong"
There was silence for a few mo-
ments. She looked very unhappy.
There is no greater source of mental
discomfort than vacillatlon.
I'm going to give you" he said, It'll
0 o'clock tonight to decide. If you don't
decide In my favor before the clock
strikes 0 l shall wait no longer"
what do 0 mean BY thatg'
81 shall Withdraw the Offer
you mean you'll never ask me
again?"
IF you prefer that method of ex-'
pressing it"
You're very independent, aren't
your"
81 have reached a decisive point"
Jack babe her adieu and left her. He
knew that he possessed her heart and
that she would marry him. but she
-peszlz~Su= 81 sake up her mind to do
so. he must make up her mind for
her.
But how should he do this? He
would have lone 1t long g IL he
could. He had thought of frightening
her into 1t by some drastic measure,
but in that case there was a POSSIBLE
ity of his breaking with her altogether.
He had finally concluded to set a linn
1t of time for her answer, but he knew
that the clock might strike 0 till the
crack of doom and it would have no
effect upon her.
But he was determined to get his an
swer and get it before leaving her
again. They lived a thousand miles
apart, and he could not be making jour
neys to go back after each with moth
ing decided. He had a simple plan in
his head, and IL he could get her to
adopt 1t she would decide in his favor.
The result would be accomplished by
~stratagem, but he considered that the
end justified the means.
When he went back to her in the
evening he had a new silver half dol
lar and a new quarter In his pocket.
He called at half past s. He skirmish-
ed for q quarter of an hour, when he
drew forth a half dollar and said:
Are you willing to leave this mat
ter between us to Fate for decision?'
Yes. | am. I'm tired Of trying to
decide it myself"
VERY well. | will spin this coin. or
you can spin it yourself ii you like
You may choose heads or tails. If you
win, | losing. you refuse me-: If ! win
you accept me. The best in five spins
decides"
'You may spin the coin and choose
heads or tails
Every we'll" He spun the coin, call
ed heads and won. He spun it again.
calling ''heads," and won again.
Il believe its loaded" she said.
IF you think SO ! will try another
coin for the balance of the trial." And
he brought out the quarter. He spun
1t, crying tails as be did so. She
watched it with bated breath till it
fell tails" up. He took her unresist-
ing in his arms.
She looked up at him with a great
relief. He had broken or Fate had
broken through her INDIGESTION. and
now that the barrier had been passed
she was very happy. She cared not
how she had been dragged over 1t so