Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-06-10

very agrcea Bile chap. He was not espe
| cialIy handsome, and since he PAID
very little attention to girls the girls
! paid very little attention to him. Suct
being the case, be had very poor opin
ion Of his powers of charming the fail
sex. True, he thought little about the
matter: he simply regarded himself al
not q ladies' man.
One day the postman handed Walter
letter that brought the surprise OF
his life. 1t was postmarked and dated
at the city of Cincinnati and signed by
| one of whom he had never heard, at
least not by the name given. The writ
! er said that she was a girl nineteen
| years old. She had met him and had
fallen In love with him. She would
not be so unmaidenly as to reveal her
| identity, but she just couldn't help let
! ting him know that there was girl
who loved him and would never love
any one else.
There would be no chance of his dis
covering who she was because she had
! taken every pains to prevent his doing
| so. without this she would be mex
/ cusable in revealing her love for him
Possibly be might meet her again. II
| so he would be at liberty to WOO her,
if, indeed, he felt drawn to her, with
out knowing that he had already made
q conquest.
Now, if Walter Borland were con-
scious of being a heart smasher, doubt
less he would not have been seriously
affected by this letter. AS it was. he
was very much moved by it. What
any girl saw in him to cause her to
give him her heart without even the
slightest courtship-for he had never
preferred any one girl to others-he
couldn't imagine. His judgment told
him that some one was putting up
Job on him, but his amour propre said
that it hoped the letter was genuine.
Then he fell to thinking out the prob
lem as to who that lass might be. He
had never lived in Cincinnati and, so
far as he remembered, had never met
a girl who was resident of that city.
Quite likely she had posted the letter
while there temporarily or had sent it
there to be posted. 1t seemed to him
that she had been successful in her in
tention to conceal her identity. for he
could see no possible clew. And yet it
would be just like girl to give clew
that is, a ciew that it would be next
TO impossible for him to hit upon.
He thought of all the girls he had
ever known, trying to call up some
mark of favor shown him by any one
of the number. Not girl of his ac
quaintance had ever indicated that she
coveted HIS attentions.
All living beings are hunters, and
man is the chief hunter of them all,
though mans weapons are either intel
lectual or the result of intellectual &C
ton. Borland found himself facing a
problem. A girl had confessed that she
loved him, and he could never be salts
fed until he had found her. His first |
move was to study the girls of his ac-
Quaintance. When he met one of them
he would scrutiniZe her countenance |
with a view to seeing some telltale ex-
preston in it. If he failed to meet
any one of them casually he called
upon her. Not one received him with
the slightest sign of embarrassment.
Being completely blocked in his eff
forts, he consulted his chum, Bob Car
ter, a young man who was supposed
to understand women. Carter put him
to bringing out some Indication that |
had been shown by one Of his girl ac-
Iuaintances. Borland mentioned a |
girl who had taken umbrage at some |
slight he had given her. |
Carter bounced upon the lady as the |
writer of the letter. When girl takes |
Offense at mans treatment of her it |
indicates that she is sensitive to his /
treatment. But unfortunately this |
young lady was not less than twenty
)ne years old, whereas the writer had
described herself as nineteen. Never
.beless Borland applied certain tests,
Ill of which failed to show any unusu-
II interest in him.
Having failed to get any available
counsel from man, the young hunts
nan or, rather. the young detective
or this is a detective story without
he pale of iminality-concluded to
~ woman. He consulted his friend
ifrs. Cheltenham, a bride of three
months.
mo girl said the lady. would write
uch a confession to a man without
Dlacing it within the bounds of posi-
,ility that he should discover her
ou discover it you-yvill still be long
way from discovering the girl.
voulds advise you to examine her let
er with n microscope. If that fails
~ chemicals. She may be q college
irl up in chemistry"
1t was evening when Borland receiv
d this advice. and. going to his home
e took out the letter. procured a hand
lass Of strong magnifying power and.
aking both to a gas Jet. brought the
lass to bear on the letter. In order to
ct the best light he held the paper
Tithin few inches OF the fame.
'rownish letters came out written
cross the face of the letter, Month
roses, PIP"
Borlapd would have been very stupid
ad he not been able to interpret this
5 June II, 1912. Mrs. Cheltenham
ad hit the nail Suuaralv IN tho haad II