The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1914-08-27
The initial M"
Romance in a Lady's Shopping
Bag.
BY BRYANT z. c. ROGERS.

And as for Royal being in love"
siad the widow Rexford, to the caller,
sit is not true, though l wish it were.
| should dearly love to know that he
was settled down in his own home"
But he is not q cynic?"
oh, dear, no. It is just that-that
well can hardly explain He wants
rousing up, as it were. Admitting,
courtship and marriage seem prosy
events to him There will have to be
adventure with his falling in love"
Royal Rexford, only son of the
widow, had reached the age of twenty
four without ever having fallen in
love. 1t couldn't even be said that he
had fiirted. He could waltz and play
bridge and render himself agreeable
at afternoons" and week-ends, but 1t
stopped there. He didn't favor wo-
man suffrage, and he didn't say word
against 1t. 1t was Just that he was
not interested beyond a mild and par
donable curiosity. His intimates Of
ten wondered what would arouse his
emotions, but they had waited in vain.
On a certain afternoon Mr.. Rexford
left New York for Hartford. He was
neither elated nor cast down. He
didn't care whether he went or stayed.
He didn't care whether he went be-
yond Fall River or got off there.
Every chair in the car was taken, but
ne didn't care to size up his fellow
passengers. In an Indifferent sort
n hn L, 4 hot
there were three or four young ladies
among the travellers, but what Of it?
There were also ladies and fat men
and lean men.
Mr. ReXford passed most of the time
in reading. When he reached
journeys end he was in no rush to
leave the car. 1t thereby happened
that he was the last one out, and as
he passed down the aisle he saw a
shopping bag reposing in one of the
chairs. They have been left behind
hundreds of times by hundreds of wo-
men. According to rule and law and
several other things, Mr.. Rexford
should have passed on and left the
porter to find the bag and turn it in
to the lost property office. If not that,
then he should have turned it in him
self
But Mr.. Rexford didn't do any such
thing. The sight of that bag with its
silver M on the side aroused a faint
interest in his breast 1t seemed to
say to him: please take care of me-"
and he walked out Of the depot with
the bag cuddled up under his arm. He
expected to meet the loser any minute
but she did not return. The treasure
went with the finder to hotel for the
night, and reached New York with
him the next day
Most persons would have opened
that bag within an hour, but Mr.. Rex
ford didn't. He waited until his re-
turn, and then he only took a peek
just enough to discover a roll of false
hair and a powder-puff. There were
other things further down, but he kept
hands off.
Mr.. ReXford had not intended to
appropriate anything. What he meant
to do was to find the owner. but in
his own way. That way was by adj
Vertisement in the papers and when II
came out 1t read:
Found, on the Hartford train. on
the 29th, q ladies' shopping bag bear
ing the initial M Address Box Az"
The brief advertisement was placed
in four papers, and the loser would be-
almost certain to see it. She did see
It. She lived just outside of Hartford,
and would be greatly obliged, and so
forth
Mr.. Rexford didn't follow the usual
mode Of procedure in such cases. He
was not bit curic Z but with that
bag nicely wrapped up in scented pa
per he made his way back to Hartford
and to the surburb where was located
the home of the loser 1t was SO kind
Of him. said the spinster of forty, and
It was so careless Of her. Her name
was Morgan, and that accounted for
the initial Excuse her for a mament
please. Mss Morgan left the room
20 inspect the bag and when she re-
turned she fairly threw it at Mr.. Rex
ford's head along with the exclama-
ton:
Sir, you are no gentleman"
"What-what is it?"
Il repeat it, sir, and If my brother
were here you would have to pay for
this INSULT"
He - here, sister,! replied a deep
voice from the front hail. and in
walked a man looking for trouble
Really, l dor't understand" said
Mr. Rexford.
Then take time out on the corner
to think it over" answered the broth
er; and he threw the caller out doors
and the bag after him
There was mistake somewhere.
and Mr. Rexford began to feel the
emotion Of curiosity. There was no
mistake about his having landed In a.
heap at the foot of the steps, but why
should Miss Morgan's bag have fol.
lowed him? He had come all the way
from New York to restore 1t, and now
she would not have it. 1t was no use
to ring TIE bell and ask for explana.
lions. The brother fingered In the
hall and had his coat Off Mr.. Rexford
did the right thing by returning to
Naw Work and discovering opothax